It’s not easy leaving prison. Most people go through the reentry process with little to no preparation, planning, or support and face a barrage of rules that turn everyday activities into trapdoors to incarceration. But because many people have no idea what it’s like to live under supervision, it’s easy for the media, politicians, and law enforcement to capitalize on the fiction that recidivism rates  reflect personal – and not institutional – failure.

Thankfully, a community organization by the name of Just Income GNV, which is led by formerly incarcerated people, is offering a new way to understand these experiences through a simulator they designed called “ReEntry: A Look at the Journey Back to Life.” We think it can help people better understand the profoundly burdensome hurdles and contradictions facing people leaving incarceration.

Read the full article about ReEntry by Brian Nam-Sonenstein and Lucius Couloute at Prison Policy Initiative.