imagine for a moment the worst thing
you’ve ever done the thing that causes
you the most guilt or shame now imagine
that this thing or event precedes you in
all aspects of your life it’s printed on
your business cards it’s on your social
media pages and it’s available for
anyone to find on the internet with very
little effort in fact imagine the worst
thing that you’ve ever done was put it
on your shirt what would your shirt say
how would what people read about you on
your shirt effect meeting new people
going out on a date getting a job or
picking your kids up from school
what would your shirt say I’m a liar I
drive drunk I’m a bad parent I’ve abused
my child what would your shirt say for
millions of Americans this metaphoric
shirt is a reality the worst thing that
they’ve ever done precedes them in all
aspects of their life and it’s available
for anyone to find on the internet with
very little effort of course we’re
talking about people with criminal
convictions and those that were formerly
incarcerated
I sure my talk with you today not only
is someone who has some education on the
subject but also someone that works with
this demographic of population daily and
someone that has spent time in prison
although my record dates back more than
a decade ago in many ways I still wear
that shirt from my past I’m a drug
addict I have a criminal record
the United States of America has roughly
5% of the world’s population but more
than 25% of the world’s prison
population we incarcerate more people
than China more than Russia and more
than North Korea now either were the
most evil people on earth or were doing
something really wrong with our justice
system what if the price tag at being
number one eighty billion dollars eighty
billion dollars now I for one have a
very difficult time wrapping my mind
around 80 billion dollars if I were
capable of saving ten thousand dollars a
day every single day it would take me
twenty-one thousand years to save eighty
billion dollars what else could we buy
for eighty billion dollars the average
cost of a college education in the
United States is around twenty thousand
dollars per year for eighty billion
dollars we could fund four million years
of college education or approximately 1
million four-year degrees how many
people are incarcerated in the u.s.
currently in the United States there are
over two point two million people locked
up with an additional four point seven
on some type of parole or probation once
again big numbers right if you add those
two numbers together the number of
incarcerated people in the number of
people that are on parole and probation
it’s roughly equal to the entire
population of the state of Washington or
the state of Arizona or the combined
entire population of Wyoming Vermont DC
Alaska North and South Dakota Delaware
Montana and Rhode Island
if you broaden the net so to speak to
the America the amount of Americans that
have a arrest record
not just a criminal record the number
becomes one in four over 25% of the
American population has an arrest record
of some kind which incidentally is more
than the number of Americans that
possess a college degree so take a
second look around you look at the four
people that are sitting closest to you
which one of them has an arrest record
what does the person with an arrest
record look like what is their shirt say
what are 95% of the men and women that
are locked up in this country have in
common ninety-five percent of the men
and women in this country that are
incarcerated have a release date that
means that ninety-five percent of the
people that are incarcerated will at
some point in time just like me return
to their communities that number works
out to be about 600 to 700 thousand
people per year so roughly the
population of Seattle returned to their
communities only about 5% of the
population in prison are sentenced to
life sentenced to death or well
otherwise died during their prison
sentence so why solving for why why do
people return to prison for the rest of
this talk I want to share with you what
I believe in the biggest reasons that
people return to prison and then I want
to share with you what I’m calling the
three e’s of successful reentry lastly I
want to share with what you what you can
do and how you can help the prison
system in America is very good at
punishment but not at all effective at
rehabilitation this means that the very
reason the individual went to prison in
the first place goes largely untreated
and when they returned back to their
community are in the same place that
they were pre incarceration
in addition many individuals come out of
prison with more problems and in many
ways worse off than when they went in
many individuals returned to their
community homeless indigent no jobs no
specialized training and no specialized
education for those individuals that do
have a place to return to they’re
returning to the same environment that
got them into trouble to start with the
only difference is now they have a new
metaphoric shirt to wear for everyone to
see to read and to judge the three E’s
of successful reentry are largely based
on my personal experience leaving prison
you see I was very fortunate to be
released to an organization that
specialized in helping individuals
coming out of prison this organization
provided me with housing job leads
treatment and counseling but most of all
this organization provided me with
support fast forward many years later I
have the privilege of working for that
same organization providing the same
services to other people in similar
situations here are the three e’s of
successful reentry environment
employment and education environment is
a wide category it speaks to where the
individual works but also speaks to
where the individual lives and who the
individual spends their time with very
important in there is that support the
network that they have made up of
positive pro-social influence employment
is critical to a solid foundation as
employment builds self-efficacy
employment also helps the individual
move towards self-sufficiency employment
has been shown to reduce recidivism
sadly the majority of jobs available for
individuals with criminal records are
not living wage jobs education another
wide category kind of in two parts here
I think of education the traditional
sense and the not so traditional sense
the traditional sense
College trade schools basic education
but in the not so traditional sense like
psychoeducation treatment and counseling
as this type of education is essential
for an individual to move through life’s
problems
to deal with drug and alcohol drug
addiction and alcoholism and to navigate
the challenges of the future the
organization that I work for today the
one that helped me so much is called
sponsors sponsors is dedicated to
helping individuals who return from
prison to become productive law-abiding
and taxpaying citizens we’ve been doing
this work since 1973 and our record
speaks for itself
research on our program has shown a
reduction in recidivism by approximately
50% 50%
why isn’t there our sponsors in every
county in our country frequently our
staff give tours of interested people
politicians law makers law enforcement
concerned citizens they come into our
property the interest is there the
desire is there but it takes more than
interest in desire it takes more than an
organization it takes community support
and community buy-in the picture behind
me was taken on a cloudy day in Oregon
this is a mural at our main campus you
right near a community gardens a local
artist designed this mural but our
community got together to paint it our
staff members our clients our neighbors
our supporters our community all got
together to take a small piece and paint
this mural this illustrates and what it
takes to put an organization like
sponsors together it takes community
support and takes community buy-in now I
know I promised you three e’s
but helping the returning citizen with
the three ease of successful reentry
leads to possibly the most important or
bonus e empowerment when we help
individuals to the three e’s of
successful reentry we’re empowering them
empowered individuals know how to
advocate for themselves advocate for
their needs and in turn help others as
promised here’s your call to action hold
your officials accountable
let your officials know that you’re
tired of business as usual that you’re
tired of throwing money at a system that
does not work for far too long we keep
feeding this system that does not work
tell them that you want a organization
like sponsors in your backyard to
address the needs of your high
recidivism jails and prisons should be
used as a last resort and not as a first
response create partnerships at our
agency we create partnerships with local
employers who look at our clients and
give them second chances forging
partnerships with local employers is not
only beneficial for the returning
citizen but it’s also beneficial for the
economic development of the community
believed in people believe in 2nd 3rd
14th or 50th chances who are we to say
when the individuals time to actually
get it is I was very fortunate that I
had a small group of people friends
family a judge and a small group of
others who believed in me when I was
having difficulty believing in myself
create reentry organizations like
sponsors there isn’t enough low-income
housing in our country in general but
especially not for people with a
criminal history I haven’t had so much
as a traffic ticket in over a decade
but if I needed to rent a house even in
the funkiest area of town I would still
face difficulties because of my past
reentry organizations like sponsors are
an integral part of a public safety
system addressing all the needs of
individuals in one place not only helps
the individuals confidence but also
decreases the chances that they’ll go
back to prison wouldn’t it be nice to be
known as something number one in
something other than mass incarceration
wouldn’t it be nice to be known as the
country that solved the problem as
opposed to perpetuated advocate advocate
for those who do not have a voice
advocate for those whose voice no one
will listen to advocate to repeal harsh
mandatory sentencing laws elect
progressive district attorneys and
judges and sheriff’s and give give of
yourself give of your time mentor
returning citizens there are not enough
people to do this work and it can be
very rewarding help individuals to
rewrite the messages on their shirt I am
a good person I’m worthy of another
chance I’m worth more than the mistakes
of my past if we want to make a positive
impact on our nation’s recidivism it
begins the moment the returning citizen
re-enters our community thank you
[Applause]
you’ve ever done the thing that causes
you the most guilt or shame now imagine
that this thing or event precedes you in
all aspects of your life it’s printed on
your business cards it’s on your social
media pages and it’s available for
anyone to find on the internet with very
little effort in fact imagine the worst
thing that you’ve ever done was put it
on your shirt what would your shirt say
how would what people read about you on
your shirt effect meeting new people
going out on a date getting a job or
picking your kids up from school
what would your shirt say I’m a liar I
drive drunk I’m a bad parent I’ve abused
my child what would your shirt say for
millions of Americans this metaphoric
shirt is a reality the worst thing that
they’ve ever done precedes them in all
aspects of their life and it’s available
for anyone to find on the internet with
very little effort of course we’re
talking about people with criminal
convictions and those that were formerly
incarcerated
I sure my talk with you today not only
is someone who has some education on the
subject but also someone that works with
this demographic of population daily and
someone that has spent time in prison
although my record dates back more than
a decade ago in many ways I still wear
that shirt from my past I’m a drug
addict I have a criminal record
the United States of America has roughly
5% of the world’s population but more
than 25% of the world’s prison
population we incarcerate more people
than China more than Russia and more
than North Korea now either were the
most evil people on earth or were doing
something really wrong with our justice
system what if the price tag at being
number one eighty billion dollars eighty
billion dollars now I for one have a
very difficult time wrapping my mind
around 80 billion dollars if I were
capable of saving ten thousand dollars a
day every single day it would take me
twenty-one thousand years to save eighty
billion dollars what else could we buy
for eighty billion dollars the average
cost of a college education in the
United States is around twenty thousand
dollars per year for eighty billion
dollars we could fund four million years
of college education or approximately 1
million four-year degrees how many
people are incarcerated in the u.s.
currently in the United States there are
over two point two million people locked
up with an additional four point seven
on some type of parole or probation once
again big numbers right if you add those
two numbers together the number of
incarcerated people in the number of
people that are on parole and probation
it’s roughly equal to the entire
population of the state of Washington or
the state of Arizona or the combined
entire population of Wyoming Vermont DC
Alaska North and South Dakota Delaware
Montana and Rhode Island
if you broaden the net so to speak to
the America the amount of Americans that
have a arrest record
not just a criminal record the number
becomes one in four over 25% of the
American population has an arrest record
of some kind which incidentally is more
than the number of Americans that
possess a college degree so take a
second look around you look at the four
people that are sitting closest to you
which one of them has an arrest record
what does the person with an arrest
record look like what is their shirt say
what are 95% of the men and women that
are locked up in this country have in
common ninety-five percent of the men
and women in this country that are
incarcerated have a release date that
means that ninety-five percent of the
people that are incarcerated will at
some point in time just like me return
to their communities that number works
out to be about 600 to 700 thousand
people per year so roughly the
population of Seattle returned to their
communities only about 5% of the
population in prison are sentenced to
life sentenced to death or well
otherwise died during their prison
sentence so why solving for why why do
people return to prison for the rest of
this talk I want to share with you what
I believe in the biggest reasons that
people return to prison and then I want
to share with you what I’m calling the
three e’s of successful reentry lastly I
want to share with what you what you can
do and how you can help the prison
system in America is very good at
punishment but not at all effective at
rehabilitation this means that the very
reason the individual went to prison in
the first place goes largely untreated
and when they returned back to their
community are in the same place that
they were pre incarceration
in addition many individuals come out of
prison with more problems and in many
ways worse off than when they went in
many individuals returned to their
community homeless indigent no jobs no
specialized training and no specialized
education for those individuals that do
have a place to return to they’re
returning to the same environment that
got them into trouble to start with the
only difference is now they have a new
metaphoric shirt to wear for everyone to
see to read and to judge the three E’s
of successful reentry are largely based
on my personal experience leaving prison
you see I was very fortunate to be
released to an organization that
specialized in helping individuals
coming out of prison this organization
provided me with housing job leads
treatment and counseling but most of all
this organization provided me with
support fast forward many years later I
have the privilege of working for that
same organization providing the same
services to other people in similar
situations here are the three e’s of
successful reentry environment
employment and education environment is
a wide category it speaks to where the
individual works but also speaks to
where the individual lives and who the
individual spends their time with very
important in there is that support the
network that they have made up of
positive pro-social influence employment
is critical to a solid foundation as
employment builds self-efficacy
employment also helps the individual
move towards self-sufficiency employment
has been shown to reduce recidivism
sadly the majority of jobs available for
individuals with criminal records are
not living wage jobs education another
wide category kind of in two parts here
I think of education the traditional
sense and the not so traditional sense
the traditional sense
College trade schools basic education
but in the not so traditional sense like
psychoeducation treatment and counseling
as this type of education is essential
for an individual to move through life’s
problems
to deal with drug and alcohol drug
addiction and alcoholism and to navigate
the challenges of the future the
organization that I work for today the
one that helped me so much is called
sponsors sponsors is dedicated to
helping individuals who return from
prison to become productive law-abiding
and taxpaying citizens we’ve been doing
this work since 1973 and our record
speaks for itself
research on our program has shown a
reduction in recidivism by approximately
50% 50%
why isn’t there our sponsors in every
county in our country frequently our
staff give tours of interested people
politicians law makers law enforcement
concerned citizens they come into our
property the interest is there the
desire is there but it takes more than
interest in desire it takes more than an
organization it takes community support
and community buy-in the picture behind
me was taken on a cloudy day in Oregon
this is a mural at our main campus you
right near a community gardens a local
artist designed this mural but our
community got together to paint it our
staff members our clients our neighbors
our supporters our community all got
together to take a small piece and paint
this mural this illustrates and what it
takes to put an organization like
sponsors together it takes community
support and takes community buy-in now I
know I promised you three e’s
but helping the returning citizen with
the three ease of successful reentry
leads to possibly the most important or
bonus e empowerment when we help
individuals to the three e’s of
successful reentry we’re empowering them
empowered individuals know how to
advocate for themselves advocate for
their needs and in turn help others as
promised here’s your call to action hold
your officials accountable
let your officials know that you’re
tired of business as usual that you’re
tired of throwing money at a system that
does not work for far too long we keep
feeding this system that does not work
tell them that you want a organization
like sponsors in your backyard to
address the needs of your high
recidivism jails and prisons should be
used as a last resort and not as a first
response create partnerships at our
agency we create partnerships with local
employers who look at our clients and
give them second chances forging
partnerships with local employers is not
only beneficial for the returning
citizen but it’s also beneficial for the
economic development of the community
believed in people believe in 2nd 3rd
14th or 50th chances who are we to say
when the individuals time to actually
get it is I was very fortunate that I
had a small group of people friends
family a judge and a small group of
others who believed in me when I was
having difficulty believing in myself
create reentry organizations like
sponsors there isn’t enough low-income
housing in our country in general but
especially not for people with a
criminal history I haven’t had so much
as a traffic ticket in over a decade
but if I needed to rent a house even in
the funkiest area of town I would still
face difficulties because of my past
reentry organizations like sponsors are
an integral part of a public safety
system addressing all the needs of
individuals in one place not only helps
the individuals confidence but also
decreases the chances that they’ll go
back to prison wouldn’t it be nice to be
known as something number one in
something other than mass incarceration
wouldn’t it be nice to be known as the
country that solved the problem as
opposed to perpetuated advocate advocate
for those who do not have a voice
advocate for those whose voice no one
will listen to advocate to repeal harsh
mandatory sentencing laws elect
progressive district attorneys and
judges and sheriff’s and give give of
yourself give of your time mentor
returning citizens there are not enough
people to do this work and it can be
very rewarding help individuals to
rewrite the messages on their shirt I am
a good person I’m worthy of another
chance I’m worth more than the mistakes
of my past if we want to make a positive
impact on our nation’s recidivism it
begins the moment the returning citizen
re-enters our community thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: