Finding employment after incarceration can be challenging, especially for people returning to life outside prison without a strong support system.
A new season of WYSO's ReEntry Stories explores the experiences of people returning to their communities and the role employment and community connections play in rebuilding their lives.
ReEntry Stories began with Community Voices producer Mary Evans, who shared the stories of people returning to their communities after incarceration. Evans died in June 2025.
Now, two of Evans’ friends, Heidi Arnold and Courtney Alspaugh, are carrying the series forward. Both have spent years advocating for people returning home after incarceration. They also knew Evans and understood how deeply she cared about the work.
The following transcript is lightly edited for length and clarity.
Heidi Arnold: I got involved in this because I was teaching college courses inside the prison, and I couldn’t let go of the people I was meeting. They were smart, resourceful people. They were funny, and many of them were educated. I wasn’t exactly like them, but I felt very connected to them, and I still do. That’s just the kind of person I am when I meet people. I didn’t want to let go, so I followed a lot of people when they came home. That made me a bridge because I was on the inside some days and on the outside other days. In the community today, I think that’s what I’m known for: being the bridge.
Courtney, what first brought you into the returned citizen community?
Courtney Alspaugh: Well, I was released from prison, and I had to just jump back into things. So I started out by going to a halfway house. At first, I didn’t want to be part of the community because I wasn’t connecting with a lot of people. I wasn’t even accepting the fact that I had to be released to a halfway house. I was really mad about that because I expected to go straight home.
Then I started wanting to do more things and meet new people. Prison was my life, and it’s still a part of my life. That’s where I am with it today. It’s still part of my life, and it’s still part of the community, even though I live out here in this community. So I try to keep them both connected.
What do you think that Mary Evans understood about this kind of work?
Arnold: Well, I think Mary was baptized by fire because, like you, Mary came out of prison and was like, “Well, I gotta do it to make it, you know?” She was awarded a scholarship while she was still incarcerated, knowing she was going to come out and go to college. The college community surrounded her with support in all sorts of ways.
Alspaugh: I remember meeting Mary. She had this bag of stuff and this computer. She was like, “I was here, and I was here, and I was doing this and this,” and she had it together. Then I kept hearing her name from the people I speak to in the prison. Mary was doing so many great things for the community, all over.
Arnold: I think she would be really proud that we’re continuing ReEntry Stories. I know she would. We talked about it many, many times. I was there for the first meeting with WYSO when we brought people together to interview. She called me and said, “I need you. I need to bring some people.” I think Mary understood that it took a village to make something work. It took a village to make Mary work and to help her get out of this deficit that you’re in when you get out of prison.
Alspaugh: Why did you want to be a part of this series?
Arnold: I started teaching on the inside in 2011, and I get emotional thinking about people whose potential I know, who are out here scrapping just to stay alive. Employment is important to me because these are people I know. They’re not given a chance.
Alspaugh: I want everyone in the community to hear and listen and gain a better understanding. We’re just people trying to get jobs. We have lives, and we have families. Just don’t judge us for it. You know, we made a mistake, but we can change.
Support for ReEntry Stories comes from Sinclair Community College and Lion Apparel, and is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.
