“Homeless After Reentry Leads To Higher Recidivism Rates”
Ronnie K. Stephens
Interrogating Justice
April 20, 2021

One of my prison contacts

“After talking to about 20 inmates about re-entry, I have gathered that background checks for
housing and employment are one of the main issues. One guy was crippled because of the
heavy burden of child support and of course being a convicted felon didn’t help any either.

Out of the 20 I talked to, five of them were homeless after previous release and had a hard time
getting on their feet. The main reason in those cases were that they simply just didn’t have the
money to get ahead. Even working and saving as much as they could was still a task.

I asked, “If you could get a helping hand to get on your feet, how would you like to be helped?”
All five of them said that if they could’ve gotten help with the security deposit they would of had
a better  fighting chance.

I myself feel that the security deposit is probably the most crucial pivoting point for most newly
released inmates. If they could get a helping hand in that area i feel that re-integration back into
the community would be more successful for most.”

“Homeless After Reentry Leads To Higher Recidivism Rates”
Ronnie K. Stephens
Interrogating Justice
April 20, 2021