Chandra Bozelko writes the award-winning blog Prison Diaries. You can follow her on Twitter at @ChandraBozelko and email her at [email protected]. She is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. Ryan Lo is a friend of our ministry who has been helpful in our outreach. – Jeff
After the photo ops ended, the former president’s vaunted First Step Act was barely implemented. The new administration must change that.
President Joe Biden prepares to sign a series of executive orders at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office just hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
By Chandra Bozelko, vice president, National Society of Newspaper Columnists and Ryan Lo, founder, Unlabeled Digital Media
Anyone who wants to attribute any positive accomplishments to Trump shouldn’t include the First Step Act among them. The Trump administration followed neither the letter nor the spirit of the law.
Implementation of the law is where it would have had a demonstrable effect on the people it was meant to help; it’s also the part the executive branch is wholly responsible for, and the part the Trump administration has repeatedly failed at, causing many inmates to have to resort to court intervention.
As one might expect, whatever Trump giveth with one hand, he taketh away with the other.
It’s now up to President Joe Biden to implement the First Step Act as it was written — even though Trump is claiming credit for it.
Plenty of smart people have fallen for Trump’s tale: Last September, The New York Times published a “Fact-Checked List of Trump Accomplishments” and called the law a success; fully five of the 123 listed successes dealt with the law. Heck, even we begrudgingly credited Trump with doing something moral because of his support for the bill.
But the federal government isn’t giving inmates the credits they’ve earned: The process of granting credits was supposed to start last January, but inmates are already getting stiffed.
It’s now up to President Joe Biden to implement the First Step Act as it was written.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen has become a case study in exactly how Trump failed to implement his own signature prison reform. Last month, he filed two petitions: one seeking his earned time credits, which would mean he could be free in May — approximately one year early; and another to make sure that the Bureau of Prisons orders the credits be issued, which will help those who remain inside get the credits they too have earned.
If he wins his second petition, Cohen will have done more to force the implementation of the First Step Act than his former client did.
Glen Adkins Jr., an inmate at FCI Terminal Island, is among those fighting to assure that the Bureau of Prisons obeys the law. His petition notes that Trump’s Bureau of Prisons distributed an approved programs guide in October that changed the rules of the earned time credits program to limit the number of days that a person can shave off their sentence. That guide was issued without congressional approval, and directly contradicts the plain language of the First Step Act.
So far, the executive branch’s execution of the First Step Act has been replete with bad faith.
And while the criminal justice reform law contained a clause that said that these credits didn’t have to be implemented until 2022, that itself shows that Trump didn’t intend to provide relief to inmates who take their reform seriously. Allowing Trump to delay the implementation of his signature justice reform, while still taking credit for achieving it, amounts to taking another swig of Trump lies — something we’ve sworn off. Besides, the inmates have kept their part of the First Step Act bargain. So should he.
And the earned time credits aren’t the only part of the First Step Act that has been half-heartedly administered: amid a pandemic that has taken the lives of 204 federal inmates as of January 12 — some of whom might have been home before they were infected if the law had been followed — wardens denied 98 percent of compassionate release requests from coronavirus-infected inmates as of last May, even though the First Step Act expanded the criteria under which inmates could get some relief.
Biden can and should correct all of this immediately: Article II of the Constitution says that the president “shall take care that all laws are faithfully executed.” So far, the executive branch’s execution of the First Step Act has been replete with bad faith, though the judicial branch has offered some relief. The new president can and must reverse that by directing — via an executive order, if necessary — that all inmates receive their earned credits immediately and that wardens start giving real weight to compassionate release requests while the Covid-19 pandemic continues. It’s the perfect addition to Biden’s corrective agenda on Trump mistakes.
Meanwhile, we should all recognize that what everyone hailed as a historic change by the Trump administration was really just much of the same con as ever: a deal he made for the photo op with Kim Kardashian and the ability to stick it to his detractors. Don’t continue to give him credit for championing justice reform now that he’s gone; given how he chose not to honor the promise of this law for two years, the First Step Act so far has been more stumble than stride.
Join us on Friday, January 15th at 9 am EST, Scot X. Esdaile, President, Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches, NAACP National Board Member Chairman, State of Connecticut Boxing Commission, will be our guest on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed on Facebook Live. On podcast platforms 24/7 everywhere. The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Scot X. Esdaile
Scot X. Esdaile was born and raised in New Haven, CT. At an early age he developed a passion for public affairs and politics. He worked on several national campaigns as a young activist for prominent change agents such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Doug Wilder, former Governor of Virginia, and former Mayor John Daniels. In 1992, Mr. Esdaile founded Elm City Nation, an at-risk youth organization geared towards community development and the goal of eradicating gang violence. The organization grew to exceed 1000 youth members and was recognized nationally and featured on MTV, Montel Williams, BET, and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show.
Mr. Esdaile has proudly served as Commissioner of the New Haven Coliseum, President of the Freddy Fixer Parade, and the Chairman of the Black Expo. Currently serving as the President of the CT State Conference of NAACP Branches and National Board member of the NAACP, he chairs the National Criminal Justice Committee. In August of 2016 Mr. Esdaile was appointed the 1st African American Chairman of the Connecticut Boxing Commission. He is committed to empowering youth to become future leaders and believes that early intervention and prevention programs are the key to stabilizing our younger generations to come.
Mr. Esdaile has demonstrated unwavering commitment to social justice through his work with the NAACP. He served as the President of the Greater New Haven NAACP Branch for 7 years, and in 2004, was elected President of the Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches; at that time he was the youngest State President in the country. He has expanded its programming on a statewide and regional level that brings merit to the objectives of the organization. Some noted recent accomplishments include the “Great Debate”, an event exceeding 8,000 students in attendance from the tri-state area, and a national tour highlighting the art of debate on relevant social issues between an HBCU and an Ivy League Debate Team to middle and high school students; implementing the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut Reception paying tribute to contributions of African Americans in statewide leadership positions; and the CT NAACP Harmony Classic football game featuring a local College or University and an HBCU featuring the HBCU Marching Band. In 2017 with community partners and statewide residents he launched the “Nothing About Us Without Us “ Campaign supporting criminal justice reform and has hosted statewide events, a policy reform summit and a March in Hartford CT in June of 2017. He very recently has begun to work with large corporations and small businesses in the National NAACP Initiative, ONE MILLION Jobs campaign, an initiative geared toward removing the barriers to employment. CT is taking the lead in this pilot program under his leadership.
Mr. Esdaile has also been an integral lightening rod for legislation in the areas of health care, criminal justice and political action. He very recently filed suit against the State of CT for prison gerrymandering, noted as the first statewide challenge of this system in the Nation, a system that counts disenfranchised prisoners where they are confined instead of at their home address thereby inflating the voices of rural, white residents and diluting votes in Communities of Color. In 2015 he fought alongside the ACLU and others supporting two criminal justice laws that passed including the Taser law. He was instrumental in getting a bill passed in 2008, to establish a 29 member Minority Health Advisory Council to eliminate disparities in health status among the state’s multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic communities, abolishing the Death Penalty and Education Reform. In addition, he has championed against racial bias in state government, the inadequate funding of education in urban areas, the appointment of people of color and women to State & Federal Judgeships and racial reform in the criminal justice system. He is the Host of a radio talk show on HOT 93.7 “Time 4 Some Action” Sunday mornings at 6:30am.
He is a graduate of Hamden High School. He attended Virginia State University from 1983-1987, Public Administration. Mr. Esdaile resides in Hamden, Connecticut with his wife Adrien, and three children. He has received numerous awards and tributes for his many years of public, community, and civil rights service and is the recipient of the Kelly Miller Alexander, Sr. “the National State Conference President of the Year Award”.
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Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Host Jacqueline Polverari is joined by defense attorney Norm Pattis to discuss his philosophy on the prison system, judges, and what makes a good defense attorney.
Host Jacqueline Polverari is joined by defense attorney Norm Pattis to discuss his philosophy on the prison system, judges, and what makes a good defense attorney.
Craig Rothfeld is a criminal justice advisor, advocate, and prison consultant who specializes in assisting those with New York State Department of Corrections, New York City Department of Corrections, and New York State Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS) issues.His most famous client, the former Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein,* is currently serving time in a New York State prison.Craig is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. – Jeff
Craig Rothfeld
My first step to becoming criminologist, criminal justice advisor, and consultant began when I was barred from the securities industry in 2012. I am always careful to point out these were not “mistakes”, these were choices and decisions – which are far different than mistakes.
In 2002, I joined my former financial services company, where I was a shareholder and in 2008 became CEO until the company shut down at the end of 2011. A series of missteps, horrific choices, and bad decisions led me to a total of 18 months in various New York State correctional facilities.
After my release, I coupled my 22-months defending myself and the 18-months of incarceration to become an expert on the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS). With 3.5 years submerged in all things NYSDOCCS, it was a different sort of graduate school and diploma.
I now devote my life to guiding clients and their families through time in the New York State prison system and beyond.
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Since the serious outbreak of COVID-19 this past March, I have written 11 prior times to this article below on the COVID-19 and the NYSDOCCS.
It has been a little over 2-months since I last wrote with an update on COVID-19 within, and pertaining to, the NYSDOCCS. Based on some recent developments (which may be rather intuitive to all of you), I am nonetheless sharing the following information with, and for, you, your clients, and their families.
We currently have clients in ten (10) of the fifty-two (52) facilities so are getting real time reporting from inmates about what is truly going on.
As COVID starts to ramp up and explode inside several facilities, it’s the corrections officers and staff that are now the super spreaders making the inmates even more defenseless. Further, it creates greater security risks (reduced staff to inmate ratio) and curtailing of movement by and for inmates.
EARLY RELEASE DUE TO COVID-19
To date, the Governor has granted clemency to three (3) people. We still do not have one successful NYS inmate released on Medical Parole that had/has more than 90-days left on their sentence. The one Judge who ordered an inmate to be released was reversed in the appellate court. And the only “early release” that has been going on is letting inmates out that are 90-days or under to their parole release date or conditional release date.
With COVID running rampant again, particularly among NYSDOCCS Staff which creates serious security issues, there are conversations going on at both the facility level and at the central office to begin releasing inmates even sooner than when they hit the 90-day mark. The obvious subset of inmates that would meet these criteria for potential earlier release (between 90 and 180 to 360 days) are non-violent inmates, elderly inmates, and inmates with serious medical conditions and pre-existing conditions for COVID-19.
Please feel free to reach out to us and discuss if you have clients that fit this criterion.
VISITATION / TRANSIT LOCKDOWNS / NOTES FROM SPECIFIC PRISONS
As of 3pm yesterday, Dec 8th, the NYSDOCCS temporarily suspended visitations to three (3) more facilities bringing the total back up to six (6) facilities. The three that were suspended as of yesterday are:
Attica CF
Auburn CF
Cayuga CF
These are in addition to:
Elmira CF (Reception Facility)
Southport CF
Green CF
What this means practically, in addition to their being no visits, is there is NO transit into or out of the prisons except for medical emergencies or the need to place an inmate in a Solitary Housing Unit (SHU). With Elmira being a reception facility, the lockdown there further backs up inmates being transferred from county jails / prisons that feed into Elmira.
GREENE CF
Facility administration is working to reduce ALL DORMS to 25 people (they can hold 60). Not all dorms are filled to capacity, but a reduction is underway. Translation: at these medium security inmates will need to be relocated to other prisons that aren’t on full lock-down, have more capacity, or it’s simply passing the hot potato creating more risk in another facility.
A client there reports that the “Draft” has been shut down for at least two (2) weeks to be re-evaluated then. For clients that are there for “reception” it obviously means they will remain their longer than the usual 6 to 8 weeks.
MID-STATE CF
Staff shortages due to COVID-19 outbreak among COs and civilian workers are essentially curtailed the ASAT Program (Alcohol Substance Abuse Treatment). As a result, most group therapy sessions and programming has been cancelled.
WENDE CF
Has suspended all visits for inmates located in the RMU (Regional Medical Unit a/k/a prison hospital). Facility does not want to risk outsiders bringing COVID into the facility and passing it along RMU inmates who then bring it back to the RMU and the dominoes fall from there.
ULSTER CF (Senior Living Dorms)
Continued conversation swirls about how to best protect the inmates in the two senior living dorms who are all over 60-years old.
Legislation continues to sit on the Governors that could expedite the release of seniors in prison.
Sadly, we expect this to continue and get worse over the next few months as the NYSDOCCS still hasn’t tested ~ ½ its population and the statistics they report are woefully inaccurate. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us regarding any of this information or other related questions to the NYC or NYS Dept. of Corrections.
Craig Rothfeld is s a criminal justice adviser and advocate (M.A. Criminal Justice (Exp. Apr ’22) and CERT. Criminal Sentencing & Sentencing Advocacy (Exp. Apr ‘21) at Inside Outside Ltd., the company he co-founded. He advises individuals, their families, and their legal defense teams on pre -and post- criminal sentencing mitigation strategies and incarceration. For more information on Inside Outside Ltd. please visit https://insideoutsideltd.com/media-1. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-rothfeld-8b421a156/ and Twitter @craig_rothfeld.
Podcast Ep. 20, Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison
Today on the podcast we have two of my favorite people, Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson, talking about how they each reinvented themselves after prison. They are both incredibly generous and reveal their struggles, disappointments, and frailties as well as their successes and service in helping others.
Glenn talks about his journey from armed robber, to prison, to nonprofit executive, to founding JustLeadershipUSA, to entrepreneur, executive coach, and investor with Gem Trainers and Gem Real Estate.
Richard discusses his Wall Street life, including at Stratton Oakmont (made famous in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”), Federal prison, and then founding two companies to lift up returning citizens, 70millionjobs.com and his latest, Commissary Club.
So coming up, Glenn Martin & Richard Bronson. Reinventing Yourself After Prison. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
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If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
______________________________
Guests on this Episode:
Glenn E. Martin
For two decades, Glenn E. Martin successfully conceptualized, created and directed a handful of national multi-million dollar organizations in the non-profit sector. Glenn has occupied the important leadership role of “visionary”, while developing a strong track record in the more pragmatic aspects of building and running successful organizations, including fundraising, operations, administration and communications.
Before launching both GEMrealestate and GEMtrainers, multi-state real estate investment company and a successful non-profit consultancy, respectively, Glenn founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA for three years, an organization he built as a tribute to his son Joshua, dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. For almost 20 years, since leaving prison, he’s been a part of the vanguard of successful reform advocates in America.
His leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship. He is also a Founding Member of the Council on Criminal Justice.
Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and co-founded the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. He’s also the founder and visionary behind the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC.
Glenn has served as a public speaker and has been a media guest appearing on national news outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN. You can follow him at @glennEmartin on Twitter
Richard Bronson
“Y Combinator-backed employment platform 70 Million Jobs is launching a new social network geared toward helping formerly incarcerated individuals connect with each other. While 70 Million Jobs focuses on helping people with criminal records find jobs, Commissary Club wants to serve as a place for folks to find community.
‘Folks with [criminal] records have always, since prisons were first built, lived in the shadows,’ 70 Million Jobs founder Richard Bronson told TechCrunch. ‘They’ve lived in fear and in shame — afraid to emerge with this terrible stigma, being treated as second-class citizens in every single way.’
Through Commissary Club, folks can find community through topic-specific clubs, explore education courses and find mentors, jobs and housing. […]
The plan with the social network is to take an ad-based approach, along with referral fees for things like online classes and wellness services. Commissary Club also plans to partner with brands and host events for the community.
‘The population we serve is really desperately in need of help,’ Bronson said. ‘But we’re not in position to provide all of it. We’re going to be a concierge for folks.’
But there’s an obvious risk with bringing formerly incarcerated people together and serving them on a platter to advertisers, given that some are notoriously predatory.
‘I feel incredibly protective of our clients because there are bad actors,’ Bronson said. ‘We’ve seen people try to come to our job business and gain access for their less than positive ends. So we’ve gotten smart and also sensitive to the fact that this could go on. We make damn sure that whoever we’re working with is operating with integrity and honesty. We’ve been in this space for a long time and we know the good lawyers and bad ones, the good education platforms and bad ones and many other verticals with good actors and bad actors.’
Commissary Club launched a few days ago in beta and currently has thousands on the wait list. But the service is doing a slow rollout because, Bronson said, ‘we want to get it right.’
To date, parent company 70 Million Jobs has raised $1.6 million from investors and is seeking an additional $2 million in funding.” – Taken from TechCrunch
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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.
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, parole & probation officers, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
Please make your check payable to, “Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.,” a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and send to our mailing address: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798. All donations are used exclusively to support our program. All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support!
Podcast Ep. 19, Richard Lee: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed on White Collar Week
On the podcast today, we have Richard Lee. Richard is best known for having been a trader at Steve Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, and for having insider trading charges against him dismissed after a 7 year fight to clear his name.
Richard initially pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 2013, and upon discovery of new evidence in 2017, he moved to withdraw his original plea. On June 21, 2019, a federal court judge for the Southern District of New York granted Richard’s motion to vacate his guilty plea, and then on Nov 27, 2019, federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against him.
I first met Richard in 2013, soon after he first pleaded guilty. We’ve been friends and have worked together closely ever since. On the podcast today, Richard and I discuss the entire story that led to his incredible outcome.
So coming up, Richard Lee. Insider trading charges dismissed. On White Collar Week. I hope you’ll join us. – Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
______________________________
If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
______________________________
Guests on this Episode:
Richard Lee
Richard Lee is a former Portfolio Manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors, LLC (“SAC”). Prior to SAC, Richard was a project manager for the Clinton Foundation in South America, working in sustainable development and social venture capital in partnership with other NGOs and the United States Agency for International Development. Earlier, Richard was part of a Clinton Foundation team which implemented the widespread use of antiretroviral therapies to treat people living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and Africa.
Richard previously was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Citadel, LLC and a Research Analyst at Farallon Capital Management, LLC. He began his career at McKinsey & Company. Richard is a graduate of Brown University.
Richard lives in Chicago, IL with his wife and two daughters.
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.
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, parole & probation officers, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
Please join us on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, 9:00 am ET, when Gus Marks-Hamilton, Shelby Henderson, and Anderson Curtis of ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut will be our guests on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed on Facebook Live. On podcast platforms 24/7 everywhere. Criminal Justice Insider Podcast sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut is grounded in the knowledge that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. We are an unprecedented cohort of leaders who have ourselves been directly impacted by Connecticut’s justice system. We are formerly incarcerated people who are challenging mass incarceration by speaking truth to power, sharing our expertise, and building connections to each other and communities across the state. Together, we are campaigning to cut Connecticut’s jail and prison population by 50% and to end racial disparities in our state’s justice system. We are working to usher in a new era of justice, and we are not alone. We are part of the nationwide Campaign for Smart Justice, a multiyear effort in all 50 states.
Shelby Henderson is a Smart Justice Leader and fierce advocate for keeping formerly incarcerated people at the forefront of reforming the criminal legal system, because those closest to the problem are often closest to the solution. Shelby has been a TOW Policy Fellow at JustLeadership USA, a graduate student at the John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity and is currently in law school at the City University of New York. Shelby’s advocacy for criminal justice stands on the pillars of equality, love, redemption and unity.
Gus Marks-Hamilton has been a field organizer with the ACLU of Connecticut’s Smart Justice campaign since 2018. Gus is passionate about promoting the political and civic engagement of people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system through advocacy, lobbying and direct action at the state capitol and across Connecticut. A lifelong state resident and graduate of the University of Connecticut, Gus is also Licensed Master Social Worker and Recovery Support Specialist.
Anderson Curtis is a field organizer for the ACLU of Connecticut. In his role, Anderson is tasked with mobilizing and expanding the ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut campaign through strategic public engagement, identification, education, and recruitment of supports and volunteers to participate in ending mass incarceration in Connecticut. Anderson is a proud alumnus of Gateway Community College Drug and Alcohol Recovery Counselor (DARC) and was the DARC 2009 Student of the Year. He recently completed the Community Foundation of New Haven’s Neighborhood Leadership program. Anderson developed Life Support, which is a Pilot program funded by Community Foundation and an extension of his mentoring of men on parole, helping them navigate their reentry. After 12 years of seeking paths of healing and freedom, Anderson lives with hope and dignity, despite barriers to employment and housing from the collateral consequences of incarceration, by being a voice for the unheard and uninvited.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
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Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Today on the podcast, we have Vanessa Osage, one of the bravest and most intrepid people I have ever met. Vanessa has dedicated her life to breaking down the barriers of stigma and shame in helping others to find a new order of loving accountability and restorative justice.
We are calling this episode “Truth Heals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform.” In it, Vanessa tells her story of reporting sexual abuse at one of our country’s elite boarding schools, retribution, cover-up, engaging and then abandoning the legal system, attention in some of the nation’s most respected newspapers and media, starting a non-profit to serve others going through these kinds of issues, and writing her incredible memoir, Can’t Stop the Sunrise: Adventures in Healing, Confronting Corruption, & the Journey to Institutional Reform.
Joining us as co-host is Chloe Coppola, an advocate with us at Progressive Prison Ministries, who shares the story of her sexual abuse and institutional response while she was a student at her own prep school.
Two courageous women telling their stories in intimate and powerful ways. So coming up, #TruthHeals on White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on Spotify:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Watch on YouTube:
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If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
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Guests on this Episode:
Vanessa Osage
Vanessa Osage is on a mission to leave this world better than she found it. She is a Certified Sexuality Educator, Consultant & Professional Coach. A two-time Nonprofit Founder, Vanessa Osage is President of The Amends Project, with a mission to “mend the loophole”, and creator of The Justice CORPS Initiative. In 2017, she won the Kickass Single Mom Award for her work in sexuality education and youth rites of passage. Her essays have been featured in Circles on the Mountain, The Confluence Journal, Role Reboot & more. Can’t Stop the Sunrise is her first book.
Chloe Coppola is an Advocate with us at Progressive Prison Ministries. Among many other things, she organizes our online White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday evenings, is a liaison and navigator on behalf of our group members, organizes our podcasts White Collar Week andCriminal Justice Insider, and is a dedicated researcher and writer on criminal, racial and women’s justice themes. Chloe can be reached at [email protected] and LinkedIn.
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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
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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?
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What is the White Collar Justice Community?
Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.
If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
Jeff Grant
