Reentry

WYSO remembers Mary Evans, the pioneering journalist who created "Reentry Stories." This memorial tribute celebrates her life and highlights her important work in Ohio.

Robert McLendon spent two decades in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He says the Ohio Innocence Project and 'The Columbus Dispatch' paved the way for his release.

Hear the story of Nancy Smith, a bus driver from Ohio who was wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing children in her care. Smith served more than 15 years in prison.

Robert McLendon spent two decades in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He says The Ohio Innocence Project and 'The Columbus Dispatch' paved the way for his release.

Nancy Smith is a former bus driver from Lorain, Ohio, who was wrongfully charged with sexually abusing children in her care. She served more than 15 years in prison.

"It's difficult work emotionally," said Tara Rosnell, chair of the Ohio Innocence Project Board of Advocates. Listen to the second part of her interview with Mary Evans.

Community Voices Producers Truth Garrett and Mary Evans have a conversation about the stigmatization of the phrase "second chance" in the incarceration system-impacted community.

Montgomery County held a reverse career fair on Wednesday to help people returning from prison reintegrate into society and find steady employment.

Research suggests access to public health insurance can help curb recidivism. Reentry organizations in Missouri are working to enroll people in Medicaid after they leave prison to keep them from coming back.

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.