WNPR's Series On Life After Prison

It's pretty straightforward.  WNPR heard the state's commissioner of correction tell lawmakers that the number of people leaving prison on programs like prison and parole went up by 23 percent in 2009.  And that got us thinking.  And that thinking led to this.

First In A Series: Life After Parole

Dartanyon Blake is a man who got in trouble as a boy, and who hasn’t been able to get out.  He’s 37 years old and has spent much of the past 20 years in jail for selling drugs and robbing people. He was released from prison last fall after a parole violation following a drug arrest.   Now, he’s in a Hartford-area halfway house, taking classes, looking for work, and gearing up to go home - back to where his family is.  Back to where he’s sold drugs.

Second In A Series: Life After Parole

Parole Officer Anthony Williams sits at his desk in a building you wouldn’t notice unless you had to. Outside his window is the Connecticut Convention Center, on his desk is a cardboard box filled with drug tests.  And over his shoulder, a sign hangs on the wall with a little boat in a lot of blue water.

Third In A Series: Life After Parole

Just because you've got a ten year prison sentence doesn't mean you'll spend ten years in prison.  For a lot of reasons, people leave prison on parole each year and serve the rest of their sentences in the communities.  On one day in Hartford, parolees crowd a lobby, waiting for their turn to meet with their parole officers.  This is one of Officer Anthony Williams’ reporting days, when men come to his office to talk about what got them there and what comes next.