Food, job — but first, an ID. Cuyahoga County program simulates daily reality of reentry

About 25 people bustle around a large conference room lined with staffed tables at Towards Employment, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that helps people find jobs. The event is a reentry simulator, meant to give local government workers and community members insight into the challenges formerly incarcerated people face as they’re released from prison. Each participant at the event is given a character to play with tasks they might need to do to stay out of prison and join mainstream society — including get a job and stay employed. "When they come home, they have so many barriers and obstacles that they have to try to get through," says Marcus Bell, the reentry administrator for Cuyahoga County’s Office of Reentry. "Family requirements, court requirements, probation or parole."