InsideOut Editor

[Source: “InsideOut’s re-entry simulation gives glimpse into the daily struggles for parolees ,” CBS2, 19 October 2017, by Gabriela Vidal]

CORALVILLE, Iowa (CBS 2/ FOX 28) — The InsideOut Re-entry program hosted its inaugural parolee simulation on Wednesday at the Kirkwood Regional Center.

Over 50 volunteers participated in the simulation. City officials, business owners, landlords and residents role-played what it would be like to live a month in the life of someone recently released from incarceration.

“Essentially, it was a frustrating process,” said Councilmember Jim Sayre. (more…)

[Source: “Parole simulation puts public in former inmates’ shoes,” The Press-Citizen, 19 October 2017, by Stephen Gruber-Miller]

Every year in Johnson County, between 200 and 250 people leave prison and re-enter society.

At a parole simulation on Wednesday, more than 50 elected officials, landlords, business owners and community members got to experience that process firsthand. (more…)

[Source: “Iowa City re-entry program helps former inmates make the transition from prison to the outside world,” The Gazette, 17 September 2017, by Michaela Ramm]

IOWA CITY — Craig Rockenbach has decided to better himself.

Rockenbach, 37, of Iowa City, is a habitual offender who most recently spent 27 months in prison after being sentenced in 2016 for theft in the second degree, a Class D felony.

When he was released in mid-July, Rockenbach said he didn’t “need to be doing that anymore.” So he sought the help of an Iowa City-based program aimed at assisting prisoners recently released from Iowa’s correctional system.

The goal of the Inside Out Re-entry program is to help former offenders make a positive re-entry back into the public. (more…)

[Source: “What it’s like to get out of prison and have no home,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, 22 September 2016, by Stephen Gruber-Miller]

When Letisha Molina went looking for a new apartment, she was rejected 12 times.

She had bad credit, she says, but there was another issue tripping up potential landlords: her criminal past.

Molina has been to prison twice for using and selling drugs in Arizona. She used to use crack cocaine, but Oct. 11 will mark five years of sobriety. Two years ago, she moved to Iowa City looking for a fresh start. (more…)

[Source: “Catholic Worker house aims to help those in need,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, 15 August 2016, by Andy Davis]

One month after opening Iowa City’s first Catholic Worker House, a three-bedroom house on Sycamore Street that will provide up to 30 days of shelter for those in need, David Goodner said the house already is full.

Goodner, a live-in volunteer at the 1414 Sycamore Street house, at the beginning of the month officially opened the house with the help of fellow volunteer Emily Sinnwell. The two already are providing shelter to two recently-released prisoners and a single mother with two teenage sons. (more…)

[Source: “A second look for an untapped Eastern Iowa workforce,” The Gazette, 14 August 2016, by Trish Mehaffey]

Rob Crader says growing up in violent Chicago neighborhood and being around “gang-banging and hustling” led to a career of drug abuse, and then selling drugs and committing robberies and thefts to support that addiction.

Crader, now 42, of Coralville, who had been in and out of Illinois prisons for the last 10 years, now is on a new career and life path after his last crime — burglary — garnered him a 12-year prison sentence. (more…)

One year after opening its resource center at First Baptist Church in Iowa City, the Inside Out Reentry Community serving formerly incarcerated people living in Johnson County is gaining ground.