“A lot of our clients — especially the folks that we’re working with that are coming right out of prison — what they really want is a fresh start,” Wagner said. “They had their time in incarceration to think about their mistakes and to think about what they want out of their future, and oftentimes they’re coming out excited to having this new future only then to experience all the barriers.”
Wagner said that in Clark County, about 300 residents reenter society from prison each year. She said 32.5% of people released from prison go back within three years.
One out of three Ohioans has a criminal record, and one out of 11 Ohioans have a felony record, Wagner said.
Reentering society
Ex-offenders find it difficult to retransition to society after their release, even more so if they were in prison for several years, Wagner said.
This is especially difficult when non-homeowners with criminal records try to find a rental house or apartment. Wagner said of 26 rental properties that the Department of Reentry reached out to, only two said they would rent to ex-offenders with nonviolent criminal histories a certain period of time ago, with one of those having a high rent and the other being a 55 and older community.
None of the properties the Department of Reentry contacted will rent to sex offenders, Wagner said, and sex offenders are not allowed to stay at any of the local homeless shelters.
“What does that mean for our community? Well it means sex offenders are homeless; you don’t know where they’re living,” Wagner said. “They could be living in the park. A lot of them are living in parks.”
To help people in these situations find housing, the Department of Reentry typically first tries to get them placed in Sheltered Inc.’s emergency housing, Wagner said. If they are ineligible for that, they look into eligibility for housing for those who received mental health treatment in prison.
If that doesn’t work out, they try income-based housing options, but people with certain convictions are ineligible, Wagner said. For those people, they look into renting through a landlord but it’s difficult to find one who will accept those with violent or sex offenses.
Wagner said many offenses are classified as violent and people with a history of substance abuse disorder who commit crimes often were convicted of theft or burglary related to that addiction.
“Maybe there’s a theft or a burglary; those become violent crime,” Wagner said. “But it’s been five years and their addiction is under control and they’ve started a new life, but those prior charges are still weighing over them and blocking their access to certain things.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Justice-impacted individuals also fight against deeply held stigmas, often being viewed as bad people rather than someone who made a mistake or was in a bad situation, she said.
“If it’s been 10 years since the conviction ... and there’s been no other convictions since then, then that would be a good time to give them a chance and we don’t necessarily see that happening,” Wagner said.
Casey Rollins, Springfield Saint Vincent de Paul executive director, said that when people have nowhere to go, they often go to Saint Vincent de Paul for help, but all that can be done for them is moving them to the Dayton chapter of the nonprofit. But many are not allowed to move cities as a condition of their community control or post release control, so they are left with no options.
“They’re not eligible for anything in Springfield; what are we supposed to do with these people?” Rollins said.
Some end up sleeping on friends’ couches, floors, in their cars, outside or anywhere they can shelter from the elements, Wagner said.
People with this kind of criminal record and little to no resources to help them may end up committing more crimes and lapsing into bad behaviors, Wagner said.
Challenges with rent affordability
If a landlord agrees to rent to an ex-offender, that person still has to come up with rent money, which can be a huge barrier.
One woman, who spoke to the Springfield News-Sun on the condition of anonymity, said her theft and fraud convictions changed the path of her life, and she now lives in her car while her two kids, 9 and 11, stay with a family member.
“It’s just driving me up a wall because I have never not had my children with me,” she said. “It’s really frustrating and it’s frustrating to not be able to sit down and eat dinner together, have that time together. It’s not going to get better until I find a place to live.”
Her convictions, related to crimes she committed 10 years ago when she was 19, led to a two-year jail sentence and post-release control until 2025, she said. Her post-release control could be commuted if she paid off a $10,000 restitution, but she cannot afford that on her warehouse job’s salary.
“Had I never got in trouble, my whole path in life would have been different,” she said.
She said she thinks she wouldn’t have had to take some previous jobs that put her in difficult financial positions, causing her to rely on credit. This negatively impacted her credit score.
Every day is “chaos” as the woman, 29, navigates finding a safe and legal place to park in order to sleep, taking her kids to and from school, getting ready for work, getting her boyfriend who is also experiencing homelessness to his job and feeding herself, having nowhere to store food, she said.
She said she lives paycheck-to-paycheck with all those expenses and more, and for a long time, having another non-mobile place to live seemed impossible. Since starting to work with the Department of Reentry about a month ago, she said she has made “really good progress” toward getting out of her car.
“I haven’t been quite this low before, but I have been in bad spots and I don’t ever give up for a reason,” she said. “I know from experience it does pay off in the end to keep pushing.”
Saint Vincent de Paul can provide food, clothing, guidance and rental and utility assistance to people in need, Rollins said.
“None of this is our fault, but it’s all our problem,” Rollins said.
About the Author