- Associated Press - Saturday, May 5, 2018

GREENCASTLE, Pa. (AP) - Between raising two children, finding jobs, getting to probation appointments and relying on social services for food and rent assistance, getting by every week can be a struggle for the Ridders.

Rodney Ridder was just released from jail after serving seven months for driving under the influence. He spends his time going back and forth from probation, which costs $100 each month, getting Vivitrol (a drug to treat alcohol and opioid dependence), and finding a job, which is a challenge because of his criminal record.

At the same time, his wife, Roxy, has a full-time job, which provides the two and their 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son with $840 a month. This money goes toward buying groceries that cost $75 a week, paying $500 a month for rent and utilities, and trying to eliminate $700 in fines.

Last week Ella Wood, a Head Start home visitor, and Brett Paul, a Shippensburg University graduate assistant, stepped into Roxy and Rodney’s shoes to find out what it is like to live as people dealing with society after incarceration.

The Ridders are not real. They were the characters Wood and Paul played during the re-entry simulation recently at Rhodes Grove Conference Center. More than 60 people were at the event, hosted by Franklin County Human Services, to get a glimpse into what life is like for ex-offenders and their families once they are released from jail.

The majority of Franklin County residents’ tax dollars are spent on crime, courts and corrections. According to data from Franklin Together, the county’s re-entry coalition, about 82 cents from every tax dollar go to this category.

The data also show that about 2.3 percent of residents in the county are involved in the criminal justice system. This means that about 3,500 people are either going through the court system, in jail or on probation in Franklin County, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.

Much like the fictional simulation character of Rodney, 35 percent of those in jail are there because of a DUI, the coalition said. In addition, about 65 percent have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, 10 percent have a serious mental illness and 80 percent have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression.

Wood, who played the role of Rodney’s wife, Roxy, said she decided to come to the simulation because she is interested in learning more about the lives of people in different social classes.

“I’m a middle-class white American,” she said. “I have it kind of easy compared to a large majority of the population. So, if I can learn more about that, I feel like that makes me a better community member.”

Paul is earning a degree in administration of justice, and said he thought the simulation would help him learn what ex-offenders go through.

Throughout the simulation, participants had to complete activities representing four weeks worth of tasks. Activities were divided up into four 15-minute increments, each representing one week. Attendees completed their required tasks by walking around to different tables, which represented social services, child daycare, the jail and even a payday loan service. While there, they spoke with volunteers who took on a variety of roles, including social workers, wardens, teachers and pawn shop owners.

As Rodney and Roxy Ridder, Paul and Wood lived life as they would if Paul had actually just been released from jail. Wood quickly discovered she did not have enough money to pay the costs to get him out of jail, so she pawned a camera for $35 to help cover the fee.

A lack of money also influenced her decision to leave her “children” home alone, because she did not have enough to pay for daycare. Without supervision, the kids played with fire, and Children and Youth Services took them away.

As Roxy, Wood was also faced with the daunting task of having to sign up for food stamps and cash assistance through social services.

The simulation felt very real at times for Wood. She said she found herself being “frazzled” while signing up for benefits. She was especially moved by a part of the simulation in which she brought her youngest child to work with her, and her employer sternly told her to go home and not to return until next week. With no money for child care, Wood’s character had nowhere to take her 2-year-old.

“It just felt so real to me that I could kind of feel myself starting to get shaky,” she said. “I could feel my adrenaline pumping. I just felt very unorganized, kind of in the same way that I would in real life if I went somewhere and somebody was really rude to me.”

As an “ex-offender,” Paul, as Rodney, was turned away from a job because of his record. He also struggled to afford his medication ($50 a week), probation ($100 a month) and counseling ($5 a visit) fees. All of this was even harder on the family, who faced eviction.

Paul said he learned it can be hard to go to the different agencies, such as social services, because if you don’t have all the materials you need, it’s “back to the back of the line.”

If there is one thing the simulation has taught Wood, she said it’s that people can be very mean.

“At some point, I found myself - even though it’s not real - I found myself getting kind of emotional, because people just wouldn’t even give you any kind of emotion, not even a smile,” she said. She also mentioned that this can be especially hard for these families, because they are struggling to pay rent and buy groceries, “and on top of that, people can’t even treat you like a human being - that is horrible.”

For Paul, the most challenging part of the simulation was the different responsibilities he and his “wife” had to take care of.

“I felt pretty helpless, because I didn’t have much,” he added. “I was just trying to make it by. She had to give me a lot of stuff.”

Wood said she learned that it’s almost impossible for ex-offenders to live their lives outside of jail.

“You start with nothing, and while you start with nothing you’re expected to give out of something that you don’t even have,” she continued.

For some, these challenges are too much to handle. Data from the coalition show about 50 percent of people who get out of jail in Franklin County will return.

She added she thinks it’s important the community knows that those getting out of jail are not just “living off our taxes,” and they have to do things that are hard unless they have a good support system.

“I feel that there’s a lot of stigma behind people who have a record, people who have been in jail, but really the odds are completely stacked against those people when they get out into the community,” Wood said. “It’s almost impossible for them to not return to prison again.”

The community should care more about those who get out of prison, according to Paul, instead of labeling them as a criminal.

Now that she knows the barriers ex-offenders and their families face during the re-entry process, Wood intends to take what she’s learned and apply it to her job visiting the homes of Head Start families. She said she will now be more understanding of clients who have been in jail and the “odds that are stacked up against them. I will definitely be thinking about that a lot more.”

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Online:

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Information from: Public Opinion, http://www.publicopiniononline.com

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