Tag: half by 2030

“I Can’t Breathe.”

tonightatdawn December 21, 2014

Text and Photo by K. Cecchini

Justice cannot breathe in our nation, either, while our African-American brothers -and sisters- disproportionately suffer at the hands of our justice system. Whether the system puts a tag on their toe or cuffs on their hands, African-Americans -and other people of color- are prey to the inherent theme in our public institutions; “if you’re a hammer, everything is a nail.” (Glenn E. Martin)

On NPR’s Morning Edition, Brooklyn Borough president, Eric Adams spoke with host Steve Inskeep regarding the Eric Garner case,

“When we police in America, we leave the station house with this symbolic toolbox we can use based on the circumstances that we respond to. In many communities of color, the only tool we use is the hammer.” The former police officer went on to identify a number of nonlethal tools and tactics the police could have used to work with Eric Garner, “But in communities of color, the officers don’t use those tools of conflict resolution. They quickly go from zero to 100 in police action.”

Mr. Adams expanded on this point later in the interview, he does want police officers to respond to calls of service, however, they need to be as prudent with their approaches in working with citizens of color as they are with Caucasians,

“But when they come, I want them to use the force that’s equal to the crime that is being reported, not for them to come with a one-size-fit-all enforcement in communities of color. And that’s where we’re going wrong, and that is what we have to acknowledge.”

A Sustained Movement

America’s attention is on these issues now, but how do we build a sustainable –and effective– movement?

I spoke with Glen E. Martin about his organization, JustLeadershipUSA, last week and I asked him for his perspective on the mobilization for Michael Brown and Eric Gardner’s respective deaths. Although Glenn feels “motivated and energized” that 50,000 New Yorkers marched to express indignation for these young men and he was honored to march in the front line with Gardner’s family, he is concerned that the movement will not be sustained. In his mind, it is great to get 50,000 liberal New Yorkers in the streets, however, it is “not shocking” to get 50,000 liberal New Yorkers in the street.

To exemplify his uncertainty, Glenn brought up the 99% movement that spread around the globe, and, as if to illustrate his point, neither of us could recall the action’s name while we were on the phone (later, my husband remembered it was called Occupy Wall Street). Most notably, though, is that the rallying cry for our economic systems to undergo dramatic transformations has died out; “let’s be honest,” Glenn said, “Wall Street is back to what Wall Street does”.

So, how do we ensure our Justice System does not just go back to what our Justice System does? Glenn believes that a potent campaign requires a “slow, methodical, bipartisan movement” -rather than a quick, emotional rebuke- akin to the one he and his team are building at JustLeadershipUSA. In the upcoming week, I will share more on my follow up interview with Mr. Martin on the momentum they are gaining with the methodical building of his organization and their work for justice and #Halfby2030.

A Nonviolent Movement

“Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,”

Reverend Al Sharpton spoke in reaction to the man who sought to put “wings on pigs;” in a warped retaliation for Eric Gardner and Michael Brown, 28 year old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot two NYPD officers who he apparently targeted at random for their uniform before turning his gun on himself. As the Reverend, and every advocate for justice believes, misguided folks like Brinsley are not only framing themselves as enemies of the police but also as enemies “…to the pursuit of justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown.”

A Living Movement

Meanwhile, I hope we can summon enough breath among all of our citizens to keep a nonviolent discourse alive.

Prison Reform: (Part 5) Freedom Isn’t Free

tonightatdawn August 26, 2014

Text by Kimberly Cecchini

Please support justice reform with JustLeadershipUSA

Read Dr. Bowman’s book, Color Behind Bars

Glenn E. Martin might be selling sunglasses today had he been given 1 of the 40 some jobs he applied for after his release. It was the only interview the college graduate had landed. Why? It’s highly likely because of one little box at the bottom of employment applications; he had to draw a check mark in the “Yes” box indicating that he had indeed been convicted of a crime.

It’s a good thing he had “…prepared (him)self for failure as part of moving towards success”.

Although he was almost hired “on the spot” for the retail position, the boss vetoed his employment when he learned about Glenn’s background despite anti-discrimination laws. In fact thousands of Americans each year try to put their lives back together after prison and it is that 12 pt. box that looms over their prospects.

“Ban the Box” is one of the many projects Mr. Martin has been working on over the past 13 years as a prison reform advocate. His rise is uncharacteristic of most people who have served time, but he is using his own story, and that of other people in the system, to create change throughout the criminal justice system.

In his case, it’s a good thing he never did get that sunglasses gig.

At the time, though, Glenn was just trying to get on his feet and pay back the approximately one hundred thousand dollars he owed for fines, fees, restitution and child support arrears since there are not any real wages to garnish in lockup. Eventually, through an intermediate social services agency, he was connected to a receptionist position at a public interest law firm. Though, at 16 thousand dollars a year, Mr. Martin was not earning enough to live on and pay his debts, the basic job became the very modest start to the trajectory he has been on since it.

Low and behold, the law firm turned out to be a non-profit that services people with HIV, substance abuse issues and criminal records. Each time Glenn picked up the phone at his desk, he was speaking to the mayor, legislators and many people who were in the system and it led him to realize that, “…having a conversation about personal responsibility is such a joke. When you see hundreds of people with the same problem that’s being administered by the same bureaucracy over and over, you realize it’s not the individual, it’s the policy.”

After earning internal promotions within the firm, Mr. Martin became director of the National HIRE (Helping Individuals Reenter Through Employment) Network and successfully helped to create policy in 10 states to limit barriers to employment. Along this journey, Glenn learned about what durable, effective policy looks like and the value of having people who have experienced the system involved in creating policy about the system.

Despite his policy victories, Glenn moved onto a leadership role in The Fortune Society, a direct service organization, so he could reconnect with individuals who were directly impacted by the system. He helped to grow Fortune in a variety ways; he established a formal advocacy arm, became the organization’s spokesperson and led fundraising.

Ultimately, Glenn started to feel the limitations of doing advocacy in a direct service organization and sought the freedom to push for greater upheaval in the system; “If you look back at social justice movements in the US, it’s not until America says we did something wrong that we see paradigm shifts. You look at HIV/AIDS; it’s not until we said that’s not how we treat sick Americans that you see shifts in policy.” The stigma of being under criminal supervision, leads even the “…most staunch advocates to want to bring to the table the most perfect prisoner which feeds right into the rhetoric about who is deserving and who is not – as opposed to talking about the system.”

To effect paradigm shift in justice reform, Glenn founded JustLeadershipUSA as a membership organization to harness the power of people. Membership groups such as AARP are formidable and influence legislators because they are 30 million strong and, therefore, cannot be ignored. Upon its hard launch at the end of the year, Mr. Martin hopes that Americans from all walks of life will join to support its initiatives which include:

–Advocacy: Along with addressing policy issues, Mr. Martin wants to push to cut the prison system in half by 2030; he says its bold, audacious and is ultimately meant to convey a message that we need significant reform. He hopes to achieve this through stemming the tide of folks going into the system and decarceration. He is encouraged as President Obama already set a precedent on the federal level with a clemency initiative. Glenn summarized Attorney General Eric Holder’s support for it; “We have way too many people in prison for way to long for no good law enforcement reason.”

–Leadership: With the Columbia University School of Law and a number of other partners, JustLeadershipUSA will thoroughly train and provide tool kits to assist advocates in starting conversations about and work for decarceration in their states.

–Communication: Expand communication through new mediums and reach out to mainstream America on an emotional level.

Parole: “Everything about it feels as though you are still defining me as a criminal…”

What is the purpose of parole? The basic goal of parole is to ensure offenders transition into a productive, lawful way of life, right?

Unfortunately, the conditions of parole are a quick slip away from handcuffs and put demands on parolees that are not reasonable for adults and 12 year olds would buck against such things as curfews before sundown. The first time that Mr. Martin was given an opportunity to shift policy, he was still on parole and shared,

“When I go to parole and I sit there in the waiting room, everything about the experience is the opposite of what you’re telling me parole is supposed to be doing to change my life…everything about it feels as though you are still defining me as a criminal; you can’t use your cell phone, you can’t bring your kids, when you go up to the glass partition without permission, when you go up to the window there’s a bullet proof glass between you and the front desk person, you don’t want us talking to each other and there’s no reading material, etc., etc., etc.”

When asked what is one thing that can make the experience more productive and dignifying, Glenn requested that computers be installed so that parolees could at least search for jobs while they waited.

Chauncey Parker, who was head of the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services at the time, acted on his suggestion within weeks.

“You Think Prison is Tough, Try Getting a Job After You Get Out”

Arrests create serious baggage which inhibit a person’s ability and right to recover their lives -particularly juveniles – and it puts additional strain on resources when citizens lack opportunities to positively contribute. There are a number of collateral consequences that formerly incarcerated people carry with them for a lifetime.

“Ban the Box” initiatives are one step towards alleviating some of the challenges people face after incarceration. On August 11th, New Jersey joined the growing list of states and municipalities that have or will be eradicating the question of whether or not an applicant has a criminal record. Such legislation provides prospective employees the opportunity to present themselves in an interview before the employer can pose this question.

Even further than that, Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Rand Paul of Kentucky have joined forces across the aisle to push the bill REDEEM, Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment.

One of the bill’s measures will allow adults with nonviolent offenses to request for their criminal records to be sealed. If they are granted this, they will be able to lawfully state that they do not exist. Another one of the measures would be to, depending on the child’s age, expunge or automatically seal a juvenile’s nonviolent record. If enacted, REDEEM will benefit both nonviolent adult and juvenile offenders to decrease inhibitions to successful reintegration.

“Until America owns its problem, I’m not going to own the shame of my criminal record.”

It may been a little uncomfortable for him at first when he shared his story publicly and knew that his neighbors would hear it too, but Glenn’s ultimate feeling about his past is that he will not “own the shame” until our nation truly starts to face our bloated criminal system.

Too many folks, though, hold onto their shame and he is glad that sometimes his public presence gives other people the strength to “come out of the shadows”. After one of his television appearances, a well educated middle aged Caucasian woman from Orange County, California, reached out to him to tell him her own story.

Although a large percentage of Americans carry a criminal record and they have ‘paid their debt to society,’ our society inspires shame and inhibits reentry. Dr. Scott Brown speaks about the contradiction that these folks often are not afforded the second opportunity to fully participate in society as would be beneficial for the individual, their family and their community.

“In theory, a person that has served their time in prison is supposed to return to society with a second chance; however, we make it tremendously difficult to achieve the most basic things (e.g. housing, employment, self-determination). If a person was truly restored, we would have a knowledge of their past actions without penalizing them through every step of their reentry. In other words, they would be largely “restored” back into society with a realistic chance at self-sustainability.”

~Dr. Brown

Damned if you do try and damned if you don’t.

Final Words & Numbers

The statistics in our justice system are staggering.

-The U.S. Has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners.

-The U.S. has 2.3 million people in prison today.

-U.S. prisons cost taxpayers 80 billion dollars each year. —Compare that to what is paid for education !!

These are only some of the numbers that paint the picture of the United States JUSTICE system. With these numbers, the word “justice” is being used too loosely.

Too many of us feel too removed from the world of criminal justice, but these numbers are people. Yet no matter where we may live in this nation, whether we know it -or speak it – or not, we all know someone who has been under criminal supervision. They are our neighbors, our children, our cousins, our friends and ourselves.

I’ll leave you with Senator Booker’s words,

“We’ve created an America right now that is manifesting the worst extremes of our culture. We are a nation that believes in fairness and equality and yet we have a prison system right now that is dramatically over-incarcerating poor people and minorities and if you think about it, right now this is what is so chilling to me is right now in America we have more African-Americans under criminal supervision than all of the slaves in the 1850’s…This is something that all Americans should realize, we’re all paying a price for a broken system – millions, billions – to incarcerate people for low level, non-violent crimes instead of focusing our resources to help people succeed and lowering the burden on taxpayers and making our streets safer.”

References

Glenn E. Martin, Founder of JustLeadershipUSA. Personal interview. 26 June 2014.

Dr. Scott W. Bowman, Professor of Criminal Justice. Email interview. 11 June 2014.

“Cory Booker and Rand Paul Join Forces on Prison Reform.” The Brian Lehrer Show. WNYC. New York, New York, 31 July 2014. Web. 3 Aug. 2014.

Winerip, Michael, and Michael Schwirtz. “Rikers: Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 July 2014. Web. 26 Aug. 2014.

Prison Reform (Part 4): Peering Through the Bars

tonightatdawn August 5, 2014

Text and photo by Kimberly Cecchini

“I mean for a guy who used to pull guns on people in the streets…get into fights at parties, I went to Riker’s and was scared shitless. It’s gladiator school. And the only way to survive is to be a gladiator.” Glenn E. Martin gestures to a stab wound on his neck and towards the other scars on his head and his back to underscore his point.

For those of you not familiar with the infamous jail complex, Riker’s sprawls over an island between the Bronx and Queens boroughs in New York City. The island hosts local inmates, at a cost of $176,000 per person per year, who are awaiting trial, cannot or are not given an opportunity to post bail or are serving shorter sentences.

Speaking about a recent New York Times article on correctional officers at Riker’s during our interview, Glenn is incredulous, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why is anyone surprised?” With the variety of prisoners and the rampant corruption, he refers to the jail as a “powder keg of violence”. The numbers from the Times’ piece back up his words:

-January 2014 through June 2014: “Correction officers used force on inmates 1,927 times…”

-2013: During 11 months, 129 inmates needed treatment beyond the jail’s clinics due to the severity of their injuries in altercations with staff members: 77% of these inmates were identified as mentally ill

-Since 2009, inmate on inmate altercations and assaults on staff has “increased year by year”

Mr. Martin further illustrates the storied corruption at Riker’s with his own time in the jail. It sounds like TV. Glenn asserts that the CO’s “fed off” the violence, going so far as to make space for guys to beat up an inmate that the officers didn’t like. He also said it was easier to get drugs in prison than it was in the inner city neighborhood of his youth, Bed-Stuy. In fact, he never did drugs until he was penned up at Riker’s; “…if I was going to be arrested, it would be for getting money, not drugs.” With nothing to do but dwell on the judge’s offer of 20-40 years, he paid off a guard for marijuana.

After a year in the city jail, the judge offered him a plea, and, like 96% of defendants, Glenn took it and was transferred upstate.

Upstate

Though less restrictive, the upstate prison was ironically much safer. Exemplifying this dichotomy is the fact that inmates were allowed packages with canned goods. The jagged lids that would have quickly been wielded as weapons in Riker’s were rendered innocuous in the state facility. Relations between correctional officers and inmates were significantly less contentious as the CO’s demonstrated more respect than their Riker’s counterparts. Remarkably it was due to a correctional counselor’s prompting that led Glenn to earn his liberal arts degree during his time upstate.

Despite being a vast improvement over the island, there were still issues at the upstate facility, so Mr. Martin joined the inmate liaison board. He differed from many of the previous members as he had a sincere interest in making changes rather than an interest in the loophole some other prisoners leveraged to access drugs. Unfortunately, as many correctional officers are no more educated than the prisoners they supervised, they perceived it as a threat when Glenn stacked the group with college graduates.

One by one the men were put into the “box” (solitary confinement) for a week or two to reinforce their message; stay on the board and stay in the box or quietly work towards your release.

“Insidious.”

Glenn heeded the warning, but it reinforced for him that “…the whole system was oppressive, hypocritical, racist, endurable”. He had expended so much energy in seeking control his whole life and he realized he had none. It was “a slap in the face”.

Parole & the Deuce Club

Keep your head down and your nose clean, right? When Glenn moved to the state prison, he thought he had a year and a half left of his sentence. Not so fast. With an indeterminate sentence his fate was beholden to the parole board. Regardless of an inmate’s institutional record, the parole board often adds time on a sentence if they feel the inmate did not receive enough years in court. This course of action is often at the behest of the governor who appoints them.

Indeed the board rejected Mr. Martin’s parole a few times due to the “nature of the crime” -and the political climate- “The judge gave me 2 1/2 years, but Governor Pataki gave me 6 years, damn it.”

Glenn was certainly not an exception. There’s a group of inmates upstate who are serving 15 to life and have been dubbed the “Deuce Club” because the parole board keeps hitting them with 2 year extensions and they end up doing 26 or so years.

“I think it’s undermining to the judge and everyone who’s in the courtroom.”

The board cites the ‘nature of the crime’ to make their determination, but Glenn argues that the judge was well aware of the ‘nature of the crime’ when he/she assigned the punishment; with an indeterminate sentence, “the judge is saying, ‘don’t screw up and you have a good chance of getting out in 4′”.

Even more, according to Glenn, there is no return on the money taxpayers spend on extended sentences. Studies show that if the parole board released folks with indeterminate sentences sooner rather than later, they would not pose any more danger to the public than if you wait because “people age out of crime.”

The Politics of Prison

So is it the corporate prisons that are exasperating the system? Advocate Carol L. believes that private prison companies drive much of the negativity in the system because they are able to strong arm the legislation with large lobbying groups, “… they spend millions on laws designed to increase incarceration, (that are) tough on crime and (they) have a stake in detention centers. Empty beds do not generate profits. Private prisons are a billion dollar industry profiting off of human bondage.”

On the other hand, Glenn questions the wisdom of focusing on private prisons; he feels the debate is a distraction from the other inherent issues in the system. It’s the economic engine surrounding all prisons that is often the debate; local jobs, the related services and the local businesses-like those that service inmate visitors-that benefit from the industry. In fact it is much like the coal debate; coal has an adverse affect on health and the environment but people are adamant on maintaining its presence in their communities because they cannot envision what will replace it in their local economies.

Regardless of the cause, Carol would agree with Glenn, “I can’t think of any other industry that has such a failure rate” with 2/3 of inmates returning to jail.

“I can’t think of any other industry that has such a failure rate”

Reform Behind the Bars

Carol L. sums it up, “The entire prison environment must be changed and it starts with staff.” Her view as a mother and advocate that prisons are run on punishment rather than rehabilitation echoes Glenn’s own view from his direct experience. One solution to create a more productive, compassionate environment that fosters growth is to look at those who interact daily with the prisoners-the correctional officers. Many CO’s obtain their positions and promotions via such circumstances as family connections and he believes that officers would be more effective if they had degrees in social work or criminal justice. Also, in order to avoid the issues that are developed with the fatigue of being in this line of work, these officers should be limited to a period of 7 years as part of a career track to other jobs in the field.

Additionally, practical life skills should be integrated more into daily routines to prepare inmates for reentry into mainstream society. For instance, inmates should actually have to apply and interview for the jobs they hold during their sentence so they can imbibe all the skills surrounding these experiences. There are a number of other skills that many people need direct instruction in due to limited exposure such as household finances, medical insurance, and child care.

Additionally, folks who have been impacted by the system should be included more frequently in conversations about the system. They, like Mr. Martin, can lead the discussion on what is working and what is not with priceless first hand experience.

Half by 2030

What might be the boldest solution to mitigate the issues in the U.S. prison system?

With his new organization, JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn is promoting a goal to CUT THE PRISON SYSTEM IN HALF BY 2030. Bold? Absolutely. Mr. Martin would be the first to agree that it is bold, and that there are a number of things to be addressed even if we achieve this goal. Still, it would be a great step and he proposes that removing mandatory minimums, eliminating the 3 strike system and instituting merit time would help move the system towards 2030.

In order to effect more promising change, Glenn Martin certainly heralds efforts that includes people who have been involved in the justice system. In addition, with JustLeadershipUSA, he also wants to include all Americans in the conversation because it affects all of us; our tax dollars, our safety and our values as a nation.

After its hard launch in November, JustLeadershipUSA will interact with the public in a multifaceted manner; it’s developing tool kits with Columbia University to train advocates in shaping dialogue on the state and local level. It will also have a greater center of power in its messages and reach because it will operate like AARP–except that is membership pool will not just be those in the system, but it will be open to all Americans to support reform.

Half by 2030? Maybe. It is a bold notion, but we need it for a truly free nation.

References:

Glenn E. Martin, Founder of JustLeadershipUSA. Personal interview. 26 June 2014.

Carol L., Blog founder (Prison Reform Movement). Email interview. May 2014.

Winerip, Michael, and Michael Schwirtz. “Rikers: Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 July 2014. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.