Lessons learned: Hiring ex-offenders pays off, but the workers need help
Sitting at her kitchen table in Chester, in her moments of deepest despair, Dayna Chandler, 33, began this calculation: Maybe her three children would be better off if she were dead. A former bank teller, she had a criminal conviction for theft, had been in prison and hadn’t been able to keep a job for four years, not with that record, even though it was only a misdemeanor.
Redina’s story: A mother’s troubled journey home from prison
Redina Rodriguez was released from Pa. state prison one year ago and says she wants to change. But the odds of her staying out are long, while the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Parole and Probation Reform Is Bigger Than Meek Mill
One in every 52 American adults lives under court supervision, costing taxpayers and making it harder for families to move on post-incarceration. Cities could benefit from a program that rewards good behavior with a shorter sentence.
Americans want fewer prisoners. What’s art have to do with it? – Generocity
A unique year-old pilot music program inside Pennsylvania’s largest prison needs funding to keep going. Its early success and relationship with the state offers a look inside our appetite for – and the limits of – a new kind of criminal justice reform.
Can Philly’s new technology predict recidivism without being racist?
A tool to help predict whether someone who’s been arrested will reoffend does not factor in race. But it could consider convictions.