Re-Entry Resource Guide
Employment Opportunities
(These Companies Have Hired Persons With Past Felony Convictions )
*All Businesses & Agencies In Green Have Direct Links To Employment Pages*
Resources For Job Search & Placement
Employment Agencies Directory
Prison Justice and Legal Resources
Advocates for Basic Legal Equity (ABLE) Findlay Office. 237 S. Main St., Suite 204, Findlay, OH 45840-3336
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a class-action lawsuit in 2001 against state of Ohio officials, charging that the treatment of the inmates at OSP constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Contact: Jeff Gamso (jmgamso@earthlink.net)
Charitable Organization Representation Project Corporation. Ohio Legal Assistance Project. 41 E. Gay St., Suite 900, Columbus, OH 43215, (614) 752-8919
Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyer Project.
109 N. Main St., Suite 610, Dayton, OH 45402. Contact: (937) 461-3857
Intercommunity Justice & Peace Center Cincinnati
is a coalition of faith-based organizations and
individuals who work together to educate around justice issues, take
collaborative action and do public witness. Contact: Alice Gerdeman, info@ijpc-cincinnati.org
or (513) 579-8547.
Jail Inmate
Assistance Program. Address: Jail Inmate Assistance Program, University of
Akron, School of Law, 150 University Ave, Akron, OH 44325-2901. Contact: (330)
972-7331.
Justice Watch. Garden
Street Transitional Home. Operates transitional homes and gives job training and
support services. 1120 Garden Street, Cincinnati, OH 45214. (513) 241-0490.
Legal Aid of Cincinnati. Addres: 901 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-1016, (513) 241-9400.
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
Address: 1223 W. 6th St., Cleveland, OH 44113-1301. Contact: (216) 687-1900
Ohio Innocence Project
at the U-Cincinnati College of Law seeks to assist
those prison inmates who claim to be actually innocent of the crimes for which
they were convicted.
Screening questions Contact C. Cullina,
charlotte.cullina@uc.edu or (513) 556-0752.
Ohio
Justice and Policy Center
in Cincinnati works statewide for fair-minded progressive
reform of Ohio's Justice system. contact@ohiojpc.org or (513) 421-1108
Our Fight For Justice. "We encourage you to lend your hearts and ears to the true account of how lies and corruption lead to the conviction of innocent men during the 1993 Lucasville riot." Contact: 3393 East 108th, Cleveland, Ohio 44104. Contact: fight@ourfight4justice.com
Toledo Bar Association Pro Bono Legal Services Project.
311 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43604-1454. Contact: pintagliata@toledobar.org
or 419-242-9363.
Prisoner Publication Projects
Anarchist Black Cross. The Anarchist Black Cross has sought to bring attention to the plight of all prisoners and to inspire an Anarchist resistance and support movement on the outside. They publish and circulate prisoner essays and other writings.
Compassion
newsletter works to develop healing communication between capital punishment
offenders and murdered victims' families. Contact Fred Moor, Outside
Coordinator, compassionondeathrow@msn.com or (419) 874-1333.
PEN
Prison Writing Program. Founded in 1971, the
PEN Prison Writing Program believes in the restorative and rehabilitative power
of writing, by providing hundreds of inmates across the country with skilled
writing teachers and audiences for their work. The program seeks to provide a
place for inmates to express themselves freely with paper and pen and to
encourage the use of the written word as a legitimate form of power. Contact:
PEN American Center, 588 Broadway, Suite 303, New York, NY 10012. Contact pen@pen.org
or (212) 334-1660.
Prison
Legal News is a monthly journal edited by
former Washington State prisoner Paul Wright that covers prison-related news and
analysis. Features a
prisoner look-up search
engine. Or visit
another state-by-state database.
Contact: dminiken@prisonlegalnews.org (Don Miniken), Pwright@prisonlegalnews.org
(Paul Wright) or (206) 246-1022
Prisonersolidarity.org
serves as a catalyst for communication between prisoners
and people on "the outside." Prisonersolidarity maintains a
discussion list. Contact:
Prisonersolidarity, PO Box 422, The Plains, OH 45780. prisonersolidarity-owner@yahoogroups.com
Prison and Ohio State Government Resources
American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) is at the vanguard in exploring issues relevant to the field of community-based corrections. APPA provides training and technical assistance, clearinghouse services and advocacy. PO Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578-1910. Contact: 859-244-8203 or appa@csg.org
Center for Court Innovation and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Center offers information about innovative new improving the way criminal justice agencies work. The site includes best practices, planning tools, project descriptions, and interviews with community justice practitioners, a library database and links to a variety of related organizations. Address: Center for Court Innovation, 520 8th Avenue, 18th floor, New York, NY 10018. Contact: (212) 397-3050 or info@courtinnovation.org
Correctional Institution
Inspection Committee
(CIIC) Committee
maintains a bipartisan program of inspection of each state correctional
institution. CIIC consists of 8 legislators. Shirley Pope, Director. Contact:
cwebmaster@lsc.state.oh.us or (614) 466-6649
Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction
Terry Collins; Director. Andrea Dean, Public Information
Officer.
Inmate Search Engine.
Complete
phone directory. Bureau
of Public Information
Press Releases. Contact: andrea.dean@odrc.state.oh.us
OR (614) 752-1150
Ohio
State Penitentiary is Ohio's only supermax
prison. OSP also houses the state's death-row inmates. 878 Coitsville-Hubbard
Road, Youngstown, OH 44505. Marc Houk, Warden;
Keith Fletcher, Public Information Officer, (330)
743-0700-X-2003
Books for Ohio Prisoners
Book 'Em. Based in Pittsburg. is a 100% volunteer, non-profit organization that sends free educational books and quality reading material to prisoners and prison libraries across the country. Book 'Em was founded in the year 2000. Each month Book 'Em sends approximately 200 packages of books to indigent prisoners, free of charge. They also provide assistance to many educators struggling to do their work within the walls request. Contact: bookem@keromail.com.
Books 4 Prisoners Crew Since our founding in 2002 we have sent out over 50,000 prisoner book packages. The group also publishes Inside Out - A Resource Guide for the Incarcerated. Box 19065, Cincinnati, OH 45219, b4pcrew@hotmail.com.
Cleveland Books to
Prisoners. a volunteer-run project that sends free books to people incarcerated
in the state of Ohio. Cleveland Books to Prisoners is committed to seeking
radical change in the way our society deals with issues of criminality and
justice. The group meets every Sunday at C-Space (a community center), at the
intersection of 44th and Clark in Cleveland. All book-packing sessions are open
to anyone willing to help. Contact: clevelandbooks2prisoners@hotmail.com
Books
Through Bars sends progressive political and
educational materials at no charge to state and federal prisoners in all states
except Michigan and Oregon.
4722 Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143, info@booksthroughbars.org or (215)
727-8170.
Books To Prisoners is a Seattle-based, all-volunteer, non-profit group that sends free books to prisoners in the U.S. Contact: bookstoprisoners@cs.com or leave a voicemail at (206) 442-2013. Address: Books to Prisoners, c/o Left Bank Books, 92 Pike Street, Box A, Seattle, WA 98101.
Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project
is an all volunteer effort that strives to encourage self-education among
prisoners in the United States. By providing free reading materials upon
request, we hope to aid in the rehabilitation process and stimulate critical
thinking behind bars. Volunteer
Mondays 7-9p, Thursdays
8p-11p and Sundays 2p-5p at the Boxcar Books and Community Center, 310A S.
Washington St., Bloomington, IN 47401. Contact: 812-339-8710 or mwpp@pagestoprisoners.org
OGMA Books is a resource for people wanting materials oriented to Druids,
Wiccans, pagans, Asatru, and similar paths. Books are mainly on history,
religion, culture, plus fiction related to EuroFaith topics. Ogma, run by
volunteers, was founded because often pagan prisoners have limited access to
books grounded in their faith. For a booklist and application, send a SASE to
Druids of Danu, PO Box 940, Worthington, OH 43085.
Prison Book Program
covers prisoners in all states but CA, MA, MD, MI, PA, or TX. Publishes the
National Prisoner Resource List free to prisoners nationwide on request. Specify
several subjects that might be interesting to the person rather than a specific
title. Lucy Parsons Bookstore, 1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100, Quincy, MA 02169.
Contact: info@prisonbookprogram.org or (617) 423-3298
Red Bird Books to Prisoners.
The Columbus Red Bird Books for Prisoners is a radical African American
bookstore that is part of the Alkebulan Community Center. Contact: Red Bird
Books to Prisoners, c/o Ujaama Books, 1511 E. Livingston Avenue, Columbus, OH
43205. Contact: redbirdbooks@gmail.com or (614) 258-4633.
Penpal Programs
Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Has a pen pal program for death row prisoners. PO Box 25730, Chicago, IL 60625. Contact: 773-955-4841.
Church of the Larger Fellowship (Unitarian) Prison Letter
Writing Ministry. Prison
Ministry—Attn: Church of the Larger Fellowship, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
02108. Contact: PrisMin@clfuu.org
Friends4Lifers. A free prison penpal
program for lifers. Contact: admin@friends4lifers.com. Or write to:
Friends4Lifers.com, PO Box 52634, London N7 0WU
England
Friends From England. Finding Pen Pals for inmates in the U.S. with people in England. Contact: Maggie Bourne, 7- Wyndham Court, Field Lane, Chilwell Beeston, Nottingham, England, NG9 5NR. Contact: M.BourneH@NTLWorld.com or 44115-849-3882.
He Cares/He Hears/He Answers. Write letters of encouragement and hope to males/females. Prison Pen Pal Ministry, P.O. Box 3293, St. Louis, MO 63130. Email: luvispwr27@aol.com
Inside-Outside. Helps find pen pals for Death Row and LWOP prisoners, as well as prisoners who have 20 years or more to serve on the moment of subscription. Remember to use proper postage. P.O Box 1083, 3800 BB Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Email: inside-outside@planet.nl
Inside Out Ministries. Christian pen pal program. PO Box 29040 Cleveland, OH 44129
League of Life UK. Pen friends for Death Row and LWOP prisoners in the U.S. 7 Hall Farm Road, Benfleet, Essex, England, SS7 5JD UK.
PeacePals. An Ohio-based pen pal program. Coming soon ...
Prison Pen Pals. Providing prisoners with correspondence opportunites. P.O. Box 235, East Berlin, PA 17316-0235. Email: info@prisonpenpals.com
Zielsdorf LifeLine CMA.
LWOP and Death Row prisoners only. Also provides greeting cards free. 1824 N
14th Street, Superior, WI 54880 Phone: (715) 392-8479
International Prison Justice Groups
American Friends Services Committee
has a
Criminal Justice Program
that is focused on the issues of supermax prisons, human rights and prisoner
justice. The AFSC's Star Cafe features a
Supermax
Community Reading Room Contact: (937) 278-4225
American Civil Liberties Union
of Ohio filed a class-action lawsuit in 2001 against state of Ohio officials,
charging that the treatment of the inmates at OSP constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution. Contact Jeff Gamso, jmgamso@earthlink.net
Cageprisoners.com is a
non-sectarian Islamic human rights group that raises awareness of the plight of
the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and others held as part of "War on Terror."
Contact: Contact@cageprisoners.com
CURE,
International
Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants is a membership organization of
families of prisoners, prisoners, former prisoners and other concerned citizens.
CURE's two goals are to use prisons only for those who have to be in them and
for those who have to be in them, to provide them all the rehabilitative
opportunities they need to turn their lives around. National CURE, P.O. BOX
2310, National Capitol Station, Washington, DC 20013-2310
Call (202) 789-2126
Death
Penalty Information Center is a great resource
on issues concerning the death penalty nationwide. It has a special section
dedicated to monitoring the legal situation state-by-state in regard to
lethal injection.
Contact: dpic@deathpenaltyinfo.org or (202) 289-2275
Fortune Society
staffed primarily by former prisoners, this NGO is dedicated to educating the
public about prisons, criminal justice issues, and the root causes of crime.
Contact: kkidder@fortunesociety.org or (212) 691-7554
Human Rights
Watch HRW's Prison Project keeps track of
prison conditions around the world, international human rights standards, and
the prison related activities of the U.N. Contact: hrwdc@hrw.org or (202)
612-4321
Innocence Project at the Benjamin Cardozo
School of Law in New York. Handles only cases of actual innocence provable by
DNA testing. See
consideration form, or
write: Innocence Project 100 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 1001.
Contact: info@innocenceproject.org or (212) 364-5340
Justice
Policy Institute promotes effective solutions
to social problems and is dedicated to ending society’s reliance on
incarceration. JPI has a
new online section,
featuring factsheets, research reports and more resources. Contact: ljones@justicepolicy.org
or (202) 558-7974
Prison
Activist Resource Center is a source for
progressive information on prisons and the criminal prosecution system.
Educational and activist resources, news, alerts and analysis. Contact: parc@prisonactivist.org
or (510) 893.4648
Prisonersolidarity.org serves as a catalyst for
communication between prisoners and people on "the outside." Prisonersolidarity
maintains a
discussion list.
Contact: PO Box 422; The Plains, OH 45780. Contact: prisonersolidarity-owner@yahoogroups.com
Prison
Legal News is a
monthly journal edited by former Washington State prisoner Paul Wright that
covers prison-related news and analysis. Features a
prisoner look-up search
engine. Or visit
another state-by-state database.
Contact: dminiken@prisonlegalnews.org (Don Miniken), Pwright@prisonlegalnews.org
(Paul Wright) or (206) 246-1022
Sentencing Project
is a nonprofit organization which promotes
reduced reliance on incarceration and increased use of more humane alternatives
to deal with crime. mauer@sentencingproject.org or (202) 628-0871 (M. Mauer)
Ohio Anti-Death Penalty Resources
Campaign to End the Death Penalty The group's Toledo chapter is currently building the Free Siddique Abdullah Hasan Coalition: P.O. Box 20011 Toledo, Ohio 48810. Contact Saadiqah Amatullah Hasan at the Campaign to End the Death Penalty's Toledo Chapter. Sherrell508@sbcglobal.net or (419) 514-7634
Cleveland
Coalition Against the Death Penalty
is a group of religious and secular organizations, working to oppose executions
and to abolish capital punishment.
clevedp@yahoo.com or (216) 472-2212
Cleveland Lucasville Five Defense Committee.
The
Lucasville Five are five
men who were given death sentences in connection with the prison rebellion in
Lucasville, Ohio in 1993 in which a guard and 9 prisoners died. None of the Five
were responsible for these deaths.
pfcenter@sbcglobal.net OR (216) 481-6671 (Sharon Danann).
Ohio Death Penalty Information Blog (ODPI). News and information relevant to the abolition of the death penalty in Ohio, and also national and federal death penalty news of relevance to abolition in all states including Ohio. Not a discussion list. Contact: audiohoh@aol.com
Ohio Public Defender's Death Penalty Division
maintains a list of people on Ohio's death row, including the race of defendants
and victims. OPD maintains a
reports
section. (800) 686-1573
Ohioans to Stop
Executions was founded in 1987. Its purpose is
to end the use of capital punishment in the state of Ohio through education.
OTSE maintains a
discussion list. Contact:
julie@ijpc-cincinnati.org, OTSE.org@gmail.com (Sr. Alice Gerdeman) or (614)
560-0654
Ohio Death Row
provides an in-depth list with bios of all Ohio death-row prisoners. Would you
like to
write to someone?
Currently, 61 men on the row are seeking
pen pals. Contact Father Neil
Kookoothe, mercyrnjd@hotmail.com.
