If you were moved by Josh Cacpardo’s June article, Cruel and Usual, about the challenges faced by individuals re-entering society after incarceration, NPR’s All Things Considered has a great story about how Mark Goldsmith, a retired cosmetics executive is helping young inmates at Rikers Island through his non-profit “Getting Out and Staying Out.”
“You have to understand that these young men have never talked to a successful human being in their life,” he says. “Their neighborhood is one block east, south and west of their apartments. They do not know a single person who can help them succeed. Not one.”
Tonya Threadgill, assistant principal at East River Academy, a school set up inside Rikers by the city’s Department of Education, notes that many of the young men at Rikers grew up without fathers, and never had anyone talk to them as Goldsmith does.
“It doesn’t matter to them that he’s Caucasian or older,” Threadgill says. “He’s a man. He’s been successful in life. And I think that’s an important connection for them. He doesn’t come across as overly authoritarian or anything like that. But he’s coming there to help them, and that’s something they definitely appreciate, I think.”
Read or listen to the full story here.
