Recordings from the SummitÂ
3 p.m. Dwayne Betts, author of Felon
Click here for archived video linkÂ
4 p.m. Breakout Sessions with West Virginia Experts:
A Conversation with Reginald Dwayne Betts
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Criminal Justice Reform in West Virginia
No archive available
Reentry: Building Bridges to a Better Community
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Breaking the School to Prison Pipeline
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Employment Information for Justice Involved Individuals
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Restorative Justice: From Harm to Healing, A Journey Toward Wholeness
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Criminal Injustice: Confronting Racial Disparities in the Criminal Legal System
No archive available
Changing the Paradigm: Changing the Way We Respond to Crises in Our Communities
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Seeking Solutions Through Alternatives to Incarceration
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Outbreak: COVID 19 and Incarceration
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5 p.m. Piper Kerman, author of “Orange is the New Black”
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Some questions to consider. . .
According to the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), it costs West Virginia $30,866 per year to incarcerate one prisoner. Mass incarceration of adults cost the Mountain State over $314 million in 2019.
How would you feel if every day for the rest of your life you were judged for the worst decisions you ever made?
Formerly incarcerated individuals face numerous collateral consequences such as broken families, homelessness and joblessness, that make reentry difficult.
How should we respond to the factors leading to incarceration in our state?
According to West Virginia Division of Corrections (DCR), from 2004 to 2018, drug crimes in West Virginia increased by 220%. More than 25% of those admitted to state prisons or jails in 2018 required detox due to substance use disorder. Only 1.43% required detox in 2013.
What does recidivism say about the penal system?
Also, according to the West Virginia DCR, the three-year recidivism rate for inmates released from West Virginia DCR in 2015 was almost 28%.
How should we confront racial disparities in the criminal legal system?
According to the Vera Institute for justice, the Black incarceration rate has increased 266% since 1978. In 2017, Black people were incarcerated at 3.2 times the rate of white people. In 2016, the Sentencing Project reported an incarceration rate for Black people of 1,234 per 100,000 as compared to 348 per 100,000 for white people.
