John Oliver took the United States’ criminal justice system to task Sunday by focusing on what happens to former prisoners who leave the system and attempt to reintegrate into society. Over 50 percent of released prisoners end up back in jail.
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After getting out, many former prisoners do not have the means to provide for themselves and, in many states, can not receive state benefits -including food stamps, public housing, voting, a driver’s license- because they served time in prison.
John Oliver dedicated 18 minutes to prisoner re-entry on “Last Week Tonight”.
“Imagine”, Oliver said, “if you had f*&ked a watermelon”. “Two-thirds of parolees who go back to prison do so not due to a new crime but because of parole violations – sometimes for reasons as simple as missing appointments or failing a drug test”, Oliver says.
“I’m here because of the fact that, I may never do this again”, Chatman says.
While a few pundits were nervous at the mass exodus from prison, Oliver noted that on average 600,000 people are released from state and federal prison each year, so 6,000 is less than a 1% increase.
Even though he was able to secure a job, he was concerned about being unable to meet the strict terms of his parole: “I felt like I was set up to fail”. I’ve worked really hard at the things I’ve taken from society.
While Oliver admitted he and his staff might not be helping Chatman by labeling him “Bilal the ex-prisoner”, the host encouraged him to share other aspects of his life.
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“I did things years ago that I’m ashamed of, that I don’t like, and I don’t want to relive that”, he said. “I don’t want anybody to look at me as the ex-con”.
