OKLAHOMA CITY — Eric Cotter has finally found something that gives him hope that there’s a place for him outside prison when he’s released after serving his two-decade prison sentence.
Incarcerated at the Clara Waters Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma, Cotter is one of the inmates participating in R.I.S.E Program Inc., a pioneering cosmetology and barbering project. It aims to set prison inmates up for success once they’re released, and, by extension, reduce the state’s recidivism rate.
“Every day I come here, this program gives hope,” Cotter said. “It lets me know that I don’t have to come back to prison, and I can do something different and be a part of society.”…