'Is Life After Incarceration Just Another Prison?'

Join The Charlotte Post and the Pulitzer Center for a conversation on life after incarceration on Thursday, February 24, at 6:30pm EST. The virtual forum is titled "Is Life After Incarceration Just Another Prison?" and will center on the experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals, how they reenter society, and the challenges they overcome.

For months, The Charlotte Post, with the support of a Pulitzer Center grant, extensively reported on the hurdles faced by formerly incarcerated individuals, from education opportunities to job hunting. African Americans, who are incarcerated at numbers disproportionate to other groups, are those who primarily face these hurdles. Often, the barriers they meet during the reentry process prevent long-term opportunities for housing, employment, and education security.

This forum will not only seek to address these hurdles and barriers but also to explore a way forward. Panelists will talk about actions that can be taken by legislators, educators, and activists. This panel is part of an upcoming seminar series by Black Lives Matter Charlotte, an educational initiative of The Charlotte Post Foundation.

Panelists are:

Saichelle McNeill is the owner of Washroom Laundry. She spent 27 months in federal prison, and she was featured in The Charlotte Post reporting. You can read more about McNeill’s story here.

Patrice Funderburg is executive director of The Center for Community Transitions, a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that helps incarcerated people and their families with reentry.

Herbert L. White is editor-in-chief of The Charlotte Post. He has been with the newspaper since 1987 and led the reporting team on the lives of formerly incarcerated people living in Charlotte.