MIKA WILLIAMS TELLS US ABOUT ONE DAY@A TIME FOR ME; SPENCER GRAVES EXPLAINS HOW CRIME SELLS MEDIA

Monday, June 13th, host Latarha Smith will speak with Mika Williams, who is operational with OneDay@ATime4Me, Inc a charitable and educational organization in Kansas City, Missouri that assists women returning to society from incarceration.The reentry into society of incarcerated people remains one of the most significant challenges facing the criminal justice system, as correctional facilities in the United States release approximately 600,000 individuals back into communities each year. About 78,000 of those individuals are women, equating to more than 200 every day, nationwide. Although men in reentry significantly outnumber women, the challenges confronting women returning from incarceration are formidable and complex, pointing to a need for specialized and appropriate reentry programming. Those challenges upon release can include employment, addiction, mental illness, housing, transportation, family reunification, childcare, parenting, and poor physical health. Importantly, the majority of incarcerated females are parents to children under the age of 18. Many of these incarcerated mothers have sole custody of their children and plan to resume their parenting role following release.  Females who commit crimes are more likely to suffer from co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, putting them in the group at highest risk for recidivism and relapse and thus most in need of…