Incarceration, Inequality, and Improving Outcomes with COSA

Join COSA on Tuesday, January 11 at 10am-11am to discuss this important issue.

ZOOM details are HERE.

Our presenters will share information on these aspects of incarceration, how collaboration improves outcomes, and ways to break the cycle of reincarceration.

Nafeeza Castro, Community Action’s Reentry Workforce Development Coordinator, on recidivism and the role racial and socioeconomic factors play in this problem. With over 600,000 individuals released from prison annually, three-quarters are rearrested within five years of release. Preparation, employment, educational/vocational assistance, addiction recovery and other resources lessen recidivism, but there remain significant barriers that may lead to reincarceration. The criminal justice system, diversion programs, jails and community organizations must work together to create conditions for successful reentry.

Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Becky Michaels, director of community prosecution projects, on these local initiatives to bring greater equity: Restorative Justice, partnering the NWDA with local police departments and Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ) to expand restorative justice in the district; Equity in Prosecution, examining bail, sentencing, potential declination of charges, and other areas in which prosecutors exercise discretion; Conviction Integrity, reviewing claims of wrongful conviction based on claims of innocence or procedural error; Diversion programs that direct folks out of the court system.

Alyssa Golden, staff attorney at Community Legal Aid, will discuss options for civil legal assistance to people facing barriers to housing and employment because of criminal records issues as well as CORI (criminal offender record information) sealing and expungement and options for appealing CORI-based denials of public and subsidized housing.