On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver looks at the tremendous obstacles former offenders face once they leave prison – and sits down with Bilal Chatman, an ex-prisoner, to discuss the challenges of reentering society. Leaving prison should be a joyful thing, but when a prisoner is standing in the middle of nowhere, with no money and fewer prospects, it’s daunting!
This is an eye-opening look at why recidivism is a whopping fifty percent in the U.S. It may have less to do with a released prisoner’s desire to commit crimes again, than with the often impossible obstacles on the outside. Crooked parole and probation officers, inability to pay for parole or probation, and inability to obtain employment with a felony are but a very few of the ‘challenges’ many find on the outside.
Bilal Chatman sits down with John – in part to give others hope. In appearing in television, he hopes that those who don’t know about his past will not judge him for something he did years ago, but will see him as the highly functioning, employee, citizen and changed man that he has been for many years.