News

What it’s like to get out of prison and have no home

[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…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Catholic Worker house aims to help those in need

[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…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago

A second look for an untapped Eastern Iowa workforce

[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…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Winner’s Circle Picnic

Amazing and wonderful visit to Winner’s Circle picnic on Saturday, July 30! It was held at Ashby Park in Des Moines. Inside Out Reentry is grateful for the chance to attend. There was incredible spirit, positive energy, food and just lots of fun.

This event is for women who have been thru the STAR and WISH programs at ICIW(Iowa Correctional Institution for Women located in Mitchellville) and their guests. Women from the minimum live-out unit attended as well as Winner’s Circles from around the state. (more…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Criminal Justice Reform Discussion Group

Inside Out will continue our community discussions on Criminal Justice Reform with a DVD series — beginning this Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7:00 at First Baptist (500 N. Clinton; in the basement community room). We’ll watch the 2009 PBS documentary “The Released” that shows how several returning citizens with mental illness handle their return to the community after incarceration. About 1/3 of people in U.S. prisons have a serious, chronic mental illness.

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Just Mercy Reading Group

We’ve had 2 great discussions on the first half of Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercy so far and will have 2 more meetings to discuss the last half — on Thursdays, Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, at 7:00 p.m. We meet in the basement of First Baptist Church, 500 N. Clinton, where the IO center is located upstairs. We hear from folks who have been on the “inside”, discuss local and national issues of racial Read more

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Just Mercy Book Group

Inside Out Reentry will participate in Iowa City’s One Community, One Book program as part of its work for criminal justice education and reform. Inside Out invites the public to join in a discussion group on Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy on four Thursdays at 7:00 p.m., Sept. 10 – Oct. 1, prior to Stevenson’s talk at the Iowa Memorial Union on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2:00 p.m. (more…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago

Bryan Stevenson Talk on Just Mercy

The UI Center for Human Rights, UNESCO City of Literature/Iowa City Book Festival and Geneva Lecture Series, along with Prairie Lights Books are bringing Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, to the IMU on October 4 to give a lecture. Bryan Stevenson is an attorney in Montgomery, Alabama who started a nonprofit group, the Equal Justice Initiative, http://www.eji.org, soon after finishing law school. This organization works with death penalty cases, race and poverty issues, children Read more

By InsideOut Editor, ago

AmeriCorps staffs effort help offenders rebuild key community ties

[Source: “AmeriCorps staffs effort help offenders rebuild key community ties,” The Gazette, 31 March 2014, by Steve Gravelle]

Each One Reach One connects offenders with volunteers who can help them find work

Steve Gravelle
MARCH 31, 2014 | 11:13 PM

Next to family, corrections officials say a relationship with community is key to preventing an offender’s return to jail or prison. But building or rebuilding that connection can be difficult when one hasn’t been part of the community for months or years.

“We’re trying to fill that hole,” said Nellie O’Mara-Morrissey, restorative justice community coordinator for the Each One Reach One program. (more…)

By InsideOut Editor, ago