Oklahoma Has Tried to Lower its Incarceration Rate. But Many Obstacles Face the Newly Released

Date:  12-31-2022 Difficulty with housing, employment and transportation are the most common barriers

From PBS: OKLAHOMA CITY — A weathered electric scooter sits propped against Jacque Mize’s dining room wall. For months, Mize, 43, would ride the scooter several miles from her transitional housing facility to her job at Goodwill and back again. Even in extreme heat, thunderstorms or snow, Mize said, she was on that scooter every day, working to put her life back together. Mize said the scooter is partly a reminder to her of the hurdles she’s overcome since being released from prison in October 2021 — and those she hasn’t. Soon after her release, she discovered that having a felony conviction makes it extremely difficult to get a car loan. Mize said the roadblocks to a second chance for formerly incarcerated people like her are numerous, and the lack of infrastructure for those reentering society means any slip-ups can have a snowball effect that ends in a return to prison. Continue reading >>>