My name is Ronald W. Pierce and I was incarcerated for more than three decades. I moved in with my fiancée, Karen, upon returning home. Her house sits on the property of a corporate mobile park organization. The organization required that I fill an application and complete a background check. Because I had a conviction, I was told I could not live in my fiancée’s home. I was in dire straits. Here I was, paroled to her home, and a corporation was demanding that I move out immediately. They threatened to start proceedings to evict Karen —even though she owned her house. Through the New Jersey Prison Reentry program, I was able to secure a residence and protect Karen from losing her home. The funds supplied two months’ worth of rent, which gave me time to secure a part-time job and allowed me to focus on my studies. 

Without this support, I may have been another recidivism statistic. Homelessness is a violation of parole conditions. The Prison Reentry program saved me from returning to prison. As a result of the assistance I received, I completed my semester with a 4.0 GPA. 

 I am currently on schedule to receive my Bachelor’s degree in June 2018. I have written a seven-article series about my experience on Truthdig. I have written two chapters on prisonization and reentry for V.B. Worley and R.M. Worley (Eds), Lockdown Nation: An Encyclopedia of Controversies and Trends in American Prisons. I am currently a legal intern for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice as well as a mentor at the Parole to College Program. 

Current reentry programs offered by NJ STEP and the Rutgers Financial Aid office are not suited for dispensing safety net grants on short notice. That’s why the New Jersey Reentry Program is essential for a successful transition from prison to higher education. It not only provides emergency financial support but also mentoring services to prospective and continuing students.

The Second Presbyterian is located in a poor urban community in transition. Mass incarceration is a common denominator in our neighborhood. It is vital that we have a project like the New Jersey Reentry Program, which is designed to build a community for New Jersey’s prisoners, newly released prisoners, and their families. The program provides education, advocacy, worship, financial assistance, counseling and other critical support in times of transition. The goal is to nurture ties between the incarcerated and their loved ones, to raise their educational levels, to provide effective support for those who come out of prison, and for those who are attempting to hold families together without fathers, brothers, mothers, sons and daughters. 

Rev. Chris Hedges has experiences within the system and a national following in his writing on the subject. He is also well-connected with many prisoners, prison rights advocates, and their families.  We minister to a population that remains neglected and forgotten by building a transforming community around an issue of vital concern to those many in this region.