C arl Fields was sentenced to prison when he was 21 years old. In 2012, he met Jerome Dillard, who would become one of the co-founders of EX-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO). Fields began following Dillard’s work in the community and his outreach efforts to people in prison. Fields was released after serving 16 years in prison, but his time showed him the deep injustices that run through the prison system. While he was incarcerated, his plan was to one day become a social worker. But he later decided on a different line of work after witnessing the positive impact of workers and volunteers with prison reform and support organizations. Fields is now an organizer for the Racine-Kenosha chapter of EXPO and credits the organization for assisting him during his transition from prison and allowing him to reach others now in similar positions. “There are roadblocks built into the system that complicate one’s life or completely slow them up,” Fields said. “I encountered that when I came home and it took me almost a year to get a job. While I was in prison, I followed all the steps that programs offered me. So in the end, I had dotted all my i’s and crossed all my t’s, yet I still couldn’t get a job or figure out why.” His physical disability prevented him from qualifying for many of the physically-demanding positions often offered to those formerly incarcerated. “And I couldn’t get a job that called for technical proficiency because they typically don’t want to work with people who have that scarlet letter on our jacket.”That left only a handful of jobs willing to consider bringing on Fields as an employee. Even then, he still had to work past the obstacle of having been disconnected from society for an extended time. “I was devastated. It was heartbreaking. After about 10 months, that washed over me. I was living through one of the reasons behind recidivism.”
“The term is ‘reentry,’ but there’s so much more to transitioning from incarceration than just being willing to do better.”
-Carl Fields
rights To life Restoring
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