Are We Serious About Reducing the Prison Population?

Not many days ago, I had the opportunity to serve as a facilitator of a breakout session for Shelby County’s Operation: Safe Community during a town hall meeting. The purpose of the town hall was to lay the framework for Operation: Safe Community 3. The session I facilitated was “Repeat Offenders”, which was combined with the “Alternatives to Incarceration” session. During the session, one of our topics was the conflict of interest that the State of Tennessee has concerning criminal justice due to its contract with the private prison, CCA, that requires that the facility remain 90% occupied. If the 90% benchmark is not met, the state will pay.

I operate an ex-offender reentry program, and our mission is to reduce recidivism in Shelby County. Reducing recidivism means keeping people from re-offending and being incarcerated. I made the case during our session that the reality of the state’s position is oxymoronic. The system has flaws that need to be addressed- immediately. Our program, in this climate, is a direct threat to the state’s position, and I am sure it is unintended.

In a recent Huffington Post article,  Mississippi Jails Are Losing Inmates, And Local Officials Are ‘Devastated’ By The Loss Of Revenue, this is a direct quote, “’If they do not send us our inmates back, we can’t make it,” said one county supervisor.” Clearly, this is a conflict.

During our session, I offered an example. Our program equips men and women that have felony convictions with the tools necessary to stay out of the prison system. With that in mind, how can the state fund our program (which is not currently happening) at $1,000 per individual to keep them out of the system, when the contract with the private prison has an agreement to remain 90% occupied? Will the state pay us $1,000 to keep the bed empty AND pay $1,000 to the prison for the empty bed ($2,000 for an empty bed)? While those numbers are hypothetical, the theory isn’t. And the actual numbers are higher. How do we reconcile this? 

If we are sincere in our efforts to reduce crime and the prison population, we need to come up with a system that makes sense and is fair. The shadow games must end. I am hopeful that this can be accomplished.

UPDATE: Read this!!! 

Private Prisons Threaten To Sue States Unless They Get More Inmates For Free Labor

Rethinking Public Safety

With the departure of our police director, Toney Armstrong, I believe it is time for a conversation on a new meaning for the commonly used term “public safety”. Generally, this term is used to refer to the presence of police officers or has some relation to law enforcement. While I believe that law enforcement should play a major role, I do not believe that the current trends should continue as they have. Society has changed, morals have evolved and what is socially acceptable is not what it used to be. Taking those facts into consideration, it is time for a new, fresh approach that involves the public.

In my opinion, public safety should be the primary responsibility of the public. There is a term that has become widely used- “stakeholder”, in reference to those that should be consulted with when things are about to take place in communities. That term, while it has the potential to carry much weight, has been used too loosely and it has not been truly defined.

What is a stakeholder? Businessdictionary.com defines the term as a person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business. A stakeholder has ownership, or stake in whatever the subject is. When we are discussing community stakeholders, they should have a sense of ownership of the community. Ownership equals the assumption of responsibility. Anything short of that strips that individual from the right be called a stakeholder. 

Stakeholders have the responsibility to guide the culture and assist in setting parameters of what will be tolerated in the community. Stakeholders should rally the community around those values and see that they are being followed. We have the awesome responsibility of caring for and developing our environment. 

For far too long we have not assumed the roll of stakeholder and we have reassigned, unfairly, the duty of setting our culture and parameters of socially accepted behavior to law enforcement. Law enforcement should be our last option, not our first choice. The first line of defense MUST BE the stakeholders. 

To stakeholders, this is my position: no longer can violence be a viable option. I challenge each of you to speak up and calm down conflicts. We know when things are about to take place. Instead of videoing to share, step in and stop. Use the influence of your relationships. We have the ability to create our environment. We determine how safe we will be. Violence can no longer be tolerated and cannot remain the norm in our communities. Stakeholders must say, “We don’t behave like this”.

There will be some that chose not to live within the values that are shared among the majority of the residents. Some still see violence as a method of expression and conflict resolution. When reason is ignored, law enforcement should be deployed. They will enforce the law and, if necessary, remove that individual for the environment. If law enforcement is the first option, who do you turn to when individuals no longer respect the authority of the officers? Who is next in line? By allowing the officers to be the last resort, in cases where that is possible, you build value in community leadership and true community can be established. Anything short of that puts us on the verge of seeing a “police state” as a reasonable solution. Consider this, if the police are being deployed, in most cases, it’s too late. A crime has already been committed. Police don’t stop crime. They respond to it. We don’t need more officers, we need more empowered stakeholders. And, together, we will make the public safe. Public Safety on Display

What is the Purpose of the Felony Conviction?

I often asked myself this question, “What is the purpose of a felony conviction?” I believe that if you asked this question to any random citizen, the responses would be similar. The common theme would be public safety. And that could not be farther from the truth.

What is a felony? Felony: n. 1) a crime sufficiently serious to be punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison, as distinguished from a misdemeanor which is only punishable by confinement to county or local jail and/or a fine. 2) a crime carrying a minimum term of one year or more in state prison, since a year or less can be served in county jail. However, a sentence upon conviction for a felony may sometimes be less than one year at the discretion of the judge and within limits set by statute.

That definition is very straight forward. A felony is a serious crime. It should carry with its commission a remedy that benefits the common good. Depending on the nature of the case and at the discretion of the judge, the sentence should allow for the public to become safer through the referral of the individual to the Department of Correction (DOC). It is the job of the DOC to take the necessary steps to correct the behavior of the individual that led to the commission of the felony offense.

The community should have warranted faith that the DOC will do it due diligence to ensure that the public is safer because of the care and treatment of the individual that it, the DOC, was charged with serving. And, I believe, the community has faith that this is occurring. Is that faith reasonable?

The felony conviction should be seen as a signal that behavior modification is needed. The conviction, then, serves as a tool that allows the government to impose mandatory corrective actions, through several means, including imprisonment. And, if that were the end of the story, there would be no need for me to continue writing. Yet, I am still writing.

As a person that has a felony conviction, my personal experiences have led me to the assertion that public safety is not the primary reason for labeling someone as a convicted felon. During my time in contact with the criminal justice system, there was no time when my behavior was being intentionally modified. I was only imprisoned. The argument can be made that the imprisonment did make the community safer, but my sentence had an expiration date. Using that rationale, the community’s safety was compromised upon my release from prison.

I submit to you that the primary reason for imposing a felony conviction on an individual is to label them in order to remove rights- rights that this great nation was founded on. The felony conviction serves a modern day scarlet letter, a tool used to identify and to categorize men and women in order to subject them to a system of collateral consequences that have nothing to do with public safety.

Let’s consider the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It reads: “Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The 13th Amendment has been referred to as the amendment that ended slavery. If you read it, you will see that that is not completely true. This amendment allows for slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, i.e. felony conviction. The felony conviction gives jurisdictions the power to create a new class of slaves that are used as cheap labor.

Secondly, the felony conviction subjects individuals to a myriad of collateral consequences that, in no way, make our communities safer. For example, a felony conviction, in many jurisdictions, strips citizens of several rights such as voting, housing, education and employment, the same rights that were fought for by African Americans during the American Civil Rights movement. These collateral consequences drastically reduce a citizen’s ability to productively contribute to society, and they are often left to resort to crime in an effort to survive, thus placing them right back in the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, the federal government has revised its EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) guidelines for hiring in an effort to remove blanket policies of discrimination against people with felony convictions. This is important because these policies have a disparate impact- a theory of liability that prohibits an employer from using a facially neutral employment practice that has an unjustified adverse impact on members of a protected class- on minorities. This evidence lends itself to the notion that felony convictions are being used to discriminate against minorities by keeping them out of the workforce and in a state of dependency on the government or criminal activity. Michelle Alexander refers to it as “The New Jim Crow”.

The felony conviction has become a tool that is widely used to create a class of people that is denied basic freedoms that our United States Constitution guaranteed all citizens. The felony conviction has become a weapon of mass destruction that is destroying communities of color by destroying family stability by saddling men and women with a plethora of collateral consequences that make living the American Dream, or striving for some semblance of it, virtually impossible. The conviction has created a population of hopeless individuals that see no need to attempt to contribute to society in a positive manner.

I, in no way, condone crime. I believe that crime should have a legal obligation that the person that commits it should satisfy. With that being said, it is completely unfair and morally wrong to continue this system of oppression that does not serve the general welfare of our great nation! The preamble of the Constitution clearly states that the mission of America is to allow all citizens the ability to “…form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” A person that is convicted of a felony serves a life sentence that will not allow to them to share in this great mission. Let’s restructure our criminal justice system and create a system of justice rather than a weapon, wielded too freely, of oppression.

We Are Coming Out of the Shadows, We Are Asking For Your Help

For far too long, persons that have felony convictions have been too afraid or too ashamed to make themselves known and compel society to treat them with the dignity and fairness that is due to all citizens. The time has come for that to end. Men and women that have made documented bad decisions, but who have made the decision to redirect the courses of their lives should have a path that leads to a successful life. The current state of our nation does not allow for that. Rules, regulations, stipulations and revocation of rights has made a felony conviction a life sentence. I pray that we do not allow this opportunity to improve upon on justice system to pass us by. Below is an open letter that I read to the Shelby County board of commissioners in Memphis, TN.

January 12, 2015

To Whom it May Concern:

I’m standing on behalf of those that have made documented bad decisions, but who have made the conscience decision to redirect their energies and to become positive, productive citizens that add to the common good. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

For far too long, we have been seen as a population that is undeserving of the opportunity to contribute to society in a positive manner. Many feel that we don’t have the capacity to transform our behavior and add value to the community. Some would be comfortable with the status quo, “lock ‘em up and throw away the key”. Others think that simply locking people up will, somehow, make the community safer and rid it of its scum. The problem is those stances have been proven ineffective and dramatically too expensive. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

Let’s take a glimpse at the current state of affairs. As a resident of Memphis, TN, located in Shelby County, I will only speak to that which I have firsthand knowledge. An inmate is granted the privilege of serving on a “work line” (a trustee position that allows an inmate the ability to work outside of the confinements of the prison walls). He is allowed to perform tasks such as electrician assistant, or painter, or lawn maintenance crew member. Some are even allowed to operate heavy equipment (i.e. tractors). The work experience is priceless. The tragedy is that those same individuals are not afforded true opportunities to continue that work for Shelby County as free men. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

Work release programs offer an inmate the ability to develop skills and work ethic. Although the inmate is still incarcerated, he is allowed to leave the prison to go to work at a local business. The business has a relationship with the prison and has agreed to accept candidates as employees. This lucky man is now able to support his family and pay for a portion of his cost of incarceration. He is developing a sense of worth for himself. He is beginning to see himself as a new man and the world is filled with opportunities. But, upon his release, he is terminated. He is now being penalized for completing his sentence. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

Shelby County, in its efforts to assist our population, created an Office of Reentry. This is a quote taken from the website of the Office of Reentry: “The Office of Re-entry serves as a “one-stop” interactive resource center for ex-offenders to navigate in a healthy environment. The Division of Corrections program addresses needs of the incarcerated citizen as they prepare for release; The City of Memphis Second Chance Program has been restructured and it will continue to focus on reducing recidivism through training, job readiness, and job development in an effort to create opportunities for employment. The Tennessee Board of Probations and Parole provides the supervision required by the State of Tennessee.” I sincerely applaud this effort, but it falls short in that the office offers no direct services and no employment opportunities. While it is true, this population has its challenges, we are not unable to navigate society. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

I am a proud American. I am a citizen of this great nation. The time has come that the rights and privileges provided in the founding documents of our great nation are enjoyed by ALL of its citizens. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” In the words of my hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “All we say to America, is be true to what you said on paper”. Over time, the paper has changed because of the will of the people with regard for the current state of affairs. The beauty of our system is that this ability still exists. I pray that we don’t allow this opportunity to improve on our justice system to pass us by. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

I am blessed to be the founder and Executive Director of LifeLine to Success. LifeLine to Success is an ex-offender reentry program that equips men and women that have felony convictions with the tools necessary to successfully reenter society by becoming positive, productive citizens. Over the past 5 years, we have seen many lives transformed. Our organization is one of the leaders in the blight efforts in our city. We have been awarded contracts with the City of Memphis, The Achievement School District, Frayser Community Schools and the Delta Fair. We are, also, very civic minded and consider volunteering a pillar of our organization. To illustrate that point, LifeLine to Success was named Large Group Volunteer of the Year by Volunteer Mid-South in 2012, Volunteer Community Group by the Mid-South Food Bank in 2013 and received the Community Service by the Frayser Exchange Club in 2013. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

Finally, LifeLine to Success provides no competition to other agencies that service our population. Our target audience includes individuals that don’t necessarily qualify for other programs. The majority of our members do not possess a high school diploma. Many of them have undiagnosed mental conditions. They have been victims of chronic abuse and trauma. They don’t read on the level necessary to qualify for other programs. They have multiple offenses, some of which are violent. Yet, they want to live a life that is not filled with crime. We make crime unattractive and remove it as an option. Our members get it! They deserve a chance. We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

As a convicted felon, I understand the plight of our population. The frustrations, hurts, pains, feelings of worthlessness- those are real to me! The knowledge that no matter how hard I work, I will always be labeled and looked at with doubt and suspicion. The weight of that realization is sometimes unbearable. Yet, I press on. My biography is permanently marked. But my future has yet to be written. That provides me with hope. Change like this comes when men and women of conscience are made aware of injustice and they act. We cannot do this alone. I’ll close with another quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We are coming out of the shadows, and we are asking for your help.

Sincerely,

Pastor DeAndre D. Brown

Training Convicted Felons is Taboo

The training of convicted felons, in my opinion, is taboo. A common thought is, “It’s their own fault. They are getting what they deserve. They shouldn’t have committed crimes in the first place.” And, ironically, I agree- to a degree. While it is true that we never should have broken the law in the first place, holding that as a reason for no longer assisting this population with opportunities to become successful only exacerbates the criminal activity in our communities. I believe that if a person acknowledges his/her bad decisions, they should have the support in place to assist them in redirecting their lives. Otherwise, the behavior doesn’t stop, it only increases because there is always a younger generation that will be tainted by those that society refuses to assist based on prior bad behavior.

As a nation, do we feel that criminals are doomed to a life of crime and that they cannot be redirected? If so, then how do we expect to reduce crime, but, more importantly, how do we reduce the number of crime victims? There has to be a point that we realize that something has to change. We must make some type of intervention in order to regain control of our communities. In my opinion, the best way to fight crime is to convert criminals into positive, productive, law abiding citizens and train them to be the catalysts of change in their communities.

Society can no longer afford to simply count people out and leave them to fend for themselves. It is not possible to lock every criminal up. And over 90% of those that are incarcerated will be released. So, we need to be prepared to provide opportunities for them to be converted. As a former criminal, I have disdain for individuals that chose to live lives of crime. Instead of merely being angry (as if I have never committed crime), I focus on the intentional redirection of those that have become ingrained in the criminal culture.

Our criminal justice system is not set up to redirect behavior. Instead, it has become a place to house individuals in an effort to give the community a false sense of security. I believe that the powers that be are beginning to understand the need to transform the correctional system, mainly because of the cost. I offer an addition to that thought. The system needs to truly be focused on the correction of bad behavior, as opposed to merely punishment. That way, the funds spent become an investment that can have tangible, positive, lasting results that begin to remove the generational patterns of criminal activity.

I don’t believe people should be considered to have no value. Everyone has value. I, also, believe that we need prisons because there are those that refuse to transform their thinking patterns. But for those that desire a productive life, after realizing the flaws in their thought processes, they should have real opportunities to find value in themselves and see how that value adds to the overall value of our world. MY JOB IS TO DO THAT!

Making the Normal, Normal (Combatting the Criminal Culture)

In the past week, our neighborhood has had 5 young men shot, one of which died. I was interviewed by a news reporter who had just left the scene of the murder. She informed me that while she was interviewing someone about the murder, she noticed children in the background laughing and twerking, as if they hadn’t just witnessed a murder! She was irate, and stopped the interview to address the children. They responded, “We (are) used to this”. She was at a loss for words.

That story illustrates the attitude in most of our inner city neighborhoods. Gunshots, murders, crime- they have all become normal. It is now socially acceptable for these things to occur in our neighborhoods. Violence and disrespect have become common, as common and regular as the mailman delivering the mail. It is expected now. The abnormal has become normal.

How do we combat this culture? The neighbors don't know how to respond. Many people have said that the task is too great, and they have moved to other places. Others have become recluses, and refuse to sit on their porches or allow their children to play outside. We (LifeLine to Success) see this as the perfect opportunity to make a difference and change the direction of our community. Many of our team members were the causes of these events. We are the reason that this sub-culture has not only survived, but has begun to thrive. We know what is needed to make the normal, normal again. It is our duty to make it happen.

Our classroom instruction has equipped the team members with the skills to combat negativity. Our community service efforts have instilled in them the sense of ownership and civic responsibility that makes them want to see the benefits of their labor. They have become enlightened and have accepted the charge. To combat this sub-culture, we plan to start sports leagues (beginning with baseball) to allow us constant access to the children, in order to give them tools to become successful adults. We will be the alternative to a life of negative behavior.

We cannot do this alone. It takes partnerships and the community coming together, working in harmony. We will SUCCEED!

Everyone Has Value

How do you show the world the value of a human being- one that has been classified as “less than” or unworthy of redemption? How do you convince the world that all men and women have potential and purpose. How do you convince those that are not directly affected by this plight to get involved and assist? And who is responsible for making sure these issues are addressed?

I sit in my office, frustrated and discouraged by the fact that “big business” has the ability to rally and apply pressure to ensure that their agendas are fulfilled. Yet, men and women that have no voice are being overlooked and left to fend for themselves. No one is rallying to make sure that convicted felons are able to provide for themselves and their families. Sure, “important people” will stop by and share a word, but will they become the voice of a voiceless, overlooked population.

I understand the fear that felony convictions cause. Society has labeled one that has committed such crimes that are of a felonious nature as being threats. While that is true for a segment of this population, the majority of us are not threats. We have seen the error of our ways and want to be accepted. So we will subject ourselves to conditions that are less than favorable, in an effort to show just how committed me are to transforming society’s image of us. We have vowed to outwork and outlast the general population. We have vowed to become vital assets to the community. We have vowed to change society’s view of us.

I believe that our work is valuable and essential to the transformation of our community. Who will stand and say that for us, though. Who will say that the work that we do (transforming the lives of those that have felony convictions and have had no desire to positively contribute to society before encountering our program) is so important that it can not be put in jeopardy? Who will partner with us and continue the momentum that we have begun?

We will not quit! I am a success. I matter. I am important. I am somebody special. I am NOT my crime. I am NOT my past. I am new. God loves me. I love me. I WILL SUCCEED!