Kansas City’s Transition Center has trained experts in conflict resolution, job training and wellness. Classes are giving hope to an increasing number of repeat offenders that they can make long-term changes and stay out of prison.

Inside of a former minimum prison facility, men are walking up and down light green, cinder-block hallways. Among them are 40-year-old Jose Zavala and his friend, 45-year-old Doyle Brown. Brown said the two didn’t hit it off when they first met.

“I wanted to beat this guy up”, said Brown, who was released after an 18-month sentence for a parole violation.

“Yeah, we did not get along at first,” said Zavala, a native of Compton, California, who’s served sentences in California, Iowa and now, Missouri.

Zavala and Brown are formerly incarcerated men who are now

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