The work of A New Way of Life Reentry Project takes place within a context of statewide and national crisis, with a criminal justice system imprisons masses of adults and young people; releases them with little or no support; bars them from opportunities for housing, employment and civic engagement; and ultimately returns many of them to prison.

• Mass Incarceration. An estimated 2.3 million adults are currently incarcerated in America, according to a 2008 study by the Pew Center on the States. If people on parole and/or probation are included, the total number in the criminal justice system nationwide more than triples – to approximately 7.2 million. In addition, an estimated thirty million people in the U.S. have felony convictions. Seventeen million people have served time in jails and prisons; and three million are expected be released from prison over the next five years.
• Disproportionate Regional Impact of Reentry. Los Angeles County has the single largest reentry population in United States. In 2001, more than one of out five (23%) of the country’s recently released prisoners lived in California, even though the state represents only 11 to 12% of the total U.S. population. The raw numbers are staggering: each year 45,000 people released from California prisons return to Los Angeles neighborhoods. There are also many indications that South L.A. communities, such as Watts, Inglewood and Compton, host a disproportionate share of the area’s reentry population.
• Employment: The Most Serious Barrier to Reentry. Formerly-incarcerated people routinely face systematic discrimination long after their release. Many find it extremely difficult to secure basic necessities such as permanent housing, access to public resources and assistance—and most critically, jobs. Securing steady, living wage employment is a serious and pervasive challenge for people with past convictions. Nationally, the unemployment rate among formerly-incarcerated people is estimated to be 65% to 70%. In California, employment discrimination against this population is widespread. A study by the Institute for Research on Poverty found that only 20% of employers in Los Angeles would consider hiring someone with a past conviction.
• The Recidivism Crisis. Barriers to employment and successful re-integration into the community are so deeply entrenched and hard to combat that California has developed an enormous, overwhelming recidivism crisis. More than two-thirds of our state’s parolees are returned to prison within three years of release; and 39% of these re-incarcerations are due to technical parole violations rather than new crimes.