From Kelly Phillips Erb: Join us in kicking off our new and informative podcast hosted by Kelly Phillips Erb. During this episode, Kelly invites a guest host, Jeff Grant, to discuss his experience with applying for a small business loan – and what followed.
Taking On Business Loans
Jeff Grant is someone who has followed through with a business loan in a time of desperation. He is able to share with Kelly some real-life experiences when applying for a loan and how you can be tempted to go too far. Kelly also discusses the alignment with today’s current economic crisis.
The impact of Small Business Administration (SBA) loans
How SBA Loans should support businesses and not lifestyles
How to properly handle loan money and the loan process
Why you shouldn’t lie – even if it feels small – to qualify for loans
How taking on debt should be handled and used as a business strategy
The Justice Department’s crackdown on loans
The importance of understanding challenges to create inspiration
Challenges and misunderstandings that you should be aware of during this time
More About Kelly Phillips Erb:
Kelly is the creator and host of the new Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.
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.
_________________________
Blessings, לשלום
Jeff
Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his) Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast Host, White Collar Week Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798 Website: http://prisonist.org Email: [email protected] Office: 203-405-6249 Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant not a prison coach, not a prison consultant
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community
Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_______________________
Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin
Today on the podcast we have Tom Hardin, best known in the financial and legal worlds as “Tipper-X”.
Tom previously spent much of his career as a hedge fund stock analyst. In 2008, as part of a cooperation agreement with the Department of Justice, Tom assisted the U.S. government in understanding how insider trading occurred in the investment management industry. Tom became one of the most prolific informants in securities fraud history, helping to build over 20 of the 80+ individual criminal cases in “Operation Perfect Hedge,” a Wall Street house cleaning campaign that morphed into the largest insider trading investigation of a generation.
Tom’s a fascinating guy – he goes into his personal history and family, much deeper than he does in his corporate presentations, He’s a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Monday evenings, so we know his story well. In this podcast, I think you will learn a lot about Tom – and maybe something about yourself too?
Tom Hardin previously spent much of his career as a hedge fund stock analyst. In 2008, as part of a cooperation agreement with the Department of Justice, Tom assisted the U.S. government in understanding how insider trading occurred in the investment management industry. Known as “Tipper X,” Tom became one of the most prolific informants in securities fraud history, helping to build over 20 of the 80+ individual criminal cases in “Operation Perfect Hedge,” a Wall Street house cleaning campaign that morphed into the largest insider trading investigation of a generation. After resolving his case in 2015, Tom was invited by FBI-NYC to speak to their rookie agent class in 2016 and is now an international corporate trainer and keynote speaker on conduct risk, corporate culture and compliance topics from his former front-line perspective. He holds a B.S. in Economics with a Finance concentration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Tom Hardin can be reached at tipperx.com, [email protected].
______________________
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?
______________________________
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…
In this very eventful summer 2020, 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 this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
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.
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community
Limited 10 Show Run: Summer 2020
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_______________________
Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering,with Guests: Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Today on the podcast we have a very special show about compassionate lawyering. We have on three lawyers and one former lawyer whom I know well and respect: Corey Brinson, Chris Poulos, Bob Herbst and my old friend George Hritz.
We define compassionate lawyering as giving something more than just a case solution to clients. That is, our four guests discuss putting in that extra mile to help clients find a better, more productive life during and after their issues. They share lots of stories about successes and difficulties in representing individual clients and in advocating for humanistic changes to the criminal justice system.
It’s an important show if you are a lawyer, if you know a lawyer, and, most importantly, if you hire a lawyer.
I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Guests on this Episode:
Corey Brinson focuses on advancing Legal Action Center’s policy advocacy priorities in New York State and plays a lead role in Legal Action Center’s criminal justice reform agenda. Before joining Legal Action Center , Corey founded the Second Chance Firm, LLC, where he serves as a criminal justice consultant, assisted people with pardons, and advocated for criminal justice reform as a lobbyist. Corey has been impacted by the criminal justice system and draws on his unique experiences to inform his work as a policy advocate. Corey has been a member of the Hartford City Council, operated a law firm where he defended 400 people in criminal matters in state and federal court and won acquittals at trial, and served in the Air National Guard and received the National Defense Service Medal for military service in Saudi Arabia on September 11, 2001. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCONN and a law degree from UCONN School of Law. He is currently a candidate for a LLM (master of laws) in Human Rights and Social Justice from UCONN School of Law. Corey is from Hartford, Connecticut, and he is a big fan of UCONN basketball. Corey Brinson can be reached at: [email protected].
Christopher Poulos is an attorney and the Executive Director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council. Prior to his appointment, he served as Executive Director of Life of Purpose Treatment at the University of North Texas, where he was also an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice. During law school, he served at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and The Sentencing Project. Poulos has advised United States Senator Angus King (I-Maine) on addiction and justice policy and served on several local, state, and federal taskforces related to criminal justice policy. Poulos has also taught in the Political Science Department at Seattle Central College. The United States Department Justice consulted with him as one of the nation’s most successful people following incarceration. He graduated cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law, where he was President of the American Constitution Society and represented children facing criminal charges as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic.
Poulos is a national leader in criminal justice policy and addiction recovery. He has presented his work to diverse organizations across the United States – including state and federal prisons, jails, large nonprofits, national conferences, universities, law schools, the White House and other governmental bodies, as well as addiction recovery organizations.
Prior to law school, Poulos overcame many obstacles, including tragic family losses, addiction, homelessness, and a federal incarceration. He now dedicates his life to helping others overcome or avoid similar challenges and he supports a public health-based approach to addiction. His work promotes equal access to the law and seeks to end mass incarceration and the collateral consequences now facing the tens of millions of people with criminal convictions.
Poulos’s work and story have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, Harvard Law & Policy Review, The Epoch Times, and a myriad of other national and local media outlets. He was named among “Maine’s Most Intriguing People” in Portland Magazine’s annual publication and selected as a “Law Student of the Year” by National Jurist Magazine. Christopher Poulos can be reached at [email protected].
Bob Herbst has been trying civil and criminal cases to juries for almost 40 years. He grew up on the criminal side of the court as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and Philadelphia, where he specialized in major economic crime and public corruption cases, and as Executive Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, where he headed the Investigative Bureaus and supervised all of that office’s investigations and prosecutions of white collar crime and official corruption. Since 1983, Mr. Herbst has been in private civil litigation and criminal defense practice, specializing, on the civil side, primarily in civil rights, employment and housing discrimination cases and class actions in the federal and state courts. He has more than 25 years’ experience representing victims of police, corrections and other municipal or state misconduct; sexual harassment and other forms of sex or gender discrimination; race, ethnic, and disability discrimination, and consumer and securities fraud. His experience also includes cases involving whistleblower-protection, malpractice, defamation, false allegations of child abuse, inadequate premises security, commercial, banking and real estate disputes, products liability, and intellectual property. Mr. Herbst has actively represented his clients in mediation and arbitration as well as in court, and often counsels employees prior to, and in an effort to avoid, litigation. He is currently Independent Counsel to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Mr. Herbst is a graduate of Princeton University and the Yale Law School. He has taught trial practice to law students, government and private lawyers, and federal judges. He has repeatedly been selected as one of New York’s SuperLawyers and is widely-known as one of New York City’s leading, most experienced and successful private civil rights and employment trial lawyers. He has served on the Executive Board of the New York affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA/NY) and the Advisory Board of NYU’s Center for Labor and Employment Law. He has been an active private pilot for more than 35 years. Robert Herbst can be reached at http://herbstlawny.com/.
George Hritz handles complex litigation, arbitration and other disputes and often serves as part-time general counsel for individuals and companies. He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was a classmate of Bob Herbst, and Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
George clerked for a federal district judge in New York and was associated with the Cravath law firm. After and during periods of government service in Washington D.C., he was a partner at the Hogan Lovells law firm and its predecessors in New York for 30 years before starting his own practice in Connecticut and in New York, where he is also of counsel to the Westchester law firm founded by the son of the judge he clerked for at the beginning of his career.
George has published numerous articles in U.S., European, Asian and Middle Eastern journals and presented at various litigation and arbitration conferences and panels on ethical issues, electronic discovery, international arbitration, extraterritorial jurisdiction, litigation funding, legal history and U.S. anti-slavery litigation and separate settlement counsel and other dispute resolution techniques.
In addition to his law practice, George is co-founder, President Emeritus and General Counsel of Princeton in Africa, which has placed over 500 recent college and professional school graduates at more than 50 organizations in over 30 African countries in the past 20 years. He also served for over 30 years on the Board and Overseers of the International Rescue Committee, a prominent refugee relief organization and was its General Counsel.
George also served as Associate Independent Counsel in a federal grand jury investigation and lengthy trial of a former U.S. government official in Washington, D.C. and as Associate Special Counsel to a Special Inquiry of the United States Senate. He also served as the Chairman of a municipal planning board in New York, as the capital campaign co-chair for a historic Westchester church and chairman and member of co-op and condominium boards in Connecticut and Manhattan. George Hritz can be reached at [email protected].
______________________
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?
______________________________
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…
In this very eventful summer 2020, 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 this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
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.
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community
Limited 10 Show Run: Summer 2020
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_________________________
Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19, with Guests: Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Today on the podcast we have two friends of mine, Trevor Shevin and Joshua Cagney – two guys who had it all. lost it all, got sober and then became nationally recognized specialists in interventions and addiction recovery.
Trevor was a Wall Street guy, witnessed 9/11, got sober soon after and attended recovery meetings with me in Greenwich, CT, where he went on to found Sterling Recovery Services. He’s doing incredible work that he talks all about on the podcast.
Joshua has a different story. He was a tech professional who got drunk one night, got in a car wreck where someone got killed, for which he spent over seven years in a Virginia state prison for vehicular homicide. Like Trevor, his story became one of soul searching and recovery. He joined our White Collar Support Group that meets on Monday evenings, and then co-founded New Paradigm Recovery in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
Two incredible guys, two incredible stories. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Trevor Shevin is the Principal and Founder of Sterling Recovery Services. Sterling was founded on a guiding principle: Always provide clients and their families with the utmost in personalized, professional care while treating them with integrity, dignity and respect. His client-centric approach is palpable and permeates throughout each fiber of the organization. Combining years of experience with mentoring, coaching and a successful career on Wall Street for over a decade, Trevor continuously demonstrates his innate talent for conducting highly successful interventions with positive outcomes amongst even the most extreme, complicated cases.
Trevor is a Certified Interventionist Professional (CIP), MBA and also provides Consultative and Intensive Case Management services to individuals, families and corporations globally. He also graduated from the 350 hour NCADD CASAC program where he was designated valedictorian of his class. Trevor facilitates treatment by teaching the mechanics and skills necessary to cope with personal addiction and mental health restoration while developing personalized programs that are necessary for long-term recovery.
After years in the field developing a stellar reputation working with many prestigious families, companies and institutions in the United States and overseas, he decided to bring to life his own vision by launching Sterling Recovery Services. Sterling provides comprehensive recovery services including Interventions, Clinical Intensive Case Management, Assessments, Family Education services, Nutrition Counseling, Yoga, Outpatient Recovery Groups, Sober Companions and Sober Escorts. Sterling also offers community outreach programs, lectures and trainings. Previously Trevor served as a Partner and the Director of Intensive Case Management Services for two other substance abuse and mental health recovery companies.
Trevor is actively involved in the community and has dedicated his life both personally and professionally to being of service. He is on the nonprofit Boards for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) Westchester and Dogaholix (providing vocational re-entry for young adults in recovery). Trevor is a lecturer to CASAC students and runs groups for Executives integrating professional, personal and spiritual growth, as well as for recovering alcoholics and addicts focusing on life adjustment issues. He is frequently requested to speak about the destructive patterns of addiction and the path to recovery at international conferences and throughout the United States at inpatient recovery facilities, hospitals, prisons, schools and local town events. Trevor Shevin can be reached at sterlingrecovery.com.
Joshua Cagney is the Chief Operating Officer, and one of the principals of New Paradigm Recovery, LLC. New Paradigm Recovery is a dual diagnosis intensive outpatient program located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Additionally, he serves as a group facilitator for the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in a pilot alcohol and substance use disorder therapeutic community program.
Mr. Cagney began a career in information technology over 20 years ago, which came to a halt in late 2003. A tragic turn of events came as the result of his lifestyle choices; the effects of which were profound and far-reaching. In an effort to bring some semblance of reason to this twist of life, he undertook a change in direction and has followed that altered course ever since.
Joshua holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Business Law from Ohio University. He also holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where he has completed post-graduate work in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Joshua is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.
Joshua has been employed as a graduate assistant and adjunct instructor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program at The Chicago School. In addition, he has worked as a Behavioral Therapist with juveniles diagnosed with developmental disabilities and traumatic abuse histories, and as a not-for-profit Program Director in the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center. He is a past council member for the Loudoun Re-entry and Advisory Council, which provides advice and support on offender reentry issues.
Outside of his professional work, Mr. Cagney serves as a volunteer speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Northern Virginia and of Washington, D.C., Loudoun Community Corrections. He is regularly invited to speak on topics ranging from the collateral consequences of criminal sentencing to the responsibilities associated with the use of alcohol and narcotics. Audiences include the Washington Redskins, the United States Army, students at James Madison University and local public and private schools, among other venues. Joshua Cagney can be reached at nprecovery.com.
______________________
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?
______________________________
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…
In this very eventful summer 2020, 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 this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
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.
TF is serving his sentence in a Federal prison camp. Before he went to prison, he was a regular member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.
____________________
Dear Jeff, Please post this letter on prisonist.org. Thank you! T.F.
In May 20 I was handcuffed at the Camp and taken to the Special Housing Unit (SHU) which is located at the High-Security Penitentiary about 1/2 mile from the Camp. I was in the SHU for 14 days, returning on June 3. This blog/letter is only about my SHU experience; the bogus incident itself is an entirely different subject. The SHU is harsh by design so prisoners understand there are consequences for unacceptable behavior, or simply to convey a message that prisoners will be controlled by staff and guards.
Fortunately I had a very good cellmate named Juan, a 26 year-old Hispanic man who was clean, respectful, quiet, and needed to improve his English. Juan was born in the US, but his mother and sisters now live in Mexico (his father died at 42-yrs old, two weeks after Juan began serving his sentence). We played word games and used over 4,000 letters in 13 days! Juan has served 5 years of a 6-year sentence; he was waiting to be released to a Halfway House when it was discovered that he posted two pictures to Facebook 8 months ago when he first arrived at the Camp. His punishment – transfer to a low-security prison, add 40 days to his sentence, an additional 14 days in the SHU, and loss of Commissary, phones, and email for 6 months. His record over 5 years at three different prisons was excellent. He was so excited to see his son who was born a couple of weeks before he was incarcerated – he’s had no visits during his entire 5 years of being imprisoned. I had the privilege of praying with Juan several times while we were in the SHU together, and I am fully aware that my time in the SHU was redeemed for Juan’s sake.
The SHU is for disciplining prisoners; the duration may be a day or two or up to a month but the average is two weeks. During the SHU period prisoners are given a hearing before a Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) who determines guilt/innocence and assesses the discipline. (In my case, I was originally cited for 4 violations but the DHO dismissed three of them and levied only a minor violation and took away visiting privileges for 30 days which she knew was moot since visiting will continue to be suspended for at least 30 days due to COVID-19. My DHO Hearing was on Day 12 and I was returned to the Camp in two days.
The SHU at the penn has 8 SHU units (A – H) and each unit has 20 – 30 highly secure prison cells. Each cell has a sink, bunkbeds, small desk (1′ x 2′), shower, toilet, and a door slot for food which allows the cells to ‘self-contain’ the prisoners so there is no reason for them to leave the cell. Every fixture is either steel or concrete. I was allowed out of the cell 3 times in 14 days; once to move to a different cell (5 minutes) and two other times for one hour of “outdoor recreation” which consisted of walking in an empty cage measuring 20′ x 30′.
The SHU cell is approximately 115 SF (approx 7.5 x 14). It has a small window measuring 1 foot wide and 5 feet tall, which is enough to get some daylight. No wristwatches are allowed and there are no clocks so I learned to monitor the time by asking a guard what time it was, then marking that time on paper by using the position of a shadow on the outside wall which caused by the sun. The wall outside my window was about 10′ tall and had 3 lines on the wall. The shadow was on the top line at 6a and on the bottom line at 7a. The shadow then moved across the ground and came to a rock pile at 9:30a, and finally the shadow was against the building at 11a. As the sun moved to the afternoon a new series of shadows were created which allowed me to know the approximate time until sunset around 7:45p.
I was “stripped out” upon arriving at the SHU, meaning I stood naked in front of a guard and “proved” I wasn’t hiding any items in/on my body. I put on the classic orange prison shirt and pants (Camp uniform is tan), one pair of underwear, one t-shirt, a pair of socks, and a pair of shower shoes (similar to Crocs). A few days later I was given one extra change of clothes to last one week. I wore my underwear in the shower so I could wash them. Bedding was a sheet and blanket, with no exchanges. One wash cloth and one towel were issued. Toiletries included two travel-size deodorants and shampoo, two bars of soap, and a full-size toothpaste with a mini-toothbrush. Two rolls of toilet paper per week were provided with no additional rolls issued. One travel-size container of disinfectant was issued for the entire week to keep the room sanitary, which I interpret as the BOP’s willingness to have prisoners be exposed to disease as part of the punishment.
Meals were provided three times per day; 7a, 11a, and 4p. The 4p dinner was usually a bologna sandwich and a handful of potato chips. I learned to save the piece of cake that was usually part of breakfast or lunch which I would eat around 8p so I wouldn’t be too hungry when I went to sleep at 10p. I lost 5 pounds in 14 days (185 down to 180), but I quickly regained those 5 pounds when I got back to the camp. (I weighed 208 pounds when I was incarcerated in October).
Communicating with my wife and others was virtually impossible. BOP policy affords a prisoner two 15-minute calls per month while in the SHU (standard for prisoners ranges from 300-500 minutes per month), however I was denied any calls for all 14 days despite making 7 written requests. The guards refused to provide any explanation for the denial, other than the last two nights when ALL phones were disabled by the BOP nationally due to the civil unrest from the murder of George Floyd. I was provided with 3 mailing envelopes, 5 pieces of paper and two small pencils (the size used for scoring golf). A sharpener for the pencils was not provided so I used my fingernail to ‘sharpen’ it. Stamps could only be purchased through Commissary which was only allowed after I was in the SHU for 12 days. The BOP’s policy and practices regarding SHU prisoners being so severely restricted from communicating with their family is reprehensible, but fortunately the light is shining brightly on their immoral behavior and I choose to believe that reform is in the air.
A small library cart came down the aisle on Fridays and each prisoner was allowed to select one book for the week. I was not allowed to bring my reading glasses from the Camp, but was told I could buy a new pair on Commissary day (again, 12 days after I arrived.) I read the Bible a lot which is always a good thing.
A routine is really important in the SHU, and using the time to think positively is critical. I spent time thinking and planning for the time I’m released. Bonnie and I returning home to Florida is my top priority. I started making plans last fall while waiting for my Sentencing in mid-December. I have draft plans for staying in my industry. I worked on those plans while sitting in the SHU. I’ve learned to focus on the past only as it helps me remember the direction I was heading before hitting this detour, but the detour will end and I will get back on my path again a little wiser, a little more humble, but still the same me that I’ve always been.
The lights came on at 6 am, followed by breakfast at 7 am. I would doze again until around 9:30 am then I would write or read. Lunch was at 11 am which was followed by some light conversation with Juan and playing some Hangman. Some of the other inmates would hold conversations by hollering through the cracks in the door, and Juan would translate for me since 80% of the SHU inmates were Hispanic. Dinner was at 4 pm, followed by some more conversation and Hangman. A newspaper was shared by the inmates using string pulled from the blankets and made into a sort of fishing line. The line was connected to a flattened tube of toothpaste which was rubbed with some soap so the tube (with the connected line) would scoot rapidly under the doors and across the aisle pulling the newspaper along. Lights out at 10 pm, and another day done.
The BOP mind games are designed to be unsettling. The guards and leaders would not tell me when I would have my DHO hearing or when I would be returned to the Camp — one leader suggested that I “might be shipped away from the Camp” which I knew was a lie designed to intimidate me. One thing I’ve learned is to remain calm and strong because the BOP is constantly working to manipulate prisoners as a means of control (somewhat understandable). All prisoners want to do is to do their time and go home to their families, but many of the BOP staff live in their fantasy world of over-importance and relevance that no prisoner respects. I have come to realize that prisoners see their plight as temporary and something to be endured and overcome, but many staff members see their position as permanent, significant, and a way-of-life. In my experience, many of the guards and staff are the moral-equivalent of police officers employed by Sodom & Gomorrah; they are delusional in thinking their employment is noble.
The guards were a mixed bag, as all guards are. Some are quiet, some are helpful and respectful, but others are mean-spirited, immature, and low-lifes far worse than the worst prisoner I’ve encountered in my 8-month journey through 4 jails and the Camp, and now the SHU. Three guards were talking next to me at the outdoor cage where I was placed while waiting to be “processed” into the SHU. They began a foul-mouthed discussion (common speak for prisoners and guards alike) about the idiocy of wearing face masks. The conversation took a filthy turn when one guard told the other two that he uses his wife’s “feminine napkin” for a mask, to which the other guard replied he did the same thing – except he painted his red down the center. That led all three of them to have a jovial conversation about their various sex acts with their wives during their cycle. WHO TALKS LIKE THIS WITH THEIR CO-WORKERS AND IN FRONT OF A TOTAL STRANGER??!!?? I’ve heard plenty of locker room talk in my time and I certainly have heard more filthy conversation in the past 8 months than I have in my entire life of 50 years, but these guards and others like them are at a level that not even the worst prisoners I’ve met come close to being. I’ve learned that prison in many ways is more harmful to guards than it is to prisoners.
On my second day in the SHU another guard looked at my I.D. (BOP mug shot) which was on the outside of the door as he was handing my food through the slot. He barked loudly for all the prisoners and other guards to hear, “well – who do we have here? And then he yelled my name. Wow – we don’t get to see too many mug shots with a guy in a suit! He looks awful important! Let’s guess what he did – maybe insurance – nah. Real estate – maybe. Kinda’ looks like a lawyer – wouldn’t that be something!” I remained silent as I took my food tray. He then said, “come on – tell us who you are.” I sat down and ate my food, never giving him the satisfaction of even a glance. After he walked away and returned to his work station, the other prisoners who knew me from the Camp told me not to let that bother me — they know I am a good man.
It’s interesting how the SHU bonded the prisoners together in solidarity. Not necessarily against the guards, but rather with each other. We were struggling against oppression individually and together. Like the bonding that occurs in the military, especially when soldiers are in the trenches. And how religion (any religion) grows stronger when Believers are oppressed, beaten, imprisoned, or martyred. Togetherness makes the struggle more meaningful.
When I returned to the Camp I was treated as an Overcomer – I am now “one of them”, a real prisoner. I went to the SHU at a high-security prison for two weeks, and came back stronger. Another experience in my fascinating journey. I’m not sure how God will use all this experience, but I know He has a plan and a purpose and I’m looking forward to experiencing further redemption. God is good. All the time.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
_______________________
Podcast Ep. 01: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group
This is a very special podcast – we have on 16 members of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday nights, 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific. We have held over 200 weekly meetings and they get better each week as we come out of isolation and into a supportive community that truly cares about one another. We have welcomed over 200 support group members along the way!
But the support group meeting on this podcast is a little different than most, because everyone appearing has agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. We’ve never done anything like this before as a group, but we feel the cause is so important that it was worth the risk.
I know you will learn to love and respect every member you see or hear on this podcast as much as I do. – Jeff
Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW was a Social Worker for over 10 years and a partner in a large Title Company for over 15 years. As an entrepreneur, Jacqueline had reached new limits of her career as an experienced professional with proven success in business and mentoring environments when a series of poor choices led her to a federal indictment and a sentence of almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women. After her release, Jacqueline entered a new phase of her life researching in depth about Mental Health, Crime and Criminal Justice while correlating it to reentry services. This clearly grew into her passion after she had faced the many challenges of reentry. It is clear to her that there is a lack of resources for reentry and there is a need for change. She is working and advocating to be part of a change to come by dedicating herself to help fix this broken criminal justice system. Jacqueline is currently an integral part in helping women prepare for entry and reentry of the Federal Prison System both psychologically and spiritually through mental health services and education of the system. She has founded Evolution Family Reentry Services and is currently building resources by establishing nurturing partnerships with professionals in the mental health fields as well as employers and career placement agencies to help women and their families who face career barriers as they re-enter into society. You can reach Jacqueline at:http://www.evolutionreentry.com/.
Jeffrey Abramowitz, J.D. is the Executive Director of Reentry Services for JEVS Human Services and Program Director of Looking Forward Philadelphia. Jeff was a 2018 Fellow for Justleadership USA, and has most recently served as the Director of Student Services & Workforce Development for Community Learning Center. Jeff was a trial lawyer in Philadelphia before poor choices in life and his professional career resulted in acceptance of responsibility and a five-year sentence in the federal prison system. Entering the criminal justice system allowed Jeff the opportunity to see the world with a new pair of glasses and find his passion for education and workforce development. In the short 4.5 years since Jeff has been home he has worked with over 4,000 individuals, spoken and lectured across the country to educators, administrators, communities, and those touched by our criminal justice system. Jeff proudly sits on the Executive Board of the Coalition on Basic Adult Education, COABE, where he serves as the chair of the Literacy Behind and Beyond the Walls Committee, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Reentry Council and serves as Chairman of the Employment Committee and Co-chairs the Reentry Committee for the PA Workforce Development Board. Jeff is active in the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition. Jeff serves on the board of directors of Community Forgiveness & Restoration, a member of NationSwell Council, and Advisory Board Member of Philadelphia Petey Greene Program. Jeff is presently a LINCS Reviewer, Literacy Information & Communication System, Resource Collection, for the Department of Education, and serves on the National Association of State Directors of Education, Barbara Bush Foundation Criminal Justice Work Group. Jeff is the producer and host of the award-winning weekly radio show “Looking Forward” on Philly Cam Radio WPPM 106.5FM. Jeffrey is a writer, keynote speaker and lecturer around the country on issues of adult education, workforce development and criminal justice. Jeff can be reached at:[email protected].
Joseph Grmovsek is the subject of the educational-documentary film Collared and is the first and still ONLY person in Canadian history to serve a Federal sentence of imprisonment for insider trading. He is currently the Program Director for Restorative Justice Housing Ontario, a charity that finds safe homes for elderly ex-prisoners, as well as a public speaker on issues of restorative justice and white-collar crime prevention. He can be contacted through his website CollaredConsulting.com.
______________________
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.
Link here to Podcast Ep. 29, Guests: The Entrepreneurs, David Israel & Spencer Oberg
Link here to Podcast Ep. 28, Guests: The Investigators, Kelly Paxton & Brian Willingham
Link here to Podcast Ep. 27, The Addicted Lawyer, Guest: Brian Cuban
Link here to Podcast Ep. 26, Oppression & Identity, Guests: Jaco & Leslie Theron
Link here to Podcast Ep. 25, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part Two
Link here to Podcast Ep. 24, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part One
Link here to Podcast Ep. 23, The Vanishing Trial, Robert Katzberg
Link here to Podcast Ep. 22: The Goddess, with Guest: Babz Rawls Ivy
Link here to Podcast Ep. 21: All Things SBA, PPP & EIDL, with Guest: Hannah Smolinski, CPA, Virtual CFO
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: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group: 16 of Our Support Group Members Tell Their Stories
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.I
f 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 2021, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.,
Bill Livolsi was recently released from a Federal prison to home confinement due to COVID-19. He is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.
____________________
Dear Friends:
This is an invitation to join a growing community of men and women who have faced, or are facing, prosecution for white collar crimes.
Every Monday evening, I attend a White Collar Support Group on ZOOM. We are a very diverse group, all sharing a common bond, in varying stages of our journey. We share the good and the bad, our struggles and our successes, and what we have learned, all with a focus on compassion and accountability, in a supportive and spiritual setting.
Although the lens is spiritual, we get real in a hurry as we are all in the midst of the most difficult challenges of our lives. Most of us have lost our careers, our friends and our families, some of us were subjected to relentless press coverage, and we were all ostracized from our communities.
Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D, M.Div. mentors our group. He has traveled the road we are on. I encourage you to read Jeff’s story.
I met Jeff in 2013, a few months into dealing with a federal indictment for wire fraud. I was confused at what I was facing, and scared at the thought of what this would do to my family, especially my youngest children who were 9 and 11 years old at the time. My children were soon likely to lose both their parents to federal prison.
The first time Jeff and I spoke, I had just dropped off the kids at school and was sitting in my car in the Wal-Mart parking lot where I wouldn’t be disturbed. Jeff answered my call and I nervously introduced myself. I realized fairly quickly that Jeff was someone who could help me find some of the answers I was seeking. We talked for at least 90 minutes that morning.
Whether it was discussing how best to talk to the children about our situation; setting up a support system for them in school and in private counseling; talking thru the various aspects of dealing with the criminal justice system and what to expect before, during and after; never once did he rush me off or make me feel that my issues were unimportant. Jeff has helped me in so many ways since that first call. In fact, it was Jeff who suggested that my attorney request staggered sentences for my wife and me (which the judge approved).
Since that first call we’ve talked about life in prison and starting over afterwards, maintaining a marriage while incarcerated, and the importance of forgiveness, just to name a few. I value Jeff’s advice because he always gives a straight answer and I can always count on it being true to his experience.
Eventually, in 2015, I was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. My report date was deferred until 2019, while my wife served her time. This time was invaluable; as I was able to raise my children from early childhood to the wonderful teenagers they are today. The most difficult thing I ever faced was saying goodbye to my children and family and walking into R&D at El Reno. Even as I took those steps, and began serving my sentence, Jeff and his ministry were there for me.
Six weeks ago, a little over one year into my sentence, I gained early release as a result of the CARES Act. I’m back home in Tulsa now, living with my children and loving every moment. That’s not to say I don’t face significant challenges. We all do. I am rebuilding extended family relationships, kick-starting a second career, adjusting to the social stigma of being a convicted felon, and doing what I can to reestablish ties to my community.
I was eager to rejoin Jeff and the support group that he has built. After clearing participation with my P.O., I was on the ZOOM call the very next Monday evening. Each week I am reminded that I am not alone, that through my participation I can help, and learn, from others, and that despite all the hardships I have so much to be grateful for.
I encourage you contact Jeff. He will send you a link to join us this Monday night @ 7pm eastern (4pm pacific). If you put in the work it will change your life. It might save it too.
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?
Welcome to White Collar Week, 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 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…
In this very eventful summer 2020, 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 this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
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, June 19, 2020, 9 am ET, we hosted our special 2-Hour Season Three Wrap Show on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. We invited all of our wonderful guests from our first three incredible seasons, guest list below! Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
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 Sept.-June From the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day. Live-Streamed and Podcast available 24/7.
An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).
Season One Guests:
Nov. 3, 2017: Robyn Porter, CT State Legislator
Nov. 17, 2017: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction
Dec. 1, 2017: Amy Smoyer (Asst. Professor of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University) and Jackie Lucibello, New Haven Women’s Resettlement Working Group
Dec. 15, 2017: Lorenzo Jones, Co-Executive Director, Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice
Jan. 19, 2018: Cynthia Farrar, Co-Founder of Purple States and Producer of Life on Parole
Feb. 16, 2018: Danielle Cooper, Director of Research for the Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven
Mar. 2, 2018: Joseph Ganim, Mayor of Bridgeport, CT
Mar. 16, 2018: John Santa, Chair of Malta Justice Initiative and Member of CT Sentencing Commission
Apr. 6, 2018: Brent Peterkin, CT Director, Project Longevity & Board Chair, The Phoenix Association
Apr. 20, 2018: Scot X. Esdaile, President of NAACP CT, Chair of NAACP National Criminal Justice & Da’ee McKnight, Family ReEntry
May 4, 2018: Earl Bloodworth, Director, Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA)
May 18, 2018: Jacqueline Polverari, ED of Evolution Family Reentry Services
June 1, 2018: Mike Lawlor, CT, Former Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy & Planning, University of New Haven
June 15, 2018: James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize Winning Author & Yale Law Professor
July 6, 2018: Bill Carbone & Erika Nowakowski, Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven
Season Two Guests:
Fri., Sept. 9, 2018: Kennard Ray, Blue Ribbon Strategies, CT Unlock the Vote
Fri., Sept. 21, 2018: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50
Fri., Oct. 5, 2018: Sue Gunderman (Hartford Interim Director of Reentry Services) & Beth Hines (Executive Director, Community Partners in Action), CT Reentry Roundtables
Fri., Oct. 19, 2018: Venezia Michalsen, Assoc. Professor of Justice Studies, Montclair State University
Fri., Nov. 16, 2018: Andrew Clark, Director of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University and Bill Dyson, Former CT State Legislator and Justice Advocate
Fri., Dec. 7, 2018: Glenn E. Martin, Founder/Consultant of GEM Trainers and Past- President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA
Fri., Dec. 21, 2018: Fernando Muñiz, CEO of Community Solutions, Inc. and Rosa Correa, Community Leader
Fri., Jan. 19, 2019: Peter J. Henning, Professor of Law, Wayne State University & “White Collar Watch” Columnist, NY Times
Fri., Feb. 1, 2019: Jeffrey Deskovic, CEO of The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation who was Exonerated after Serving 16 Years in Prison
Fri., Feb. 15, 2019: Jeffrey Abramowitz, Executive Director for Reentry Services, JEVS Human Services, Philadelphia
Fri., Mar. 1, 2019, Rollin Cook, CT Commissioner of Correction
Fri., Mar. 15, 2019: Dieter Tejada, National Justice Impact Bar Association
Fri., Apr. 5, 2019: John Rowland, Former CT Governor
Fri., Apr. 19, 2019: Gregg D. Caruso, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Corning & Co-Director of the Justice Without Retribution Network at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Fri., May 3, 2019: Michael Taylor, CEO of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center in the Greater New Haven area
Fri., May 17, 2019: Tarra Simmons, Esq., Director, Civil Survival and Candidate for Washington State Legislature
Fri., June 7, 2019: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50, Part Deux!
Fri., June 21, 2019: Marcus Bullock, CEO of Flikshop
Season Three Guests:
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch, Chief Strategist, New Yorkers United for Justice
Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program
Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters
Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson, CEO, Second Chance Firm, NY Policy Assoc., Legal Action Center
Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department
Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs
Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration
Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children – L.I.
Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA, Featured in Movie “Just Mercy”
Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant
Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020, Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership
Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain, Founder, Women Against Incarceration, Director of Coalitions, National Counsel for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls
Fri., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez, Minister and Criminal Justice Advocate
Fri., April 17, 2020: Icy Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist
Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”.
Fri., May 15, 2020: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction and Alex Frank & John Hart, Vera Institute of Justice
Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays, Nishka Ayala & Isis DeLoatch
On Friday, June 5, 2020, we hosted our Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with guests Aileen Keays, Nishka Ayala and Isis DeLoatch on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and 24/7 podcast everywhere, see below. Live video on Facebook Live. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Aileen Keays, M.S., is a Project Manager with Central Connecticut State University’s Institute for Municipal & Regional Policy (IMRP). Since IMRP first began to receive funding to support children with incarcerated parents (CIP) in fiscal year 2008, Ms. Keays has directed the Connecticut Children with Incarcerated Parents Initiative (CTCIP).
Through the CTCIP, Ms. Keays oversees several projects related to parental incarceration. This includes supervising the delivery of services to children and families dealing with parental incarceration, as well as the evaluation of these services. Ms. Keays has also managed research investigations to better understand the impact of parental arrest and incarceration on children. She also assists with the development of programs and services for CIP, provides consultation, training and technical assistance for those seeking to support CIP, and oversees CCSU’s Children with Incarcerated Parents Scholarship program.
Ms. Keays has spoken across the country on the topic of CIP as well as overseas, including most recently at the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents conference. Ms. Keays has published research articles and book chapters on CIP and has been interviewed by various media outlets on the impact of parental incarceration on children, including most recently by BBC World News.
In spite of Ms. Keays’ extensive involvement working on behalf of, and with, those affected by incarceration, she found herself completely unprepared for the effects of having a loved one incarcerated when it encroached into her life. Ms. Keays knows first-hand the devastation that incarceration imposes on loved ones, the importance of in-person contact visits, and phone calls. The experience will forever impact her work for, and with, those affected by incarceration.
Nishka Ayala
My name is Nishka Ayala and I am a Forensic Interviewer at Klingberg Children’s Advocacy Center in Hartford, CT. What I enjoy most about my job is that each day brings different experiences and challenges. I started working with children as a sophomore in college and have been in the field ever since. I graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 2017, with a Bachelor’s in Criminology and Spanish. During my free time, I enjoy spending time outdoors with my loved ones, cooking, and traveling. My goal is to obtain my Master’s degree in Social Work within the next 5 years. Throughout my last years as an undergrad student at CCSU, I had the privilege of being one of the CIP Initiative scholarship recipients. Not only did this scholarship help me financially, but it also gave me the opportunity to share my experience on how I was affected by my father’s incarceration growing up, and to connect with others that have also been affected by the incarceration of a loved one.
Isis DeLoatch
Hello, my name is Isis DeLoatch and I am currently a senior at Central Connecticut State University. I am studying Social Work with a minor in sociology. I am a proud recipient of the IMRP (Children with Incarcerated Parents initiative) annual scholarship. My father was incarcerated for ten years of my life, and throughout my childhood, I successfully dealt with the stigma and adversity that comes with having an incarcerated parent. Throughout my college career, I have had the opportunity to volunteer and collect research on children with incarcerated parents that were presented at the annual NASW conference in 2017. After completing my undergrad this spring as a first-generation college student, I plan to continue my education by obtaining my MSW and LCSW so I can work in the men’s jail system as a licensed clinical social worker and then later building a non-profit health and wellness center.
_______________
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 Sept. through June, from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day. Live-stream and 24/7 podcast available everywhere.
Season Three Program/Guests List (*formerly incarcerated):
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch*, Chief Strategist at New Yorkers United for Justice Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel*, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman*, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson*, Former Attorney Convicted for a White Collar Crime who is running for Hartford City Council Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department Fri., Dec. 6, 2019: “Free Prison Phone Calls” Show, Guests CT Rep. Josh Elliott & Tiheba Bain* Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts*, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri*, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children — L.I. Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock*, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA Fri,. Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine*, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020: Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain*, Women’s Incarceration Advocate Fri., Apr. 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear*, Director, Healing Communities Prison Ministry Thurs., Apr. 16, 2020, 6:30 pm: Live Onstage at Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, Special Guests to be Announced Fri., Apr. 17, 2020: Inaugural Inductees* of the CT Hall of Change & Charlie Grady, Founder Fri., May 1, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of the New Book, “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction & Tragedy” Fri., May 15, 2020: Fran Pastore, CEO, Women’s Business Development Council Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show, Guests Aileen Keays & Nishka Ayala
