Jean Friedman-Rudovsky -- "The United States has more people with criminal backgrounds than the entire population of France. In Philadelphia, it’s estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 residents — approximately one in every six of us — has been intimately familiar with a jail cell.
One in six.
That means one in six of our fellow Philadelphians knows how it feels to be abruptly disconnected from a child or loved one. One in six have conspicuous gaps in their resumes or debt that’s piled up over the months or years that he or she was unable to work to pay it off. One in six of our city’s residents has felt the sting of being taken away from their home, not knowing if it would be there when they return. One in six of us has been told to sit in a concrete box rather than offered a chance to be in a substance-abuse treatment program.
This also means that one in every six Philadelphians — some once, some multiple times — has walked past the bars and guards, eager to start a new life, but perhaps wondering: What now?" Click here to read more
Photo by Jessica Griffin