SOARS at UofL & Kentucky Department of Corrections Fall Reentry Simulation

What would you do if you had 30 days to rebuild your life with $10 to your name? Experience the barriers, choices, and surprises of reentry.
About this Event

What happens after incarceration?

You’ve made it home after serving time. Now you have to figure out how to rebuild your life.

Where will you sleep? How will you get to work? How will you pay for food? Can you find employment? What happens if you miss an appointment or cannot meet a requirement of supervision?

The SOARS & Kentucky Department of Corrections Reentry Simulation is an interactive, hands-on experience that places participants in the position of someone returning to the community after incarceration. Rather than simply talking about reentry, the simulation gives participants an opportunity to experience how quickly everyday challenges can become complicated when resources are limited, and requirements compete for their time and attention.

What to Expect

Participants will receive an assigned identity and a set of circumstances that reflect the experiences of someone recently released from incarceration. During the simulation, participants will work through a series of time-sensitive tasks and decisions designed to represent the first weeks of community reentry.

Participants may need to:

• Find or maintain housing
• Search for employment
• Secure transportation
• Obtain food and other basic necessities
• Access community resources and services
• Manage limited financial resources
• Meet parole or probation requirements
• Respond to unexpected challenges and setbacks
• Make difficult decisions about competing needs

The goal is not to "win" the simulation. Instead, the experience is designed to demonstrate how structural barriers, limited resources, administrative requirements, and unexpected events can affect a person's ability to successfully navigate life after incarceration.

Learning Through Experience

The Kentucky Department of Corrections previously brought the Reentry Simulation to the University of Louisville in partnership with UofL SOARS and the CARE Initiative. That experience brought together students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members to explore the realities of reentry.

Participants described the experience as eye-opening and educational, with one UofL faculty member noting that it felt "nearly impossible" to reenter society due to the barriers and unexpected roadblocks encountered during the simulation. Another participant reflected that the experience demonstrated that "we are not all experiencing life the same way."

The previous UofL simulation engaged 52 participants from across the university, including students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni. Following the event, 96% of survey respondents supported UofL offering degree pathways to people currently incarcerated or under community supervision.

More Than a Simulation

Reentry affects individuals, families, universities, employers, healthcare systems, community organizations, and communities. Understanding the barriers people encounter after incarceration is an important part of developing more effective and compassionate approaches to education, health, employment, public safety, and community reintegration.

Whether you study criminal justice, social work, public health, law, education, psychology, or another field—or simply want to better understand what happens after incarceration—this experience offers an opportunity to learn by doing.

Come prepared to participate, make decisions, encounter unexpected challenges, and reflect on what successful reentry really requires.

Registration is free, but space is limited.