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Returning Citizens

Former Prisoners Are Making Sure No One Leaves Prison Alone

October 18, 2024 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. , , , ,
When Antonne Henshaw was released from a New Jersey prison in 2018, he walked out alone. His sister had planned to pick him up, but she got the time wrong. She made it a few hours later and brought him to stay at her home — but just a few months later, she had to sell her home and move away for a new job, leaving Henshaw alone once again. Henshaw had managed to save $13,000 during the 30 years he was in prison. It was a sizeable sum, considering the paltry pay for prison jobs, but he soon discovered it wouldn’t be enough to get him the apartment he now needed.

Building Hope And A Halfway House In Washington, DC

September 10, 2023 Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
With nearly two million people in prison and an incarceration rate five times higher than most countries on the planet, the United States is the world’s only carceral superpower. Our nation has a long tradition of “justice” that is articulated in a cold, calculating and harsh expression of punishment. Despite this history, a counter narrative surrounding imprisonment and punishment in the United States has also existed — one that is based in reform, repentance, restoration and redemption. Quakers in Philadelphia spent decades in the early 19th century protesting harsh prison conditions and ultimately convinced the Pennsylvania Assembly to reform their model of imprisonment.