The Victimization to Prison Pipeline

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas sits down with Sommer Alexander, Texas Chapter Coordinator for TimeDone and a Reentry Peer Support Specialist with the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Drawing from her own lived experience with victimization, incarceration, and reentry, Sommer shares how gaps in support for survivors can too often become pathways into criminalization—what is known as the victimization to prison pipeline. Sommer reflects on surviving a violent stabbing, navigating homelessness, and witnessing how survivors with records are routinely denied care, compensation, and recognition. She discusses how these failures played out for her partner and for countless Texans—more than nine million people—living with old records that block access to housing, employment, and safety. From record-expungement events to community education and chapter-building, Sommer offers a grounded look at how system-impacted people are organizing to reclaim their futures. Together, Sommer and Aswad explore what real community safety looks like beyond incarceration, why most harm happens between people who know each other, and how trauma care, mediation, and economic stability can prevent violence before it happens.

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Episoder(28)

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