 | Getting Out and Staying Out
A WPR Series
Produced by Gil Halsted
8/06-10/07 |
In the first of a five-part series, Gil Halsted reports on one of the latest efforts in Milwaukee to at least slow down the revolving door...
Running time is 6:00
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Part Two: Stuck Between Debt and a Hard Place
08/07/07
More than 9000 inmates will be released from Wisconsin prisons next year. Some who have been on work release will already have a job. But many will hit the streets in debt and with only a few dollars in their pocket. Some will end up in seedy motels surrounded by the very things that landed them in jail in the first place. |  |
In part two of our special series on prisoner re-entry, Gil Halsted reports on both the opportunities and pitfalls for ex-offenders who are out and trying to stay out...
running time 6:01
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Part Three: Work-Release Lets Inmates Grow Roots Outside Prison Walls
08/08/07
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It's usually better to find a new job before you quit your old one. For people getting out of prison, not finding a new job often means returning to their old one, locked behind bars. But for others, Wisconsin's prison work-release program is the key to avoiding the revolving door back into prison.
In part three of our prisoner re-entry series, Gil Halsted reports on the challenges prisoners face in paying their debt to society by earning money while they're still locked up... |
running time 6:00
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Part Five: In and Out of the Big House
08/10/07
The mantra of policy makers when it comes to prison re-entry programs is a simple one. The majority of prisoners will return to their communities one day so we better help them become productive citizens or they'll commit new crimes and go back to prison. In the fifth and final part of our prisoner re-entry series, Gil Halsted tracks the path of one offender who's been in and out of prison for most of the last 40 years. …
running time 6:12
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Related Links (Click on underlined text to activate)
Groups doing re-entry work
Madison-Area Urban Ministry
The New Hope Project
Project Return Milwaukee
The Benedict Center
The Convict to College program
Convict Criminology College Courses
Studies are constantly being done on what works and what doesn't in reducing recidivism. Here are several including information on an ongoing study funded by the Joyce Foundation:
$5.4 Million Awarded to Test Employment Strategy for Ex-Prisoners
Studies on reentry
Treatment Instead of Prisons: A Roadmap for Sentencing and Correctional Policy in Wisconsin
Sentencing study:
Treatment Instead of Prisons: A Roadmap for Sentencing and Correctional Policy in Wisconsin
Department of Corrections Budget
DOC Budget
Web Extra: Listen to the Voices Involved in the Recidivism Issue:
Two Prisoner Re-entry groups in Milwaukee, The New Hope Project and Project Return, are part of a national study on the effectiveness of transitional jobs for newly released prisoners. The project -- funded by the Joyce Foundation and the Department of Corrections -- has gotten strong support from both prison officials and community organizations, who are interested in preventing ex-offenders from committing new crimes and returning to prison.
John Husz is the warden of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility where many released prisoners spend the last few months of their sentences. Here's what he has to say about promise this new project has for reducing recidivism.
Running time 3:52
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Twenty-three-year-old Gianina Howland has never held a real job. She's been a gang member since she was a teenager . Here's what she has to say about life at Taycheedah, Wisconsin's maximum security prison for Women, and her hope that the Convict-to-College Program can help her get out and stay out.
Running time 5:31
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Twenty five year old Richard Hendricksen served two years in prison for a violent robbery. Now he's studying criminology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Here's what he has to say about his crime, what his time in prison taught him out the criminal justice system, and how he plans to he'll be able to use his experience to advocate for criminal justice reform.
Running time 11:24
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Stephen Richards spent nine years in federal prison on drug charges. Now he has a PhD in Criminology and runs a unique prison-to-college program at U-W Oshkosh. Here's what he has to say about the role universities should be playing in helping reducing the recidivism rate, and on how he's using his PhD in criminology to move prison inmates from the cell block to the college dormitory.
Running time 6:20
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