Thank you for the opportunity to read your thoughts and ideas concerning Mass Incarceration.
I definitely understand your statement on limiting the power of prosecutors and how they increase charges to harm indigent and minority defendants. Unfortunately, I know someone facing a similar situation and his court appointed attorney seems to be doing everything she can be help him be found guilty. Yes, Public Defenders should be a separate entity.
Will continue my response a little later, in a workshop learning to use this system.
Again, thank you for be so open and allowing me to become better informed.
Thank you for the great points you make in your letter. I am a participant in the Allied Media Conference and want you to know I am taking your ideas to heart.
Later today I will be meeting with the group I work with as an ally, All of Us or None, an organization working for the civil rights of formerly incarcerated people.
We will be discussing the launch of a national newsletter, and I will be bringing your ideas into the conversation.
I am a writer and an artist and will also be looking for opportunities to write and create art about the prison realities you talk about. Art is a powerful way to influence public opinion.
Im sitting here with another participant at the AMC and we have really appreciated reading this blog post. I particularly liked what you had to say about strategy and emotion. I think we could challenge ourselves on the outside to think about and support the leadership of folks on the inside and do media work that supports y'all.
I'm going to come back to this blog post and write to you more. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am grateful.
I am reading your letter to the AMC in the McGregor Building on campus at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan on a Saturday morning on the last day of June. My name is Mary. I was born in a prison town, "Jacktown," in Jackson Michigan in 1954. I was raised in Flint, MI as a kid, and ended up with a felony murder case here where I served 26.7 years and 4 years of parole. I have been home ten years.
Your letter is critically important. The voices of prisoners on this blog are being read by hundreds of people... in your words and with your great heart and wisdom and spirit. Your collective genius is being reflected on, considered, instructed on, and respected. We need your thought and ideas like parched fields of gold need rain. We are taking your ideas and holding them especially close for consideration and action.
Thinking of you in the D, Your friend in the struggle, Mary
This campaign is really exciting. I agree that expanding the temporary release program is extremely important. The transition to life after prison would be eased if inmates were allowed to work while in prison.
Also, the job market has really changed over the years. We no longer have the job security we once had in this country and people are expected to be adaptable and be able to change jobs and even careers several times throughout their lives. The more opportunities incarcerated folks have to work in a field, the easier that will be for them to enter into the job force.
Lastly, I imagine that being able to point back to work done in prison would help someone's chances in getting hired because they have that prior experience.
Thank you for being part of the AMC! Your ideas about how we can collaborate across prison walls to create change together are inspiring and right on! I'm excited to be learning about the Between the Bars blogging platform, and reading your thoughts about what we need to be working on nationally.
Hi Luke! My name is Nikki and I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm at the AMC right now, for the first time, and your letter was the first one I read, because I saw you were in Wisconsin. I'm starting my journey now in being a prisoner justice activist, and I would like to start a group in Milwaukee, eventually. I have a lot to learn, but I want to help. I wrote your address down. I'm so excited, I would've never known this site existed. It's beautiful, and I also want to thank you for writing about truth in sentencing. I needed to know that.
I'm in Charlie's workshop right now at the AMC. I did 14 years in Michigan prisons before getting out in 2008 and I totally agree with you about education. Because I did so long in the hole and didn't even have access to correspondence courses that you could pay for, I was determined to start preparing myself for the next chance I got at college by reading everything that I thought I had missed out on in high school. I went with literature, philosophy, and, eventually, some cultural studies stuff. It sounds like we may be interested in a lot of similar stuff.
When I got out and got back into school I started at community college with a major in criminal justice. I transferred over to the University of Michigan (Flint campus) and switched to a political science major (I was sick of being in class with future guards and cops). Looking back, I wish I would've went with English, sociology, or cultural studies. I feel like it would've been more important education.
That said, despite the barriers you face with getting a formal, recognized education, I strongly encourage you to keep reading good books. You might also consider writing to professors from the English or sociology departments from some universities.
You'd be surprised by the content of many classrooms, and please believe me when I say that personal reading that you do, especially if you're reading challenging stuff, thinking about it, and writing about it, is probably a much better education than you would get in a lot of college classrooms. The instructions, questions, and push you get from some professors is wonderful and helpful, but I don't know that you couldn't get that from simply writing to a random prof, explaining what you've read, and asking her to push you on the issue a little bit (or explaining).
Dear Bro. Khalfani Malik Khaldun (Leonard McQuay), Today, Saturday, June 30, 2012 while attending my 4th Allied Media conference, I learned of the Behind the Bars Blog. Came across your blog and decided to reply. First and foremost, I pray you are in the best of health, best of spirits and safe. Though you are locked inside prison, prison does not have to be locked inside of you, for you are more than your mistake/crime. I am the founder and Executive Director of Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged (RIHD). RIHD is a nonprofit, all volunteer, statewide prison reform advocacy in Virginia. I concur that the MEDIA is a powerful tool in social justice and awareness of the oppressed, the disadvantaged and disenfranchised if it motivates it's listening audience to become proactive. I will tell you that my experience as an advocate, attending the Allied Media Conference has been "asset" towards improving my organization and it's mission. Learning of this BLOG has inspired me to include it in our advocacy to reach out to the incarcerated, persons such as yourself. I thank you for your blog. I hope my response has help you in some way to know that we on the outside, are listening to those in the inside and your VOICE matters. Peace and Blessings, Lillie (Ms. K) Branch-Kennedy
Yes! This a number one issue that needs to be changed. Surprisingly congress is holding hearings on solitary confinement and we might see it outlawed in the US! That would be amazing and through a lot of hard work from grassroots people. We need to work to abolish this whole prison system and create something that serves our communities rather than breaking them up and breaking people down. Thank you for your words-- we are fighting and praying for all of our people inside and out!
RSS
Thank you for the opportunity to read your thoughts and ideas concerning Mass Incarceration.
I definitely understand your statement on limiting the power of prosecutors and how they increase charges to harm indigent and minority defendants. Unfortunately, I know someone facing a similar situation and his court appointed attorney seems to be doing everything she can be help him be found guilty. Yes, Public Defenders should be a separate entity.
Will continue my response a little later, in a workshop learning to use this system.
Again, thank you for be so open and allowing me to become better informed.
Peace & Blessings,
Jacquelyn
Thank you for the great points you make in your letter. I am a participant in the Allied Media Conference and want you to know I am taking your ideas to heart.
Later today I will be meeting with the group I work with as an ally, All of Us or None, an organization working for the civil rights of formerly incarcerated people.
We will be discussing the launch of a national newsletter, and I will be bringing your ideas into the conversation.
I am a writer and an artist and will also be looking for opportunities to write and create art about the prison realities you talk about. Art is a powerful way to influence public opinion.
Stay strong,
Denise
Im sitting here with another participant at the AMC and we have really appreciated reading this blog post. I particularly liked what you had to say about strategy and emotion. I think we could challenge ourselves on the outside to think about and support the leadership of folks on the inside and do media work that supports y'all.
I'm going to come back to this blog post and write to you more. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am grateful.
-dn
I am reading your letter to the AMC in the McGregor Building on campus at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan on a Saturday morning on the last day of June. My name is Mary. I was born in a prison town, "Jacktown," in Jackson Michigan in 1954. I was raised in Flint, MI as a kid, and ended up with a felony murder case here where I served 26.7 years and 4 years of parole. I have been home ten years.
Your letter is critically important. The voices of prisoners on this blog are being read by hundreds of people... in your words and with your great heart and wisdom and spirit. Your collective genius is being reflected on, considered, instructed on, and respected. We need your thought and ideas like parched fields of gold need rain. We are taking your ideas and holding them especially close for consideration and action.
Thinking of you in the D,
Your friend in the struggle,
Mary
This campaign is really exciting. I agree that expanding the temporary release program is extremely important. The transition to life after prison would be eased if inmates were allowed to work while in prison.
Also, the job market has really changed over the years. We no longer have the job security we once had in this country and people are expected to be adaptable and be able to change jobs and even careers several times throughout their lives. The more opportunities incarcerated folks have to work in a field, the easier that will be for them to enter into the job force.
Lastly, I imagine that being able to point back to work done in prison would help someone's chances in getting hired because they have that prior experience.
Solidarity and strength to you.
Saskia
Bay Area, California
I'm in Charlie's workshop right now at the AMC. I did 14 years in Michigan prisons before getting out in 2008 and I totally agree with you about education. Because I did so long in the hole and didn't even have access to correspondence courses that you could pay for, I was determined to start preparing myself for the next chance I got at college by reading everything that I thought I had missed out on in high school. I went with literature, philosophy, and, eventually, some cultural studies stuff. It sounds like we may be interested in a lot of similar stuff.
When I got out and got back into school I started at community college with a major in criminal justice. I transferred over to the University of Michigan (Flint campus) and switched to a political science major (I was sick of being in class with future guards and cops). Looking back, I wish I would've went with English, sociology, or cultural studies. I feel like it would've been more important education.
That said, despite the barriers you face with getting a formal, recognized education, I strongly encourage you to keep reading good books. You might also consider writing to professors from the English or sociology departments from some universities.
You'd be surprised by the content of many classrooms, and please believe me when I say that personal reading that you do, especially if you're reading challenging stuff, thinking about it, and writing about it, is probably a much better education than you would get in a lot of college classrooms. The instructions, questions, and push you get from some professors is wonderful and helpful, but I don't know that you couldn't get that from simply writing to a random prof, explaining what you've read, and asking her to push you on the issue a little bit (or explaining).
Today, Saturday, June 30, 2012 while attending my 4th Allied Media conference, I learned of the Behind the Bars Blog. Came across your blog and decided to reply.
First and foremost, I pray you are in the best of health, best of spirits and safe. Though you are locked inside prison, prison does not have to be locked inside of you, for you are more than your mistake/crime.
I am the founder and Executive Director of Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged (RIHD). RIHD is a nonprofit, all volunteer, statewide prison reform advocacy in Virginia.
I concur that the MEDIA is a powerful tool in social justice and awareness of the oppressed, the disadvantaged and disenfranchised if it motivates it's listening audience to become proactive. I will tell you that my experience as an advocate, attending the Allied Media Conference has been "asset" towards improving my organization and it's mission. Learning of this BLOG has inspired me to include it in our advocacy to reach out to the incarcerated, persons such as yourself. I thank you for your blog. I hope my response has help you in some way to know that we on the outside, are listening to those in the inside and your VOICE matters.
Peace and Blessings,
Lillie (Ms. K) Branch-Kennedy
Uma
Cleveland,OH