On Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 9 am ET, Yukari Iwatani Kane and Shaheen Pasha of the Prison Journalism Project were our guests on The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streaming and podcast everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries.
Prison Journalism Project. Our mission is to help incarcerated and incarceration-impacted writers tell stories about their communities with nuance, texture and insight and bring their stories to light. Journalism wields enormous power by choosing who and what to highlight. Today, stories about prisons, prisoners and the criminal justice system are largely negative and written almost entirely with an outside perspective. We are creating a space for incarcerated and incarceration-impacted writers to take the power of journalism into their own hands because no one can write about the prison system and life behind bars better than those who have experienced it. Our goal is to achieve equity in coverage. We call it journalism justice. Specifically, we aim to increase the volume and quality of voices in the conversation about criminal justice and incarceration through access, collaboration and education. By bridging the gaps in information, we believe they can shift the narrative and help change the prison system.
Yukari Iwatani Kane, Co-founder and co-executive director
Yukari is an author, educator and veteran journalist with 20 years of experience. She was a staff writer and foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, and her book Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs (Harpers Business) was a best-seller and an Amazon Editor’s Pick that was translated into seven languages. She is currently an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University, where she has taught journalism fundamentals, investigative reporting and the Medill Justice Project. At San Quentin News, where she still serves as an advisor, she developed a curriculum and reader for prison journalism. She was previously a lecturer at University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Shaheen Pasha, Co-founder and co-executive director
Shaheen is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State University, focused on mass incarceration and prison education. Prior to joining Penn State, Shaheen was an assistant professor at UMass Amherst, where she launched an immersive explanatory journalism class at the Hampshire County Jail, bringing incarcerated and UMass students together to learn. Shaheen was awarded the Knight Nieman Visiting Fellowship to expand her work teaching journalism behind bars. She is a veteran journalist with over 20 years of experience at outlets such as Thomson Reuters, CNNMoney and Dow Jones/WSJ.
Christopher Etienne, Multimedia director
Christopher is a multimedia strategist. Educated as a documentary filmmaker at Columbia Journalism School and an Africana studies historian at Rutgers University, he uses journalism and storytelling to shed light on injustice and raise awareness about social issues. As a first-generation Haitian in the inner cities of New Jersey, he experienced both poverty and incarceration. His background inspired him to seek ways to create meaningful change through his work with organizations such as NJ STEP, Rutgers, the Renaissance House, and Brooklyn CRAN Network. Link to Christopher’s spoken word piece, “Click Bang” here.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
____________________
Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
I had the privilege of meeting Vanessa Osage on a Zoom call earlier this week, and was spell-bound and brought to tears by her story of abuse and institutional cover up at one of this country’s elite prep and boarding schools. Vanessa explained her mission to promote healing and restorative justice to both oppressor and oppressed. The more we talked, the more I understood the nexus with Progressive Prison Ministries’ core mission in bringing together all the stakeholders in the white collar justice community to promote mutual understanding and empathy. Please email your thoughts and comments to me at [email protected]. Thank you! – Jeff
_________________________
When I discovered Jeff’s work, I was thrilled and heartened to know someone is working on the path forward, on the other side of healing from corruption. This is exactly the kind of compassionate, soulful recovery I want to encourage along with transparency and oversight at the institutional level…
I am an educator, consultant, coach, author, and leader of the nonprofit The Amends Project, with a mission to “mend the loophole that has allowed for the cover-up of child abuse at independent schools: implementing The Justice CORPS Initiative”. I’ve just released my first book, Can’t Stop the Sunrise, sharing my journey to advancing institutional reform. – Vanessa
_________________________
White Male Privilege: Q & A
by Vanessa Osage
White Male Privilege, or WMP, is now being recognized as a social disease by psychologists and experts in the field of public health. The Center for Social Diseases, CSD*, has released these guidelines for understanding, diagnosing and treating White Male Privilege.
How common is White Male Privilege?
White Male Privilege affects about 28% of the United States population, with higher concentrations in the urban epicenters of New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
How do I know if I have White Male Privilege?
Diagnosis occurs as distorted thinking that presents as a “cluster of symptoms”. The disease can affect both individuals and institutions or groups where the cluster of symptoms is present, taught or shared. WMP can be contagious, with short or long- term exposure to those suffering from the disease increasing the incidence. There is currently no conclusive test to confirm or rule out the disease.
Wait, I am white and male, does that mean I have White Male Privilege?
No. Fortunately, characteristics do not indicate causality. One can be white and male without being infected by the cluster of symptoms that indicate presence of the disease.
Resistance to social pressure and a diverse world view have been strongly correlated with preventative factors. Knowing and loving people who do not live a privileged experience has also been shown to reduce the incidence. Researchers have gathered inspired stories of individuals resisting the pull of the disease, even when surrounded by it.
The CSD has identified the following list of Ten Telltale Symptoms:
1. You believe you are superior to other people, and exempt from the rules governing regular society. When you encounter a limit that does not support your desires or view of yourself, you conclude that it simply doesn’t apply. You may have excessive debt, lawsuits or unpaid penalties against you.
2. You might enjoy the rush of “special circumstances” such as favors or access to things denied to others, only to suffer a crushing guilt of believing you are unworthy, and subsequent anxiety over getting caught.
3. You have an explosive reaction to feedback, and an unchecked urge to blame others until you feel relief and comfort again.
4. You have irrational fears of women (if you are a heterosexual male, this can coexist as simultaneous attraction/fear) as well as people of color, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people.
5. You lack trust in those who do not look like you, yet also feel trapped by not really trusting your White Male Privilege friends either. You are lonely because of a constant worry that you will be excluded from the club.
6. You resent your dependence on human beings and hoard excess resources to feed an illusion of ‘not needing others’. You believe that, ‘In life, there are winners and losers, and it’s ok to create losers to ensure that you are a winner; That’s just the way it is.’
7. You have an intense urge to control others, which you may perceive as simply being “strong”, “decisive” or “dominant”. You may have heard from friends and loved ones that they feel misunderstood by you, but you see this as their weakness and not your problem.
8. You have made, or are making, decisions to protect your reputation or financial assets at the expense of other people. Your belief in your superiority has allowed you to justify these choices. Yet, deep down, you feel even more inadequate because you know no other way to ‘play the game and win’.
9. You might believe that women or young people owe you access to their bodies, or that the unpaid/underpaid work of ‘lesser’ people is your birthright to enjoy. You often feel lonely, yet can’t imagine why.
10. Your behavior is increasingly destructive, and you feel further and further from your own sense of right and wrong. You are caught in a cycle of hurting others, seeking to feel better about yourself through superiority, and then feeling even worse. Your relationships suffer, and then your physical health weakens without apparent explanation.
Experts say that any combination of four or more of the above symptoms is considered a WMP diagnosis. Six or more symptoms is a severe case of White Male Privilege. WMP is a progressive disease, and early intervention is the key to effective treatment.
What are the risk factors?
WMP can be hereditary and occurs more often in families where the cluster of symptoms is passed on or even praised from a distance.
Exposure to generational or family financial wealth has been shown to increase the incidence of White Male Privilege. Though, again, this factor alone is not causational. Interestingly, those who began life with very little resources can be highly susceptible to developing the disease later in life. Anyone who has felt particularly low about themselves or their life situation — and has not reconciled these feelings — could fall prey to its influence at some point.
Men with a criminal record, or something to hide, can be more inclined to adopt one or more of the symptoms. The distorted thinking of being ‘above others’ may offer pointed relief to those already carrying a burden of guilt over poor choices in their past.
Lastly, anyone who was confronted with the experience of acute anxiety and lack of control as a child is at higher risk. When pain and control coexist over time, distorted thinking can occur. Case studies have revealed that early fears were at the root of some of the most severe cases. Letting boys be scared and giving them a supportive space to work through their fears is encouraged.
What if I love someone affected by White Male Privilege? What can I do?
Those living in proximity with WMP patients can be affected in a number of ways. Loved ones need to watch for the negative effects of gaslighting, discrediting and dismissal coming from WMP sufferers. Relationships are especially hard for those with White Male Privilege, and new research is currently being done to understand the brain and hormonal chemistry of those affected.
The best approach is to get help by connecting with people who do not suffer from WMP, while finding the strength to hold WMP sufferers accountable for their actions at every step. Pretending or going along only aggravates the disease and delays recovery. The Center for Social Diseases expects new 12-Step Programs and support groups to pop up in highly affected areas, following release of these findings.
Like other addictions, WMP can be a progressive disease. Self-care must be a priority for those living in proximity to the disease. Loved ones are encouraged to only maintain connections that include strong boundaries and to adopt a stringent practice of truth- telling in the presence of WMP sufferers. Be ready to endure child-like tantrums, and to hold firm while telltale behaviors present themselves. Remember, “keeping them honest” is an act of love.
Patience and compassion are needed, as WMP sufferers are often overly scared, fragile and unsure of themselves. Go slowly but remain firm. They may seem to enjoy special privileges, but remember, they are suffering.
I think my boss or other public figures suffer from WMP, what should I do?
It is important to not feed any illusion that those with WMP are special or above others. Unfortunately, they do often find themselves in positions of authority because of an attraction to telltale-symptom-affirming cultures.
At times, the bravado of developed WMP sufferers can lure some into a false sense of security. It is important to think long-term and remember that the one who does not need to put others down is always the stronger candidate. Our most effective and beloved leaders have an innate appreciation of the ills of WMP (regardless of race, gender, orientation or identity) and see inherent value in the lives and experiences of all. Simple actions, such as respecting others’ limits, asking permission, saying ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Thank you’ have shown promise as a path to rewiring the brains of early WMP sufferers. Cutting edge research is now underway.
Resisting White Male Privilege on the social, economic and political levels is its own practice of recovery. Keep in mind, the population was infected long-ago, when the disease was still largely unseen and unidentified.
We can all help normalize shows of humanity, compassion, valuing a diversity of life, and the humility that keeps everyone honest in everyday interactions. This social norming can be a part of the slow and necessary cultural transformation.
Is there a cure?!
Curing White Male Privilege is going to take a concerted effort by everyone affected by and surrounding its negative impacts in society.
As a public health crisis, it is our civic duty to interrupt White Male Privilege whenever we see it in a way that is consistent, loving and firm.
Remember, truth-telling, holding sufferers accountable and rejecting the ill-effects will help curb the spread of the disease. Only cooperation and a commitment to dismantling White Male Privilege (and its support structure, Patriarchy) will allow for social healing to occur.
*This story is an illuminating spoof, and no such Center for Social Diseases, CSD, exists. Though, WMP and its effects are real.
Vanessa Osage
Vanessa Osage is on a mission to leave this world better than she found it. She is a Certified Sexuality Educator, Consultant & Professional Coach. A two-time Nonprofit Founder, Vanessa Osage is President of The Amends Project, with a mission to “mend the loophole”, and creator of The Justice CORPS Initiative. In 2017, she won the Kickass Single Mom Award for her work in sexuality education and youth rites of passage. Her essays have been featured in Circles on the Mountain, The Confluence Journal, Role Reboot & more. Can’t Stop the Sunrise is her first book.
I had the privilege of meeting Vanessa Osage on a Zoom call earlier this week, and was spell-bound and brought to tears by her story of abuse and institutional cover up at one of this country’s elite prep and boarding schools. Vanessa explained her mission to promote healing and restorative justice to both oppressor and oppressed. The more we talked, the more I understood the nexus with Progressive Prison Ministries’ core mission in bringing together all the stakeholders in the white collar justice community to promote mutual understanding and empathy. Please email your thoughts and comments to me at [email protected]. Thank you! – Jeff
_________________________
When I discovered Jeff’s work, I was thrilled and heartened to know someone is working on the path forward, on the other side of healing from corruption. This is exactly the kind of compassionate, soulful recovery I want to encourage along with transparency and oversight at the institutional level…
I am an educator, consultant, coach, author, and leader of the nonprofit The Amends Project, with a mission to “mend the loophole that has allowed for the cover-up of child abuse at independent schools: implementing The Justice CORPS Initiative”. I’ve just released my first book, Can’t Stop the Sunrise, sharing my journey to advancing institutional reform. – Vanessa
_________________________
White Male Privilege: Q & A
by Vanessa Osage
White Male Privilege, or WMP, is now being recognized as a social disease by psychologists and experts in the field of public health. The Center for Social Diseases, CSD*, has released these guidelines for understanding, diagnosing and treating White Male Privilege.
How common is White Male Privilege?
White Male Privilege affects about 28% of the United States population, with higher concentrations in the urban epicenters of New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
How do I know if I have White Male Privilege?
Diagnosis occurs as distorted thinking that presents as a “cluster of symptoms”. The disease can affect both individuals and institutions or groups where the cluster of symptoms is present, taught or shared. WMP can be contagious, with short or long- term exposure to those suffering from the disease increasing the incidence. There is currently no conclusive test to confirm or rule out the disease.
Wait, I am white and male, does that mean I have White Male Privilege?
No. Fortunately, characteristics do not indicate causality. One can be white and male without being infected by the cluster of symptoms that indicate presence of the disease.
Resistance to social pressure and a diverse world view have been strongly correlated with preventative factors. Knowing and loving people who do not live a privileged experience has also been shown to reduce the incidence. Researchers have gathered inspired stories of individuals resisting the pull of the disease, even when surrounded by it.
The CSD has identified the following list of Ten Telltale Symptoms:
1. You believe you are superior to other people, and exempt from the rules governing regular society. When you encounter a limit that does not support your desires or view of yourself, you conclude that it simply doesn’t apply. You may have excessive debt, lawsuits or unpaid penalties against you.
2. You might enjoy the rush of “special circumstances” such as favors or access to things denied to others, only to suffer a crushing guilt of believing you are unworthy, and subsequent anxiety over getting caught.
3. You have an explosive reaction to feedback, and an unchecked urge to blame others until you feel relief and comfort again.
4. You have irrational fears of women (if you are a heterosexual male, this can coexist as simultaneous attraction/fear) as well as people of color, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people.
5. You lack trust in those who do not look like you, yet also feel trapped by not really trusting your White Male Privilege friends either. You are lonely because of a constant worry that you will be excluded from the club.
6. You resent your dependence on human beings and hoard excess resources to feed an illusion of ‘not needing others’. You believe that, ‘In life, there are winners and losers, and it’s ok to create losers to ensure that you are a winner; That’s just the way it is.’
7. You have an intense urge to control others, which you may perceive as simply being “strong”, “decisive” or “dominant”. You may have heard from friends and loved ones that they feel misunderstood by you, but you see this as their weakness and not your problem.
8. You have made, or are making, decisions to protect your reputation or financial assets at the expense of other people. Your belief in your superiority has allowed you to justify these choices. Yet, deep down, you feel even more inadequate because you know no other way to ‘play the game and win’.
9. You might believe that women or young people owe you access to their bodies, or that the unpaid/underpaid work of ‘lesser’ people is your birthright to enjoy. You often feel lonely, yet can’t imagine why.
10. Your behavior is increasingly destructive, and you feel further and further from your own sense of right and wrong. You are caught in a cycle of hurting others, seeking to feel better about yourself through superiority, and then feeling even worse. Your relationships suffer, and then your physical health weakens without apparent explanation.
Experts say that any combination of four or more of the above symptoms is considered a WMP diagnosis. Six or more symptoms is a severe case of White Male Privilege. WMP is a progressive disease, and early intervention is the key to effective treatment.
What are the risk factors?
WMP can be hereditary and occurs more often in families where the cluster of symptoms is passed on or even praised from a distance.
Exposure to generational or family financial wealth has been shown to increase the incidence of White Male Privilege. Though, again, this factor alone is not causational. Interestingly, those who began life with very little resources can be highly susceptible to developing the disease later in life. Anyone who has felt particularly low about themselves or their life situation — and has not reconciled these feelings — could fall prey to its influence at some point.
Men with a criminal record, or something to hide, can be more inclined to adopt one or more of the symptoms. The distorted thinking of being ‘above others’ may offer pointed relief to those already carrying a burden of guilt over poor choices in their past.
Lastly, anyone who was confronted with the experience of acute anxiety and lack of control as a child is at higher risk. When pain and control coexist over time, distorted thinking can occur. Case studies have revealed that early fears were at the root of some of the most severe cases. Letting boys be scared and giving them a supportive space to work through their fears is encouraged.
What if I love someone affected by White Male Privilege? What can I do?
Those living in proximity with WMP patients can be affected in a number of ways. Loved ones need to watch for the negative effects of gaslighting, discrediting and dismissal coming from WMP sufferers. Relationships are especially hard for those with White Male Privilege, and new research is currently being done to understand the brain and hormonal chemistry of those affected.
The best approach is to get help by connecting with people who do not suffer from WMP, while finding the strength to hold WMP sufferers accountable for their actions at every step. Pretending or going along only aggravates the disease and delays recovery. The Center for Social Diseases expects new 12-Step Programs and support groups to pop up in highly affected areas, following release of these findings.
Like other addictions, WMP can be a progressive disease. Self-care must be a priority for those living in proximity to the disease. Loved ones are encouraged to only maintain connections that include strong boundaries and to adopt a stringent practice of truth- telling in the presence of WMP sufferers. Be ready to endure child-like tantrums, and to hold firm while telltale behaviors present themselves. Remember, “keeping them honest” is an act of love.
Patience and compassion are needed, as WMP sufferers are often overly scared, fragile and unsure of themselves. Go slowly but remain firm. They may seem to enjoy special privileges, but remember, they are suffering.
I think my boss or other public figures suffer from WMP, what should I do?
It is important to not feed any illusion that those with WMP are special or above others. Unfortunately, they do often find themselves in positions of authority because of an attraction to telltale-symptom-affirming cultures.
At times, the bravado of developed WMP sufferers can lure some into a false sense of security. It is important to think long-term and remember that the one who does not need to put others down is always the stronger candidate. Our most effective and beloved leaders have an innate appreciation of the ills of WMP (regardless of race, gender, orientation or identity) and see inherent value in the lives and experiences of all. Simple actions, such as respecting others’ limits, asking permission, saying ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Thank you’ have shown promise as a path to rewiring the brains of early WMP sufferers. Cutting edge research is now underway.
Resisting White Male Privilege on the social, economic and political levels is its own practice of recovery. Keep in mind, the population was infected long-ago, when the disease was still largely unseen and unidentified.
We can all help normalize shows of humanity, compassion, valuing a diversity of life, and the humility that keeps everyone honest in everyday interactions. This social norming can be a part of the slow and necessary cultural transformation.
Is there a cure?!
Curing White Male Privilege is going to take a concerted effort by everyone affected by and surrounding its negative impacts in society.
As a public health crisis, it is our civic duty to interrupt White Male Privilege whenever we see it in a way that is consistent, loving and firm.
Remember, truth-telling, holding sufferers accountable and rejecting the ill-effects will help curb the spread of the disease. Only cooperation and a commitment to dismantling White Male Privilege (and its support structure, Patriarchy) will allow for social healing to occur.
*This story is an illuminating spoof, and no such Center for Social Diseases, CSD, exists. Though, WMP and its effects are real.
Vanessa Osage
Vanessa Osage is on a mission to leave this world better than she found it. She is a Certified Sexuality Educator, Consultant & Professional Coach. A two-time Nonprofit Founder, Vanessa Osage is President of The Amends Project, with a mission to “mend the loophole”, and creator of The Justice CORPS Initiative. In 2017, she won the Kickass Single Mom Award for her work in sexuality education and youth rites of passage. Her essays have been featured in Circles on the Mountain, The Confluence Journal, Role Reboot & more. Can’t Stop the Sunrise is her first book.
David Benoit is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and friend of the progressive criminal justice movement. David reached out to me to discuss if members of our community experience issues with banks, including closure of accounts without explanation. He would like to hear about your experiences. David can be reached at [email protected]. Thank you! – Jeff
_________________________
Court debts and lack of credit limit abilities to get driver’s licenses, find homes and get meaningful work
In 2013, Martize Tolbert walked out of prison and into a financial hole.
Mr. Tolbert was arrested on drug and weapon charges as a teenager, then bounced in and out of jail for more than a dozen years. When he was released for the last time, he owed some $12,000 in court fines and fees.
Four years later, he was working at a Charlottesville, Va., Jiffy Lube, making $9 an hour, barely enough for rent, food and supporting his son. The debt barred him from getting a driver’s license, but, with or without one, he had to drive. A Black man, he got pulled over often, he said, leading to more tickets, bigger for the lack of a license. The interest was compounding too. He tried to work out payment plans, but the total was only growing.
“It was all uphill just trying to get everything back in line from the mess I had created for myself,” said Mr. Tolbert, 40. “Everything was a struggle.”
Each year, more than 600,000 people deemed to have paid their debts to society are released from U.S. prisons, but the financial consequences can follow them long after. It can be hard for them to get checking accounts and nearly impossible to get loans. Some get out only to discover their identities were stolen. Many, like Mr. Tolbert, are deep in debt.
That all makes it hard for ex-inmates to get jobs, start businesses or find housing. In Florida and other states, court debts cost the right to vote. The problems trap all sorts of criminals, from small drug offenders to white-collar swindlers.
For Black men, who are nearly six times more likely than white men to be in prison, the financial aftermath is just another byproduct of a justice system already weighted against them. A 2019 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found people of color are disproportionately arrested for nonviolent crimes like loitering and disorderly conduct, and are generally sentenced more harshly, “which amplifies the impact of collateral consequences.”
Increasing evidence shows these repercussions push some people back into crime…
Columns share an author’s personal perspective. *****
Ever since the conventions, when each party’s presidential candidate was finally confirmed, I figured criminal justice reform policy would come in a very competitive third behind coronavirus and the economy when it came to debate topics. But Proud Boys and COVID-19 infections got in the way and we weren’t talking about policy until the last presidential debate. And even then, there wasn’t much.
Criminal justice plans – and records – finally appeared and, instead of cementing President Donald Trump as a champion of smart decarceration, they proved that his heart and his head were never really in the reform game.
I expected the president to ham up the FIRST STEP Act on the campaign trail. After all, criminal justice is exactly where former Vice President Joe Biden is vulnerable.
Anyone who’s served time in the last 20 years lived the effects of Biden’s work in the Senate during the 1980s and 1990s. That’s when the 1994 Crime Bill – sometimes known by its full name, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 – passed, along with other laws that Biden had a hand in crafting, like the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, of which Biden was one of the first co-sponsors.
I’m one of those people. What affected me were the so-called “Truth in Sentencing” requirements for getting that funding under the Crime Bill. My state, Connecticut, repealed all “good time statutes” – traditionally referred to as “time off for good behavior” – laws in 1995, a year after the Crime Bill passed. Before that, inmates earned 10 days off for every month served. If that law had been in effect when I was in prison, I would have come home one year earlier than I did.
I was lucky in that, in 2011, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted a revised form of good time called Risk Reduction Earned Credits, so I earned about one year off my sentence.
But if the various laws Biden touted decades ago hadn’t been in place, it would have been two years off. In fact, without the 1994 Crime Bill and its local legislative progeny, I would have served only about 10%, or about 8 months, of my seven-plus year sentence before I was eligible for parole. I can see why people in my place might have a grudge against Biden.
Federal inmates got some similar relief from the law Trump put into place. As of May 2020, 5,168 of them had come home under the FIRST STEP Act, for a variety of reasons. The FIRST STEP Act gave Trump some decarceration bona fides that I thought he would gleefully rub in Biden’s face during the first debate.
But he didn’t. “You did a crime bill, 1994, when you call them super predators, African-Americans, super predators, and they’ve never forgotten it … and I’m letting people out of jail now …” is how Trump started, but he lost focus and veered into the subject of cops and how they like him.
The last debate served another opportunity but he blew it. For one, he didn’t even identify the FIRST STEP Act or what it did. He just repeated “criminal justice reform” four times over. He never mentioned that thousands of federal prisoners are home, that recidivism hasn’t seemed to be a problem, that at least by the letter of the law, women are supposed to get the sanitary supplies they request, although reports that guards still deny women tampons and pads persist.
He must equate the FIRST STEP Act – which he can’t name – with the Emancipation Proclamation; that’s the only explanation for the comparison to Abraham Lincoln. I’ve always resisted the idea that we seek reform of the criminal legal system for the exclusive benefit of Black people.
Not only is it not accurate – nearly half of U.S. adults have an immediate family member who was or is incarcerated; that’s 113 million people, more than twice the size of the Black population in this country – it doesn’t debunk what Ta-Nehisi Coates calls “the enduring myth of Black criminality,” namely the idea that Black people are more prone to lawbreaking than white people. It’s simply not true, even if 91% of the FIRST STEP beneficiaries have been Black. The reason is that the laws from the ’80s and ’90s were implemented in racially disparate ways.
What Trump wouldn’t say, because it doesn’t help him, is that his administration hasn’t really gotten into the FIRST STEP spirit; far more people can find freedom if his administration stops fighting them. Federal prosecutors have sought to resentence people who were released under the reform law, the Department of Justice rigged the risk assessment tool that qualifies inmates for the low-security status that allows them to earn prison credits, and the Bureau of Prisons has been stingy in granting compassionate release requests, especially at a time when they deserve expedited attention because of COVID-19. Even with this federal statute, Trump’s time in office has been less than Lincoln-esque.
Biden’s apologized for his laws’ unintended consequences. That, combined with his original platform, which was quite progressive and included providing for the health of incarcerated women – a plank that only Biden and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg included – is enough for me. I’m not sure why the Biden-Sanders United Task Force sapped it of all its flavor to create the Democratic Party’s final policy statement.
But Biden was hardly bested by Trump’s platform; it contains nothing about changes for the future. Just a bulleted mention of ending “cashless” bail, which can only mean extending the life of the current money bail system that persists in so many states and municipalities that strips people who haven’t been convicted of their freedom – where the Black men he’s allegedly helped so much are 50% more likely to be detained than their white counterparts.
Judging just by the numbers, far more people are free from incarceration because of Trump than Biden. For that reason, Trump walked into the last debate as the “reform candidate.”
But he didn’t walk out one. He showed he can’t even talk a good game, much less play one. If you’re voting on criminal justice Nov. 3, Trump’s not your man.
Disclosure: Author was an Alternate At Large Delegate for the Biden-Harris ticket at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Chandra Bozelko writes the award-winning blog Prison Diaries. You can follow her on Twitter at @ChandraBozelko and email her at [email protected].
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_______________________
Podcast Ep. 16, Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim
Today on the podcast, we have Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim. After five terms as the mayor of the largest city in the state of Connecticut from 1991 to 2003, Joe was brought down in a corruption scandal for which he served six years in a federal prison. After his release from prison, in 2015 Joe ran again for mayor of Bridgeport and he was reelected. He is currently serving his seventh term as mayor.
Controversial? Sure. But what I find most fascinating about Joe is his resilience and resourcefulness – his willingness to take risks and subject himself to public scrutiny after all he’d been through. Certainly, his story is a lesson to other people convicted of felonies that life is not over once you go to prison.
Full disclosure: In 2016 and 2017, I served as Co-Chairperson of the Advisory Board to the City of Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative on Reentry Affairs (MIRA).
So coming up, Mayor Joseph Ganim on White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
______________________________
If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
______________________________
Guests on this Episode:
Mayor Joseph Ganim
Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Peter Ganim is in his eighth term as Mayor of Connecticut’s largest city with a population of approximately 147,000 people. After campaigning on a platform of open government, reducing crime, improving public schools, reducing property taxes and growing the economy and job creation, Mayor Ganim was elected by a wide margin on November 3, 2015 to a position he had last held in 2003. He continues to serve as Mayor having been reelected in 2019.
Mayor Ganim had served six previous terms as chief executive of Bridgeport from 1991-2003, and in so doing accomplished several important things for the Park City. Mayor Ganim led the city out of municipal bankruptcy by overcoming a $21 million budget deficit and a 5-year projected deficit of $250 million. Mayor Ganim’s tenure ushered in 10 consecutive years of balanced budgets and a surplus of $58 million. This was accomplished by implementing difficult cost saving measures and innovative revenue raising techniques. These included negotiations with city labor unions to achieve concessions and savings of more than $20 million in labor costs without laying off any employees and negotiating a more than $350 million bond issue with multiple Wall Street investment firms to erase the city’s unfunded pension liability. As a result of these efforts, Bridgeport’s credit rating increased across the board during his tenure and Mayor Ganim was recognized in 1996 by Newsweek magazine as one of America’s most “innovative and dynamic mayors.”
You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff
______________________________
All Episodes:
Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison
Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee
Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix
Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola
Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim
Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood
Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott
Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni
Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine
Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb
Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson
Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett
Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria
Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin
Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.
Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?
______________________________
What is the White Collar Justice Community?
Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.
If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_______________________
Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide with Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley & Meredith Atwood
Today’s podcast is about mental health and the crushing stress and depression that professionals sometimes experience that can induce suicidal ideations, suicide attempts, suicide itself, the pain and anguish caused to family and others, and how one can find relief and hope instead of pain, suffering, and tragedy.
My guests today are Rev. Bob Flanagan, who has written, spoken, and preached about his own mental health issues. And Meredith Atwood, a former lawyer and now author and life coach, who is candid about her suicide attempt, sobriety after drug and alcohol addiction, and finding her way back through triathlons and weightlifting. And Elizabeth Kelley, a lawyer who specializes in representing defendants with mental disabilities all over the country, and in attorney wellness so that they don’t burn out and cause harm to themselves, their families, and their clients.
A warning: this is a very difficult conversation in which we all talk about our personal relationships with depression and suicide, a much-needed discussion in these times of community and personal trauma. So, coming up: A Brave Talk About Suicide on White Collar Week. I hope you will join us.
– Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
______________________________
If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
______________________________
Guests on this Episode:
Bob Flanagan
Rev. Dr. Bob Flanagan has struggled with mental illness and managed to thrive for over twenty years. He holds a doctorate of ministry degree in Christian Spirituality and is an adjunct faculty member at General Theological Seminary in New York City, teaching on Christian spirituality. He has served for over ten years as a state and federal advocate for and board member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. His previous book, Growing a Sustainable Soul, won a bronze medal in the Reader’s Favorite International Book Contest. Bob lives with his wife, Lanie, in Bridgewater, Connecticut. They have two grown children.
Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Elizabeth Kelley, and I have the honor of being a criminal defense lawyer. In particular, I specialize in representing people with mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Frequently, people ask criminal defense lawyers, “How can you defend those people?” However, I seldom get this question because most people know intuitively, if not from personal experience, that people with mental disabilities do not belong in the criminal justice system and that jail and prison are not treatment. If you would like more information about how I might be able to help you, a friend, or a family member, please contact me.
Order Representing People with Mental Disabilities on Amazon here.
_________________________
Meredith Atwood
Meredith Atwood is a best-selling author, speaker, and podcaster. A former attorney, Meredith is the author of the best-selling book, Triathlon for the Every Woman. Her new book, The Year of No Nonsense: How to Get Over Yourself and On with Your Life is now available online, in most major bookstores, Target, and Wal-Mart. In her writing, Meredith conveys humor and realness, while encouraging readers to take tangible actions to change their lives–to be the best versions of themselves.
Meredith inspires through her podcast, The Same 24 Hours, which aims to help the listener make the most of their 24 hours. The podcast has over 1 million downloads and is a Top 50 on iTunes (Fitness). Some recent guests include: Gretchen Rubin, Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Tony Hawk, Bob Harper, Laila Ali, Gary John Bishop, Kate Northrup, and Jairek Robbins.
Based out of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children, and originally from Atlanta, Georgia.
You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff
______________________________
All Episodes:
Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison
Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee
Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix
Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola
Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim
Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood
Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott
Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni
Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine
Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb
Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson
Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett
Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria
Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin
Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.
Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?
______________________________
What is the White Collar Justice Community?
Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.
If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
On Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, 9 am ET, Louis L. Reed, Director of Organizing & Partnerships for #Cut50, was our guest on The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streaming and podcast everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries.
Louis Reed is the Director of Organizing & Partnerships for #Cut50, an initiative of Van Jones’s Dream Corps. He brings to #Cut50 years of experience in government, criminal justice expertise, policy advocacy, business, and public health.
Louis holds degrees in criminal justice and psychology, and is a board-certified addictions counselor and licensed alcohol & addictions practitioner. Prior to joining #Cut50, Louis was the Connecticut Policy Strategist for the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice where he worked on SB-13, and ran his own addiction and mental health practice in Bridgeport, CT, serving clients across Southern Connecticut.
Louis’s experience in government includes conceptualizing and serving as director of the Mayor’s Office for Reentry Affairs in the City of Bridgeport, CT. There, he developed systems and practices for the City to coordinate employment, housing, access to treatment, and other services for all persons impacted by the criminal justice system both in and returning to the City after incarceration.
His policy reform experience includes working with the Connecticut legislature for successful enactment of legislation related to reforms to pretrial practices, expanding access to licenses for people living with criminal records, limiting asset forfeiture practices by law enforcement, and strengthening reentry practices and services for people returning from prison.
Louis is a Huffington Post contributor on Prison Traumatic Stress Disorder, has appeared on C-SPAN and MSNBC, and in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other publications. He has also consulted for the White House, United States Department of Justice, Fortune® 100 Corporations, private, state and federal agencies, and is a 2017 JustLeadershipUSA fellow.
Louis has received many awards recognizing his work and leadership, including the US Senate recognition for Professional of the Year; 2017 Best Innovative Practices by the US Conference of Mayors; and a 2018 citation from the Connecticut State General Assembly for his statewide contributions on best reentry practices and community service.
Louis lives in Connecticut, consults in special projects management, and also operates his practice part-time.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
____________________
Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Thinking about stealing the government loan money you received in pandemic help?
Before you do, listen to Jeff Grant’s story.
After his opioid addiction, his theft of U.S. loan funds, and a federal prison sentence, Grant’s life as a lawyer and business professional was over.
But according to him, his new life was just beginning. And for small business owners feeling desperate — enough to steal — he’s created a safe place to talk anonymously and seek guidance.
Now clean and sober, remarried and out of prison, Jeff Grant, 64, co-foundedProgressive Prison Ministries,what could be America’s first support group serving the white collar community —- in particular, those who committed white collar crimes and may have served prison time.
Based online, the group attracts many business owners and white-collar workers from Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia has the second largest concentration of our support group members,” Grant said, including Seth Williams, former Philadelphia district attorney, who Grant says attends regularly. Williams was released from prison earlier this year after serving time for his 2017 bribery conviction.
Grant was convicted after fraudulently obtaining $247,000 in federal aid soon the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, falsely claiming to have had a law office in lower Manhattan that had been shuttered by the disaster. He used the money to pay down personal credit cards. Meanwhile, his pain medication addiction ramped up, as did his marital problems.
“In 2002, I resigned my law license and started on the road to recovery. But it all caught up with me about two years later, when I was arrested” for misrepresenting information on his loan application. He served almost 14 months at a federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
“So much of my story is tied to my wife, Lynn Springer,” he said. They met in drug addiction recovery in Greenwich, Conn., and have been married for 11 years.
“I was a very bad bet, but she stayed with me through prison and the rough years after,” said Grant, based in Woodbury, Conn. He celebrated 18 years clean and sober on Aug. 10.
Basing it on a 12-step program, Grant created his support group for white collar criminals and their families after earning a divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He now hosts an onlineWhite Collar Support Group every Monday.
“Here’s what business owners should consider when they take out disaster loans. Certainly, the majority of people requesting these loans are honest and upstanding entrepreneurs who have immense need for the aid, and will use the funds properly,” he said. “That said, history has shown us again and again that when people are in dire need, they’re more prone to make impulsive, ill-advised decisions.”
“My hope is that sharing my experience will help others avoid the consequences I faced.”
Sometimes referred to in the business press as a “minister to hedge funders,” he uses his experience to guide families and professionals in their relationships, careers and businesses, and to help them to stop making the bad decisions that resulted in loss, suffering and shame.
Rampant SBA loan fraud todaygives Grant’s story new relevance.Wells Fargo this week said it fired at least 100 bank employees for improperly receiving coronavirus relief funds, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also found more than 500 employees tapped the SBA’s disaster-loan program.
“What’s happening now is almost indescribable,” he said. “Nineteen years after committing my crime of SBA loan fraud, I’m now sought out both because of my cautionary tale and as a SBA loan fraud expert. Believe me, nobody was interested in the nuances of how bad things could happen in taking out disaster loans until COVID presented us with another huge disaster.”
Most recently, he hosted a podcast and interview with New Jersey politician Bill Baroni, who was imprisoned after the “Bridgegate” scandal with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and had his felony conviction for corruption overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Grant’s white collar support group includes mostly executives, lawyers, and other professionals, and — yes, they are mostly white.
Weekly meetings require registration ahead of time for privacy, and only first names are used. On Grant’s podcasts, all guests are post-sentencing or back from prison.
“How’d my life get there?” Baroni told Grant on a recent podcast. “I’d been a practicing lawyer, teaching constitutional law and voting rights, I ran for the legislature in 2003.”
“People have to make those tough decisions,” he said. “I wanted to get [his prison sentence] over with. When you go through this, all’s changed, changed utterly,” Baroni said.
When Christie was elected governor in 2009. Baroni ran the Port Authority overseeing all six airports in the New York-New Jersey area, the bridges and tunnels, the PATH train system, two bus terminals and the entire World Trade Center complex. Baroni served just under three months of an 18-month sentence, but was released after the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.
Other guests aren’t as famous, but just as human.
For the episode “When Mom Goes to Prison,” Grant hosted a woman prosecuted for white-collar crimes.
Jacqueline Polverari, convicted in 2014 of mortgage fraud, and her two daughters Maria and Alexa contributed an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.
“I used mortgage funds to supplement my business,” Polverari told listeners. “My kids were in middle and high school. I knew I was being investigated by the FBI and I hadn’t told the kids. I was guilty, knew I was going to jail, so I sat the kids down and told them the truth.”
Her children didn’t comprehend the extent of her crimes. Jacqueline wasn’t sentenced for several years and her temper flared regularly.
“It was a long, drawn-out process. It started when i was a freshman in high school and didn’t end until she came home from jail my senior year of college,” Alexa said on the podcast. “She didn’t keep us in the dark. She told us the honest truth. That made it a little bit easier.”
More on SBA PPP & EIDL Loan Fraud:
Entrepreneur: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know when Taking Covid-19 Disaster Relief Money, by Jeff Grant, Link to article here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund: Link to article here.
Fraud Stories Podcast with Mark Lurie: SBA/PPP Loan Fraud with Guest: Jeff Grant. Link to podcast here.
Forbes: As Law Enforcement Pursues SBA Loan Fraud, Jeff Grant Talks Redemption, by Kelly Phillips Erb. Link to article here.
Taxgirl Podcast: Jeff Grant talks Desperation and Loans in a Time of Crisis with Kelly Phillips Erb on Her Podcast. Link to article and podcast here.
Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know When Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, Biz Talk Radio Network, Broadcast from 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Listen on YouTube here.
Babz Rawls Ivy Show: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Talk SBA / PPP Loan Fraud and 7 Things to Know Before You Take Coronavirus Relief Money, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven. Watch on YouTube here.
Also: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.
Thinking about stealing the government loan money you received in pandemic help?
Before you do, listen to Jeff Grant’s story.
After his opioid addiction, his theft of U.S. loan funds, and a federal prison sentence, Grant’s life as a lawyer and business professional was over.
But according to him, his new life was just beginning. And for small business owners feeling desperate — enough to steal — he’s created a safe place to talk anonymously and seek guidance.
Now clean and sober, remarried and out of prison, Jeff Grant, 64, co-foundedProgressive Prison Ministries,what could be America’s first support group serving the white collar community —- in particular, those who committed white collar crimes and may have served prison time.
Based online, the group attracts many business owners and white-collar workers from Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia has the second largest concentration of our support group members,” Grant said, including Seth Williams, former Philadelphia district attorney, who Grant says attends regularly. Williams was released from prison earlier this year after serving time for his 2017 bribery conviction.
Grant was convicted after fraudulently obtaining $247,000 in federal aid soon the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, falsely claiming to have had a law office in lower Manhattan that had been shuttered by the disaster. He used the money to pay down personal credit cards. Meanwhile, his pain medication addiction ramped up, as did his marital problems.
“In 2002, I resigned my law license and started on the road to recovery. But it all caught up with me about two years later, when I was arrested” for misrepresenting information on his loan application. He served almost 14 months at a federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
“So much of my story is tied to my wife, Lynn Springer,” he said. They met in drug addiction recovery in Greenwich, Conn., and have been married for 11 years.
“I was a very bad bet, but she stayed with me through prison and the rough years after,” said Grant, based in Woodbury, Conn. He celebrated 18 years clean and sober on Aug. 10.
Basing it on a 12-step program, Grant created his support group for white collar criminals and their families after earning a divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He now hosts an onlineWhite Collar Support Group every Monday.
“Here’s what business owners should consider when they take out disaster loans. Certainly, the majority of people requesting these loans are honest and upstanding entrepreneurs who have immense need for the aid, and will use the funds properly,” he said. “That said, history has shown us again and again that when people are in dire need, they’re more prone to make impulsive, ill-advised decisions.”
“My hope is that sharing my experience will help others avoid the consequences I faced.”
Sometimes referred to in the business press as a “minister to hedge funders,” he uses his experience to guide families and professionals in their relationships, careers and businesses, and to help them to stop making the bad decisions that resulted in loss, suffering and shame.
Rampant SBA loan fraud todaygives Grant’s story new relevance.Wells Fargo this week said it fired at least 100 bank employees for improperly receiving coronavirus relief funds, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also found more than 500 employees tapped the SBA’s disaster-loan program.
“What’s happening now is almost indescribable,” he said. “Nineteen years after committing my crime of SBA loan fraud, I’m now sought out both because of my cautionary tale and as a SBA loan fraud expert. Believe me, nobody was interested in the nuances of how bad things could happen in taking out disaster loans until COVID presented us with another huge disaster.”
Most recently, he hosted a podcast and interview with New Jersey politician Bill Baroni, who was imprisoned after the “Bridgegate” scandal with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and had his felony conviction for corruption overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Grant’s white collar support group includes mostly executives, lawyers, and other professionals, and — yes, they are mostly white.
Weekly meetings require registration ahead of time for privacy, and only first names are used. On Grant’s podcasts, all guests are post-sentencing or back from prison.
“How’d my life get there?” Baroni told Grant on a recent podcast. “I’d been a practicing lawyer, teaching constitutional law and voting rights, I ran for the legislature in 2003.”
“People have to make those tough decisions,” he said. “I wanted to get [his prison sentence] over with. When you go through this, all’s changed, changed utterly,” Baroni said.
When Christie was elected governor in 2009. Baroni ran the Port Authority overseeing all six airports in the New York-New Jersey area, the bridges and tunnels, the PATH train system, two bus terminals and the entire World Trade Center complex. Baroni served just under three months of an 18-month sentence, but was released after the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.
Other guests aren’t as famous, but just as human.
For the episode “When Mom Goes to Prison,” Grant hosted a woman prosecuted for white-collar crimes.
Jacqueline Polverari, convicted in 2014 of mortgage fraud, and her two daughters Maria and Alexa contributed an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.
“I used mortgage funds to supplement my business,” Polverari told listeners. “My kids were in middle and high school. I knew I was being investigated by the FBI and I hadn’t told the kids. I was guilty, knew I was going to jail, so I sat the kids down and told them the truth.”
Her children didn’t comprehend the extent of her crimes. Jacqueline wasn’t sentenced for several years and her temper flared regularly.
“It was a long, drawn-out process. It started when i was a freshman in high school and didn’t end until she came home from jail my senior year of college,” Alexa said on the podcast. “She didn’t keep us in the dark. She told us the honest truth. That made it a little bit easier.”
More on SBA PPP & EIDL Loan Fraud:
Entrepreneur: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know when Taking Covid-19 Disaster Relief Money, by Jeff Grant, Link to article here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund: Link to article here.
Fraud Stories Podcast with Mark Lurie: SBA/PPP Loan Fraud with Guest: Jeff Grant. Link to podcast here.
Forbes: As Law Enforcement Pursues SBA Loan Fraud, Jeff Grant Talks Redemption, by Kelly Phillips Erb. Link to article here.
Taxgirl Podcast: Jeff Grant talks Desperation and Loans in a Time of Crisis with Kelly Phillips Erb on Her Podcast. Link to article and podcast here.
Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know When Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, Biz Talk Radio Network, Broadcast from 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Listen on YouTube here.
Babz Rawls Ivy Show: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Talk SBA / PPP Loan Fraud and 7 Things to Know Before You Take Coronavirus Relief Money, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven. Watch on YouTube here.
Also: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.
