Prison inmates housed in the Toledo Correctional Facility has organized an NAACP Chapter. We attended their meetings and found them to be an awesome group of men. Although, an unconventional chapter, we believe they have something of value to contribute to our chapter. As a result of our meetings we decided to begin a Blog highlighting the thoughts of these men...

The contents of this blog are the writings of  members  of the NAACP (Prison Chapter) who are currently incarcerated  in the Toledo Correctional Institute.

Breaking the Cycle

Breaking the cycle of mass incarceration is a community partnered program designed to provide a mentoring service to at-risk youth.  A key factor in this program’s effectiveness is to utilize long-term offenders as mentors and partner them with experienced community leaders to provide mentoring to at-risk you through letters of personal testimonies, workshops, and poetry.  We focus on three core areas:  individual, family, and community. Together we rebuild, restore, and heal. Wise words spoken by William Rembert:  “Ordinary people can do extraordinary things!”

Editorial:

While valid attempts at prison re-entry reform are being made in Michigan and Ohio, it remains difficult to break through the stigma that surrounds those who have left incarceration.  The Public Safety Performance Project, an analysis by the Pew Center on the States, found the return-to-prison rate within three years for inmates released from 33 states in 1999 was 45.4 percent, and it was 43.3 percent for those released from 41 prisons in 2004,

Another study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics released in 2014 found that 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of release.  The reality of the situation is that the majority of prisoners will be released at some point in the future.  The question you must ask yourself is  who would you rather have in your community, an employed individual who takes care of his/her family and contributes to the tax base in your  area or a person who is desperate for money and assistance to feed, clothe and take care of his/her family and contributes nothing to the community?  

To assist in removing the stigma of a criminal record, many states including Ohio have adopted “ban the box” policies that remove the conviction history question on job applications.  While not all states have adopted the policy, some cities and counties have, leaving the door open for others to follow.