Returned Citizens

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.

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.

Kamisha Thomas is a filmmaker, writer, director, co-founder of the Returning Artists Guild in Columbus and a returned citizen. Kamisha was a filmmaker before she went to prison, but finished her short film while she was inside. There were a lot of projects in prison, she says, that helped her continue her filmmaking.

Today on ReEntry Stories we meet Azizi Carter, the third in our series about women who took advantage of training opportunities in prison and made it a stepping stone to a new life.

In our latest series of ReEntry Stories, we hear about the lives of four formerly incarcerated women. They all took advantage of an educational program or some kind of skill building project while they were in prison, and for all of them, it was a good first step.Today we meet Amber Richards. Series producer Mary Evans has known her for many years because they were incarcerated at the same institution. While inside, Amber chose to focus her life on recovery from drug addiction. And when she got out, she got involved with an organization called Field of Hope in Gallia County.

More than 22,000 people are released from prison every year in Ohio, and as re-entering citizens, they face a lot of challenges. This week on WYSO we begin a new series of ReEntry Stories and hear about the lives of four formerly incarcerated women. They all took advantage of an educational program or some kind of skill building project while they were in prison, and for all of them, it was a good first step.

Returned citizen Afton McClain is an entrepreneur and owner of Afton’s Beauty Pod in Dayton. She’s been out of prison for 3 years and recently voted for the first time in her life for a candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

Savon Davis is a songwriter and music producer from Dayton. He's been out of prison under a year and has successfully monetized his content by teaching himself social media management.

Tara Casto has been out of prison for three years and is raising a multiracial family. As she told ReEntry Stories producer Mary Evans, the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement is having a big impact on her life.