Incarceration and reentry reform related articles

Collateral Costs: Incarceration's effect on economic mobility

The findings in this report should give policy makers reason to reflect. The price of prisons in state and federal budgets represents just a fraction of the overall cost of incarcerating such a large segment of our society. The collateral consequences are
tremendous and far-reaching, and as this report illuminates with fresh data and analysis, they include substantial and lifelong damage to the ability of former inmates, their families and their children to earn a living wage, move up the income ladder and pursue the American Dream. Click here for the pdf copy of the report.

Lawmakers say state can no longer afford prison expansion

North Carolina is in the throes of a sweeping $94 million prison expansion, underscoring the continued growth of its inmate population as lawmakers seek a pragmatic approach for reigning in state corrections spending. Despite the expansion, projections released in January show North Carolina's prison system will be operating at overcapacity for at least the next decade. By 2020, unless the General Assembly kicks in construction financing or policy reforms reduce the inmate population, the N.C. Department of Correction projects it will be short more than 2,900 prison beds. Click here to read the full article.

CARE AND ATONEMENT Amid ill and dying inmates, a search for redemption

"A Presbyterian minister inspired by Mother Teresa and Gandhi was in charge. Chaplain Keith Knauf believed that working to ease death could teach compassion. He decreed that no sick convict be judged: not the rapists, not the kidnappers, not the serial killers. Dying in prison — dying, as many did, with overwhelming guilt or bitterness — was judgment enough.".

"But Jesus was asked: 'How many times should I forgive?' 'Seventy times seven' is what he said. And when you realize Jesus died alongside criminals, to me it makes sense to be here." Please click here to read the rest of this story from the L.A. Times.