The 98% - Life After Prison
This podcast is dedicated to the 98% of people incarcerated in North Carolina who will eventually be released from prison back into their communities, often with few, if any resources. Through the voices of people in transition and those who support them, we explore hurdles and life long barriers many justice-involved people confront whether getting a drivers license, finding housing, or trying to find a job. We examine issues like substance use disorder and mental health that plague this population and ask what we as a society can do to support the formerly incarcerated and reduce recidivism.
In 2023, Judy Van Wyk and April Barber partnered to create a podcast about the many issues people face when transitioning from prison. Van Wyk is a producer and criminal justice advocate. April Barber received a life sentence when she was 15. After more than 31 years, she had her sentence commuted by Governor Cooper. She was released March 24, 2022.
ART WORK BY JOHN HARDIN
Episodes
43 episodes
Bonus Series Part 2: TROSA - Reclaiming Lives Through Community
In Part Two of our series we meet two TROSA graduates, who have completed the two-year program treatment program. Dymont Spellman and Kristie Foy come from quite different backgrounds and found their way into addiction through different p...
Bonus Series Part 1: TROSA - Reclaiming Lives Through Community
TROSA is an evidence-based, peer-driven treatment program for substance use disorder in Durham, North Carolina. Based on the concept of a therapeutic community, Trosa's two-year program provides comprehensive treatment, vocational ...
BONUS EPISODE: The Power of Love
Jefradian Stafford wants you to know he's not the same man who, a decade ago, lost everything to his opioid addiction and found himself in prison. In prison, he kicked his addiction. And after he got out, a second chance employer hi...
On a Mission with a Purpose: April's Advocacy
In this installment of her series, April talks about the latest advocacy initiatives she's become involved with. The Coalition of Black Forensic Peer Support Specialists supports Black people adversely impacted by the justice system. &nb...
Arise for Women: Part Three
Arise Collective is one of those rare organizations that provides housing for women transitioning from prison. But that's just the beginning. Arise provides emotional support, teaches life skills needed to become independent and, a...
Arise for Women: Part Two
In Part Two of our Arise for Women series, we meet two women who are in the Arise program. Each one has children and each one has done prison time for offenses related to substance use disorder. They've come forward to tell their s...
Arise for Women: Part One
While the female incarceration rate in North Carolina continues to rise at an alarming rate, there's precious little reentry support available for women. Arise Collective in Raleigh aims to change that by providing not just housing, but ...
The Incarceration to Homeless Pipeline
In 2024, one of four people in North Carolina’s prisons were released to homelessness. On the other end, people who lose their housing because of poverty or addiction often find themselves in jail. And the cycle continues.
The Ronnie Harris Story
Ronnie Harris is a natural born storyteller. So when he was encouraged to document his 33-years in prison, he sat down and wrote a memoir. Listen to his story and discover why, for all the violence and brutality, he considers the r...
Parent Day: A Day to Connect
Some 20,000 children in North Carolina have a parent who’s incarcerated. And yet, these young people often remain invisible in the eyes of society. That’s why the work that Melissa Radcliff does to connect children with their incarcerate...
Voices from the Box: Stories of Solitary and the Campaign to End It
The final episode of our season takes you deep inside the fight to end one of America's most disturbing prison practices: solitary confinement. When Craig Waleed spent 30 days in "the box," he began hallucinating and questioning his existence. ...
On a Mission with a Purpose: April interviews Kwame Teague
Kwame Teague- better known as Dutch - has become an award winning, critically acclaimed author while serving a life sentence for a crime he claims he didn’t commit. While in prison, Mr. Teague has helped create a new genre of literature c...
On a Mission with a Purpose: April interviews Kenneth Mees
In Episode 5 of April's series, On a Mission with a Purpose, she talks to a man who has experienced incarceration from both sides. As a young man, he worked as a Corrections Officer in a youth detention center in Butner, North Carolina. &...
BONUS EPISODE: At Both Ends of the Leash
We go behind the walls of Orange Correctional Center in Hillsborough, NC to attend a graduation ceremony for a group of therapy dogs trained by residents of the prison. The non profit, EENP - Ears, Eyes, Nose and Paws - teaches incarcerat...
Unlocking the Box
In our second episode examining the use of solitary confinement, we meet two people on a mission to end the use of prolonged solitary confinement in our nation's prisons. From personal experience, Craig Waleed understands the psychologic...
Inside the Box
Meet Drew Doll and Daquan Peters, both survivors of solitary confinement, and both devoted to seeing the practice banned in US prisons. Hear their stories and learn why the Mandela Rules, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, declar...
On a Mission with a Purpose: Post Incarceration Syndrome
April riffs on the social, emotional, and psychological difficulties caused by the ongoing trauma of prison. She also shares some of the stubborn habits that have followed her home from her 31 years inside.
Brian Scott - Leading with Lived Experience
As a young man Brian Scott saw people in terms of what they could do for him. His behavior eventually led to a 20-year prison sentence. In the four years since his release, Brian's become a leader in North Carolina's reentry movemen...
Falling Down
It's one thing to get out of prison. It's quite another to stay out. More than 40% of returning citizens in North Carolina end up back in prison within the first two years. In this episode, we explore the reasons so many peop...
Reflections of a Prison Chaplain
Meet Josh LeRoy, father, husband, and former prison chaplain. Josh spent roughly ten years pastoring to men in minimum security. He says it's the most fun he's ever had in any job. Learn what it was like to arrive at a new p...
Thirty-Three Years on Hearsay
At the age of 21, Randolph Wilson was sentenced to life in prison in a case built entirely on hearsay. Three co-defendants, who testified against him, later recanted their testimony saying they'd been coerced by the local sheriff. A...
On a Mission with a Purpose: April interviews a man on death row.
Lyle May received a death sentence in 1999. Since that time, he's found God, gotten sober, and has devoted himself to a life of scholarship and reflection. This is Episode 3 of April's special series On a Mission with...
Providing a Second Chance
Formerly incarcerated people face a number of barriers as they try to rebuild their lives after prison. One big one is employment. In this episode, we learn about one company that's made a commitment to providing a second chance and...
It's Expensive to Break the Law
Over the past 20 years, North Carolina’s Legislature has increased court and criminal fees by 400 percent. A good percentage of that money is disbursed to the state’s General Fund, not allocated to the courts, which remain grossly underf...