{"id":33171,"date":"2020-08-13T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33171"},"modified":"2020-08-13T15:53:53","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T20:53:53","slug":"a-former-oklahoma-prisoner-struggles-to-find-his-feet-during-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/08\/13\/a-former-oklahoma-prisoner-struggles-to-find-his-feet-during-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"A former Oklahoma prisoner struggles to find his feet during the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_33172\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-33172\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"Billy Harrison standing in his new neighborhood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/08\/Billy-Harrison-1-1620x1080.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Quinton Chandler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Billy Harrison was released from prison in late April. He&#8217;s still trying to get an ID.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/278ee717-15df-495b-915e-9b8208f3860d?dark=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p><p>Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic is a new challenge for Oklahoma\u2019s former state prisoners who are at higher risk of becoming homeless.<\/p><p>While standing outside the back door of an Oklahoma city rental house, Billy Harrison says he started hitting roadblocks a few hours after he was released from William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply.<\/p><p>Harrison was tested for COVID the day before he left prison in late April. Shortly after arriving at his first sober living home, the local health department called to say his test was positive.<\/p><p>\u201cThe county health department came to where I was there at the Oxford House and took me outside, gave me gloves, masks, all that,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cThey made a few calls, got some funds moved around and took me to a motel.\u201d<\/p><p>Harrison doesn\u2019t know how he caught COVID. The prison had restricted all its detainees\u2019 movements to prevent the disease from spreading.<\/p><p>Incarcerated Oklahomans face higher risk from COVID. Public health experts say the disease spreads faster behind bars. But some may also be at more risk after they\u2019re released.<\/p><p>Social distancing is critical to beating the disease, but many former prisoners struggle to find shelter. Oklahoma City survey data suggests the majority of shelterless homeless residents have been incarcerated.<\/p><p>National data from the Prison Policy Initiative found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/reports\/housing.html\">formerly incarcerated Americans are almost 10 times<\/a> more likely than the general public to be homeless.<\/p><p>But in addition to the novel health risks, the pandemic also threatens former prisoners\u2019 access to resources they need to build stable lives. The offices that issue birth certificates, social security cards, state IDs and driver\u2019s licenses have been closed for part or the majority of the pandemic.<\/p><p>Once Harrison produced a negative COVID test, he left the motel and called his sober living home for a ride.<\/p><p>\u201cThey came and picked me up \u2026 turns out they didn\u2019t have the room there,\u201d Harrison said \u201cWhile I was gone they checked my room out to somebody else.\u201d<\/p><p>The Oxford House, the organization that owns the home, moved Harrison into a different sober living house. But, he had a new problem. He needed identification to get a job so he could pay for rent, food, clothes, all his basic needs.<\/p>\n<h3>Building a new life without ID<\/h3><p>Harrison expected to have his birth certificate and social security card. He says he requested them through a state program before he was released, but all he received was a prison issue ID card.<\/p><p>\u201cThey give you so many days off your sentence for getting your birth certificate and social security card. I signed for days on both of them,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cThey (weren\u2019t) going to give me 45 days for nothing.\u201d<\/p><p>Department of Corrections records say the agency did at least receive Harrison\u2019s birth certificate. It\u2019s unclear what happened to it or whether the agency received Harrison\u2019s social security card as well.<\/p><p>A corrections spokesperson says it\u2019s department policy to attempt to provide a birth certificate and social security card to prisoners when they\u2019re released. The agency also tries to help prisoners get a driver&#8217;s license or state ID.<\/p><p>Prison reentry specialists say despite this policy, they still meet people released without critical documents.<\/p><p>Now, Harrison is in a catch 22. He needs a job to get money to pay for multiple forms of identification, but it&#8217;s hard to get a job without ID.<\/p><p>It\u2019s even more difficult for him because he was born in Texas. Out-of-state birth certificates tend to take more time to be delivered according to Lynde Gleason, a reentry supervisor with The Education and Employment Ministry. The organization specializes in helping former prisoners restart their lives.<\/p><p>\u201cIf you\u2019re waiting for an out-of-state (ID) you\u2019re just prolonging your ability to go to work,\u201d Gleason said.<\/p><p>Gleason says the back and forth of securing these documents is a normal part of the process helping former prisoners stabilize themselves, but the pandemic has made it more difficult.<\/p>\n<h3>Long waits for documents<\/h3><p>She remembers one of TEEM\u2019s clients who needed a driver\u2019s license had an especially long wait at a Department of Public Safety office back in July.<\/p><p>To avoid spreading COVID, the agency closed its offices to in-person visits on April 3rd.<\/p><p>In early May, the department reopened for appointments only and then started accepting walk-ins again by the middle of the month, but when TEEM arrived at a heavily used Oklahoma City office, Gleason says people were lined up outside.<\/p><p>\u201cThey told us it was at least six hours of a wait and that didn\u2019t guarantee they would be seen,\u201d Gleason said. \u201cWe saw many people who were outside waiting and they said they were waiting closer to eight hours.\u201d<\/p><p>Thinking the lines would be shorter, TEEM drove their client to Norman where they still waited around six hours to be helped.<\/p>\n<h3>Public health precautions created roadblocks<\/h3><p>The Department of Public Safety isn\u2019t the only agency taking precautions that could impede former prisoners\u2019 return to public life.<\/p><p>Social Security Administration offices are still closed to the public. People hoping to get new social security cards are mostly steered to the internet, phone or postal services.<\/p><p>In March, the Oklahoma State Department of Health also stopped letting people apply for birth certificates in person and by mail.<\/p><p>Now, that agency is allowing applicants to come inside its lobbies \u2013 but by appointment only. The agency\u2019s website encourages Oklahomans to request the documents online and over the phone.<\/p><p>But, Gleason says the remote access is still a stumbling block for the formerly incarcerated.<\/p><p>\u201cThat means you would have to have access to internet,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>Many former prisoners don\u2019t have internet access. Some community centers like libraries that lend people computer time have closed or limited access to their buildings. Even if former prisoners get to an internet linked computer, they might not have credit or debit cards to pay for their applications.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Not going to give up\u2019<\/h3><p>Billy Harrison says it\u2019s been a fight. Since leaving prison, he\u2019s moved five times and was temporarily homeless.<\/p><p>He found one job which he was laid off from and he struggles daily with a drug addiction. He\u2019s a former foster kid who has no family to help him.<\/p><p>\u201cOne of my friends that I met here at this house helped me out with getting unemployment,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p><p>With the unemployment money coming in, he was finally able to apply for his Texas birth certificate in July, but he\u2019s definitely not out of the woods.<\/p><p>It could take up to three months to get the birth certificate. He\u2019ll still have to wait to get his social security card and driver\u2019s license. For now he\u2019s dependent on his unemployment benefits.<\/p><p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to give up but it\u2019s definitely a drag down for sure. I mean that\u2019s all it is, a speed bump,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pandemic threatens former prisoners\u2019 access to resources they need to build stable lives. Offices that issue legal identification have closed for part or the majority of the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":33172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1289,1292,246,1291,1195,1290],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33171"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33182,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33171\/revisions\/33182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}