The sprawling yellow house with the red trim has an air hockey table in the living room and framed Christmas photos on the walls. With five bedrooms, an airy kitchen and a lemon tree in the backyard, the home in Oakland, Calif., is perfect for a large family.
Or several convicts just released from prison.
Over the past three years, a rotation of recently released inmates, many of them convicted of murder, has cycled through the home of Surmiche Vaughn, 42, and her husband, Scott Patterson, 47. The houseguests are part of a program run by an Oakland nonprofit trying to keep former prisoners off the street.
Overall, 24 men have stayed with the couple, usually five or so at a time.
In return for hosting the men, Ms. Vaughn and Mr. Patterson receive about $1,500 per tenant per month, payments that are covered by the nonprofit, Impact Justice.
The experimental initiative is one of the few of its kind in the nation. It operates in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and all of its participants are coming off prison sentences of 10 years or longer, most commonly for murder, but also for attempted murder, manslaughter and robbery. Some 130 hosts have taken in prisoners since the program started in 2018.
Ms. Vaughn and Mr. Patterson know that their decision has raised eyebrows, even among loved ones.
“At first our friends were like, ‘You’re doing what? Girl, what?’” said Ms. Vaughn, who goes by Memi.
Source: www.nytimes.com
