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In episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason chat with Joshua Hoe about incarceration, reentry and renewal. During the course of the conversation we get a front-row seat to accountability, reentry built on constraints: registry rules that make simple walks risky, five-hour weekday windows on parole, and landlords who rarely open doors. Josh turns that maze into a practice of workarounds—writing web content with a word processor offline, uploading from monitored terminals, and negotiating permissions with persistence. The throughline is strategy: learn the unwritten rules, solve for the next step, and document every decision. That mindset carries him from a volunteer seat to national reform tables, where sharp questions at conferences and targeted online campaigns open unexpected doors.

Then comes the inflection point: consulting on criminal justice reform during the First Step Act push, pressing forward to help others, realizing injustice even when it isn't his own, watching a U.S. senator read language he helped craft on the Senate floor. It’s a reminder that power can start from a shared kitchen in a halfway house if paired with understanding, connection, discipline and an eye for moments that matter. His closing advice is simple and invitational: walk into every room like you belong there, and keep hustling to create your next opportunity.

Joshua B. Hoe is the Senior Policy Manager at Dream.Org
Josh has a background in public speaking, debate, and public policy research. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in International Relations, is a former national college debate champion (1990), and was a long-time college debate coach.

Since returning from incarceration in 2013, Josh has been a Policy Analyst, a lobbyist, a social media and messaging consultant, an organizer, a debate consultant, and the host and creator of the Decarceration Nation Podcast. His work is guided by bringing people back from incarceration better.

Josh loves alternative music and used to DJ as well as play in several punk and post-punk bands in the 1980s

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Restorative Action Foundation
Restorative Action Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization created to encourage, sponsor

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