This year, WTTW is exploring the many challenges the more than 20,000 people leaving Illinois prisons face each year as the reenter free society through the multimedia initiative FIRSTHAND: Life After Prison.

Thousands of restrictive laws govern people who have been released from prison in the United States, making it difficult for them to find housing, employment and to restart life after they have done their time.

In her FIRSTHAND talk, Nneka Jones Tapia, managing director of justice initiatives at Chicago Beyond, describes the universal experience of trauma impacting people who have been incarcerated or worked in and around the criminal justice system.

In his FIRSTHAND talk, Orlando Mayorga, McCormick Reentry Policy Coordinator for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor’s Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative, details how a trauma-informed anti-violence education group supported him in learning about trauma and finding his healing journey.

Watch all the FIRSTHAND documentaries talks wttw.com/firsthand.