Women like Ruby Welch and Cynetra Freeman are turning their pain into power by helping formerly incarcerated individuals make the most of their second chance.
After 13 years behind bars for a crime that he did not commit, Charles “C.J.” Rice finally reentered society as a free man on March 18, 2024. While his fight for justice has come to an end, in some ways his fight for freedom is only just beginning.
Anyone who has personally experienced our criminal legal system knows that freedom is not as simple as just being released. Leaving the confines of the prison walls does not eliminate barriers. In fact, the world they enter into may be far more daunting than the one they knew before. These individuals need and deserve more than a couple of dollars and a one-way bus ticket to overcome these difficulties.
Despite only being about 5 percent of the global population, the U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country, making up more than 20 percent of the world’s entire prison population. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, we see more than 600,000 people released from U.S. prisons each year. This April, Second Chance Month, is an opportunity for us to bring to light the difficulties for those seeking a successful return back to society.
The everyday struggles of life multiply ten-fold for formerly incarcerated individuals once released. These barriers can include revoked voting rights, limited access to education, lack of job opportunities and mental health challenges. Successfully addressing these challenges is critical for improving outcomes and reducing recidivism, which affects more than two-thirds of formerly incarcerated individuals within three years of their release.
For these reasons and many more, criminal justice advocate Ruby Welch is working to ensure that the opportunity for a second chance awaits everyone on the other side. Welch spent seven years behind bars in Arkansas and now uses her second chance story to inspire others about the possibilities for life after prison.
I did seven years, six months and five days on a 30-year sentence and I’m still not free.
Ruby Welch
Incarcerated women in particular face unique challenges compared to their male counterparts, and their rate of entry has accelerated at twice the pace of men over the past three decades. Limited access to feminine hygiene products or being placed in solitary confinement during pregnancy can contribute to significant—sometimes fatal—health problems that are often left unaddressed.
“I am not an eternal criminal,” Welch said in the Oscar-nominated documentary, The Barber of Little Rock. “I did seven years, six months and five days on a 30-year sentence and I’m still not free. Most incarcerated people, especially those with longer sentences, come out with no money and are sometimes separated from strong support systems. People find themselves struggling to obtain basic essentials like toothbrushes, toothpaste and a place to lay their heads at night.”
Welch was instrumental in passing legislation in her home state of Arkansas and 14 other states, ultimately helping to improve the lives of more than 36,000 incarcerated women.
Cynetra Freeman is working with advocates like Welch to advance criminal justice reform policies in Mississippi to improve reentry outcomes and improve public safety. Freeman faced a three-year sentence for drug trafficking in 2010 and struggled for a year with reentering society once her case was resolved. Today, Freedom is the founder of Mississippi Center for Reentry, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated individuals rebuild their lives.
“After getting out of jail, the struggle of being able to reenter and trying to regain entrance into society made me want to start Mississippi Reentry,” said Freeman.
Completing your sentence should come with a second chance, not a second sentence.
Cynetra Freeman
She uses her experience to administer a people-first tailored plan for each client that goes through her program. In her advocacy efforts, Freeman illuminates how the parole system after being released is yet another heavy barrier to successful reintegration into society.
“Whether you have a six-month parole sentence or a lifetime of parole, the individual has to pay monthly parole fees on top of fines and regular living expenses, all while trying to survive day-to-day. Completing your sentence should come with a second chance, not a second sentence,” said Freeman.
These women are turning their pain into power by helping formerly incarcerated individuals make the most of their second chance—but they can’t do it alone. We need a holistic approach from government, nonprofits and the private sector that centers the challenges that formerly incarcerated people face. With DEI programs under attack across the country, now more than ever we need companies like Indeed who are using inclusive hiring practices like skills-based recruiting and fair chance hiring to help equip and support formerly incarcerated individuals in securing employment after reentry.
We also need more policies that create pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals to gain employment, especially as the green economy rapidly grows. The 2008 Second Chance Act and its reauthorization in 2018 granted up to $165 million in federal grants to state, local and tribal government agencies and nonprofits to fund initiatives that assist those released from prisons and jails. These types of policies and programs support successful reentry while strengthening the economy, reducing recidivism, and increasing public safety.
If we want to see people do better, we must continue to build systems that encourage and incentivize people to do better. To do that, we need the people closest to the problem at the center of our solutions.
Both the justice team and empathy network that Ruby Welch and Cynetra Freeman represent are 100 percent justice-impacted—meaning they themselves or a direct member of their family have experienced our criminal legal system. Their work is not only fueled by statistics, but by lived experience. These are the voices that need to be uplifted and pushed to the forefront so that everyone can have an opportunity at a second chance.
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