And please check out Icy’s new website, The Icing on the Cake (icyfrantz.net), creating connection one story at a time.
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Allison “Icy” Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist, was our Guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant, Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, Fri., April 17, 2020, Live-Streamed and 24/7 Podcast Everywhere, see below.
Icy Frantz grew up in Fairfield County, attended and after a brief pause graduated from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut. She received her Alcohol and Drug counseling certificate from Marymount Manhattan College and worked in the field of drug and alcohol prevention and education at the Freedom Institute in Manhattan and at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the Assistant Director of the International Institute for Alcohol Education and Training which worked with professionals in Russia and Poland. Icy is the author of Sergeants Heaven, a children’s book that she wrote after the death of her fourth child, to help children process the loss of a loved one. While raising her four children, she has sat on the Boards of Greenwich Country Day School, The Taft School, Arch Street Teen Center and the Parents Board of Bucknell University and has volunteered for Liberation Programs, LifeBridge, OSSO, and Inspirica. Currently she writes a column for the Greenwich Sentinel and is co founder of CT WOMEN UNITED, an organization created to inspire and educate women about local and state politics. She lives in Riverside, Connecticut with her husband, her two dogs, two cats, a fish and her four children.
Listen on SoundCloud:
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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 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, 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 Fri., Apr. 17, 2020: Allison “Icy” Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of the New Book, “Smacked, A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy” Fri., May 15, 2020: Fran Pastore, CEO, Women’s Business Development Council
Jeff Grant, Director of Progressive Prison Ministries, appeared Sunday, April 15th on Real People with Stan Simpson, Fox 61 Television Connecticut. Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar criminal justice/economy exiled community. It will be hosting the 200th consecutive weekly meeting of the world’s first and only confidential, online White Collar Support Group on Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT, information here.
Watch on YouTube, Pt.1:
Watch on YouTube, Pt. 2:
Watch on YouTube, Pt. 3:
Stan Simpson is a former award-winning newspaper columnist at The Hartford Courant and a former radio talk show host for WTIC NewsTalk 1080 in Connecticut. He is host of “Real Story with Stan Simpson”, which airs Sundays, 10:30 a.m., on Fox 61. (The show can also be viewed on line at www.fox61.com/stan). The TV show is about “Connecticut people and compelling issues.” Among his guests have been: Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, UConn Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, former NBA player Vin Baker, actress Sallie Toussaint and actor Michael Jai White. Hartford Magazine in 2009 recognized Simpson as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Connecticut.
Jeff Grant is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery, and executive & religious leadership. After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he and his wife Lynn Springer co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community in Connecticut and nationwide. On Monday, April 13th at 7 pm EDT, he will host the 200th weekly meeting of the world’s first Online White Collar Support Group. Jeff and Babz Rawls Ivy co-host the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast, broadcast live from New Haven on WNHH at 9 am on the first and third Fridays of each month. Information about Jeff, the ministry and the podcast/radio show can be found on their website, prisonist.org.
WOW! I read “Smacked” and I’m very grateful to you for sharing this book. I feel like someone smacked me in the face and truly opened my eyes even more! We all need that wake up call. If only we can smack more people to get out of their shells. This book gave me more dots to connect in my own self-exploration and that of our society. I have to say that I feel lucky having more than 38 minutes of face time with people presently. Having that time allows me to see; despite its own challenges.
I can only imagine how many chords it hit in your heart as you were able to associate with the demands and pressures of “Big Law.” I’m sure you knew exactly what Peter was going through, thinking, feeling, wanting to escape and yet still wanting to win and control a power that was much greater than yourself. I know I did. I like how the book first talks about how our brain tends to focus on the truths we need to receive in order to support our thinking. This results in narrow-minded thinking. This is how majority of humans think in order to win a case and stay competitive within their own field of thinking. I think this book not only applies to law, but to the fields of healthcare, finance and technology – areas that require undivided attention, constant dopamine like outcomes, and the “need” to always out perform and be the best. How do we breathe when there is no oxygen left? You do whatever it takes to please your boss and make the unimaginable happen. That was my high. I may have not had an opioid addiction, but the addiction of wanting a connection and wanting to feel accepted by working non-stop despite the risks I took to achieve those goals sounded all too familiar when reading the book.
What do you do when you get that feeling when something is wrong? Sometime you suppress the instinct, divert or blame yourself for ideas and feelings that absolutely could not be possible. Anything is possible. Peter is a prime example. Peter, you and I – are perfect examples. People fight addiction and high stress environments all the time. There is no bias. Our society is leaning towards a virtual reality of trying to become high-functioning addict super-hero figures, hiding our voids and doing whatever it takes to stay in the top seat. I never thought of it this way, but how many attorneys, prosecutors and judges are in the same spot we are. They are the decision makers and do whatever it takes to stay within their narrow lane. How can two disconnections come together to provide a healthy outcome? It’s interesting how a first year law student has different ideals and values by the time they come out of law school. Again, the same type of application can be used in the schools of business and science.
Eilene does a remarkable job describing her vulnerability and role of once being married to an addict, parenting with an addict, but having no idea what that struggle really meant. How that struggle resulted in a lot of pain to her children, herself, the doubts she herself developed; yet, society seems to continue with this ever-growing epidemic. She shares her intimate story and that of her children – what is it like to live with an addict and not know it? How could they have prevented it? Could they? The “what if” factor that really doesn’t do us any good after the disaster is done. However, we can still ask “what if” we start paying attention to such patterns and stories to change the narrative. What if Peter had a more well-balanced life? What if health examinations were administered on the job or prior to cases in the courtroom? What if Peter was not pinned as “the bad guy who was selfish and threw himself into drugs?” What if he was able to actually digest and process life vs suppressing it with drugs to compensate for the over-stimulation in his brain that was not possible to compete with the demands of his coercive environment? What if we opened our eyes and looked at Peter from a 360 degree perspective and truly looked at the larger problem that is right in front of our eyes? A man who tried to survive in a chaotic world, a toxic work environment, disruption, corruption, demands and lack of meaningful connection. This book opens up the thought process to think and look at what’s in front of us. This is not only an opioid crisis, but a crisis of disconnection, misunderstanding; a mass-incarceration of humanity that is coping with over-stimulation and no platform to allow the human body to breathe and thrive in a more well-balanced world. Do you really think 38 minutes of live face-time makes a well-rounded person? That’s so disheartening to read, but it’s the truth. As a society, we ignore these truths because we are too entrenched into staring into our screens by being stimulated into the need of wanting more. We turn to escapes because the “real world” is difficult to life. What we don’t realize until everything is removed from us is that happiness lies right within us. We have to have the time to feel and realize this. Our magic pill is real, live and still time with no interruptions to see, truly see what’s within us.
This book should be shared with 1st year law students and students of all professions – they are our future. They are the ones who will be able to make an impact and to see what the current generation is not willing to explore. If our society continues to with anti-social, erratic and disconnected behavior, what kind of life are we building for future generations that are becoming more reliant upon drugs? Eilene and her family struggled with the fact that they were not able to see the problem right in front of their face. She had many of the puzzle pieces, but the pieces that were right in front of her, did not come into full view until it was too late. This book tells us a story of a life that was successful. Peter loved his family dearly, but he did not know how to connect based on the demands of life that were around him. He escaped into a world that was darker and one he could not control. This book reframes the necessary change that needs to be looked at in regards to mental health, addiction and mass-incarceration. It time we stop dismissing the evidence that doesn’t fit within societal norms. Eilene’s strong research presents a story that many are battling. It’s a story that can save many lives and one that can create awareness to families, corporations and systems. Sometimes you cannot repair the damage that’s been done, but by reading this book one can become enlightened of the full story behind the actions of a human who needed help reconnecting to human life.
Like Lao-Tzu once wrote, “The supreme goodness is like water. It benefits all things without contention.” Eilene encourages us to be open to change and to live like water – formless, shapeless and alive. Life is not easy, but it’s certainly real.
THANK YOU!!!!
Big hugs and with extreme gratitude to you and Eilene,
Dear Jeff, WOW! I read “Smacked” and I’m very grateful to you for sharing this book. I feel like someone smacked me in the face and truly opened my eyes even more! We all need that wake up call. If only we can smack more people to get out of their shells. This book gave me more dots to connect in my own self-exploration and that of our society. I have to say that I feel lucky having more than 38 minutes of face time with people presently. Having that time allows me to see; despite its own challenges. I can only imagine how many chords it hit in your heart as you were able to associate with the demands and pressures of “Big Law.” I’m sure you knew exactly what Peter was going through, thinking, feeling, wanting to escape and yet still wanting to win and control a power that was much greater than yourself. I know I did. I like how the book first talks about how our brain tends to focus on the truths we need to receive in order to support our thinking. This results in narrow-minded thinking. This is how majority of humans think in order to win a case and stay competitive within their own field of thinking. I think this book not only applies to law, but to the fields of healthcare, finance and technology – areas that require undivided attention, constant dopamine like outcomes, and the “need” to always out perform and be the best. How do we breathe when there is no oxygen left? You do whatever it takes to please your boss and make the unimaginable happen. That was my high. I may have not had an opioid addiction, but the addiction of wanting a connection and wanting to feel accepted by working non-stop despite the risks I took to achieve those goals sounded all too familiar when reading the book. What do you do when you get that feeling when something is wrong? Sometime you suppress the instinct, divert or blame yourself for ideas and feelings that absolutely could not be possible. Anything is possible. Peter is a prime example. Peter, you and I – are perfect examples. People fight addiction and high stress environments all the time. There is no bias. Our society is leaning towards a virtual reality of trying to become high-functioning addict super-hero figures, hiding our voids and doing whatever it takes to stay in the top seat. I never thought of it this way, but how many attorneys, prosecutors and judges are in the same spot we are. They are the decision makers and do whatever it takes to stay within their narrow lane. How can two disconnections come together to provide a healthy outcome? It’s interesting how a first year law student has different ideals and values by the time they come out of law school. Again, the same type of application can be used in the schools of business and science. Eilene does a remarkable job describing her vulnerability and role of once being married to an addict, parenting with an addict, but having no idea what that struggle really meant. How that struggle resulted in a lot of pain to her children, herself, the doubts she herself developed; yet, society seems to continue with this ever-growing epidemic. She shares her intimate story and that of her children – what is it like to live with an addict and not know it? How could they have prevented it? Could they? The “what if” factor that really doesn’t do us any good after the disaster is done. However, we can still ask “what if” we start paying attention to such patterns and stories to change the narrative. What if Peter had a more well-balanced life? What if health examinations were administered on the job or prior to cases in the courtroom? What if Peter was not pinned as “the bad guy who was selfish and threw himself into drugs?” What if he was able to actually digest and process life vs suppressing it with drugs to compensate for the over-stimulation in his brain that was not possible to compete with the demands of his coercive environment? What if we opened our eyes and looked at Peter from a 360 degree perspective and truly looked at the larger problem that is right in front of our eyes? A man who tried to survive in a chaotic world, a toxic work environment, disruption, corruption, demands and lack of meaningful connection. This book opens up the thought process to think and look at what’s in front of us. This is not only an opioid crisis, but a crisis of disconnection, misunderstanding; a mass-incarceration of humanity that is coping with over-stimulation and no platform to allow the human body to breathe and thrive in a more well-balanced world. Do you really think 38 minutes of live face-time makes a well-rounded person? That’s so disheartening to read, but it’s the truth. As a society, we ignore these truths because we are too entrenched into staring into our screens by being stimulated into the need of wanting more. We turn to escapes because the “real world” is difficult to life. What we don’t realize until everything is removed from us is that happiness lies right within us. We have to have the time to feel and realize this. Our magic pill is real, live and still time with no interruptions to see, truly see what’s within us. This book should be shared with 1st year law students and students of all professions – they are our future. They are the ones who will be able to make an impact and to see what the current generation is not willing to explore. If our society continues to with anti-social, erratic and disconnected behavior, what kind of life are we building for future generations that are becoming more reliant upon drugs? Eilene and her family struggled with the fact that they were not able to see the problem right in front of their face. She had many of the puzzle pieces, but the pieces that were right in front of her, did not come into full view until it was too late. This book tells us a story of a life that was successful. Peter loved his family dearly, but he did not know how to connect based on the demands of life that were around him. He escaped into a world that was darker and one he could not control. This book reframes the necessary change that needs to be looked at in regards to mental health, addiction and mass-incarceration. It time we stop dismissing the evidence that doesn’t fit within societal norms. Eilene’s strong research presents a story that many are battling. It’s a story that can save many lives and one that can create awareness to families, corporations and systems. Sometimes you cannot repair the damage that’s been done, but by reading this book one can become enlightened of the full story behind the actions of a human who needed help reconnecting to human life. Like Lao-Tzu once wrote, “The supreme goodness is like water. It benefits all things without contention.” Eilene encourages us to be open to change and to live like water – formless, shapeless and alive. Life is not easy, but it’s certainly real. THANK YOU!!!! Big hugs and with extreme gratitude to you and Eilene, Basia
On Friday, May 1, 2020, 9 am ET, Eilene Zimmerman, author of the new book, “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”, was our guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Eilene Zimmerman, the author of the new book, “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy” has been a journalist for three decades, covering business, technology and social issues for a wide array of national magazines and newspapers. She was a columnist for The New York Times Sunday Business section for six years and since 2004 has been a regular contributor to the newspaper. In 2017, Zimmerman also began pursuing a master’s degree in social work. She lives in New York City. More below…
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
Something was wrong with Peter. Eilene Zimmerman noticed that her ex-husband looked thin, seemed distracted, and was frequently absent from activities with their children. She thought he looked sick and needed to see a doctor. Yet in many ways, Peter also seemed to have it all: a senior partnership at a prominent law firm, a beautiful house by the beach, expensive cars, and other luxuries that came with an affluent life. Although they were divorced, Eilene and Peter had been partners and friends for decades, so, when her calls to Peter were not returned for several days, Eilene went to his house to see if he was OK.
So begins Smacked, a brilliant and moving memoir of Eilene’s shocking discovery, one that sets her on a journey to find out how a man she knew for nearly 30 years became a drug addict, hiding it so well that neither she nor anyone else in his life suspected what was happening. Peter was also addicted to work; the last call he ever made was to dial into a conference call. Eilene is determined to learn all she can about Peter’s hidden life, and also about drug addiction among ambitious, high-achieving professionals like him. Through extensive research and interviews, she presents a picture of drug dependence today in that moneyed, upwardly mobile world. She also embarks on a journey to recreate her life in the wake of loss, both of the person—and the relationship—that profoundly defined the woman she had become. More at eilenezimmerman.com.
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. Podcast and Archive available all the time, 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, 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
Please join us when the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant will be Live Onstage at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, with Special Guests to be Announced!
Podcast: 6:30 – 8 pm, Meet and Greet Reception: 8 – 9 pm. Live-streamed on newhavenindependent.org.
Brought to you by the Iona College Schools of Criminal Justice & Sociology and Political Science, the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant, Progressive Prison Ministries, the New Haven Independent, WNHH and the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven – Now More than Ever.
Watch for Details!
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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 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, 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
Thef Prince George’s County, Maryland native earned a degree from Yale Law School, lives in New Haven, serves on the state’s Criminal Justice Commission, and is the author of the new book Felon. Betts said his career as a poet dates back to 1998.
He was still a teenager at the time. Betts had pleaded guilty to felony armed carjacking charges as a 16-year-old in 1996, was tried and convicted as an adult, and was at the beginning of what would turn out to be nine years bouncing between a handful of adult prisons throughout his late teens and early 20s.
The fateful literary encounter that propelled him on his journey to become a poet took place in the midst of a six-month stint in solitary confinement, he said, his third such isolation during his time behind bars thus far.
Someone slipped under his door a copy of The Black Poets, an anthology of African American poetry edited by the Detroit publisher and poet Dudley Randall.
Included in that collection were several poems by Etheridge Knight, an African American man and Korea War veteran who wrote poetry from behind bars in Indiana in the 1960s.
“I’m like, ‘Wait,’” Betts recalled upon first reading the anthology. “Etheridge Knight did time in prison. Then he became a poet. And he’s in this book. And I just told myself, I’m gonna be a poet. And that’s when I started writing poetry really seriously. That was 1998. And from that point on, I’ve been a poet.”
Thomas Breen photo, Betts (center) with WNHH hosts Jeff Grant and Babz Rawls-Ivy.
Betts said he was a big reader even before he went to prison.
After he was sent to prison, he devoured more short stories and essays by James Baldwin and read cover-to-cover Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying.
“I told myself I would be a writer,” he remembered, “and that’s the thing that saved me. I was young enough and fool enough to not even know what that meant.”
The books he read before and during prison inspired in him a confidence in his literary talent and in his ability to succeed in the world that many teachers in high school missed, he said. He remembered one AP History teacher giving him the nickname “Smoky” after Betts was caught smoking a blunt before class one day. A better teacher would have asked why he was resorting to smoking so much weed as a teenager, he said, and what he was trying to hide from or suppress. This teacher only reinforced that negative sense of self, he said, if even in a small and seemingly trivial way.
Betts said he aspires through his own poetry to encourage readers to reflect critically upon the African American experience, the American criminal justice system, and the challenges formerly incarcerated people have in reintegrating into a society that often denies them work, housing, and rehabilitation.
He said his poetry also helps him come to terms with the very real trauma he likely inflicted on the victim of his crime, who was not injured during the carjacking but nevertheless had a gun waved in his face by a stranger.
“Prison and incarceration so saturate my understanding of the black experience that I haven’t figured out a way to write outside of that,” Betts said.
“You need stories to survive. You need stories that are able to inform where your steps might be, and where your steps shouldn’t be.” These stories, he said, should help point towards a better life.
See below for an excerpt from Felon. Click on the Facebook Live video at the bottom of this article to watch the full interview on “Criminal Justice Insider.”
ESSAY ON REENTRY
At two a.m., without enough spirits spilling into my liver to know to keep my mouth shut, my youngest learned of years I spent inside a box: a spell, a kind of incantation I was under; not whisky, but History: I robbed a man. This, months before he would drop bucket after bucket on opposing players, the entire bedraggled bunch fine & six & he leaping as if every lay-up erases something. That’s how I saw it, my screaming-coaching-sweating presence recompense for the pen. My father has never seen me play ball is part of this. My oldest knew, told of my crimes by a stranger. Tell me we aren’t running towards failure is what I want to ask my sons, but it is two in the a.m. The oldest has gone off to dream in the comfort of his room, the youngest despite him seeming more lucid than me, just reflects cartoons back from his eyes. So when he tells me, Daddy it’s okay, I know what’s happening is some straggling angel, lost from his pack finding a way to fulfill his duty, lending words to this kid who crawls into my arms, wanting, more than stories of my prison, the sleep that he fought while I held court at a bar with men who knew that when the drinking was done, the drinking wouldn’t make the stories we brought home any easier to tell.
“Criminal Justice Insider” is sponsored by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Please join us on Friday, May 15, 2020, 9 am ET, when Scott Semple, Alex Frank and John Hart of the Vera Institute of Justice will be our guests on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven – Now More Than Ever.
Scott Semple was appointed commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction in March 2015. Scott joined the Connecticut Department of Correction as a front line Correction Officer in 1988 at the high security Cheshire Correctional Institution. During his tenure, he has served the agency in numerous administrative capacities, to include pre-service training coordinator, external and legislative affairs, and warden of the state’s only correctional facility dedicated for men requiring comprehensive treatment services for significant mental illness. As commissioner, Scott has successfully implemented several performance based and progressive correctional practices designed to support both staff and incarcerated people. Most notable, they include the Emerging Adult Units known as the TRUE Unit (located in Cheshire) and the WORTH Unit (located in Niantic). He has also repurposed an existing correctional facility and other specific housing units for specialized populations to provide a therapeutic environment designed to support community reintegration. Scott has implemented numerous agency-wide staff wellness initiatives to support, respond and improve policies evolving around the complex and unique needs associated with the health and welfare of correctional professionals and their families. On January 1, 2019, after more than 30-years of service to the agency, Scott retired from public service. He now provides professional consult through Semple Consulting, LLC on various criminal justice and correctional related endeavors.
Alex Frank is the Project Director of the Restoring Promise Initiative in Vera’s Center on Youth Justice. Restoring Promise works to disrupt the prison system by centering accountability, healing, hope, and racial equity in prison reform. Alex has a track record of bringing innovation into the field of justice reform. She has spearheaded strategies to engage young adults, impacted families, and system leaders within the intersection of addressing mass incarceration, institutional violence, and restorative justice, through an antiracist lens. Alex works to strategically and collaboratively scale multi-layered projects that include fundraising, policy and practice change, research, and capacity building. In addition, Alex works with formerly and currently incarcerated people to ensure that all efforts and solutions center the resilience, cultural identity and human dignity they deserve.
Prior to joining Vera, Alex was part of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation where she worked to close youth prisons, and to develop the foundation’s national strategy for partnering with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their families in reform—the people most impacted by the justice system. Alex’s work at the New York City Department of Probation, at the Suffolk County Jail in Boston, as well as her personal experience with the justice system shaped her interests in justice reform.
John Hart, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate who joined Vera Institute’s Restoring Promise Initiative in August 2019. As a part of his role, John focuses on the data collection program and the qualitative research agenda for the initiative.
Prior to joining Restoring Promise, John was a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Maryland, College Park leading research and community projects examining mass incarceration of Black Men as a public health disparity and the re-entry experiences of young, Black fathers from prison into the communities. In addition, John is a clinician and has spent the last few years consulting with various jails and prisons in the D.C. Metropolitan area to provide psychoeducation to those incarcerated on topics such as co-parenting, relationship skills, coping and emotional regulation.
He holds a Ph.D. in Family Science and a M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Maryland, College Park and a B.A from The George Washington University.
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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 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, 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., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear*, Executive Director, Healing Communities Prison Ministry Thurs., Apr. 16, 2020, 6:30 pm: Live at Iona College, New Rochelle, NY with Special Guests Fri., April 17, 2020: Inaugural Inductees* of CT Hall of Change with Charlie Grady, Founder Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”. Fri., May 15, 2020: Scott Semple, Alex Frank & John Hart of the Vera Institute of Justice Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays and Melissa Tanis
On Friday, Apr. 3, 2020, 9 am ET, Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez, was our guest on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven – Now More Than Ever.
Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez is a dynamic, sought after ordained Baptist minister, pastor, chaplain, psychologist, trainer, public speaker, consultant and a medically retired marine combat veteran from Washington, DC residing in Philadelphia, PA. After a car accident, struggling with addiction, physical disability, PTSD, and a criminal record, he entered recovery in 1995 and ministry in 1996. He founded the Pastor’s & Preacher’s Support Network serving 484 pastors, is President of Recovery Christian Centers Urban Community Development Corporation, a faith based nonprofit specializing recovery support, pastoral care and counseling, behavioral health, trauma, capacity building and leadership training, is the Supply Pastor of Lombard Central Presbyterian Church, Overseer of Administration of Maturing Harvest Fellowship, Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Reentry Council Restorative Justice Committee, National Director of Advocacy for Healing Communities USA, a faith-based prison reentry initiative, Chaplain of Delaware Valley Stand Down, a homeless veterans initiative, a contract Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Trauma Instructor and member of the Faith & Spiritual Affairs Advisory Board with the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities, a member of the Philadelphia FIGHT Faith Leaders Network and the Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition Community Engagement Committee. He is a JustLeadershipUSA Leading with Conviction 2018 Cohort Alumni Fellow and served as their #CLOSEtheCreek Campaign Faith Community Organizer and currently serves on the #SolidarityNotSolitary Campaign. He holds a B.S. in Human Resources, a M.S. in Health Education, and Psy. D and is pursuing a D. Min. He married the Rev. Paula Burnett-Kimmenez with six children (one deceased) and twelve grandchildren.
Listen on SoundCloud:
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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 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, 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., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez, Healing Communities Prison Ministry POSTPONED: Thurs., Apr. 16, 2020, 6:30 pm: Live at Iona College, New Rochelle, NY with Special Guests Fri., April 17, 2020: Inaugural Inductees* of CT Hall of Change with Charlie Grady, Founder Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”. Fri., May 15, 2020: Fran Pastore, Women’s Business Development Center Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays and Melissa Tanis
Please join us on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, 9 am ET, when Larry Levine, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant, will be our guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven – Now More Than Ever.
Larry Levine is former 10-year Federal Inmate who is now Director of Wall Street Prison Consultants and Coaching, and has been a contributor to CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and several major news organizations providing expert information on Federal Prison and what people experience when incarcerated. MUCH MORE MORE ON LARRY LEVINE BELOW! PLEASE SCROLL DOWN!
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
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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. Podcast and Archive available all the time, everywhere.
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 & Melissa Tanis
Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven – Now More Than Ever.
How does anyone become the premier expert in the world in their chosen field? To accomplish so rare a feat, it helps to have relentless energy, an extraordinary work ethic, no fear of failure, and at least a decade of hands-on experience. Each of these attributes clearly apply to Larry Jay Levine – the world’s premier expert in federal prison consultation.
And just how would one gain ‘at least a decade of hands-on experience’ in the field of federal prisons? Simple – by spending 10 years as an inmate in 11 of them – from high security on down to medium, low, and finally, minimum security. “It could have been worse,” says Levine. “My ex-wife wrote a letter to the court with information on crimes even the prosecutors didn’t know about. Luckily, the statute of limitations had already passed.”
The Incarceration, A New Beginning
As described on one of Levine’s several websites, he was a Private Investigator in Los Angeles, California before entering federal custody in 1998. He also reveals that, in truth, he was working as an ‘efficiency expert’ for the mob when arrested by an FBI and Secret Service-led Task Force on charges of narcotics trafficking, securities fraud, racketeering, obstruction of justice and possession of a machine gun.
“On my day of sentencing,” he recalls, “the judge slammed down his gavel, had me chained and shackled, and sentenced me to two, 10-year concurrent terms in federal prison.” His first 21 months were spent at the high-rise Federal Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in downtown Los Angeles, and over the next decade, he was shuttled off to 10 more federal correctional institutions of multiple custody & security levels in 5 different states.
Oftentimes, incarceration is the sad end of a person’s story. For Levine though, it was the fortuitous beginning of his newly inspired life. “While incarcerated,” he says, “I experienced firsthand the confusion and dangers first time offender’s face when entering federal custody. I was in the same position prison-bound people face today: scared, confused and overwhelmed by a criminal justice system I knew little about. I had no idea what to expect, no one to turn to, and was completely on my own.”
The Inmate, the Student
“Most inmates spend their time watching TV, playing cards, and jerking off,” he brashly says. In other words, they fritter their time away. “Instead, I spent my time in the prison law library.”
As Levine studied the law, he learned how the system works, or was supposed to work. Staying close to his cell, and the library, he minded his own business, was respectful and cordial to others, listened a lot and spoke as little as possible. “I didn’t get caught up in the drama,” he says. “Instead, I flew under the radar, and in ten years I had zero physical altercations. Zero. That’s unheard of, no one bothered with me.”
He observed prisoners being given the run-around and fed misinformation by predatory inmates and uncaring Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff members. “Like all federal bureaucracies,” he says, “the BOP operates with its own very complex set of rules called ‘Program Statements.’ The only problem is, prison staff routinely fail to follow them. The staff sets the tone in the prison, and when they make up their own rules at a whim, it creates additional chaos and confusion in the lives of inmates.”
As Levine traveled from one dysfunctional prison to another, he continued to read case studies and self-educate in criminal law. The more knowledge he gained, the more he learned how to fight back and win, always working within the rules.
“Absolutely, they will screw people in the prison system,” he says, “but not me. I knew the game better than they did. I put the staff on notice, this is between me and D.C., not you. Word soon got around, ‘do not engage this inmate, he knows policy better than you’.”Levine was never a troublemaker, which can only earn an inmate diminished privileges and even solitary confinement. Instead, he was a strategic thinker. Because of his knowledge of the system, he became a “management problem.” He would warn them to “follow your own policy,” while often informing staff members precisely what their policies were.
The Inmate, the Legal Adviser
With no formal background in the law, Levine began explaining criminal defense strategies to his fellow inmates and filing habeas corpus petitions on their behalf. As his successes built, so too did his confidence. He advised them on medical care and visitation rights, how to possibly reduce their federal sentences, request a transfer to a lower security center, secure a better job, and apply for extra halfway house time or a furlough.
Importantly, he also coached strategies for effective prisoner behavior. “The primary objective,” he told them, “is to think beyond your incarceration.” In the meantime, he taught methods for protecting themselves and surviving life behind bars. “To do that,” he’d say, “you need to know internal policies and how to effectively deal with BOP staff.”
In a March 2018 interview with Leslie Albrecht of the Wall Street Journal Market Watch, he described using the classic business school tool S.W.O.T. – an acronym for assessing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and then acting accordingly. He advised using this technique to “take control of what seems like uncontrollable situations in prison by using your brain.”
While at FCI La Tuna, Texas, Levine single-handedly filed a Class Action Habeas Corpus petition in El Paso Federal Court against the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons, claiming they and violated their own administrative policies by sending the transferred inmates to higher custody. Due to his actions, the DOJ was forced to act, and transferred hundreds of prisoners from Texas back to the West Coast to conform with the claims in his lawsuit.
Levine is convinced that the help he was giving his fellow inmates was a main factor in his regular movement from prison to prison. After all, the less educated the prisoner, the less threatened the staff. But it didn’t stop him and he selflessly provided advice and guidance, while at the same time honing his future craft, until his final movement – from the suffocating inside to the invigorating breath of freedom.
Freedom, the Invigorating Rebirth
In 2007, like a prize thoroughbred biting his bit in anticipation of the gate finally opening, Levine burst through and onto the legitimate business world’s fast track, assimilating into society like never before. “I was prepared,” he says, “and I hit the ground running.” He immediately founded American Prison Consultants and put his extensive legal training and experiences to good use by educating and defending the previously unrepresented.
“If you’re afraid, and the thought of going to prison scares the hell out of you, you’re not alone,” began his case to prospective clients. “Prisons are dangerous places,” he continued, “and having knowledge about prison policies, prison gangs, and the politics of prison life, are the keys to surviving successfully on the inside and coming home safely.”
He focused on the federal corrections system because that’s what he knew best. “There are 123 federal prisons across the U.S. and their policies are the same everywhere. The indicted get bond, they have money, they need my help.”His services centered around the trademarked ‘Fed Time 101’ prison survival educational courses (called modules), include advising on how to cope, survive and thrive in such unfamiliar territory. “Expect a total loss of privacy, including strip searches,” he tells his clients, advising them to be “quiet, respectful and observant.” He coaches them to “learn prison guard personality types” and how best to avoid getting “beaten, stabbed or raped.”
In addition to online courses, he offers various levels of customized services (e.g. Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc.), which may include offering insight and advice to his client’s attorney, lobbying a judge for a lighter sentence or a lower level security prison, and negotiating RDAP – entry into a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program which can lower a sentence by up to 12 months.
Levine understands first-hand the needs and concerns of the newly sentenced and quickly becomes a trusted voice to many.
“As usual, the big winners are the lawyers,” he says without hiding his sneer. “Most of them representing the accused couldn’t care less about their client. They work their 10 hours, get them pled out and behind bars as soon as possible.” As for the newly incarcerated, he says, “Many of them don’t even know their rights, and are completely unprepared for what happens next. I try to help them avoid that. They trust me, not their lawyers.”
White Collar Crime, the Growing Epidemic
In his early years as a prison consultant, Levine typically advised those accused of non-violent, narcotics-related transgressions. It was a noble cause and made for a good living. At the turn of the century, however, the business opportunity multiplied exponentially. It was the tail end of a twenty year financial market expansion. Lax regulations and greed-related excesses saw fraudulent behavior running rampant, first in the ‘dot.com’ bust of 2000-02, and again five years later when historic mortgage and securities fraud caused the near-collapse of the global financial system.
“It’s 2008 and I’m driving on the LA Freeway, stuck in traffic, as usual,” starts Levine. “I’m listening to the business news on the radio. Wall Street in chaos, the market melting down, mortgage falsifications and collusion everywhere. Then the Bernie Madoff news breaks. By the end of the day, I had created Wall Street Prison Consultants.”The Wall Street shenanigans had created a whole new wave of white collar clientele seeking out his services. With new prison consulting competitors regularly joining the fray, Levine was getting more than his share. None of the rivals could match his unique combination of inside experience, knowledge of the criminal justice and prison systems, and outsized personality.
Other than marketing through his various websites and other social media outlets, he doesn’t solicit business. “It’s all word of mouth,” he says. “These people and their lawyers know where to find me. And if they’re not interested, best of luck to them. My phone is ringing off the hook with or without them.”
The Expert Witness
Whenever a high profile (e.g. celebrity) criminal trial or prison sentence is in the headlines, which seems to be regularly, the networks have one ‘expert witness’ in the front of their rolodex – Larry Levine. He appears regularly on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, Bloomberg, HLN, and other media outlets.
Recently, he built a mini-broadcast studio in the back of his office. “If they want me on CNN at 8 a.m. eastern,” he says, “it’s 5 a.m. in LA. It was an easy decision.”
Why is he so popular a guest? “I’m someone who really knows the inside,” he says. “I don’t play favorites. I tell it like it is.”
Anyone who’s checked out his past network appearances on YouTube will easily concur. While he is clearly an expert relating to criminal justice and prison system issues, he’s also a bold and highly-entertaining guest, often leaving the host nearly speechless. When the camera starts rolling, there’s no pretense or political correctness about Levine. The only role he’s playing is his true self. As evidence, here are a few snippets of his comments on varying cases:
“The higher profile a prisoner is, especially celebrities or rich guys, the more at risk they are once they go in. They’re going to need protection, so they should try to make friends with the prison guards, but without being obvious.”
“Famous inmates will get the most demeaning jobs, like cleaning the trash cans and pots and pans. Cleaning the prison shower is the worst. It’s disgusting. In prison, just like the real world, it’s not only what you know, it’s who you know. You have to know someone who can direct you to the best jobs. Pushing paper in an air-conditioned office – that’s the prize.”
His take on notable Ponzi scheme criminal, Bernie Madoff, as relayed on several networks in 2009, gives us an intriguing view on what his life is like “on the inside.” “Stealing money from a bank or insurance company, that’s considered okay. But stealing money from regular people, especially that amount of money – no way. The guy is an economic terrorist and that’s unacceptable. I wouldn’t help him, and I don’t help people like him. He’s going from the penthouse to the big house, and I say good riddance.”
“Madoff should be in a minimum security prison, essentially a camp. But the amount he stole takes him off the sentencing charts. He’ll end up in medium security, living in a cell, and there will be a long line of dangerous people who would love to spend a few minutes alone with him. Many of them have no ‘out date,’ meaning they’re never getting out anyway, so there’s no risk for them.”
“Child molesters, referred to as ‘chomos,’ are the lowest of the low in prison. The other inmates hate them and will be trying to take them out. Guys like Jerry Sandusky, or Jared Fogle, you know, the Subway guy, had better be kept in solitary confinement, or they’ll find them dead one day, and it won’t be pretty. It’s called ‘escape by death’.”
“Rats (i.e. informants) are also hated, and there was no bigger rat than Boston mob boss, Whitey Bulger. He was a psychopath, a ruthless killer, incarcerated in 2013. It took a few years, but when they finally got to him, they gouged his eyes out and ripped his tongue out. The message was clear to anyone else who’s considering becoming an informant – if you do, you won’t have eyes to see anything, and you won’t have the tongue to be a rat.”
“This Chris Watts guy who killed his own family – pregnant wife, two young daughters – he’s even worse off, a dead man walking. He probably won’t last a year, and it won’t matter where they try to hide him.”
Facing Adversity and Winning Big
Levine learned self-reliance early on, including joining the military directly out of high school. “I was on my own,” he recalls. “I didn’t rely on anyone. I’ve never asked for help and I never will.”
“My criminal indictment is the high point of my life,” he says. “I was going to die out there. When I was inside, I had stents put in, got my head straight, and turned my life into a big ‘f…ing’ positive. I’m 57 years old – I have my whole life ahead of me. Now I’m helping people. I get paid well to be an asshole.”
Some family members are proud of what he’s accomplished, he says, while others are not. A few are even jealous, he says, and he has a theory as to why. “My success makes some people look at their own pitiful lives – their stagnant, unaccomplished lives – and they blame everyone but themselves, including the ex-con who’s doing great.”
Levine has advice for the nay-sayers: “Stop being so stupid. Stop with the whining and blaming. Instead, take a look directly in your mirror. There’s your problem. Use your brain, get to work, go out and change your life. I have no tolerance for stupidity.”
The Full Blown Entrepreneur
This fearless guy has been transforming rapidly into a full-blown entrepreneur. To his thriving consultancy business and expert witness role, you can add hosting a weekly radio program called ‘Street Justice,’ accessed on several internet radio sites. He also owns Moorpark Survival, a retail survival store, and a telephone company which offers inmates in some federal detention centers discounted telephone calls.
To the question, ‘Why the survival store?’ he retorts, “Have you noticed how dangerous it is out there lately?” Mea culpa. “Besides,” he explains, “whether you’re on the inside or out here, the theme’s the same, it’s about survival.”
As for the telephone company, it’s another way he’s helping inmates. “Every inmate gets a certain amount of phone minutes per month,” he says, “and they give some high profile guys, like Paul Manafort, unlimited calls. Why would they do that,” he queries, before quickly answering. “Because they charge a ridiculous fee per minute and make a fortune.” His company offers the same service to inmates for less than half the BOP rates.
In all, Levine has not only survived his time inside, the experience sparked an entrepreneurial drive that is growing hotter by the year. In a ‘bigger picture’ sense, his accomplishments needs to be examined more deeply to ascertain if they can be duplicated on a mass scale.
The Bigger ‘Big House’ Picture
Because the rate of recidivism in the U.S. (i.e. ex-cons who go back to a life of crime and incarceration) is said to be a staggering 76%, we think the benefits of Levine’s brand of prison consultancy should be studied by the BOP for a broader purpose. The simple question is, can a more effective rehabilitative process be developed to meaningfully improve this outcome?
By educating inmates to protect themselves and use their brains to make their time in detention more productive, could the general prison population be offered more hope – a brighter vision of what their new life on the outside could someday look like? Could they be taught new skills and a sense of purpose, something meaningful to strive for day-to-day?
If the answer to these questions is ‘yes,’ or even ‘maybe,’ then such a program should be offered to any inmate with an interest, including those unable to afford services such as Levine offers. By doing so, perhaps the horrendous rate of recidivism would begin to plummet in the same manner that Levine’s life has ascended. How brilliant and valuable would that be?
Recently, the ‘First Step Act’ was signed into law in bipartisan fashion in our tragically divided Congress. It’s been called ‘a major win in the effort to improve conditions in prisons and end mass incarceration.’Is this the criminal justice reform bill we’ve been waiting for, one that will begin to address the recidivism crisis and other system ailments? We asked the expert, and here is Levine’s considered reaction.
“For starters,” he said, “the bill is a ‘hand job’.” We asked him to please stop holding back and tell us how he really feels, which he did as follows:
“I get calls about the bill every day and here’s what I’m telling people. It has just been signed into law. Now, it must be codified and published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Then, they have to create a ‘Program Statement,’ how the new law will apply to inmates.”
Levine made it crystal clear that he is skeptical and reserving judgment until he sees what the law really says, and especially, what it means in the daily lives of inmates. More to come on this in the years ahead, we’re certain.
The Entrepreneur’s Bigger Picture
In the meantime, the ‘bigger picture’ for Levine includes some leisure time away from his various businesses, believe it or not. We asked him what he does to relax, to get away from the fray. His initial response was “I don’t even know if I can do that.”
But with further prompting, he acknowledged that he enjoys time at the racetrack, watching movies (90 just last year), and he visits Vegas on occasion, for both business and pleasure.
He doesn’t travel often though, saying, “I don’t like to fly.” Afraid of flying, we asked with surprise. “Oh no, I’m not afraid,” he shot back. “I’m never afraid of anything. But I do get concerned.” Concerned about what, we asked. “For the safety of the others on the plane, especially the women and kids,” he responded. In what way, we asked. “I’m concerned that just by being on board, I’ll bring the plane down.” We made a note never to fly with him.
Speaking of kids, when he’s not working, his true love is spending time with his family – his wife of three years, his three kids and his three grandkids. This sounded so normal, so heartwarming, we thought it was a good place to close the article.
We expect to see and hear a lot more from this charismatic prison consultant and entrepreneur in the years to come, and believe me, we will be watching. Especially as relates to the critical issue of prison reform and the assimilation of ex-convicts back into productive roles in society.
