Leaving prison and trying to re-establish life in the community comes with an incredible set of challenges – housing, employment, family relationships – and under it all, recovering from the trauma of incarceration itself.

Thousands of people were released from prison in Connecticut in 2020 as the Department of Correction tried to stem a tide of COVID in its facilities.

In Their Own Words

Connecticut residents and experts share their perspectives with Untold.

  • “Recovery looks like really unpacking the trauma. Recovery looks like an individualized plan to make sure we support you going back out.” — Iliana Pujols, policy director for Connecticut Justice Alliance
  • “Everybody should have housing. If an individual coming out of prison doesn’t have a safe, affordable place to rest their head at night, the rest is really impossible.” — Deb Rogala, program operations director for Community Partners in Action
  • “PTSD is common just from being locked up. Depression is also common because you take people away from their families.” — Gordon Lyde, program manager for Community Partners in Action
  • “I was worried about getting kicked to the streets, you know, and being amongst the homeless and stuff like that. It’s frustrating and it’s hard, but what can you do?” — Antonio Rivera, formerly incarcerated

This episode we go inside the Hartford Re-entry Welcome Center, and Ryan Lindsay will introduce us to Antonio Rivera, who came home from prison during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.

John and Mercy speak with Iliana Pujols from the Connecticut Justice Alliance about her work with young people touched by the criminal justice system.

Iliana is also a member of CT Mirror’s Community Editorial Board.

Organizations featured in this episode:

Challenge assumptions, seek understanding, leave nothing untold. In each episode of Untold we will pass the microphone from the policymakers to the people, connecting with Connecticut’s communities to reframe familiar stories and explore those left untold.