Star, the lead character in “Locked Down Dreams” puppet show

Hi guys, Happy New Year! My name is Star. Did I hear somebody ask how I got that name? Well, when I was born, my dad said he knew I would be a star. So that’s my name and he said it is up in lights. But, I gotta say that my dad didn’t always tell me the truth. You see, my life used to be wonderful. I didn’t have a care in the world. And, then, in a minute, in a second, it felt like all the ugly forces that try to destroy families and neighborhoods seemed to be tumbling down on my head. My dad is now incarcerated. My mom is on drugs. And, my little brother and I were sent to live at Grandma’s. Our story is not so unusual.”… … No, it’s not, Star. In fact, 5,763 Stark county children have at least one parent currently in the penal system.

Please come and see the story of Star in” Locked Down Dreams” puppet show, a production of THRIVE! Puppet Program, an exclusive of RBN. This program gives a voice to many children in families who are touched by incarceration. The fifth and sixth grade students at Belden Elementary School, Canton, OH, wrote the script, made the puppets and the puppet theatre. Along with puppeteering, they will be performing original music, dance, drumming and rap. Stay tuned to next month’s newsletter for more details, time, and place in March.

FYI: 5,763 Stark County children have at least one parent currently in the penal system.

I find holidays emotionally difficult.  In New Mexico I was blessed to be able to invite the homeless into my home for Thanksgiving dinner, followed by handing out meals on the streets and then everyone helping to put up the 12 foot live tree in our rambling ranch house.  And Christmas brought another set of friends who welcomed a fireplace, good food, and a dry space to visit with folks of their community, exchanging stories and small, useful gifts.

Community.  Isn’t that what it’s really about? We are social beings and we migrate to the community we chose to share these special moments with.  To build our memories and expand our lives and spirits.  Without community, we stand alone.  So we pick and grow to depend on our communities, both large and small, public and personal.  Or, at least we hope that when we need to lean, our communities will stand strong so we don’t have to stand alone.  I believe that this is a simplified explanation of the substitution of gangs for absent or disengaged families.

Now that we are in Ohio, working with the prisoners, I am suddenly aware of two things.  One is the obvious; I can’t invite my many friends over to my home for the holiday.  The girls and I will be joining other families this year.  The second thing is my consciousness of community and the effect it has on people.  And the effect of standing without one. Of course I live and breath reentry and all that “returning to community from prison” can entail, and I seek and sort communities through that lens.  It takes a community to reduce recidivism: to reduce the number of people who return to prison.  A community.  A healthy, aware, engaged community.

As I look around, read the newspapers, and talk to members of this community we live in, it seems to me that there is a willingness and even a desire to build an effective program that will impact our community in such as way as to reduce crime and grow  healthy communities. In order to successfully build such a program, we must engage the very people we aim to help, to give a hand-up to.  We must seek the opinions of former prisoners who have successfully reentered community, and their families, and work towards new ideas and ideals in housing, employment, support, and health, both mental and physical.  We must also communicate with the currently incarcerated on a pre-release level.

Our thinking must come from the bottom-up, from the trenches, and lead to changes in relationships and education. We must be cognizant of diverse communication skills and predictable challenges of individuals returning from prisons, and their family interaction and role skills, if we are to impact this population.

So, the question came to me, how can we as an organization multiply our effectiveness and get people actively involved in turning crime and violence around as a community effort?  And what pieces of different programs have been working that we might select and unite in the creation of a community-wide program?  And, we came together to design Reentry Bridge COMMUNITY Network Program which is a secular reentry program installed through faith-based institutions.  A gateway for church members to safely interface and network benevolent and professional services that support successful reentry and family reunification and stability.  The program networks community in cross-cultural ways that support successful reentry and thriving community and builds on family-focused, strength-based thinking. We welcome your involvement.  We welcome the opportunity to speak to community about this program……….Wishing you and your family the happiest of holiday seasons.

RBN’s Elaine Kelly Randle spoke recently with Mr. Canterbury, Marion Correctional Training Officer and Institutional Recycling Coordinator; he related some of the astounding ways in which MCI inmates give back by volunteering for community services there. Not only do these inmates volunteer, but MCI spearheads toy drives and inmates donate generously from the money that is available on their books. Other community services at MCI include the Aqua Pond; inmates raise the fish and set up fish tanks for schools and nursing homes. MCI raised a garden and this year inmates donated 3500 pounds of vegetable to the Salvation Army. These are just a few of the community services at MCI and other area correctional institutions. At RBN we understand the importance of community service. Change involves getting involved……Donate to RBN

RBN and executive director Carol Briney  begin “THRIVE” a Puppet Program at Belden School in Canton , OH, this Program will give a voice to many children in families who are touched by incarceration. The children write the script, make the puppets and the puppet show frame. There will be music, dance and other forms of expressive Art.  RBN will use established partnerships to assist with this program, including  college interns.

FYI:  5,763 Stark County children have at least one parent currently in the penal system.

Dr. J. Mark Eddy is a Senior Scientist and Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Eddy is Director of Research, Partners for Our Children, School of Social Work at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the principal investigator on several randomized prevention trials of programs delivered within systems of care relevant to children and families. These include the Child Study, a multi-site randomized controlled trial of the Friends of the Children youth mentoring program; the Parent Child Study, a randomized trial of parent management training with incarcerated parents within adult corrections; the Paths Project, a study of the transition into young adulthood for youth who were heavily involved with the juvenile justice system and who participated in a randomized trial of multidimensional treatment foster care; and the Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers Project, a study of the transitions into young adulthood for participants in a randomized multi-modal school-based prevention intervention program that began during elementary school. Dr. Eddy states “Until recently, most of the information available on the children of incarcerated parents has been anecdotal in nature, or has come from a few studies of relatively small groups of children.  Reliable and valid information has been hard to come by.  Fortunately, a growing number of research projects are now available. In this book, we brought together active researchers in the field to present the results of these studies.”

“The rising number of incarcerated adults in the U.S. has led to a corresponding rise in the number of children impacted by incarceration. It is critical that social workers, youth counselors, foster parents and other guardians, teachers, mentors, advocates, and other professionals who work with these children learn what we do, and what we don’t know about the impacts of parental incarceration on children, and about mitigating those impacts.”

“There are a number of books that have recently been published, or that will soon be published, about the children of incarcerated parents. Some of these are edited volumes, like this one. Others are written by a single author, who gives his or her perspectives on this population. These books provide professionals with important and useful information about children, their caregivers, and their incarcerated parents.”

Giving a voice to children, families, and neighborhoods touched by incarceration is equally important to RBN director Carol E. Briney. “Thrive” a puppet program developed by Ms Briney is a 12 curriculum in the Canton City Schools, Children in grades 4,5 and 6 have the opportunity to express their feelings using Trauma Informed-Art Therapy as a natural form of communication. The children will create an original script that the group as a whole feel make a strong statement about the lives and challenges of having an incarcerated member in your family. The puppet program consists of visual arts, music, drama, creative writing, poetry and dance.

” Thrive” writing instructor Elaine Randle with student Courtney Dozier

Lawton spent 11 years in some of the toughest federal prisons in the country. He was convicted of racketeering in connection with jewelry robberies. Born and raised in the Bronx and Brooklyn NY, Lawrence spent six years in the Coast Guard before making some bad choices which led him to associations with organized crime. While in prison, Lawton saw inmates stabbed and friends die. He saw young men raped and turned out as prostitutes for other inmates. Lawton was stabbed and stabbed others. He studied to be a paralegal and became a gang mediator. He somehow kept his sanity by helping other inmates. Since his release from Federal prison in 2007, he has worked with teens and young adults. He now tells kids how he lost time, his family, friends and his freedom. He tells his story of bad choices which led to serious consequences. Mr. Lawton’s success is featured in numerous news and magazine articles, radio and T.V. appearances, including the Huckabee Show.

Contradictory to our popular notion, there are “debtors’ prisons” throughout American cities where ex-offenders are imprisoned, or sent back to a physical prison because they are weighed down with never ending lawsuits, child support payments, recovering from an addiction or a product of today’s devastated economy. Here at RBN, when ex-offenders come through our doors after being released, one of the first issues they face is that of threatening child support. It has been my experience that 99% of ex-offenders love their children and desire to support them, but upon release from prison, the releasee has to first try and meet basic needs: shelter, employment and food. To work out some practical answers, I was fortunate to speak with Mr. Larry Lawton, we at RBN wish to thank him for taking time to share his work with us.

Ex-offenders who are released from incarceration with child support, restitution, fines and other financial responsibilities is a subject that is hard to deal with for both the ex-offender and the government entities that impose the sanctions.

Although financial responsibility is a part of an ex-offender’s rehabilitation it can also hinder the ex-offender by saddling him or her with a financial obligation that is impossible to address. An ex-offender has to understand that the single most important thing they can do to maintain their freedom is to not get caught up in the blame game or getting bitter. The #1 reason a person goes back to prison is that they lose hope and become bitter. Don’t lie to your probation officer or community control officer. Write everything down on paper and don’t beat yourself up if you can’t contribute to the sanction that was opposed. Showing the probation officer and a Judge you are organized and trying will go a long way towards your eventual full reintegration back into society. Take one day at a time and always think back to where you just came from. Everyone runs into difficulties, but as an ex-offender you were in a place that is as low as it gets. Think back to the times a guard degraded you, lock-downs, the holding cells, shackles and belly chains and all the other things that a normal person, who hasn’t been through what you have, could not even imagine.

Think air, shelter, food, water and worry about that. Stress does no one any good, take one day at a time.

Good luck and never give up.

Lawton911 & The Reality Check Program DVD

Helping Teens and Adults Make the Right Choices

2550 Palm Bay Rd

Palm Bay, FL 32905

Office: 321-327-2921 Fax: 888-588-4616

www.lawton911.com

larry@lawton911.com

A Local Voice

Kevin Gowan Portage County Job and Family Services Administrator

A little closer to home, I spoke with Portage County JFS Administrator Kevin Gowan, Mr. Gowan reiterated what Larry Lawton identified as key, which is communication. He stated that JFS feel strongly that ex-offenders keep accurate monthly records of their whereabouts, plus establishments and dates where you have applied for employment, and when you have visited your local Onestop. According to Mr. Gowan, Ohio Case Law states that “by going to prison you are voluntarily unemployed; therefore your child support order continues while you are incarcerated, and you are not eligible to request a modification. JFS of Portage County will not except a zero income for time spent while incarcerated. Mr. Gowan did go on to say that Portage County JFS will work with a person as much as possible. He added that “everything is appealable,” and even if an individual is found in contempt, if they show that they are making an effort and come prepared with documented evidence of that effort, they will most likely rule non-willful contempt.

“Child support seems to be a hot item of discussion right now” according to RBN executive director Carol E. Briney. “There are changes being made and different counties appear to be working on creative and balanced initiatives to relieve the stress of undue child support sanctions upon release from prison.” Stay tuned for more research and interviews.”

We RBN wish to thank Mr. Kevin Gowan for taking time to further enlighten our readers.

PortageCSEA@portageco.com.

RBN featured Artwork for October is an assortment of Christmas and other various holiday cards I fell madly in love with. They are from a collection of inmate Ray Gray, and although he has been held physically captive, his spirit and passion for life and art have not been muted. Ray’s art speaks the message of a man not embittered, a man with faith that the truth will one day be revealed. His wife gives us a glimpse into his past.

Ray Gray began boxing at the age of 10, by age 12 he was earning medals and awards for his skill in the ring. Be age 21, Ray had won the Golden Gloves championships five times in various weight classes as he grew up. He inherited his ability to draw from his artistic parents, but his brother particularly encouraged his creativity with games and exercises. In early 1973, Ray had just turned 21 and had applied to an art school. His brother was murdered the year before, and he was still suffering from that loss when he was arrested for a murder committed by someone else. He was arrested in February 1973 and has been in prison ever since.

In the time he has been incarcerated, Ray has never used a cell phone, has never read an email off a computer screen, has never had a driver’s license. Yet, his art has been seen all over the world via the internet. His story is spreading, but the man who committed the murder is free. The woman who may have planned and initiated the robbery is free. Ray’s spirit is yearning for freedom. His art expresses his sense of humor, his humanity, his need to communicate and to teach. Perhaps one day it will help gain his freedom, too. Ray’s case has been endorsed by the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). His artwork can be seen at www.freeraygray.com

Shown here is just one of the beautiful Christmas cards that you can order to send that special loved one or friend. I hope our readers will pass this site along to others, and perhaps help Ray Gray to one day, be “Home for Christmas.”

Elaine Kelly Randle:

Like yourself, and many others over the world, we here at Reentry Bridge Network (RBN) were extremely disturbed that the execution of Troy Davis went forward with so many unanswered questions. You stated, and it is true, that the world is watching this case. Your assessment.- that by allowing the execution to go forth as it did, leaves a black eye on the American system of justice is right on. Yet black eyes eventually heal until they get punched again, and we do know that this scenario will happen again. I don’t know if Mr. Davis was innocent or guilty, but who is it that we are to hold accountable to continue digging out the facts when the spotlight disappears. In your expert opinion, now that the execution has indeed taken place, will the investigation continue or slowly fade from the headlines?

Terrica Redfield Ganzy:

I suspect that there are enough people outraged by this execution that there will be attempts to continue to investigate Mr. Davis’ innocence. Such efforts will face severe challenges for several reasons that immediately come to mind. The first and most obvious is that there is no DNAevidence available to test that will shed light on what really happened on the night that Officer MacPhail was murdered. Many of those who are exonerated are able to prove their innocence through DNA testing. In cases where there is no DNA to test, proving innocence is substantially more difficult. Additionally, the Georgia Department of Corrections recently denied Mr. Davis’ attorneys’ request that a polygraph test be administered to Mr. Davis. While I have concerns about the accuracy of polygraph tests, this would have been one step toward learning the truth. If Mr. Davis is executed, the window of opportunity for a polygraph test will be permanently closed. Also, I think the one thing that would conclusively prove Mr. Davis’ innocence is for the real killer to confess. That appears unlikely to happen in the near future. I don’t mean to sound discouraging, but I want to emphasize that proving innocence is often extremely difficult, and those difficulties will only be compounded now that Mr. Davis has been executed…………We at RBN wish to thank Ms. Ganzy for speaking to our readers.

Terrica Redfield Ganzy

Staff Attorney

http://www.schr.org/

Following a BJS report concerning prison sexual abuse, several corrections officials offered some interesting theories as to why their facilities had been found to have high rates of sexual abuse. Some called the BJS statistics into question, denying that their facilities had such high rates of abuse, others claimed that prisoners were given snacks to make false statements. Well, officers at Miami-Dade Correctional Institute took a proactive attitude and got busy. I spoke with Miami-Dade corrections Chief Danny Mera, who briefly outlined the steps that were taken at Miami-Dade. Mr Mera added that when the results are in, that “you either pay now or pay later.” He credits the success and implementation of these positive modifications to director Timothy P. Ryan. Chief Mera said that first and foremost all line staff supervisors were required to take a training course, this course was online, so each officer was able to take it as his time permitted. The pre-trial Center was built before 1960, so Miami-Dade placed cameras covering all areas, and they are monitored 24/7. Also, they invited partner police officers to participate in the training, Director Ryan was acknowledged in Urban Institute Justice Policy Center periodical “Life after Lock-up; Improving Reentry from the Jail to the Community.”

Mr. Allen J. Beck, Ph.D. Senior Statistical Advisor BJS Expounds on Prison Abuse Issues

Mr. Allen J. Beck is Senior Statistical Advisor with the Bureau of Justice Statistics. He has led the team at BJS to implement the data collection and reporting requirements under PREA. As such, he has authored numerous reports, related to the incidence and prevalence of sexual victimization in prisons, jails, and juvenile correctional facilities. Mr. Beck was kind enough to share this supplementary data to further enhance our readers. From our executive director Carol E. Briney and all here at RBN, we wish to thank you Mr. Beck for your time and most relevant information.

Elaine Kelly Randle:

Why is it that certain facilities report far less percentages of abuse than others?

Allen J. Beck:

Our efforts have been focused on measuring variations among systems and facilities in the rate of sexual victimization. The work of the Prison Rape Review Panel has been to understand underlying reasons for lower (or higher) levels of abuse. Transcripts of the panel’s hearings as well as summary reports on prisons, jails and juvenile hearings are available online. Click on http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reviewpanel/transcripts.htm

Elaine Kelly Randle :

In what year did the BJS begin gathering received information on authenticated incidents of sexual misconduct and victimization?

Allen J. Beck:

The first administrative data collection effort was in 2004, Survey of Sexual Violence, which included allegations by type and detailed information on substantiated incidents overall. Based on the 2004 experience, we developed a separate form in 2005 that collected detailed information on each substantiated incident. We have conducted the survey annually since then. The survey forms for each year are available on the BJS website. Click on

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ssv109.pdf

Elaine Kelly Randle :

Do recent findings indicate additional correctional institutions taking a proactive attitude toward the subject of prison victimization, as was put into action by Miami-Dade Correction Institution.

Allen J. Beck:

Yes, many prison and jail systems have taken “proactive” steps to reduce sexual abuse. Oregon department of corrections comes to mind. However, there are many others – including juvenile justice agencies in Texas, Missouri, and Indiana, almost every state system, and many large jail jurisdictions. I think the best way to get an overview of this would be for you to contact Just Detention International – they have been working with many facilities/systems to implement changes. You might contact Lovisa Stannow, Executive Director, Just Detention International [lstannow@justdetention.org]., and author of the BJS Special Report,Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09)

A Ranting on Prison Phenomena

The word and presence of prison conjure up a lot of phenomena, all of which are founded by personal perceptions. There are myths, fears, curiosity, and a priori suspicion and prejudices. Some of these carry fragmented conclusions that result in judgment and further fear. Fear favors division or dissociation. It seeks safety in separation. And, in many cases, safety is in fact a byproduct of separation. Hence, we fill prisons in American

Often misconceptions about prison and relative associations can be refuted with improved holistic social and educational systems that generate and disseminate intercultural and intercaste information that examines the invisible rules and roles of classes, cultures and poverty in unbiased ways that create bridges that support thriving healthy communities.

Due to the high media coverage of Ohio prisons and the debate of privatization of institutions, public opinion has been as abundant and varied as the spots on the proverbial leopard. This can be a good thing. Awareness can breathe life into social situations and render positive change and social reforms. Discussions make people think. We human beings have a tendency to want to help. We like being asked for our opinion. We find value in being part of the solution. More information brings about thought and often brings a gateway to help with social change. And, people support what they help to create.

Now, I have to come clean with you, and confess that for decades I believed that the bad guys should be locked up and the key thrown away; fed only bread and water. I thought prisons were filled with only the most heinous of beings and never gave a thought to how many were stored away or where the prisons were located. I assumed everything they needed to live was given to them at no charge, including school and vocational training. I never gave a thought as to whether they ever came home, but figured going to prison should teach them how to behave nicely when they got out. I believed in America’s justice system and never doubted the guilt of anyone in jail or prison. I assumed that crime ran through the lower rungs of society and that no one I knew, attended church with, or worked with was connected in any way to prison or prisoners. I believed executions gave victims’ families closure. I didn’t even know that I had no desire to know anything about the phenomena of prison. After all, what would I do with the information and why would I need to know about it? It had no bearing on my life; or so I thought. And then, randomly, I was invited to facilitate fine arts workshops inside a male prison with 83 inmates for four days, 12 hours a day and I came face to face with what I didn’t know. I discovered that all that I had believed was supremely opposite to the truth of reality.
I also believed that since I had never done drugs or even been drunk that my life was not effected by those either. That was also incorrect. The fact is that everyone living in America is living in a society of addictions that fills prisons with their by-product to the degree that America has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. America touts a distinctive approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes that would rarely produce prison sentences in other industrialized countries and the length of their incarceration is disproportionate to the crime. Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences. Other nations seem to be more aware of this phenomenon than our own population.

Fyodor Dostoevsky said “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” If, in the same train of thought, and considering the social identity theory that states society constructs the self, then we might also say that how a society deals with people returning from prison reflects the degree of civilization and effectiveness of their social systems. Wouldn’t that be a circle? I believe we call it a revolving door.

Since I am attempting to lay a foundation of thought onto which I might build what I now feel is a truer evaluation of the prison phenomena, or at least the surface view, I would like to state that I have gone through adult prison gates some 1000 times now, and my staff and I spend entire days, once we enter. We work constantly to determine the social shifts and solutions that might provide a key to reducing recidivism and negative life cycles that fill prisons. We work with prisoners and staff to create and facilitate pre- and post-release programs for this population. This population that is comprised of human beings who came into this life as innocent and unknowing as all of us did. Human beings that reflect the traumas, abuse, neglect, and deficiencies of their four-block neighborhoods that reflect America’s education and social system lack. America’s politics. America’s fractionalized families and churches.

Other industrialized nations direct their institutional monies into education and social programs to prevent or treat drug addiction, which drives crime, paying close attention to keeping families intact and unified, instead of America’s costly and deficient attempts to reunify families after the extremely damaging psychological, social, and emotional impact of imprisonment on its members. Other nations recognize that the corner stones and strength of their nation are in their family base and that it cost less to keep a family unified than it does to tear it apart and try to glue it back together successfully.

The July 2009 census reported 235 million adults in the US. Considering 1 in every 6 American adults has a felony record, we as a nation must stop seeing that as an invaluable minority and recognize it for what it computes: 40 million adults living in America have a felony. To put that figure into perspective, Obama’s total number of votes that won the 2008 presidential election was 66.9 million. I ask you, is that enough to win an election or demand social, educational, and prison reform? Is it enough people for us as a nation to take a second look at the damage we are inflicting on our own families, communities, and nation? I worry that our country may be crumbling beyond recovery.

So, how do we begin to fix this quandary we find ourselves, our nation, our families in? It always goes back to intercultural and intercaste information and education. There are a lot of people in our communities that see and understand the problems, but they need open forums and platforms to speak from. Professors, doctors, counselors, therapists, social workers have ideas that we need to hear and examine and test. Call it the great experiment. Call it whatever you wish, but don’t turn a deaf ear, even if you highly disagree.
Albert Einstein said “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” I can’t think of a better quote to close this rant with. I have been privileged to sit in closed door sessions with state corrections directors who told me nothing is working and we need new and viable alternatives and solutions to replace America’s judicial and correctional systems. And, it isn’t difficult math to realize that the 1 in 6 Americans with felony records need to speak up and have a voice because they are deeply invested in the outcome. We must stop this runaway train. It takes a community to reduce recidivism and community is made up of everyone who lives in it.