Second Chances
Panel discusses the trauma of prison, and the challenges to adjusting to life outside its gates
Of all the things he hadn’t seen in the last 14 years, Tyrone Baker most wanted to see the night sky. He wanted to gaze at the stars without being told he needed to get back in his cell. But if the vast expanse of the darkness above proved comforting, the low ceilings in his […]
For a real second chance, Medicaid expansion must account for formerly incarcerated people
[April Barber Scales worked with Angie Weis Gammell to author this commentary.] April Barber Scales went to prison when she was only 15. On March 24, 2022, after serving thirty years, she received clemency from Governor Cooper and was released. She was reentering a far different world that she had never navigated as an adult. […]
Assisting prisoner reentry, new bill would pay formerly incarcerated stipend for food, housing and clothes
A bill filed last week would require the Department of Adult Correction to give indigent people exiting its prisons monthly stipends for housing, food, clothing and transportation for up to six months after their release. The proposal, filed on April 20 and sponsored by nine Democrats representing Durham, Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Guilford, Wake and Orange counties, […]
Attorney Whitley Carpenter of Forward Justice discusses the end of felony disenfranchisement and unlocking the vote
Learn more about the campaign here: https://unlockourvotenc.org/