Another in our series on criminal justice in the Bay Area, this show focuses on life after incarceration, or what’s known as “reentry.”
How are recidivism rates trending? The formerly incarcerated are still ineligible for many jobs and still have limits on their voting rights. Should we be doing more to help them become productive citizens and good neighbors?
Two Bay Area natives share what their reentry was like.
Producer: Wendy Holcombe
Host: Ethan Elkind
Panel:
Michael Mendoza, Policy Director at the Anti-Recidivism Project (or, ARC). He was sent to adult prison as a juvenile and served 17 years behind bars. Since his release, he has gotten a B.A. in Political Science from San Francisco State University and has worked in various policy reform efforts - at #cut50 and ARC - and he continues to mentor and educate currently incarcerated people.
Amika Mota, Program Director of Women’s Prison Re-Entry & Policy at the Young Women’s Freedom Center. She began organizing for Reproductive Justice and young mothers’ rights over twenty years ago, as a teenage mother and midwife. She began advocating for women in prison during her seven-year incarceration in the California Department of Corrections, where she served time at both the California Institute for Women (CIW) and the Central California Womens Facility (CCWF).