THE FORTUNE NEWS VOLUME LIV • SPRING 2022
PRISON CONDITIONS INSIDE AND OUT The Fortune Society
BUILDING PEOPLE, NOT PRISONS
THE FORTUNE NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kendall Shepard
Front Cover Image: “Prison Wisdom” by Leo Cardez
ASSISTANT EDITOR AND WRITER Sarah Hirshorn
The Fortune News is a publication from The Fortune Society, printed biannually to inform the public of the work and impact of Fortune’s reentry services and advocacy efforts.
MANAGING EDITORS Megan Knighton Brian Robinson Jane McCarthy Carl Dukes Samuel Davis
©2022 The Fortune Society, Inc. All Rights Reserved
DESIGNER Background Stories WRITER AND EDITOR Madelyn Fink
MISSION The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities. We do this by: BELIEVING in the power of individuals to change BUILDING LIVES through service programs shaped by the needs and experiences of our participants CHANGING MINDS through education and advocacy to promote the creation of a fair, humane, and truly rehabilitative correctional system
SERVICES AND PROGRAMS Alternatives to Incarceration
Food and Nutrition
Prepare for Release
Benefits Access
Health Services
Recovery (the NEST)
Care Management
Housing
Substance Use Treatment
Creative Arts
Mental Health Treatment
Education
Policy and Advocacy (the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy)
Employment Services Family Services
VOLUME LIV · SPRING 2022
THE FORTUNE NEWS TABLE OF CONTENTS
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EYE ON FORTUNE Key Events in 2021-2022
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TURNING ON THE TAP By Dyjuan Tatro
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FACES OF FORTUNE Staff and Participant Experiences
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WHAT I LEARNED AT THE HELM OF THE NATION’S MOST NOTORIOUS JAIL By Vincent Schiraldi
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PRISON WISDOM By Leo Cardez
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Q&A WITH DEPUTY CEO STANLEY RICHARDS ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
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HEALING THROUGH HOUSING By Founder David Rothenberg
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THE PROCESS AND CONSEQUENCES OF USING LABELS By Kyle C. Scherr, PhD
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VOTING BEHIND BARS By Robert Barton
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BAR ASSOCIATION AND LEGAL AID BY STATE
EYE ON FORTUNE RALLY IN SUPPORT OF HUNGER STRIKERS ON RIKERS ISLAND On January 13, Fortune was joined by dozens of advocates and elected officials outside of Rikers Island to stand in solidarity with incarcerated individuals who had launched a hunger strike in protest of the conditions and food at the facility. The rally featured remarks from impacted community members and many of our sister organizations in New York City. NYC Councilmembers also joined in to demand better conditions for those incarcerated at Rikers and called for newly-inaugurated Mayor Eric Adams to take immediate action to resolve the humanitarian crisis.
SENIOR HOUSING OPENS IN THE BRONX
Fortune’s newest service center, the Mandaela Community in The Trinity Rev. James Senior Building opened its doors to residents at the end of 2021. On the site of a former church, the 154-unit building owned and managed by Bronx Pro has a sunroom with hydroponic planting beds, a community space, an exercise room and a garden. 57 units are reserved for formerly justice-involved seniors and Fortune’s suite of social services is offered on-site.
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NEW TECH SUPPORT SERVICES
Fortune is committed to providing our participants with digital literacy training and bridging the digital divide. Thanks to our new Digital Equity initiative, participants now have access to hands-on workshops at our Long Island City service center and on-site tech support. Since its launch in 2021, the initiative has handed out 800 tablets and smartphones to participants and hosted over a dozen workshops on email, web support and Microsoft and Google applications. These services are provided free of cost to participants with different knowledge of technology.
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FACES OF FORTUNE
KAREN OBERLIN HAJDU Criminal Justice & Policy Intern
As I pursue my Master’s degree, I wanted to intern somewhere with a mission that I care about and where I could take the next step to invest myself in the work. Interning with the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy on new legislation and advocacy has been a dream experience and something that I wish to continue. Fortune has shown me the work I “It is truly a special wish to do for criminal justice place with so many reform. There are great people.” so many injustices and roadblocks while returning home for justice-involved people. I am grateful every day to work alongside policy experts with out-of-the-box ideas on how to improve conditions, decarcerate and support successful reentry. My dream would be to return to Fortune someday and continue the hard work. It is truly a special place with so many great people.
STALIN HUNT Case Manager
I have been at Fortune “And I still feel for almost 20 years, which happy every time I has allowed come to work here.” me to move to different places and continue to learn. I started as a Case Manager at the Academy before settling at Castle Gardens for more than 11 years. Just recently, I transitioned to our new Mandaela Community in the Bronx. And I still feel happy every time I come to work here. I love working with tenants. It’s fantastic seeing people who have been incarcerated and in shelters for so many years have a safe place to live with a team to support them. I have many tenants that I have gotten really close with. I’ve seen families with children who were seven years old when I met them and they’re off to college now. It makes me feel like a part of the Fortune family.
Learn more about working at Fortune and our open positions: fortunesociety.org/work-at-fortune
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PRISON WISDOM
“School for Hard Knocks” by Leo Cardez Leo Cardez is an award-winning incarcerated writer and a 2021 Pushcart Press Prize-finalist and PEN America Drama Award winner. His writing can be found in Under the Sun, The Abolitionist and Crime Report, among other publications. His work has been recently published in the anthology Prison Blues (PEN America). He can be reached at: Leo.Cardez.Writer@gmail.com
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BY LEO CARDEZ Writer and currently incarcerated
These years in prison have become the defining learning moments of my life. They have taught me more about people and the world in three years than the previous three decades. I’ve learned: There is no feeling quite like the loss of freedom — an unquantifiable pain beyond any known words. Patience is never truly mastered. I am a hurting, ignorant, son-ofa-bitch - no better or worse than anyone else. My loved ones are doing this time with me and this time away from them both tears the relationship apart and binds it together in new, beautiful ways.
freshly cut grass, the sound of our children’s laughter, and the warm embrace of someone who cares about you. Never take these moments for granted. I have an extraordinary family. Their resilience and unwavering devotion are beyond comprehension and something I will never be able to repay.
I have developed a new found compassion for my fellow man, most surprisingly, for those I barely know or even like. I’ve begun to open my heart and let people in. This is not normal for me and I’m not very good at it, but I’m glad it’s come about and hope to continue to nourish it. We have a broken justice system, and we’re at a critical juncture where we can either push towards creating a better, humane, and fair system or lower our sights and continue to compromise our humanity by falling deeper into the darkness. The choice is entirely ours.
“My loved ones are doing this time with me and this time away from them both tears the relationship apart and binds it together in new, beautiful ways.”
True friends are the family God allows us to choose and those ties can be stronger than blood.
Stay focused on what you can change and let the rest of it go. (The secret to happiness?)
There is such a thing as ‘good-bad’ people and ‘bad-bad’ people. Monsters and angels exist among us and in us.
There are unknown depths to my own soul, and my courage doesn’t stem from a lack of fear but rather in spite of it. And that facing and overcoming those fears will define my character.
Beauty exists in the details we too often take for granted: the smell of
True change can be slow and steady or come in spurts but will always be painful. Learn to embrace the pain. Freedom can be found through pain.
People are blind to their blessings —they can’t seem to see we’ve hit the fate lottery and are living in the best time in history. For my part, my heart is full knowing that I’m living on the most beautiful planet among the most wondrous people.
See your writing in the next edition of the Fortune News! IN THE NEXT ISSUE: DIGITAL EQUITY Have you experienced discrimination or difficulty due to a lack of experience with technology? Tell us about your experiences. Send written or visual art responses by mail to: Fortune News Editors c/o The Fortune Society 29-76 Northern Boulevard Long Island City, NY 11101
or via email to: development@fortunesociety.org
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HEALING THROUGH HOUSING BY DAVID ROTHENBERG Founder The Fortune Society
The Fortune Society opened the doors to the Fortune Academy (the Castle) 20 years ago. The castle was built with healing at its core. It houses 93 men and women, all having experienced homelessness and incarceration. It is a temporary residence for people seeking a new life – one they never anticipated. The rules of the Castle are flexible with one strict rule: no violence because if people are striving to change their lives, they must feel safe. The residents, with guidance from the staff, shape the culture of the Castle. Feeling comfortable voicing a problem is part of the community dynamic. We always ask residents “How will you deal with this when you move into your own apartment?” Time at the Castle should be used as a lab—a place to discover new ways of solving problems. “How did you deal with conflicts in the past and what was the result?” The dynamics of the Castle are the antithesis of a prison, but the demographics are the same: age, gender, race and history with
substance use and violence. Replacing violence and punishment with hope and clarity. Easy? Not at all for people who self-medicate when stonewalled, who use their fists or a weapon when cornered. They always faced a threat —the reality of punishment. Change comes slowly. Castle staff will tell residents that the hard work is to dig deep and discover themselves. Counseling and therapy are available, and participants are encouraged to proceed at their own pace. We hold no judgments on their past but instead offer a path to a different life.
“The carceral system tells people what they can’t do. The Castle tells residents what is possible.” There are relapses. Some people are not ready but are encouraged to return when they are, and many do. Visitors from around the nation visit the Castle and ask if it can be duplicated. The answer is “yes.” There is no blueprint for healing except knowing that everyone is different and processing
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different demons. The residents have to be heard. I’ve been witness to 20 years of healing, observing people discover they don’t have to define themselves by the worst thing they ever did. It’s a constant struggle. Men and women wounded by childhood traumas who entered punishment factories that identify them only by a crime and a number. Healing is not fast or instant, and it is not without sidetracks and disappointments. But if you create an environment that shows the uniqueness and possibilities of an individual—the results are astonishing. The carceral system tells people what they can’t do. The Castle tells residents what is possible. I’ve seen the damage of prisons and also, the inspiring, celebratory aspects of healing. It’s an environment where people can be heard and where there is laughter for people who were rarely heard or laughed with. At the Castle, the goal is to recognize the pain, identify it and replace it with pride and purpose. That may be a broad canvas, but it is a good place to start. It’s called healing.
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VOTING BEHIND BARS: WHY IT MATTERS rights being restored. This disillusion stems from the fact that most of us hail from communities that are highly disenfranchised and where there isn’t a lot of trust in government. Take my story as an example: I grew up in the poorest ward in Southeast D.C. I can vividly remember as a child with my mother walking past my elementary school where they had set up voting stations and asking her why there were so few people voting. “Boy, ain’t nobody voting for people who don’t give a damn about us,” she dismissively replied.
BY ROBERT BARTON Co-Founder of More Than Our Crimes and currently incarcerated
When I think about Washington D.C.’s recent restoration of voting rights for those incarcerated, I instantly think of a quote from Joel Castón, the first currently incarcerated person to be elected to public office in the United States: “What other states can learn is that if you are allowing your incarcerated population to function within this democratic process, you are teaching them how to be citizens.” If we are truly committed to being a country of second chances and ensuring that formerly incarcerated people contribute meaningfully when
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This always stuck with me. This was our community’s reality. To us, it seemed like the only time politicians were concerned about the plight of our neighborhoods was during election season. Once the election was over, they were gone, but the disinvestment in our community—the dilapidated schools, the rampant poverty and the potholed streets—remained. they return home, then the whole nation must follow D.C.’s lead. The benefits of allowing incarcerated people to vote are obvious, but the challenge is clear as well: how do we encourage this population to vote and even want to be invested in the democratic process?
I carried this belief until I returned to the D.C. jail after years of incarceration and participated in the Georgetown Prison Scholars Program. In those classes, I changed my outlook on politics and realized I could use civic engagement to advocate for myself and others. In conversations with other students, I was reassured that my voice did matter and I learned how I could use it.
For the majority of us, we’ve always felt as though we were forced to live our lives along the margins of this great nation as second-class citizens. “We are eager to vote and Instead of being excited eager to be productive about regaining our ability to community members vote, most of the men from D.C. that I have encountered and citizens.” were indifferent to their WWW.FORTUNESOCIETY.ORG
“The benefits of allowing incarcerated people to vote are obvious, but the challenge is clear as well: how do we encourage this population to vote and even want to be invested in the democratic process?”
I set out to give other incarcerated people that same understanding. I founded More Than Our Crimes – an organization created to be the voice of the voiceless. One of my campaigns has been the Voting Project, which strives to give incarcerated people a say in policies that would directly impact them. I knew that in order for anyone to want to vote, they needed to feel like it would really mean something. I knew that the only way to galvanize this voting bloc was to make them feel heard. I have a network of incarcerated D.C. natives in the federal prison system and distribute a weekly newsletter that enlightens subscribers about things happening in the criminal justice space. This newsletter educates them on the importance of voting, provides information on candidates’ platforms, and tips on how to register. It also gives them a forum to speak on the topics that concern them and provides a space for self-advocacy.
I’ve already seen it work: recently, one of my subscribers saw an article about the recent uptick in violent crime in D.C. and our Mayor’s response to it. He reached out and asked, “Rob, do you think we could be used in some way to keep kids from incarceration and help them not to follow in our footsteps?” This was exactly what I wanted. He was becoming invested in being an active community member because of his reignited connection to politics. This is the power of restoring our right to vote and why each state should commit to re-enfranchising incarcerated people. Although there have been a few hiccups along the way, such as inconsistent access to our
ballots and not enough time to vote because of ongoing lockdowns, we continue to push through, now that we know our voice matters. We are eager to vote and eager to be productive community members and citizens.
Robert Barton has been incarcerated since he was a teenager and is from Washington D.C. He is currently incarcerated in Florida. He is the co-founder of More Than Our Crimes, an organization telling stories of and giving a voice to currently incarcerated individuals.
If you are incarcerated and have access to CorrLinks, you can subscribe to Rob’s Voting Project newsletter by adding pam@morethanourcrimes.org to your email list. If you would like to stay up to date on Rob’s other work, please visit: morethanourcrimes.org/sign-up
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TURNING ON THE TAP
BY DYJUAN TATRO Senior Government Affairs Officer at the Bard Prison Initiative and Fortune Board Member
Five years ago, I was released from prison after serving for 12 years, and today I am the Senior Advisor for Strategic Outreach at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But I am not an exceptional person, I had an exceptional opportunity. The two degrees I earned through the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) radically changed the trajectory of my life. If more incarcerated people had access to programs like BPI, more of them would go on to defy expectations of who college is for and where it might lead. The Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1992, in conjunction with the 11
The Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1992, in conjunction with the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, made incarcerated people ineligible to receive federal Pell Grants.
1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, made incarcerated people ineligible to receive federal Pell Grants. Almost overnight, the number of college-in-prison programs fell from more than 700 to less than ten. In 1995, following the federal government’s lead, New York State banned incarcerated people from
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accessing its Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York fell from over 70 to only four. Of all the short-sighted criminal justice policies of the 1990s, none was more destructive than the elimination of educational opportunity within the prison system. Policymakers knew in 1994 that if someone earned a degree in prison, they were not only less likely to recidivate but more likely to go on to lead a successful, productive life. In 2020, Congress finally restored Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students, lifting the 25-year ban. The bipartisan legislation was a bold step towards restoring college affordability and accessibility for
40%
30%
20%
10%
The average recidivist rate for all New Yorkers is 40% but only 10% for Bard Prison Initiative alumni
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incarcerated students. With the restoration of Pell eligibility, it is now critical that states seize this momentum and restore state-level financial aid as well. An analysis of 357 state-funded grant programs finds that 37% explicitly ban incarcerated students or students with criminal convictions from accessing financial aid. In her 2022 State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to “restore the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) for incarcerated people” and has included a repeal of the language banning TAP for incarcerated individuals in the Executive Budget. The Governor’s action on this issue stems from a multi-year campaign, titled “Turn On the TAP,” that has garnered support.
Allowing incarcerated students to benefit from TAP is long overdue and builds opportunity, promotes equity, strengthens democracy and affirms a commitment to racial justice in New York State. In December 2021, Justice Quarterly released a study by the Yale Policy Lab highlighting how higher education in prison reduces recidivism. The study found that participation in a college prison program led to a “large and significant reduction in recidivism rates,” and that people with “higher levels of participation” in a collegein-prison program recidivate at lower levels. The recidivism rate for BPI students who earn an AA degree is 8.7% but that of students who go on to earn a BA degree falls to 3.1%. In New York, 90% of BPI alumni VOLUME LIV • SPRING 2022
have never returned to prison over the past 20 years, a stark contrast to New York’s average recidivism rate of about 40% within three years. Restoring state-level financial aid to incarcerated people will increase public safety, save taxpayer dollars and create extraordinary inroads to college in communities we often fail to engage in higher education. It is how states can invest in people and education over prisons and punishment. As of April 2022, New York State’s legislature has restored TAP eligibility to incarcerated New Yorkers.
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WHAT I LEARNED AT THE HELM OF THE NATION’S MOST NOTORIOUS JAIL
BY VINCENT SCHIRALDI Former Commissioner of the NYC Department of Corrections
When Mayor Bill de Blasio chose me to run New York City’s Department of Correction for the final seven months of his term, I immersed myself in Rikers Island so I could quickly come up to speed. I moved my and my team’s offices onto Rikers and began touring seven days a week, at all hours. On the Friday before Father’s Day, I showed up at the George R. Vierno Center (GRVC) on Rikers at around midnight and was surprised to see Warden Jean Rene — a gentle giant of a man — still at work (I later learned that Rene could almost always be found there). We entered a living area where a young correctional officer
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(CO) was working her second triple shift of the week, monitoring twice as many units as she was supposed to.
the Commissioner and the Warden of her humane insubordination—she would be in trouble.
She was thoroughly exhausted and started unloading when she saw us, relating story after story about indignities that incarcerated people and staff suffered. One that stuck with me was about a guy on her unit who had a visit scheduled with his daughter. As visiting time approached, she warned him that it would likely be canceled because staff shortages had left the unit with no escorts. He broke down in tears when she confirmed that the visit was off. She gathered everyone in the unit and asked them to “be good” while she left to take the man to see his daughter.
This story is emblematic of the indignities and the kindness that never made the papers. I’d often enter living units and have incarcerated people tell me to send a CO home because they were working a triple shift.
Thankfully, nothing bad happened when she “abandoned her post.” But she knew that if it had—or by telling
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By the time I became DOC Commissioner in June 2021, things were spiraling out of control. More than a quarter of my staff were either out sick or on light duty. Hundreds more were working in plum positions, far from incarcerated people. Staff “AWOLed”—skipped work without calling—5,000 times in July and August. Hundreds more were on unpaid, medical, and military leave or out because of personal emergencies. Warden Rene showed me a staffing
spreadsheet where only 46% of staff were available to work that day. The result—dozens of unstaffed posts with available staff working triple shifts while violence spiked. Some people were surely sick. But some were just as surely faking it. People “out sick” sometimes posted pictures of themselves in the Bahamas or throwing house parties. There were nearly three times as many people “sick” on the July 4th holiday as on June 4th. This level of chaos fed itself. The more people feigned illness, the more their colleagues were beleaguered, causing them to AWOL or call in sick too. Or they just quit, which more than 800 staff did in the five months from August through January. My colleagues and I felt that we needed a combination of discipline
and success to wrench Rikers out of its nose-dive. When we disciplined people for AWOLing and faking sick leave, more people came to work and violence declined to a better but still unacceptable level. But we also needed to give people hope. Violence among young adults at Rikers was three times that of the general population. So, in November we created model young adult units by sitting down with young people and COs, examining data and other jurisdictions’ approaches, and codesigning units where programming was robust and COs and young people would “circle up” to discuss problems as they arose. By the end of January, there were zero fights and assaults on staff in those four units. I hoped to take that approach systemwide, but Mayor Adams had another
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Commissioner in mind. I truly wish the new Commissioner all the best in his difficult job. There are hopeful lessons to be garnered from these experiences: listen to incarcerated people and staff; provide robust programming; start small and blow on the embers of success; ultimately, treat incarcerated people and staff the way you’d want your own child treated if they were in the same circumstances.
Vincent Schiraldi is Senior Fellow at the Columbia Justice Lab and Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia School of Social Work. He was formerly Commissioner of New York City’s Departments of Correction and Probation.
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Q&A WITH DEPUTY CEO STANLEY RICHARDS ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Q: Why have you devoted your advocacy efforts to ending solitary confinement?
Stanley: Because I know solitary confinement doesn’t work. I know that extreme isolation breeds more violence. The more we allow hurt people to be re-traumatized, we’re going to end up hurting more people. It is well beyond time that we change the way we manage our jails and our prisons and start to provide the tools and opportunities for people to change their lives, while still holding people accountable. I see on a daily basis at Fortune what can happen when you lean in with hope, support and resources. You begin to see that in the same way that people can adapt to survive the conditions of confinement, people can adapt to live
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safe, healthy and prosperous lives. Solitary confinement is something that just causes so much more hurt to those who are isolated and to those they come into contact with when they’re released. Q: What misconceptions are there about solitary confinement that you want to debunk?
Stanley: I think one misconception that’s out there is that bad people will always be bad people. I think people live their lives in the circumstances that they find themselves in, and I think people try to manage that reality through whatever means necessary based on their experience. And if we continue to provide experiences of extreme isolation and brutality, people will only learn how to live that life. It’s WWW.FORTUNESOCIETY.ORG
not like a switch that you can turn off once you’ve experienced it. Solitary is ingrained in you and it is traumatizing. And how you deal with that trauma impacts your family, it impacts your community, it impacts those you are incarcerated with. Q: What is New York City’s plan for ending solitary confinement?
Stanley: Instead of 23-hour lock-in, individuals are removed from the general population and placed in the Risk Management and Accountability System (RMAS) which centers on intensive programming and engagement to get at the underlying causes of the incident. There is a limit of 15-days in RMAS and includes ten hours of out-of-cell time. The model is built on levels where people
“Solitary is ingrained in you and it is traumatizing. And how you deal with that trauma impacts your family, it impacts your community, it impacts those you are incarcerated with.”
can re-enter the general population by engaging in programs that allow the staff to assess what was going on. It’s a false narrative that without solitary confinement we can’t have accountability. The change is how we hold people accountable. RMAS is a system of accountability, but the process looks different than 23-hours in extreme isolation. Editors’ Note: In June 2021, the NYC Board of Correction voted to end
solitary confinement in the City’s jails and replace the punitive process with the Risk Management Accountability System. This model went into effect in the Fall of 2021.
you’ve got to seek help. This is not something that goes away with time. This is not something you forget about. If you are currently incarcerated, you can still seek mental health while you are still inside.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for resources for those who have been in solitary confinement?
Stanley: I think the one thing people can do — and this is so important for the Black and Brown communities —
If you are in New York and are seeking mental health treatment after release, please contact our New York State Office of Mental Health-licensed Better Living Center (BLC) at: Marisa D’Amore, mdamore@fortunesociety.org For support in other states, please contact BLC for a referral.
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“Reflections” by the artist DC an ILL-FIENCED Art Creation, currently incarcerated at Colorado State Penitentiary “It’s an idea I’ve had for a while now. I often get inspiration from my circumstances. I’ve been trying to capture my prison life, the meaninglessness of time and days and hopelessness at times, but the strength and hope as well.” Fortune is dedicated to amplifying the work of those impacted by justice and legal systems through a partnership with Justice Arts Coalition, which unites teaching artists, arts advocates, artists who are or have been incarcerated and their allies, harnessing the transformative power of the arts to reimagine justice.
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THE PROCESS AND CONSEQUENCES OF USING LABELS
BY KYLE C. SCHERR, PhD
We use labels to communicate efficiently. Labels allow us to assume a host of associated characteristics and think and behave accordingly. Sometimes encountering these labels and their aftereffects are fairly harmless—because someone told us that James is shy and reserved, we may assume (correctly or incorrectly) that James would not accept an invitation to a weekend social gathering. Other times, however, the labels cause meaningfully negative consequences, such as when labels are used to describe people with prior legal system involvement (e.g., convict, felon, parolee, delinquent). Although these labels may ease communication, their loaded meanings can harm individuals’ ability to successfully reintegrate upon release. Potent: wielding force, authority and influence with damaging results after activation.
Research from psychological science, cognitive science and neuroscience can help us understand and appreciate the process through which labels are activated and their lasting influence on human thought and behavior. One way to understand the process and consequences of using labels is through the three P’s—perfunctory, potent and perpetual. When we encounter a label, a concept like an image or associated words becomes activated in our brain. The activation is perfunctory—it occurs quickly, automatically and below conscious awareness. Simply put, we cannot control whether or not the concept is activated. Nearly instantaneously, a cascade of related concepts occurs in the brain along with the label. To illustrate, imagine that someone with legal system involvement is introduced as a parolee. Immediately, and outside of conscious control, the concept of parolee is activated in your brain alongside a host of related characteristics—attributes such as lawbreaker, convict, criminal, threat, felon and so forth. Concepts such as capable, model, high functioning and safe are not likely activated because these words are not usually associated with parolee. Some people may argue that, although the activation is automatic and outside of conscious control, they can regulate how they react by minimizing or eliminating the label’s influence. Decades of research have shown this to be quite difficult. Instead, the impact after activation is quite potent—it meaningfully influences how we subsequently think and behave.
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Perfunctory: occurs without notice, carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection.
Imagine a hiring manager reviewing an employment application in which someone with prior legal system involvement has to check a box indicating they are on parole. The managers have several factors to consider: Will the applicant be productive? Are they qualified? Will they be a workplace threat? Think back to the perfunctory step of the process and the negative attributes associated with parolee. The activation and accessibility of the negative attributes will likely influence managers’ decisions. Because attributes such as safe, capable and high functioning are not activated, but characteristics such as threat, criminal and delinquent are activated and accessible, hiring managers will likely reject the application. Perpetual: continuing forever, lasting indefinitely for individuals affected by labels.
The negative consequences of labels are perpetual—their consequences tend to remain across time and contexts. Even instances in which innocent individuals have been exonerated of their wrongful conviction, they face hiring discrimination and are often judged to be not fully deserving of aid. The stigma of having prior legal system
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WORDS TO AVOID Offender
Convict
Inmate
Prisoner
Felon
Delinquent
Criminal
PHRASES TO USE INSTEAD Person or individual with justice or legal system involvement Person or individual impacted by the justice or legal system Person or individual affected by the justice or legal system
Ex-offender
Ex-Offender
Ex-con
Ex-Prisoner
Person or individual with prior justice or legal system involvement Person or individual previously incarcerated Person or individual with justice or legal history
Parolee
Person or individual on parole
Probationer
Person or individual currently under parole supervision
Detainee
Person or individual on probation Person or individual in detention
Juvenile Offender
Young person with justice or legal system involvement
Juvenile Delinquent
Young adult impacted by the justice or legal system
Sex Offender
Person or individual with sex offense conviction(s) Person previously convicted of a sex offense(s)
involvement persists and continues to undermine future opportunities for housing, employment and access to healthcare. There are many recommendations and ideas for how to overcome the negative consequences of using labels. Some incarceration systems in New York are now referring to individuals in jails and prisons as clients. This certainly is a start, but why is it necessary to use labels in these contexts? Although labels
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can help with communication in some instances, they are not always necessary. The most straightforward recommendation is to simply eliminate the use of labels regarding prior legal system involvement. Instead of relying on a label indicating a prior felony and all of the negative attributes associated with felons, hiring and housing managers may actually interview these individuals and get to know them through dialogue rather than a sheet
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of paper. In the end, individuals with prior legal involvement would have a fairer chance of achieving successful reintegration. Kyle C. Scherr, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and past Director of the Applied Experimental Graduate Program at Central Michigan University.
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Alabama State Bar 415 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104
Colorado Bar Association 1900 Grant Street, 9th Floor Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (334) 269-1515
Phone: (303) 860-1115
Hawaii State Bar Association Alakea Corporate Tower 1100 Alakea Street, Ste. 1000 Honolulu, HI 96813
Alaska
Connecticut
Alaska Bar Association 550 W. 7th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99501
Connecticut Bar Association 30 Bank Street New Britain, CT 06050-0350
Phone: (907) 272-7469
Phone: (860) 223-4400
Arizona
Delaware
Arizona State Bar 4201 N. 24th Street, Suite 100 Phoenix, AZ 85016-6266 Phone: (602) 252-4804 (from within Maricopa County) (866) 482-9227 (toll-free outside Maricopa County)
Delaware State Bar Association 405 North King Street, Suite 100 Wilmington, DE 19801 Phone: (302) 658-5279 Florida The Florida Bar 651 E. Jefferson Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-2300
Phone: (808) 537-1868 Idaho Idaho State Bar P.O. Box 895 Boise, ID 83701 Phone: (208) 334-4500 Illinois Illinois State Bar Association 424 S. Second Street Springfield, IL 62701 Phone: (217) 525-1760 Indiana
Arkansas Bar Association 2224 Cottondale Lane Little Rock, AR 72202
Phone: (850) 561-5600
Indiana State Bar Association One Indiana Square, Suite 530 Indianapolis, IN 46204
Georgia
Phone: (501) 375-4606
Phone: (800) 266-2581 (317) 639-5465
State Bar of Georgia 104 Marietta St. NW, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30303
Arkansas
California California State Bar 180 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: (404) 527-8700 (800) 334-6865
Iowa The Iowa State Bar Association 625 East Court Avenue Des Moines, IA 50309 Phone: (515) 243-3179
Phone: (415) 538-2000
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Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Nevada
Michigan State Bar
State Bar of Nevada
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Minnesota State Bar Association 514 W. Main Street
2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300
Louisiana Louisiana State Bar Association
Mississippi New Jersey
New Orleans, LA 70130
Legal Services of New Jersey P.O. Box 1357 Edison, NJ 08818-1357
Maine Maine State Bar Association P.O. Box 788 Augusta, ME 04332-0788
Missouri Missouri Bar Association
New Mexico State Bar of New Mexico
Maryland
Montana
Maryland State Bar Association 520 W. Fayette Street
Montana State Bar P.O. Box 577
New York
Albany, NY 12207 Massachusetts Massachusetts Bar Association 20 West Street Boston, MA 02111-1204
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Nebraska
WWW.FORTUNESOCIETY.ORG
North Carolina
North Dakota
South Dakota
Washington Washington State Bar Association
504 N. Washington Street
Ohio
Tennessee
Ohio State Bar Association
Tennessee Bar Association 221 4th Avenue N., Suite 400
Washington DC
Oklahoma Texas Texas State Bar
West Virginia The West Virginia State Bar
Austin, TX 78701
Oregon Oregon State Bar
Utah Utah State Bar Virginia AG
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Bar Association 100 South Street
Vermont Vermont Bar Association P.O. Box 100 Wisconsin Wisconsin State Bar
Rhode Island
Virginia Virginia State Bar 1111 East Main Street, Suite 700 Wyoming Wyoming State Bar
South Carolina
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