February’s Omaha Table Talk, hosted by University of Nebraska-Omaha and with a pilot launch of a dual event in Lincoln, focused on re-entry into society for the justice impacted. Hosted by the Omaha Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), this panel was run by Shakur Abdullah, Senior Restorative Justice Trainer at the Community Justice Center as well as Restorative Justice Coordinator at Creighton University. The panel consisted of Jasmine Harris, the Public Policy and Advocacy Director at RISE; Aaron Pettis, an In-Prison Program Associate with RISE; and Jerrold McLeod, the Outreach Coordinator and Facilitator with Omaha AVP.

The panel began with opening up about their experiences with the Nebraska prison system. Abdullah, the moderator, had spent 41 years in prison, 2 of which he was on death row. McLeod was 25-to-life as a juvenile offender, while Pettis spent 17 years in jail with two children at home. Harris was never in jail herself, however her father and brother were both incarcerated when she was a child, giving her the unique perspective of what life is like for those left behind.

They spoke of the statistics in our country when it comes to incarceration. The United States currently has the highest incarceration rates in the world. Numbers compared in 2021 by the Prison Policy Initiative found that the United States has an incarceration rate of 664 incarcerated per 100,000 people. The next closest would be the United Kingdom with 129.

“The United States is the most incarcerated spot, anywhere in existence, ever. 25% of the world’s prison population is in the United States…that’s roughly 10 million people,” explained Abdullah. “Numerically, that breaks down to 2.3 million people are confined in a facility, a jail or a prison; there are another 6-7 million people that are under some form of supervision -probation, parole, convicted of a felony but not confined to a facility. Those numbers represent 5% of the world’s population.” 

Nebraska alone has an incarceration rate of 601 people per 100,000, putting us 31st out of all 50 states (with the highest being Louisiana with 2,094 people per 100,000, well above the national average). 

“Within 1 year, 44% of people recidivate [return to prison]. In 3 years, the number goes up to 68%. In 5 years, roughly 77% of people released recidivate,” said Abdullah. He used these numbers to pivot the talk towards re-entry, and the steps that he felt were necessary to make it so that people have a better chance once they are released from prison.

He quoted an African proverb, “an unembraced child will burn the village down to feel its warmth”, and asked the panelists what it made them think of, and if it had any correlation to their own story.

McLeod agreed there was definite correlation, and “as a returning citizen to society, here is the campfire and everyone and everyone who has been here a long time, and I’ve been on the outside trying to get back to the fire…trying to feel that same love, that care and compassion of the community.”

Harris spoke on community, “we tell people who go into prison, ‘when you’re done, go home and be a productive member of society.’ But what does that mean if you’re not allowed to be a productive member, if you’re not allowed to contribute, if you’re not allowed to participate? People who feel like they belong are more apt to build something up than tear it down. So if I don’t feel like I belong, if I’m ostracized, why in the heck am I going to try to contribute where you’re pushing me out and to the wayside anyway?” She commented that she feels this also relates to how people get into the circumstances that lead to them in jail in the first place, pointing out many young people join gangs in the first place “because they found a sense of belonging someplace”.

For Pettis, he thought of how he personally experienced returning to the community after prison. He had returned to prison after his first jail sentence, and said “not only did it feel like I had not been embraced, it felt like I was being chased back behind the wall. I wasn’t given the skills while inside to feel the embrace of society, I wasn’t given the skills to find a job, to manage relationships with my family, to manage relationships with my community. I immediately was released and felt ostracized, and someone was stationed around me to make sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” He said that every day felt like a reminder that he wasn’t “one of them”.

The panel spoke on the many issues that people leaving incarceration face, such as mental health issues and a lack of skills that will help them once they return to society. Pettis spoke on the first time he tried to go grocery shopping after being in jail and having a panic attack being in such a crowded place with so many choices. Many commented that mental health is often a large issue, and that there are few tools in place to help inmates in jail, or when they leave, to manage their care.

The Table Talk was a call to action for more legislation to be put in place to help those in jail and leaving it to be able to re-enter society with the help and dignity that they deserve, and to remember that they are people deserving of being treated with care.