so anytime that I’m introduced as a
former US Marine honestly I get a little
nauseous because you see I made some
really bad mistakes right at the end of
my career and I ended up in prison for
drug conspiracy so while I’m a former US
Marine I’m also a former inmates now
right about now somebody who hasn’t been
paying attention they’re going like what
did she say did she say playmate and yes
while I like to think I could have been
spent almost a year in solitary
confinement 23 hours a day in a Cell and
on April 1st 1999 the guard opened up
the gate and said you’re being released
and I sat there
it’s April Fool’s I’m not going anywhere
and he’s like no you really do have to
leave and as I was walking through the
gates a guard very pleasantly said to me
see you soon yeah now back then I had
really really big hair and my head was
bobbing and I was like what are you
now what she said was 96% of all inmates
violate their probation within the first
year and come back what I heard was that
I had a four percent opportunity to
succeed and I was amazed because before
that point I don’t know that I even knew
I had a choice but instantly I made up
my mind that I was never ever ever gonna
now according to a 2012 Department of
Justice survey it says that one out of
every three Americans has a criminal
record
yeah so if you look to your left go
ahead and look
and then to your right one of the three
of you has written in the back of a
police car
yep now if it’s not one of you it’s
probably a parent a sibling a spouse a
child or a friend and the revolving door
when people keep going back to prison
it’s called recidivism that’s the
technical term for it and it’s defined
as a criminals tendency to commit
another crime within the first year the
recidivism rate and law enforcement
agencies use this recidivism rate to
determine how many personnel they should
hire for a particular area and rightly
so but they also use this with things
like somebody’s prior criminal history
and certain other guidelines to
determine when where and what type of
crimes somebody will come in it’s crazy
that they can actually have algorithms
that can predict this and when I’m
talking about other guidelines it’s
things like is somebody sleeping on a
couch or in a bedroom do they have
adequate food and water and clothing do
they have a job with a livable wage do
they have the support of their friends
and family because somebody who’s
sleeping on their mother’s couch and
does not have a job is more likely to
commit the same type of crime that they
originally committed in a neighborhood
that they’re familiar with within four
to six weeks of being released from
prison
now coincidentally
that four to six week time period that’s
right around the time that their mother
is asking them to help with the monthly
bills it’s very easy to slip back into
that life of crime so I know somebody is
out there asking why does it matter why
should you care whether somebody gets a
second chance or not well there are
three reasons number one if somebody
gets a second chance and they stay out
of prison
we have safer neighborhoods it helps to
hold the family intact and then the
third reason is that it gives them
credibility with their pairs and in
their communities it has a butterfly
effect and so when they go back and they
start talking to their pairs and saying
like no you should not do this if
they’ve been given a second chance their
pairs understand them they relate more
to them now I was given a second chance
in 2012 when I was granted a pardon by
Florida Governor Rick Scott and so now
when I talk to people about getting
their records sealed or expunged or
pardons I know what I’m talking about I
know that if you have a 4% chance it’s a
big enough chance that if you take it it
makes a difference and remember when I
said that I was never ever ever ever
ever gonna go back to prison I go back
to three times a month now and talk to
other people and talk to inmates and let
them know that they’ve got that four
percent chance
[Applause] [Music]
former US Marine honestly I get a little
nauseous because you see I made some
really bad mistakes right at the end of
my career and I ended up in prison for
drug conspiracy so while I’m a former US
Marine I’m also a former inmates now
right about now somebody who hasn’t been
paying attention they’re going like what
did she say did she say playmate and yes
while I like to think I could have been
spent almost a year in solitary
confinement 23 hours a day in a Cell and
on April 1st 1999 the guard opened up
the gate and said you’re being released
and I sat there
it’s April Fool’s I’m not going anywhere
and he’s like no you really do have to
leave and as I was walking through the
gates a guard very pleasantly said to me
see you soon yeah now back then I had
really really big hair and my head was
bobbing and I was like what are you
now what she said was 96% of all inmates
violate their probation within the first
year and come back what I heard was that
I had a four percent opportunity to
succeed and I was amazed because before
that point I don’t know that I even knew
I had a choice but instantly I made up
my mind that I was never ever ever gonna
now according to a 2012 Department of
Justice survey it says that one out of
every three Americans has a criminal
record
yeah so if you look to your left go
ahead and look
and then to your right one of the three
of you has written in the back of a
police car
yep now if it’s not one of you it’s
probably a parent a sibling a spouse a
child or a friend and the revolving door
when people keep going back to prison
it’s called recidivism that’s the
technical term for it and it’s defined
as a criminals tendency to commit
another crime within the first year the
recidivism rate and law enforcement
agencies use this recidivism rate to
determine how many personnel they should
hire for a particular area and rightly
so but they also use this with things
like somebody’s prior criminal history
and certain other guidelines to
determine when where and what type of
crimes somebody will come in it’s crazy
that they can actually have algorithms
that can predict this and when I’m
talking about other guidelines it’s
things like is somebody sleeping on a
couch or in a bedroom do they have
adequate food and water and clothing do
they have a job with a livable wage do
they have the support of their friends
and family because somebody who’s
sleeping on their mother’s couch and
does not have a job is more likely to
commit the same type of crime that they
originally committed in a neighborhood
that they’re familiar with within four
to six weeks of being released from
prison
now coincidentally
that four to six week time period that’s
right around the time that their mother
is asking them to help with the monthly
bills it’s very easy to slip back into
that life of crime so I know somebody is
out there asking why does it matter why
should you care whether somebody gets a
second chance or not well there are
three reasons number one if somebody
gets a second chance and they stay out
of prison
we have safer neighborhoods it helps to
hold the family intact and then the
third reason is that it gives them
credibility with their pairs and in
their communities it has a butterfly
effect and so when they go back and they
start talking to their pairs and saying
like no you should not do this if
they’ve been given a second chance their
pairs understand them they relate more
to them now I was given a second chance
in 2012 when I was granted a pardon by
Florida Governor Rick Scott and so now
when I talk to people about getting
their records sealed or expunged or
pardons I know what I’m talking about I
know that if you have a 4% chance it’s a
big enough chance that if you take it it
makes a difference and remember when I
said that I was never ever ever ever
ever gonna go back to prison I go back
to three times a month now and talk to
other people and talk to inmates and let
them know that they’ve got that four
percent chance
[Applause] [Music]
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