Barbed wire seen behind a fence at an Alabama prison. A formerly incarcerated man told a state commission Tuesday those coming out of prison need access to identification and work documents. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
A person who spent nearly four decades incarcerated within the Alabama Department of Corrections urged members of a state commission Tuesday to ensure that other people in state prisons have the resources to transition back when their sentences end.
Ronald McKeithen, reentry coordinator and advocate for Alabama Appleseed, asked the Reentry Alabama Commission to consider allowing people in prison to obtain critical documents and connect them to services before their release.
“The one thing we have to realize, we are dealing with different people, different individuals,” McKeithen said. “One key or one plan is not going to fit everybody. We have guys coming out with stress, who are traumatized (and have) health issues. One thing about Alabama is that you have many resources, the thing is finding them.”
Tuesday’s meeting was the commission’s second. At the previous meeting in August, members listened to researchers and work they were doing to identify barriers for those who are reentering society after spending years in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
McKeithen told commission members that newly-released people need documentation that others take for granted, such as identification and work documents.
“It would help us a great deal if an individual coming out of prison would come out with a social security card, birth certificate and ID,” McKeithen said. “When you come out of prison, you have to pay for ID, you have to pay for a birth certificate, and they don’t have any money.”
In some instances, McKeithen said, formerly incarcerated people lack proof of their work eligibility.
“A case in point, there was one guy who needed his immunization papers,” McKeithen said. “We got in touch with the prison. They were going to charge him for the papers. These are papers they were supposed to give him for free when he left. But because they didn’t give it to him, he’s not only got to pay for the papers, but he also has to pay for the fine — and he doesn’t have any money.”
McKeithen also spoke of connecting people to services. Health care and mental health are key issues for people who must navigate reentry. McKeithen described one person who needed to obtain medication but was released without access to Medicaid.
“Because he didn’t have Medicaid, they were going to charge him $700 for his medication,” he said. “He could not go to his shelter, this particular shelter, unless he had this particular medication, so he was living out on the street because he could not afford his medication.”
McKeithen’s testimony sparked different discussions among members of the committee.
“I think what I hear you are saying is, and I have heard other people say this, ‘Yes, it may be happening here and here, but it is not happening uniformly,’” said Cam Ward, director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, and chair of the Reentry Commission.
Peer support, especially among those who have served time in prison, could also help address some people’s needs, particularly those dealing with emotional issues.
“It is such an amazing piece of the justice system that I think a lot of people do not realize how important that is,” said Rebecca Bensema, the assistant director for reentry with the Alabama Bureau of Pardons Paroles. “It is very different for me to go in (prison) and speak to someone than it is for Ronald to go in and speak to someone.”
SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.