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After Incarceration, Former Prisoners Face a Tough Journey Home to Find Work, Reunite with Family and Begin Again

NNPA NEWSWIRE — With tens of thousands of prisoners being released each year from jails and prisons across the country, experts agree that a major test on the journey home for these individuals is navigating rocky shoals of the transition between prison and society. Will they be productive citizens, or will they engage in a repeat offense and return to prison? Or will they end up homeless in the streets – or worse?

Published

6 years ago

March 26, 2019

Oakland Post

By Rachel Holloway, Trice Edney Newswire

Try to imagine what freedom must be like for many prisoners who’ve been released after serving sentences of 10, 15 or 20 years behind bars.

Sure, there is the initial sense of elation among some of the men and women about the prospect of a second chance in society. But that elation frequently gives way to frustration, dismay and even fear over how to begin picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Indeed, the questions and obstacles they face can be overwhelming. Will they ever find a job, especially if they lack the skills employers need? What about affordable housing? And where will they find money to pay for food and transportation?

Then there are all the societal changes, starting with the disappearance of transit tokens, not to mention the array of other new technologies, including smartphones, social media platforms, video streaming, e-readers, GPS devices and tablets. These technologies are often dizzyingly unfamiliar to individuals who in many cases went to prison at a time when the lowly flip phone was a high technological achievement. And yet, being able to use those technologies-from Microsoft Word for a resume to LinkedIn for job searching -is critical.

Thousands of ex-convicts face this reality in communities across the country, from Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta and Miami to Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Los Angeles. To hear these sort of coming home stories is the first step to understand the daunting journey undertaken by these individuals – often unsuccessfully – to rebuild their lives and re-establish ties to family, friends and community after prison.

With tens of thousands of prisoners being released each year from jails and prisons across the country, experts agree that a major test on the journey home for these individuals is navigating rocky shoals of the transition between prison and society. Will they be productive citizens, or will they engage in a repeat offense and return to prison? Or will they end up homeless in the streets – or worse?

Ex-convicts continue to pay after release

How to help ease the transition for inmates returning home has become part of the growing national debate on reforming the criminal justice system at a time when critics say it has incarcerated a disproportionate number of Black and Hispanic men while focusing on punishment rather than rehabilitation.

That debate is playing out in Washington, D.C.’s predominantly black Ward 5, where a proposal to open a residential reentry facility for ex-prisoners has provoked a not-in-my-backyard furor. It has also sparked a larger discussion about the need for programs that confront systemic needs of ex-convicts-including providing housing, job training or drug treatment-while helping them work through the psychological issues that returning home can provoke.

At the center of this debate is CORE DC, a minority-owned, social-services group seeking to open a residential reentry center in Ward 5. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on November 1, 2018 awarded CORE DC the contract to open a 300-bed center and the facility was scheduled to start taking in residents on March 1 of this year.

But plans were put on hold amid concerns from some community members. The delay dealt a blow to efforts to address the pressing needs of former inmates returning home with what CORE DC and supporters say is the organization’s humane approach to helping the former prisoners assimilate into a society with obsolete notions of crime and punishment.

“How do you genuinely engage in criminal justice reform when you still have ancient and outdated attitudes?” CORE DC chairman and CEO Jack Brown said. “These are the kind of monsters under the bed that CORE has to deal with. If you have an organization that is providing these services and their reputation is questionable, of course the community should have concerns. But that is not what the community is getting with CORE.”

Lingering concerns about past service providers

The only reentry center in Washington, D.C., today is Hope Village, located in Southeast Washington. Opened in the late 1970s, it has faced criticism in the past on issues ranging from the treatment of residents to its security practices. In a 53-page 2013 memo, the independent agency in charge of monitoring conditions inside of District correctional facilities found that Hope Village lacked “job readiness resources” and substandard care for residents with mental health needs. In 2016, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy group called the Council for Court Excellence implored the BOP to end its contract with Hope Village.

When Northeast Washington residents got word that a new reentry center would open in Ward 5, some expressed reservations. Chief among their questions was whether CORE DC’s reentry home would be a good neighbor, a concern that seemingly reflected lingering concerns the community had from past experiences.

In fact, just weeks after CORE DC’s Ward 5 project was announced, two former Hope Village residents who had escaped and committed crimes were sentenced to prison, one for a 27-month term and the other for 33 months. The episode seemed to fuel falsehoods and misconceptions about the indispensable role that experts say transitional services such as temporary housing and job training have in ensuring former inmates have the tools needed for a second chance.

As the drip-drip of troubling reports coming out of Southeast Washington cast a dark shadow over a possible new reentry center in Northeast Washington, CORE DC reached out to local lawmakers while the organization’s leadership joined community hearings convened to address questions surrounding the planned facility.

CORE DC says it hoped to provide facts and clarity to the discussion.

“At our facilities, the program director is in daily communication with Bureau of Prisons,” Brown said. “Most people in the community believe you get to hang out from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m at outside of the center, not at CORE. We don’t see too many program failures because our clients have jobs that we work with them to get in the construction industry, technology sector and other livable wage jobs.”

But dialogue has sometimes been elusive-and sometimes heated.

Halfway houses, a loaded term

At one community meeting, a pamphlet was left behind that warned of the grave dangers of “halfway houses,” a term that those in the criminal-justice world say is outdated and filled with a negative connotation. “Halfway houses accept sex offenders, drug offenders, convicted murders and rapists,” the pamphlet read. A group of 12 Northeast residents sued, and on December 21, CORE DC lost its lease on the property.

There is also the fact that Hope Village, which has won more than $125 million in federal contracts since 2006, filed a protest against the BOP contract with CORE DC. The protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), leveled a number of charges, including that Hope Village lost the contract because it refused to take in sex offenders. In a decision made on Feb. 21, the GAO dismissed Hope Village’s highly charged claim, while raising technical questions about CORE DC’s use of the property it proposed for its center.

CORE DC said that it remains committed to the DC area.

“We remain committed to reunifying the families and restoring the communities that these individuals leave behind,” Brown said, “But in order to address these complicated issues, the community deserves a productive, fact-driven dialogue, not falsehoods and fear-mongering.”

In recent weeks, CORE Services Group, of which CORE DC is an affiliate, has invited Ward 5 leaders to tour other reentry centers the organization operates. The nonprofit, founded in 2005, has invited local representatives to a reentry center in Brooklyn, New York, where security standards have been lauded in routine reviews by the BOP.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether the community will embrace CORE DC as a new neighbor. But with an estimated 8,000 former inmates returning home to Washington every year, advocates say reentry centers are a proven part of the solution, even as they caution that the District, just like communities around the country, need a comprehensive approach.

The writer, Rachel Holloway, can be contacted at holloway75@gmail.com.

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Lawmakers Greenlight Reparations Study for Descendants of Enslaved Marylanders

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Maryland lawmakers have approved Senate Bill 587, authorizing the creation of the Maryland Reparations Commission.

Published

24 hours ago

April 4, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

Maryland lawmakers have approved Senate Bill 587, authorizing the creation of the Maryland Reparations Commission. The body will study and make recommendations for reparations to descendants of enslaved people and others harmed by centuries of discriminatory policies. The legislation now awaits the governor’s signature and is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2025. The commission will examine Maryland’s long history of slavery, the economic and social systems that benefited from it, and the lingering impacts of those institutions. Its work will include recommendations on financial compensation, housing and business support, tuition waivers, and other forms of restitution. “This commission is not only about acknowledging our past – it’s about using that understanding to pave the way for a more equitable and fair future,” said Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, which made reparations a top priority for the first time this legislative session.

From its founding in 1634 until the abolition of slavery in 1864, Maryland was a society built on slave labor. Tobacco, the colony’s staple crop, fueled economic growth and political dominance for the state’s elite. By the mid-18th century, nearly one-third of Maryland’s population was enslaved. Skilled and unskilled laborers like Frederick Douglass, who caulked ships in Baltimore, contributed to the state’s prosperity under brutal conditions. The legacy of that bondage continued to echo across generations. Del. Aletheia McCaskill, the lead sponsor of the House version of the bill, said the measure lays the groundwork for redress. “I am overjoyed at the passage of this monumental legislation,” McCaskill said. “This commission will gather historical evidence, examine present-day disparities, and provide a data-driven framework to acknowledge past harms. By recommending policies and developing solutions to repair the damage done, we can take meaningful steps toward true equity in our state.”

Sen. C. Anthony Muse, sponsor of the Senate version, called the passage historic. “We took a historic step towards justice and healing for our communities,” Muse remarked. “The passage of Maryland Senate Bill 587 marks a significant commitment to addressing the long-lasting effects of slavery and systemic inequities.” The commission’s membership will include lawmakers, historians, HBCU scholars, civil rights experts, representatives from the NAACP and the Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce, and members of the public. It will examine reparations programs in other states and recommend procedures for verifying eligibility and the feasibility of funding and distributing reparations. Maryland’s history makes it a powerful setting for this initiative. The state witnessed the forced transport of nearly 100,000 Africans during the 18th century. The rise of tobacco plantations led to a devastating regime marked by family separation, disease, forced labor, and systemic brutality. Enslaved individuals in Maryland built canals, smelted iron, and helped fuel the economic engine of the state while living under constant threat of sale or violence. The stories of individuals like Hillery Kane at Sotterley Plantation and Lucy Jackson at Hampton Mansion reveal not only the cruelty of slavery but also the resilience and resistance of the enslaved.

By the 19th century, Maryland became a central player in the domestic slave trade, with an estimated 20,000 people sold to cotton plantations in the Deep South between 1830 and 1860. Even after emancipation in 1864, freed Black Marylanders faced decades of disenfranchisement, segregation, and economic exclusion. “This is about more than history,” Wilkins said. “It’s about how that history has shaped the realities of today.” The commission will submit a preliminary report by January 1, 2027, and a final report by November 1, 2027. It will explore possible sources of funding, such as businesses and institutions that benefited from slavery and discriminatory government practices.

Opposition to the bill has centered mainly on its cost, but the fiscal note details only a modest increase of $54,500 in 2026 to fund contractual staff. No reparations payments are authorized under the current bill. Maryland is joining California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York in forming a reparations commission. The move comes as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives face increasing national scrutiny and political attacks. Still, supporters of the commission insist the time for reckoning is now. “We’re not just commemorating the past,” McCaskill said. “We are charting a course toward justice, informed by our truth and grounded in our responsibility to future generations.”

Stacy M. Brown

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Harris, Obama, and Booker Step Up as Resistance Against Trump Takes Shape

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Obama, meanwhile, broke his silence during an appearance at Hamilton College in New York, offering one of his sharpest public critiques yet of Trump’s second administration.

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

Is the resistance finally taking form?

As Kendrick Lamar asked during his powerful Super Bowl performance, “Are we really about to do it?” That question now echoes in the political arena as former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris have entered the public fray, joining voices like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett in confronting President Donald Trump and his administration’s sweeping changes head-on. After months of relative silence following her defeat to Trump last November, Harris returned to the spotlight Thursday during a rare appearance at the Leading Women Defined conference at a seaside resort in Dana Point, California. According to The Los Angeles Times, she didn’t mention Trump by name but spoke forcefully about the anxiety many Americans are experiencing under his new administration.

“There is a sense of fear that is taking hold in our country, and I understand it,” Harris said. “These are the things that we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country, and it understandably creates a great sense of fear. Because, you know, there were many things that we knew would happen, many things.” “I’m not here to say, ‘I told you so,’” she continued. “I swore I wasn’t going to say that.” The appearance marked a shift in tone for Harris, who has been weighing a potential run for governor of California in 2026 or waiting until 2028 for another shot at the presidency. Still, she clarified that her political silence hasn’t equated to surrender. “We can’t go out there and do battle if we don’t take care of ourselves and each other,” Harris told the crowd. “I’ll see you out there. I’m not going anywhere.”

Obama, meanwhile, broke his silence during an appearance at Hamilton College in New York, offering one of his sharpest public critiques yet of Trump’s second administration. He condemned Trump’s attempts to reshape the federal government, stifle dissent, and punish those who oppose his policies. “So, this is the first time I’ve been speaking publicly for a while,” Obama said. “I’ve been watching for a little bit.” “Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama added. “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.” While calling Trump’s proposed tariffs bad for America, Obama said his larger concern lies with what he described as the White House’s alarming overreach.

“I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” he said. “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively. That kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.” Obama, who campaigned for Harris during the final stretch of the 2024 election, had warned that a second Trump term would endanger the nation’s democratic norms. “Just because [Trump] acts goofy,” Obama said at the time, “doesn’t mean his presidency wouldn’t be dangerous.” With Trump’s second term underway, the voices of resistance are growing louder.

Sen. Cory Booker added fuel to the movement by making history on the Senate floor. He delivered a 25-hour, 5-minute filibuster that broke the record previously held by segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond. Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster—lasting 24 hours and 18 minutes—was aimed at blocking the Civil Rights Act. Booker used his record-breaking speech to denounce what he called a deliberate dismantling of government at the hands of Trump, Elon Musk, and Congressional Republicans. “It always seemed wrong,” Booker said, referring to the Senate room still named after Thurmond. “It seemed wrong to me when I got here in 2013. It still seems wrong today.”

The New Jersey senator, a descendant of both enslaved people and slave owners, framed his marathon speech as a moral plea, reading letters from Americans affected by deep cuts and policy threats to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP. “This is a moral moment,” Booker declared. “It’s not left or right; it’s right or wrong.” With Booker’s record-setting stand, Harris’s reemergence, and Obama’s warning shots, what once felt like fragmented frustration among Democrats may now be coalescing into something more deliberate: a resistance that is finally, visibly, on the move. “I’ll see you out there,” Harris said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Stacy M. Brown

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Dr. King and the Reason He Protested on His Assassination Anniversary

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — King was in Memphis to support striking African-American sanitation workers upset over poor working conditions and low pay. At his death, King also organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address poverty and economic inequality.

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

The Media Panel at the National Action Network Convention in the NYC

“What would Martin do?” asked Mary Francis Berry, the former head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Berry was a college student when the news reports were delivered that Dr King was assassinated. More than half a century ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King was in Memphis to support striking African-American sanitation workers upset over poor working conditions and low pay. At his death, King also organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address poverty and economic inequality. Almost 60 years later, African Americans are withholding their dollars from companies like Target that have rolled back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. Target’s stock has dropped drastically, and it is reported that the company has lost billions of dollars from this action. On a related note, the National Urban League says that Black America’s buying power is close to $2 trillion. Major rallies around the nation, the majority of which are white-led, are protesting a new rollback in rights and freedoms created by the Trump agenda.

Thursday, in New York City, at the National Action Network convention during the media panel, the crowd in the packed ballroom stood to their feet, pumping their fists and shouting, “he’s a racist, “directing their ire at President Donald Trump. Freedom to protest in this country during difficult times is a blueprint Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his lieutenants left during the civil rights era. Berry remembers consulting with Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, and wondering what the civil rights icon would do whenever they started a protest like the “Free South Africa” movement and protests against the “unfair treatment of Haitians” and the “LGBTQ+ people and whatever.” The “checklist” of items to confirm this is what Dr. King would support is included in his book Where Do We Go From Here? The questions are: “Is it safe? Is it political? Is it popular? Is it right?” Protests and boycotts abound in this nation, and a significant protest is slated for this Saturday in Washington, D.C. 1000,000 people are expected to show up and protest against the MAGA and Project 2025 agenda Donald Trump follows. Berry reminds us that Dr. King supported peaceful protests and economic boycotts. At age 26, King led a nonviolent protest against segregated bus seating in Montgomery, Alabama, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement.