MANSFIELD — Patty Kastelic has watched men leave the Richland Correctional Institution after serving their time with nothing but the clothes on their back.
“I’ve been witness to men walking out with no friends or family here to get them and going out in that Ohio Department of Corrections jumpsuit,” said Kastelic, a volunteer at the prison. “It’s not a good start.”
Richland Correctional Institution has programs to help incarcerated men get their GEDs, take college classes and learn skilled trades, all in the hopes that they’ll be able to rebuild their lives when they leave.
But staff at RiCI say re-entering the world in prison-issued clothing can cast a shadow over that fresh start.
The New Chapter Store aims to change that. The program provides outgoing RCI inmates with a few free outfits to take with them.
The racks of the “store” are filled with new and gently used shirts, sweaters, pants and shoes. Men are also given brand new socks and underwear and a bag of personal hygiene items.
The store sits just inside RiCI’s lobby, where a former staff locker room has been cleaned, freshly painted and decorated.
The New Chapter Store launched a couple of months ago, according to special services coordinator Jennifer Myers.
Myers and Kastelic worked for almost a year to get it up and running. They oversaw the remodeling of the space, collected donations and washed and sorted clothing.
Myers meets with outgoing inmates about two weeks before their release. She gathers information on their clothing needs and sizes. She selects at least two outfits per person, matching and color coordinating as best as she can with what’s in stock.
Myers said she sometimes puts a few extra items in an inmate’s bag if she knows they don’t have much support waiting for them on the outside. The store also provides a suit to inmates who want one for future job interviews.
‘It’s been a game changer’
Warden Angela Stuff said the inspiration for the New Chapter Store came from Brenda Guice, who runs a similar program at Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima.
Allen Oakwood has been operating its clothing program since 2021. It’s served more than 600 returning citizens.
“Some of them will have family bring them in something, but if they’ve been in for awhile, some of those bridges have been burned, so they don’t always have those outside resources,” she said.
“Some of them hadn’t had street clothes on for decades,” Guice added. “We had a guy who was locked up for close to 30 years, so to put on regular pants was an emotional moment for him.”
Stuff and Deputy Warden Keisha Allen visited the Lima facility last year to observe how the program worked.
“We would see incarcerated people that would be going home and they were leaving in full suits. They would be ready for an interview,” Stuff recalled. “It was such a simple act, but it provided them with dignity.”
Guice said the program typically gives two outfits to each former inmate, along with a pair of shoes, backpack and hygiene supplies.
“I started off with three (outfits) but I noticed I was running through my resources,” she said.
Community donations stock the shelves of the New Chapter Store
Myers said the New Chapter Store has already served at least 15 formerly incarcerated men. One appreciated the initiative so much he wrote Myers a thank-you note and returned to RiCI a few weeks later with clothes to donate.
“From the feedback I’m getting from the men that’s going home, it’s been a game changer for them,” Myers said.
“One fellow told me, ‘This really makes a difference, not standing at a bus stop in the gray sweats where the public knows where I just came from.’
“In regular clothes, they don’t know, so they can’t judge them and stereotype them.”
Stuff said since many of the clothes are donated, the new program is also less costly and more eco-friendly.
“We were spending up to $30,000 a year on these gray sweatsuits that we send them out the door in,” she said.
Stuff said her next goal is to build partnerships with grocery stores to provide gift cards to men as they leave, since hunger is another common concern for people leaving incarceration.
RiCI launched the New Chapter Store with donations and support from Goodwill Industries, St. Peter’s Catholic Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church and the North End Community Improvement Collaborative.
Guice said partnerships and buy-in from staff are crucial to making programs like the New Chapter Store work.
“It takes a warden that supports the idea and the vision,” she said. “It takes someone that is passionate about serving and providing this re-entry tool and then a community to support it.”
Community members interested in donating new or gently used clothing to RiCI’s New Chapter Store can email Keisha.allen@drc.ohio.gov or Jennifer.myers@drc.ohio.gov.
