Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College
Moriarity, Meegan. 2016. “From Bars to Freedom: Prisoner Co-ops Boost Employment, Self-Esteem, and Support Reentry into Society.” Rural Cooperatives Vol. 83 No. 1 (January-February), pp.14-18, 37. see pages 14-19 in this Rural Cooperatives issue.
To read online, click here: “From Bars to Freedom: Prisoner Co-ops Boost Employment, Self-Esteem, and Support Reentry into Society.” Scroll to article on page 14.
From bars to freedom: prisoner co-ops boost employment, self-esteem and support re-entry into society: artists create, exhibit and sell their work through Cooperativa de Servidos ARIGOS in Puerto Rico. At the Shifting Gears bike shop in Stevens Point, Wis., skilled mechanics tune-up, refurbish and sell pre-owned bicycles while educating the community on biking’s beneficial impact on health and the environment. At the Cooperativa Alice in Milan, Italy, women create costumes for television and theater, design clothing and make uniforms for the local football team. Caterers and chefs feed customers at the Cafe Solberg in Gotenberg, Sweden. These business organizations may be diverse, but they have a few things in common. All of them are cooperatives. And all of them benefit prisoners or ex-prisoners.
This article was retrieved from a government website and is in the public domain.