Tag Archives: Karen Loftin

Former parolee returned to Syracuse for second chance and to help others

When Karen Loftin’s mother died, she was in prison. Her prison sentence even took her away from her children when each was learning to walk and talk. Now she has a college degree and a passion for helping others stay out of jail. Loftin’s story is a moving and powerful one about cycles of abuse, the ravages of drug abuse …

The Stand’s Summer print issue features Charles Rivers on the cover, who after serving 19 years, 9 months and 4 days in prison, returned to Syracuse in 2012. He now runs PEACE, Inc.’s South Side center and has helped parolees reunite with their families in Syracuse under a $95,000 pilot grant. Currently, PEACE is waiting to see if the grant …

Ex-offenders face several barriers in their transition back to society: finding jobs, adequate housing or even obtaining photo identification. So when a new grant was announced to support re-entry locally, I met with the director of the agency in charge to discuss a way to share a deeper understanding on what such support looks like for each participant and what …

Charles Rivers and Karen Loftin oversee $95,000 grant to reunite families By lunch time one day last year, Charles Rivers had gone from being a supervised parolee to a welcomed professional in the same office building where hours before one individual held the power to revoke his freedom. “As a parolee, you look at parole as an adversary,” Rivers said. …