Accounts of how mass incarceration has affected individuals, their families and their communities will be a major focus at a Feb. 27 community forum at First Congregational Church, 310 Broadway St., in Eau Claire.
The free program will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will include refreshments. Doors will open at 5 p.m.
The forum is sponsored by the local EXPO (Ex-Prisoners Organizing) group and the criminal justice reform team of JONAH (Joining Our Neighbors Advancing Hope), a faith-based Chippewa Valley group concerned with social justice issues.
EXPO is affiliated with ROC (Restore Our Communities) Wisconsin, which is dedicated to ending the negative impact of mass incarceration on individuals and communities and restoring balance, fiscal discipline and humane priorities to the state’s criminal justice system. Like JONAH, it is interested in increasing the number of treatment alternatives to incarceration, according to its website.
At the forum, local EXPO members will share stories of how they first became involved with the criminal justice system. They will also talk about their experiences when they were re-entering the community – both what worked for them and what didn’t.
Issues that will be discussed during the evening include funding for treatment courts, housing barriers faced by ex-prisoners and strict guidelines for expungement of criminal records. The second half of the forum will include small group discussions of the issues where the attendees will be able to ask direct questions of both EXPO members and members of JONAH’s criminal justice reform team.
The program will also include discussions of possible alternatives to mass incarceration and of ways to address these issues more effectively in the Chippewa Valley and throughout the state.
EXPO believes that addiction, incarceration and the subsequent barriers to reentry are community problems, according to an online newsletter from JONAH.
Further information is available from Sarah Ferber at sarahferberexpo@gmail.com or by calling 715-450-3893.