Governor speaks at Greensboro summit about prison system and reentry to society Tuesday, March 12

GREENSBORO — “Twenty-two thousand people or so come back as formerly incarcerated into our society,” said Gov. Roy Cooper. “We need to make sure that instead of incarceration, we are talking about restoration — restoration for people who can be redeemed, who can be reformed, who can play a crucial role in society.”

Cooper was one of many speakers at the N.C. Reentry Summit on Tuesday, March 19. Cooper focused on how formerly incarcerated people are an untapped workforce for North Carolina.

He talked about a man named Stanley who was in prison for six years and has a felony on his record. Stanley doesn’t have a driver’s license, a job, a place of his own or health insurance.

“Those are only a few of the barriers that people face when they are about to reenter society,” Cooper said. “What people don’t get sometimes is that most people who have been incarcerated are going to come back and we have to do something about it. We have to do more to ensure that people that come back into the community have opportunity, opportunity to succeed.”

Love and support from churches, communities, law enforcement, nonprofits and other citizens is not enough, and those entities need to know how to train and teach formerly incarcerated people how to get back on their feet, Cooper said.

One option is to recommend a formerly incarcerated person to someone who is hiring. Another is to help with harm reduction, including substance abuse and alcoholism.

“We know that this is an issue not only inside a prison but outside a prison,” Cooper said.

A big step is making sure that treatment exists for formerly incarcerated people.

“We need to expand Medicaid in North Carolina. We need to do it now because that will bring (treatment options) to our state as it has in other states that have made this decision,” Cooper said.

Cooper closed by urging the audience to do more than talk, think and preach about helping formerly incarcerated people with reentry — he urged them to do something about it.

“Let’s today start to make sure we have got a system in place in as many parts of our state as we can to make a real dent in recidivism and make a real difference in the lives of people,” Cooper said.

Reporter Kate Croxton can be reached at kate.croxton@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3078. Follow her on Twitter at @katecroxtonBTN.