People returning from incarceration often struggle to find work or stable housing. State and local governments have launched programs to help former inmates rebuild their lives, but those efforts can be limited and face challenges of their own. In Mecklenburg County, two programs aim to help formerly incarcerated individuals overcome those challenges by providing opportunities, growth, and hard lessons.
At ReConnex, a tech repair store in northeast Charlotte, Mustaffa Jenkins uses a heat gun to repair an iPhone.
"I love coming to work and helping people change their lives and helping people who look like me and have been through what I've been through," Jenkins said.
The 26-year-old is Puerto Rican and Dominican. He says he spent four years in prison, where he was connected with a staff member.
“When I came out of prison, I had a PO that told me about different programs," Jenkins said. "And ended up telling me about entrepreneurship.”
The Charlotte nonprofit City Startup Labs launched ReConnex a year ago to provide workforce and entrepreneurial training for formerly incarcerated people. Jenkins helped operate the store and said the experience changed his outlook.
"I didn't think I would be here," Jenkins said. "There's nowhere but McDonald's I should be right now. There are definitely programs out there. I've been through three of them. CSL was the best one that impacted my life.”
WFAE spoke to Jenkins two months ago. Just before ReConnex closed last month. City Startup Labs founder Henry Rock said the ReConnex venture was somewhat of an experiment.
"It was not the sustainable enterprise we hoped for," Rock said. "We built it to test whether or not a device or technology repair business could simultaneously generate revenue, address the community need, and function in a workers' ownership model for formerly incarcerated folks."
ReConnex launched with a $400,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. Even with that support, Rock said the business faced challenges.
"It's a very competitive business, and the margins are thin," Rock said.
Rock said participants such as Jenkins now hope to start their own businesses or return to school to complete degrees in social work. Programs across North Carolina have worked to help people navigate life after incarceration. One example is the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program, which began in 2017 and supports people dealing with substance use and mental health challenges.
Despite those efforts, the need remains significant. Nearly 1,100 people returned to Mecklenburg County after leaving prison in 2025, the second-highest total in the state behind Wake County.
"What kind of economic pathways are we creating for them when they do come home?" Rock said. "And that gives them the opportunity to not just earn a living but also contribute back to the community that they are returning to."
About 74% of those returning to Mecklenburg County last year identified as Black or African American, roughly 18% identified as white, and about 7% identified as Latino. Rock said realistic post-release opportunities are critical.
"And that can only happen if we create a more dynamic system for them to operate within," Rock said.
Another effort is underway through Mecklenburg County to address the gap. Dorian Johnson is the detention program director for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office.
Earlier this year, the Sheriff's Office opened the Sheriff House, a temporary housing program designed to help formerly incarcerated people transition back into the community.
"There's been a gap to help people establish a foundation when they get released," Johnson said. "Most individuals who get released are unemployed. They have no safe, secure housing to go to."
The Sheriff House currently houses five residents and can accommodate up to 12. Residents are often affected by substance abuse and other challenges.
"Mental health is a major problem for a good segment of the population that is incarcerated," Johnson said. "Yet, even though therapy is needed, most incarceration settings are not funded for therapy. They are funded for stabilizing a person and making sure they're not problematic."
Residents generally stay about three months, although that period can be extended. Participants are selected based on factors including behavior and involvement in county detention programs.
“If a person can get through their first year, no arrest. No relapse, consistent on the medication,” Johnson said. “Many of them have mental health co-occurring disorders; they’re stable on their medication, they’ve reconnected with family, they’ve created a budget for themselves to be independent.”
Currently, the Sheriff's Office has not publicly disclosed the home's location because officials worry some community opposition could undermine residents' confidence.
"We didn't want anything to hinder residents' confidence, residents' hope and pathway toward restoration," Johnson said. "Any negativity, any little hiccup, are things that can push this person back to low self-worth."
Gary Montgomery is among the program's residents. Montgomery has been pleased with the home.
"It's good. It's awesome. Peaceful, quiet," Montgomery said. "Shut my door, you shut the world out. I get my time to exhale and, after a long workday, get my prayer time in and reach out to my kids and everything."
Montgomery, 55, said he initially questioned whether the housing would provide long-term stability. As he developed a relationship with Johnson, he became more comfortable with the idea of the program.
"It could have been just me getting out of jail and going into a shelter, going to the street, going to my kids or something," Montgomery said. "This makes that process much easier."
More than 1 in 4 people leaving North Carolina prisons face homelessness. Montgomery, who spent time in jail on a misdemeanor offense, said housing is one of the most important supports available after release.
"You're back around that same area, atmosphere and people, and that foundation is already cracked," Montgomery said. "You need to go to a more solid foundation, and a lot of times it's challenging for some people to transition from the cracked foundation to the solid foundation because they're so used to the cracked foundation."
Montgomery said he also struggled with crack cocaine use. Through counseling and support from county programs, he said he has been clean for a year.
"When you make that wrong choice, you don't necessarily change immediately," Montgomery said. "You'll keep doing it regardless of the consequence. But if you become aware of what you're doing, then you'll stop. With this program and the counselors in it, it created that awareness, where it put me back in that mindset where I was before I got in trouble."
The county hopes the Sheriff House can be a hub of stability for others, like Montgomery, as they try to rebuild their lives.
