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Every year 700,000 people are released from prison into the “free” world, many of whom are homeless, penniless, and lacking family support. The immediate challenge they face is how to survive. 

In response, Witness to Mass Incarceration launched The Suitcase Project to provide items needed for a successful new beginning. Working with faith-based and community organizations and volunteers, Witness provides newly released people of color, Indigenous people and LGBTQIA2S individuals with suitcases filled with critically needed items such as a cell phone with minutes for a year, a computer, clothing, and toiletries. 

Currently, large non-profits serving the formerly incarcerated population rely on transactional support such as a meal, a résumé and a Metrocard, or transitional housing where newly released people go from living with 150 people in confinement, to shared living spaces under similarly controlled and regulated conditions.

Witness is committed to long term and permanent solutions to ensure successful reentry, by focusing on four pillars we believe necessary to make this happen: housing, employment, trauma-informed care, and community support.

The WARM initiative is an 18-month program that begins six months prior to release and provides support for one-year post-release in the “free” world. 

We partner with members of faith-based and community organizations to provide essential resources, while also serving as mentors throughout the process.

Building a successful life requires a place to call home. This basic necessity is often out of reach for formerly incarcerated women and LGBTQ+ people. Barriers to employment, combined with explicit discrimination, such as job application forms requiring people to indicate whether they have been convicted of a crime, have created a housing crisis for this vulnerable population that is too often ignored.

Formerly incarcerated people living in the U.S. are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public, according to Prison Policy Initiative research.

Witness is planning to re-purpose or build welcoming housing for the formerly incarcerated, where they will receive the supportive programs and services they need to launch successful lives.

Formerly incarcerated women and LGBTQ+ individuals leave prison with significant trauma, which includes what happened to them prior to, during and after their incarceration. As these individuals are released back into society, they discover debilitating triggers. Too often, these traumas don’t go away, and must be identified and healed.