The gunshot-detection microphones used by the Dayton Police Department dispatched officers to West Dayton over 2,200 times over the last two years.

Everyone incarcerated in Ohio’s prisons can be classified in one of two groups – those who are commonly referred to as “old law inmates” and those known as “new law inmates.” The dividing line is July 1, 1996. That’s when Ohio changed the parole board system.

Growing up, Wesley Dirmeyer read more than a lot of his friends, but he started living and breathing books once he went to prison. In the five and a half years he was incarcerated at Lake Erie Correctional Institution, he estimates he read at least 1,000 books — many of them checked out of the prison library, where he also worked. Reading, in turn, pushed him toward writing.

Nearly 1 million residents of the state have felony convictions. For our Justice Matters series, we speak with some of them who have been living with the consequences, while we identify some calls for change.

For Da'Jon Carouthers, the biggest contrast between free life and incarcerated life is the noise. "It's never really quiet," Carouthers said. "Even at night when you're sleeping, you've got two people to your right, two people to your left — you have no space." He began writing poetry and fiction as a way of creating that space for himself.

Ohio lawmakers say they want to reform the criminal justice system while continuing to introduce bills that enhance penalties and create new offenses.

Before Jonathan Young began writing poetry through the ID13 Prison Literacy Project, he spent a long time trying to "fit in" with others around him.

This story is part of a series called Poetic Reentry, featuring the voices of formerly incarcerated men reading poetry they wrote in prison and talking about their lives since release. Please visit the main page for the series at http://www.ideastream.org/poeticreentry. Cardell Belfoure had been writing poetry for several years before joining the ID13 Prison Literacy Project while incarcerated at Grafton Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio.

Although bipartisanship isn't seen frequently these days, there seems to be some agreement from both sides of the aisle on the need to reform bail in Ohio.

Over the past few years, police departments across the country have grappled with what to do when a video in their possession captures the use of deadly force by a police officer.