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| President Obama Visits RU-N and Talks Criminal Justice Reform |
| By newark.rutgers.edu- Ferlanda Fox Nixon |
| Published: 11/03/2015 |
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On Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N) welcomed President Barack Obama on his latest stop on his national tour on criminal justice reform. With more than 600,000 individuals released from state and federal prisons each year, President Obama shared his sense of urgency to create a criminal justice system that is fairer and more effective and breaks the poverty, criminality, and incarceration stranglehold that often impairs lives, particularly African-American and Latino males, and destroys communities, especially distressed urban areas. At RU-N’s Center for Law and Justice, President Obama convened a roundtable discussion on the issues of mass incarceration and the reentry of people exiting correctional systems and reintegrating into community life. President Obama, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, RU-N faculty, staff, and students, and community leaders and residents involved in the criminal justice system engaged in discourse intended to inform effective policymaking that benefits incarcerated and released individuals, impacted families and communities, and the economy. Amarilis Diamond-Rodriguez, a Rutgers University-New Brunswick alumna, participated in the roundtable discussion. While eventually the recipient of a bachelor’s degree, Rodriguez first had to overcome the consequences of felony charges before claiming her alumna status. Convicted of possession and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, Rodriguez received a five-year sentence with 2.5 years of parole ineligibility. She served 18 months in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women and one year in a halfway house before being paroled. While in the halfway house, Rodriguez began her “prison-to-college” journey through a process that ultimately would become known as the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) program. Read More. |
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