Supporting the Formerly Incarcerated: A Conversation with Rod Nunn

Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Social Justice and How We Get Free

Roderick Nunn

The United States has approximately 5% of the world's population but accounts for about 25% of those incarcerated. The statistics on
re-incarceration are, honestly, awful.

We know what happens when people are released from prison with no structure in place to help them successfully reenter society. How might it be different if instead of just letting people out and leaving them on their own we had systems in place that helped them find their way?

Well, Concordance Academy does exactly that and Rod Nunn, Executive Vice President, Head of Education and Employment, joins me to talk about the ways in which our system is failing the formerly incarcerated and how we can fix this broken system.

The costs of failing in this arena are often hidden from view for many of us but they are real and we all pay the price, if in no other way than financially, when the system fails.

This conversation inspired me to educate myself and to do my part, as we as a country grapple with our criminal justice system, to recognize that, for former felons, incarceration isn't the end of the story. The decisions that we, as a community make, can dramatically impact how the story plays out.

Rod's 3 Action Steps
1) Share the message in your circles of influence that individuals with criminal records, these justice involved adults that we're talking about, they do in fact, become good high performing employees in the workplace, solid, productive citizens.
2) Stay informed with what's happening in public policy in your state, in your community. I would point you to the prison policy initiative as a great resource for that.
3) Visit Concordance Academy, to learn more about us. In particular our first chance campaign, which is a national campaign that is allowing us the ability to expand what we do and other places around the country. Our goal is to be in 10 cities by 2025.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.