America's 1st and Only Prisoner Hosted Podcast: Recent Episodes
Dant'e Cottingham
How does a Prisoner make a Podcast? Incarcerate US began with a series of Podcast Interviews hosted by a Prisoner. From the prison phone Dante would speak with a variety of people who are dedicated and passionate about prison reform. Once the call is over the recording is uploaded to the podcast site (edit free). The podcast is never edited so as to be as transparent as possible and avoid misunderstandings. These Interviews contain the actual recordings from the prison phone complete with the automated prompt that tells the caller who is calling and how to accept the call.
Who is Dante Cottingham? At the age of 17, Dante Cottingham was charged with party to a crime of homicide, waived to the adult criminal court system, convicted, sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment and then transferred to an adult maximum security prison. He’s currently serving his 24th year of incarceration at the Jackson Correctional Institute in Black River Falls, WI.
While incarcerated he obtained his paralegal degree. He is a tutor and teaches fellow prisoners to read and write, math and other subjects.
He has thoroughly researched the social and legal elements of the history of and development of juvenile justice in the United States. Research combined with his experiences has turned him into a passionate advocate for juvenile justice reform in America.
When society fails to provide the tools for the children to rise and not only have dreams but to achieve them it falls to the responsible adults to Bridge that Gap. Tawanda Vandroff is a concerned Citizen who not only saw this void but built an Organisation to address it. Here at Incarcerate US we were extremely honoured to have Tawanda on the show, as you listen you will feel the passion and urgency she embodies and uses to pursue quality of life for all the youth, that Mass Incarceration is a thief, a manipulative and clever thief stealing young lives and steam rolling over the ambition and self belief of teens across the Nation. If your eyes, heart and mind agree with Tawanda then please contact her and offer your assistance and support, let's close the gap and bring communities and Prisoners together in a united voice for change! ABOUT TAWANDA?
S. Tawanda Vandroff is a free spirited and genuine woman who is willing to work and has a burning desire to help others and a passion for learning. She is extremely determined and has the willpower to go the distance. Tawanda is a woman on a mission: to empower others to identify and fulfill their destinies. She accomplishes this by paying it forward, reaching and teaching others, and encouraging them to do the same.
Tawanda Vandroff is a visionary with the strong belief in paying it forward and helping others. She was raised by her parents in a small town called Mullins, SC. She is the oldest of three children, which pushed her at a very young age to be responsible and compassionate in order to help her siblings and others. It was during this time that Tawanda realized that one of her passions in life was to do good. Despite the challenges of growing up in small town, struggling and living in poverty, Tawanda persevered. She graduated from high school, went to college and earned a Bachelor’s Degree, and attended graduate school for two years.
To Contact Tawanda Vandroff - ceo.ac2btg@outlook.com Another Chance Publishing Company LLC
About: A.C. publishing has been created to assist incarcerated writers in achieving their dreams of becoming a published Author. We wanted to create a company that would reach those behind the walls and extract talent thru arts, entertainment and creative writing.
Description: We are building a Nation of Authors that are currently locked down physically however their minds expand way beyond the walls. We will give you one book at a time and bridge the edge back to reading.
AC2BTG Publishing is a board based publishing and media company with the main focus in publishing books for men and women in prison. Another Chance 2 Bridge the Gap has a goal to bridge the Gap between men and women in the federal and state prisons with the people in the Community. This division has been established in 2013. Our goal is to provide international resources for prisoners to secure a strong hold in the literary industry. Our purpose is dedicated to empowering inmates and non judgemental readers. We can't reach our goal of helping our Authors have maximum exposure without the help of family, friends and the entire community. If you love to read, if you love helping people, if you believe people deserve another chance or whatever you reason is, we need your help! We are Another Chance 2 Bridge the Gap and the time is NOW!
"You are the writer of your life." Lets meet and talk! Call us at +61 (0) 3 8376 6284
OUR MISSION: WE ARE HERE TO SERVE AND HELP PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF RACE, COLOR, CREED OR RELIGION. OUR MISSION IS TO HELP BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY AND PEOPLE IN PRISON. WE KNOW AND REALIZE THAT SOCIETY IS IN TROUBLE AND THAT WE ARE THE CHANGE THAT WE WANT TO SEE. OUR MISSION IS TO BUILD AND REBUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND EVEN OUR ENEMIES IN ORDER TO MEET A COMMON GOAL OF HELPING THE PEOPLE. OUR MISSION IS TO BE ABLE TO GIVE A BETTER LIFE TO OUR CHILDREN THAN THE LIFE THAT WE HAVE LIVED. OUR MISSION IS TO LIVE AND NOT DIE! OUR MISSION IS TO BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION AND NOT THE PROBLEM.
SOLO is birthed and encouraged by our personal journey, As a wife with a loved one incarcerated who has been maintaining outside responsibilities with at one point no real support system to lean on, no community resources to utilize with legal questions and other supportive needs, I personally can relate to what other families are facing everyday. The heart of me wants to support families in similar circumstances in any way possible with resources and keep them informed about what is going on behind the wall, events, hearings, new bills, laws, etcetera.
About The Solo Project
SOLO is a non profit organization, not yet (501)C certified, but we can accept donations and operate within our capacity of community supports. SOLO is purposed to work with the families of incarcerated people, community leaders, grassroots citizens, and other local and state organizations to assist families with effectively supporting their loved ones. We recognize that families of incarcerated people are faced with being stigmatized, isolated, and traumatized by society’s “Guilty By Association” mentality.
Our goal is to educate, motivate, and inform the families and community about issues of incarceration, the importance of rehabilitation,reentry, and the importance of family reunification. We want to objectively reshape portrayal of public opinions about the families, and the incarcerated person’s. Continue encouraging and supporting families about how important their support is to their love one’s and their voices DO MATTER!
Advocate. Writer. Educator. Public Speaker. Media Maker. #BePrecedential Marlon Peterson is an international social and criminal justice advocate, writer, organizational trainer, and educator who spent 10 years in New York State prisons. He is the host of the podcast, Decarcerated, a Soros Justice Fellow, Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, a 2015 Ebony Magazine Power 100 honoree, and TED Resident.
Marlon is the host of the Decarcerated Podcast. He is also the founder and chief re-imaginator of The Precedential Group, a social justice consulting firm, and a 2015 recipient of the prestigious Soros Justice Fellowship.
Ebony Magazine has named him one of America’s 100 most influential and inspiring leaders in the Black community. He is also an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, and Fall 2016 TED Resident. His TED Talk, “Am I not human? a call for criminal justice reform,” has over 1 million views
Marlon spent his entire 20’s inside of New York State prisons for his involvement in a crime as a teenager. During that time he earned an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice with Honors. He spent the last five years of his incarceration as the head of the Transistional Services Center where he created programming and curricula for men nearing release from incarceration. He also spearheaded and designed an experiential workshop for incarcerated men and college students from Vassar College called, “Vassar & Otisville–Two Communities Bridging the Gap.”
During his incarceration he collaborated with friend, author, and founding principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, Dr. Nadia Lopez, to create a letter correspondence mentorship program with middle school students. This program set the foundation for the creation of H.O.L.L.A. (How Our Lives Link Altogether). Serving as the founding executive director, HOLLA is a 2016 recepient of an Echoing Green Fellowship under the leadership of the current executive director, Andrew Cory Green.
Since his release in prison in December 2009, Marlon has held several nonprofit positions. He is the former Director of Community Relations at The Fortune Society,and previously served as the Associate Director of the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center, founding coordinator of Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets, and co-founder of How Our Lives Link Altogether (H.O.L.L.A!). Marlon also serves as board chair of Families For Freedom and board member of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.
Marlon graduated from New York University with a Bachelors of Science with a concentration on Organizational Behavior.
Marlon’s writings have appeared in Ebony, Gawker, The Nation, The Crime Report, Black Press USA, Huff Post, The Roots, and other online publications. He has contributed to Kiese Laymon’s award winning novel, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America and Love Lives Here, Too by former New York Times columnist, Sheila Rule.
Marlon lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is working on his first novel.
“People like me, who come from where I come from, should be setting new paradigms for what justice looks like.That’s how we can” #BePrecedential.
As the wife of an incarcerated man Andrea learned quickly that the Criminal Justice System was anything but Just. Andrea Jones-Fordd – As a avid and passionate Advocate of Prison Reform Andrea spends her time fighting for the rights of the incarcerated, their loved ones and friends. This is not a path chosen by the faint of heart, it’s a challenge that demands inner strength, commitment and dedication. Here she shares her hopes for reform, her mission and her goals.
What is Inmate Lives Matter? Inmate Lives Matter is a group for helping to organize demonstrations and giving a voice to those who are currently in prison. To advocate and support in any way they can. To fight big government and keep them from making them numbers and not human beings, and to guide and support those in need of help.
Activist and Advocate Prison reform is Andrea's goal, her desire for a just legal system and fair treatment of all prisoners is the driving force behind her energy and pursuit for change. As a wife of a former incarcerated man she understands the pitfalls and the challenges both men and women face in an unfair, profit focused prison environment.
About Stephen Barbee Stephen’s earlier years were filled with promises. He was raised up in a Christian home which wasn’t easy; however, Pastor Leo Barbee Jr. and Juanita Anne were Godly parents and role models.
Stephen was a standout football player at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating in 1982. He went on to earn All-American honors as a running back at Highland Community College in Highland, Kansas. He led junior colleges in all purpose yards in the 1984 season averaging 177 yards per game. In 1985, Stephen attended Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska; played football and baseball for the school.
He returned to live in Lawrence, Kansas, for a couple of years serving as an assistant football coach at what was formally known as Haskell Indian Junior College. The team’s record was 6 and 4 in 1988. Later that year, he moved to Chicago to pursue a love interest that eventually fizzled
The Later Years In 1997, he became the first African American to serve as Men’s Director at the Pacific Garden Mission where he had once stayed; he held the job for two years. After that he worked for Featherfist Inc. in Chicago for one and one-half years assisting homeless clients. After several months, Stephen transferred his studies from Moody Bible Institute to Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication in 1999.
In July 2000, he separated from his wife; she left Chicago and took the children with her to St. Louis, Missouri. This separation affected Stephen with a relapse in his substance abuse problem. He found himself homeless again staying in shelters in Des Moines, Iowa and Hammond Indiana.
Road to Incarceration In July 2001,Stephen returned to Lawrence for what he thought would be a brief visit. Still struggling with his drug and alcohol addiction, he floated from job to job and relationship to relationship. During the summer of 2005, he was still under the influence on a daily basis not knowing one of his drug locations was under federal surveillance. Twice during the month of July, he was seen at this location.
On December 21, 2007, while at work in Topeka, Kansas, two detectives came to his place of employment with a warrant for his arrest. His original charge was 10 years to life for distribution of 5-kilo of crack cocaine. On this day, he was released on a $25,000 signature bond. In May 2008, his bond was revoked because of Stephen’s continual use of drugs while out and having several dirty UA’s. He was transported to Community Correction of America (a federal detention center for federal inmates) in Leavenworth, Kansas.
On August 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 70 months in the Bureau of Prisons. While there, God began a new work in Stephen’s life. In December of 1991, he was licensed for the Gospel Ministry; September 1997, he was ordained for the Gospel Ministry. As part of his incarceration, he was assigned a work detail. They placed him in religious services/chapel. God showed Stephen that he was restored. He was able to use his spiritual gifts while in prison. He also applied to be accepted in the BOP-RDAP program. This was a 500 hour intensive drug program; if completed successfully, he would be granted an early release.
Road back Home On January 18, 2012, he was released from prison after serving 44 months. When God restores, He restores because Stephen’s first place of employment was City Union Mission in Kansas City, Missouri, 73 days after his release.
God has truly opened doors for Stephen since his release from prison. He has served at City Union Mission, Restart Inc., Grace United Community Ministries, Metro Lutheran Ministry and Second Chance Program. At Metro Lutheran Ministry, Stephen was a program coordinator. He played an important role with their re-entry program. He understood those whom he served because of his struggles with drugs, alcohol and imprisonment.
Friendship & Support For Meditation, Mindfulness, & Kindness Facilitated Transcendence While in Tucker Max The Feed Kindness, Starve Harm project focuses on why and how to fuse mindfulness, meditation and kindness into everyday living. It grew out of initial correspondence between Doug Carnine, a professor emeritus from the University of Oregon and Roy Tester, an inmate in a maximum security prison.
Roy wanted to know more about Buddhism and meditation. Roy admitted to his crimes of retaliation against abusive parents and sought ways to transcend the prison experience with mindful kindness through Doug’s supportive friendship. Doug’s four-decade personal practice of mindfulness, meditation, and loving kindness through Buddhism was the original springboard in connecting with Roy and later to three other prisoners.
Through the growing friendships via letters, phone conversations and a visit to the Arkansas prison, Doug served as not only a mentor but a learner. Doug participated in and aided the development of a partnership to spread mindful kindness in the prison. In the two books he has written and the development of this web site, Doug shares what he and his prison friends are learning about the power of fusing mindfulness, meditation and kindness.
“Teaching well — to those who are likely to fail — is a precious gift.” Doug Carnine Bio
Douglas Carnine is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon. He was a National Science Foundation Fellow in Psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, where he graduated with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in 1969. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Utah in 1974. In 1981 he received the Ersted Award for outstanding teaching at the University of Oregon. Dr. Carnine has directed or co-directed over 20 federally funded grants, totaling over $15,000,000. As Director of the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators he worked with publishers on incorporating research-based practices in educational tools and with legislative, state board, business, community, and union groups to understand the policy implications of research-based educational tools for diverse learners. Dr. Carnine has worked with these groups in California, Virginia, Washington, Texas, and New York. He received a presidential appointment to the National Institute For Literacy, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served as a program committee chair for several years.
Since retirement from the UO, he has been developing a mindful kindness project that includes two books, Saint Badass: Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell (see 75 second trailer here) and How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness (see 75 second trailer here), and a related website, feedkindness.com.
Dr. Carnine has over 100 scholarly publications: over 60 research articles in refereed journals, 40 essays, over 20 chapters in books, and seven books (two on university-level computer science, Teaching Higher Order Thinking, Theory of Instruction, Instructional Strategies for Diverse Learners, Direct Instruction Reading, and Direct Instruction Math.). He is a co-author of textbooks for the elementary grades (mathematics and science), for the middle grades (science, world history, US history, and English literature and composition), and English literature and composition textbooks for high school.
He has presented at over a 100 conferences in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, the former USSR, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. He has served as consulting editor or editorial board member for eight journals
From Dope dealer to Hope Dealer Pastor Brian Cole (Knecht) – After 30+ years involved in Satanism and the occult, 27+ years of incarceration (4 as a juvenile, 23 as an adult), 25+ years as a drug addict, and caught up in many other addictions such as cutting, pornography, sex, dungeons and dragons, etc., in 2009 after being suicidal and almost succeeding on 3 occasions, I was arrested for the last time! At the age of 44 I had finally “come to myself,” and through a faith based drug and alcohol program offered in the County Jail, I came to know the Truth of Jesus Christ and was born again on January 22, 2009, being radically saved by the very same God I had denied for so many years!
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Glenn E. Martin is an American criminal justice reform advocate, who served six years in a New York state prison, and is the founder and now former president of Just Leadership USA (JLUSA). JLUSA aims to cut the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030 through advocacy campaigns, leadership training, and member engagement. He also co-founded the campaign, Education from the Inside Out Coalition, a national campaign working to remove barriers to higher education
facing students while they are in prison and once they are released.
Martin regularly comments on criminal justice in the media, including CNN, CSPAN, Al Jazeera, and MSNBC
Glenn E. Martin Bio
Glen E. Martin was born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of a retired police officer.
He spent six years incarcerated in New York prisons. In 1995, convicted for an armed robbery of a New York City jewelry store and was sentenced to six years. He was detained on Rikers Island for a year and served five additional years in the Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, New York for his role in several armed robberies.
While in prison, Martin took college level courses. Glen views his liberal arts education as a key turning point in his life. While at the Wyoming Correctional Facility, he earned an associate degree in social science from the Jesuit Canisius College based in Buffalo, N.Y. He still faced barriers to employment with a criminal record even though he had a college degree.
In 2000, he was released from prison in upstate Attica, New York. At release, a correctional officer thanked him: “He said my being there helped pay for his boat, and that when my son came there, he would help pay for his son’s boat.”
United States Criminal Justice Reform Glen E. Martin has worked with and founded various criminal justice reform non-profits. Martin also regularly comments on criminal justice issues. Martin has been critical of the disenfranchisement of felons in New York state, and in the United States. In 2014, He gave a guest lecture at Bennington College on criminal justice reform.
Legal Action Center Upon release from prison, he began his career with the Legal Action Center (LAC). Martin eventually served as the co-director of LAC’s Helping Individuals with criminal records Reenter through Employment (H.I.R.E.) Network. he worked to address the obstacles facing ex-offenders who try to reconnect with their communities and society at large. Glen discussed what he viewed as discrimination faced by people with criminal records, based on their criminal records and their race, noting that people of color are disproportionately represented in the American criminal justice system. He regularly spoke with media regarding criminal justice issues.
Fortune Society From 2007 until 2014, Mr Martin served as Vice President of Development and Public Affairs for the Fortune Society, a group dedicated to helping people returning from prison to succeed with starting new lives. Half of Fortune Society’s staff members were formerly incarcerated, and one-third of the board members were formerly incarcerated.
Mr Martin regularly spoke with the national media about criminal justice issues.
JustLeadershipUSA In November 2014, Mr Martin founded a new organization, JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA). Mr Martin told Mic that he “believes the most compelling advocates of change are those who have been directly affected by incarceration.” he appeared on the Brian Lehrer show to discuss the purpose of prison. JLUSA hosts training for formerly incarcerated leaders wanting to have a voice in the national debate over criminal justice and prison reform. On December 21, 2017, he announced his resignation from JustLeadershipUSA, after an orchestrated campaign to smear his name, led by a former disgruntled employee and former allies in the movement to #CLOSErikers.
White House Experience In early June 2015, Mr Martin, along with other criminal justice reform activists, were invited to the White House to discuss mass incarceration and law enforcement issues. Mr Martin was flagged by the United States Secret Service as a security risk because of his criminal record, and required to have a special escort in order to enter the White House complex for the discussion. Once cleared, Mr Martin used the incident “to frame the topic for larger criminal justice reform.” Ultimately, Martin met with President Obama to discuss JustLeadershipUSA and his efforts to help shrink the criminal justice footprint in the lives of all Americans.
Mary Buser LCSW, worked as a clinical social worker in the Mental Health Department on Rikers Island during the Giuliani administrations celebrated crackdown on crime
She began her Rikers sojourn as a student intern at the Rose Singer Center, where she provided therapy to incarcerated women, including a support group for mothers in the island’s nursery.
After earning her Master’s degree, she returned to Rikers to work at the George Motchan Detention Center, a maximum security facility for male detainees. Here, she provided both individual and group therapy to the general population, as well as to the jail’s mentally ill inmates.
Three years later, Ms. Buser was promoted to an assistant mental health chief. In this capacity, she supervised treatment at the “Mental Health Center,” the 350-bed facility for the city jail system's most seriously mentally ill inmates.
that can be used to promote healing within our country.
Working On Rikers
Following her stint at the Mental Health Center, Ms. Buser worked at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, which was structurally attached to the 500-cell Punitive Segregation Unit, aka, The Bing. Here, Ms. Buser supervised a mental health team in treating inmates held in solitary confinement, as punishment for various jailhouse infractions.
Prior to Rikers Island, Ms. Buser co-founded and served as Executive Director of The Samaritans of New York, a suicide prevention hotline. In this capacity, she assisted the New York City Police Department in the production of a suicide prevention film that was subsequently shown to all incoming cadets. Ms. Buser also testified before the New York City Council as to the extent of teenage suicide citywide.
Ms. Buser also worked at the Osborne Association's drug-rehab facility, El Rio, as well as at the Upper Manhattan Mental Health Center.
She received her Master's Degree from Columbia University.
Joshua Kangley Author and Motivational Speaker Allowing your past to define your future is responsible for the immense pain and low self-esteem thousands upon thousands of individuals live with every day, but it does not have to be this way.
I was locked up at an earlier point in my life and that experience has made a huge impact on me. I used to run as far away as I could from my past, but I’ve recently learned that in accepting it I could use it to help others. This has led me to write a book with the intention of helping as many people as I can. The book details the principles I used to overcome challenges and go from broke and in jail to happiness and success by completely changing my outlook.
The Power of Positivity
When you set out to seek the truth about life it can lead to unexpected places and possible disappointments. It can uncover uncomfortable feelings and challenges along the way. However, what I discovered is, that there is a number of truths. One of them, is the power of positive thinking. This is one of the very first truths I learned in my journey of life. I discuss these truths, or Principles, as I call them, in my book, “The 7 Principles of Success”
New Book
Yes You Can – Go For Achieving Your Dreams!
Available through Joshua! For only a limited time! Email Joshua at josh@hellomynameisjosh.com for the offer below!
Buy his new book now and receive his Best Seller for free! And FREE shipping! For a limited time, Joshua is personally offering his new book, Yes You Can!” for just $20! And along with that you get his Amazon Best Seller for FREE! Shipped to you for FREE! Email me at josh@hellomynameisjosh.com and let him know you are interested!
Skylar received her B.A. in Film and Media Studies at UC Berkeley in May of 2016. As a student at UC Berkeley, she served as Co-Executive Director of CalTV, Cal’s premiere student-run TV channel; and as a founder and leader of several film and media organizations at UC Berkeley.
Skylar's Bio
As an intern at CNN for the two summers during undergrad, Skylar worked on over 20 documentaries that have aired. She also served as a film program coordinator and mentor to high school students in Bosnia for the Mediterranean Film Festival, and taught photography to young women in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.
Skylar began working with formerly incarcerated students in April 2015, and produced and directed a short documentary titled Free Scholars in June 2015 that is shown in youth detention centers and criminal justice organizations across the country to encourage incarcerated individuals to consider enrolling in college. She currently serves as the Producer and Co-Director for FITE Film (From Incarceration to Education), a two-part film following the lives of formerly incarcerated students at UC Berkeley. FITE Film is a selected finalist for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2017, a finalist for Red Bull Amaphiko Academy 2017, and a Commitment to Action for the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU).
What is Fitefim? FITE Film (From Incarceration to Education) is a documentary about formerly incarcerated students at UC Berkeley and their road to higher education. An in-depth documentary film that delves into the stories of four formerly incarcerated students at UC Berkeley.
FITE Film First Look: David Maldonado
First Look, a special preview of the upcoming documentary From Incarceration to Education. Press play to meet David Maldonado, formerly incarcerated PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley.
From Incarceration to Education – FITE Film – is an upcoming documentary about formerly incarcerated students at UC Berkeley, and their roads to higher education. It is being created alongside an online database of resources for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals.
EXPO (EX-Prisoners Organizing) Mr. Jerome Dillard has been hired to be the statewide lead organizer for EXPO (EX-Prisoners Organizing). Click here for an excellent article he wrote. Jerome Dillard has more than 20 years of experience working with formerly-incarcerated people, and with people in prison. He is a founder of Voices Beyond Bars in Madison (and Voices Beyond Bars is a founding member of MOSES). Jerome has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and has most recently been the director of re-entry programs for Dane County.
Jerome takes inspiration from this quote from Nelson Mandela, who also spent time behind bars: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”.
Who is EXPO?
EXPO (EX-Prisoners Organizing) works to end mass incarceration, eliminate all forms of structural discrimination against formerly incarcerated people, and restore formerly incarcerated people to full participation in the life of our communities.
EXPO emerged in 2014 when formerly incarcerated people from around Wisconsin began to gather to discuss what it would look like to have our own statewide organization. Previously imprisoned women and men lead EXPO. Our members provide support to each other and organize to change Wisconsin’s unjust penal system. We receive support from family members of currently and formerly incarcerated people and allies who have not experienced incarceration. EXPO has active chapters in Milwaukee, Madison, and Eau Claire and we are developing chapters in Racine, Kenosha, Beloit, Green Bay, the Fox Cities, and Wausau. EXPO is a project of WISDOM, a statewide organization that links faith communities to work for justice.
EXPO members have helped lead campaigns that prompted policymakers to: • ban the box for federal jobs; • ban the box for jobs in the City of Madison, City of Milwaukee and City of Racine; • expand funding for Wisconsin’s Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Program; • reduce the use of solitary confinement in Wisconsin prisons; and • expand funding for Wisconsin’s transitional jobs program.
Formation EXPO Leaders have participated in 2-day (Friday evening and all day Saturday) leadership training events. 18 EXPO Leaders participated in a first ever “Week-long Leadership Training” in Milwaukee in June, 2015: Dozens of EXPO leaders have completed this specialized training since then. Many have completed a Fellowship Program designed to sharpen organizing skills and build the network. This is the first training of its kind held anywhere in the U.S., with the exclusive goal of empowering formerly-incarcerated people to build a powerful organization that can have a voice in the future of the criminal justice system.
You can get involved: • join a local EXPO chapter; • participate in an EXPO leadership development program; • join a ROC Wisconsin policy workgroup; • join a local ROC Wisconsin Task Force; • ask an EXPO leader to give a presentation to your organization, congregation, or class; • make a tax-deductible contribution to WISDOM to support the work of EXPO. Contact expogroupwi@gmail.com to get started!
EXPO Video Links MSDF Story Lab Snippets EXPO Presents: MSDF Campaign EXPO March to the State Capitol Reform Now: Revocations & GPS Monitoring EXPO MSDF Panel Discussion. RIDRacism Event
Epicenter is a group for those who have loved ones serving excessive sentences within TDCJ, whose crimes were committed as juveniles. We are here to support each other as well as Texas Second Look 2019.
This bill will pave the way for major parole reform for juvenile offenders that have languished in the system for decades. “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” Acts 16:26 NKJV
My goal is to make the criminal justice system more fair, effective and accountable. We need to move beyond the point where money buys a higher quality of justice and beyond the age old notion of crime and punsihment…….move on to something like mistakes and consequences. We need to individualize the process and spend much more time and resources on the front end of the problem so fewer people end up in prison.
Wolf Sittler Bio
My connection with corrections began occasionally wrote letters to the editor. About three 1967 when I was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota in the School of Social Work. Every student gets placed in an agency during school to get hands-on experience.
I went to the Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater and spent nine months there, part-time, doing group work with prisoners. After graduation, I accepted a job as a probation/parole officer for the Minnesota Dept of Corrections. Three years later I left that job and began working for a drug treatment program…..that was followed by several years in vocational rehabilitation and then by three years in Family Counseling working with parents who were fighting over their kids during divorce proceedings. That took up close to 15 years after which I left social work and began self employment as a woodworker.
In 1982 I moved to Texas to marry a woman I met in Minnesota Not long after that I took a job with Travis County Adult Probation in the Intensive Treatment Unit. While it was called “treatment”, there were too few resources and not enough time to do the job well. That also lasted three years and I left after realizing that the system, as designed, could never do what it was intended to. For the past 30 years I have been a self employed woodworker. For reasons unknown to me, I never lost interest in the criminal justice system and occasionally wrote letters to the editor. Three years ago I got a letter from a woman who said her son wanted to connect with me after reading something I wrote. Turns out he was, and is, a prisoner, sentenced at age 17 to 50 years for trying to kill the guy who murdered his best friend. The murderer got 30 years!. Since meeting Aaron, we have developed a close relationship and we visit and write.
After meeting him the network grew and now I am in touch with a number of prisoners, all sentenced as juveniles to excessive terms. Aaron has been championing the cause of treating juveniles more fairly for some years now. While I think the entire system needs major transformation, I’m with Aaron in beginning the change process with a focus on juveniles sent to adult prisons. In fact I am in the process of planning a documentary about this subject with the goal of educating the public as well as politicians.
Prison Abolition Prisoner Support (PAPS) Azzurra co-founded Prison Abolition Prisoner Support (PAPS), which is a pen pal to prisoners organization which focuses on peaceful street demonstrations, bringing new people into the fold of writing prisoners, and bridging the gap between inmates and their families, media and attorneys working on prison issues.
The prison-industrial complex, in all its forms, including; immigrant detention centers, city and county jails, as well as state and federal prisons, must be abolished. This is a social evil that must be eradicated. The prison-industrial complex does not keep the community safe; it profits the elite while ravaging our communities.
We are committed to ending racism, classism, patriarchy, ableism, cis-gendered privilege and ALL other interrelated forms of oppression. We recognize the prison-industrial complex is a racist institution, trans prisoners are especially vulnerable, and that women currently have the highest increase in rate of incarceration.
Azzurra is also a member of the Incarcerate US Podcast team and will be presenting groundbreaking, informative and educational podcasts with many Interesting and divers guests.
Gloria Woods is the mother of an incarcerated daughter. She talks about the difficulties and the road to healing for them both, her inspiration for the book ‘Broken Shackles’ . Gloria talks about mass incarceration and what she believes could be part of the solution. Gloria is also a Motivational Speaker, Rejected for a Purpose outreach.
Gloria Woods has a passion for people particularly single mothers incarcerated and their families. Her passion was birthed out of the struggles she faced as she provided love and care for her three children without any help from their Father.
Prison Ministry Prior to this Gloria experienced both physical and verbal abuse for many years, which she overcame. Despite the struggles, she is a faithful servant of the LORD and has a strong calling as an Evangelist. In 1996 she received her calling into the Ministry in Apopka, Florida. From 1999-2000 her voice was heard on the radio with her Go Your Way and Sin No More Program where she taught Gods word.
How being a Social Worker gave her coping skills She works as a Social Worker where she has learned skills in counselling and caring for others. As she went through many hardships God provoked her in the Spirit through prayer. In 2009, she experienced a great tragedy in the untimely death of her 18-month old granddaughter which resulted in the incarceration of her daughter. As a result, her pain brought her to a great purpose which included visiting the incarcerated, ministering to families which included Mothers, Fathers, sister, brothers and children of the incarcerated.
Incarceration, Addiction and Homelessness. What they have to do with foster care, and how we can change outcomes? In the United States we incarcerate 1.6 million people. From that, over 1.2 million are believed to be former foster youth. That is around 70-75% of all incarcerated individuals have spent time in foster care. When we look at the overall outcomes of the child welfare system, it becomes increasingly clear that it remains at the heart of many social issues and concerns in our Nation.
Across the country, local, state and federal governments are spending billions of dollars on incarcerations, addiction and homelessness. In addition, private businesses are having difficultly finding and keeping employees and at the root of it all lies childhood adversity and trauma.
This guest offers fresh solutions that focus not just on the problems but on SOLUTIONS that can be used to promote healing within our country.
About Shanandoah Chefalo
A former foster youth who aged out of the child welfare system, a secret she kept for over 20 years, Shenandoah Chefalo is a nationally recognized author, advocate and consultant. She offers a plain-spoken, action-based approach to not only re-imagining the child welfare system, but helping both private and public sector organization address how trauma is affecting their bottom line, our communities and most importantly the citizens trapped. Her dedication and passion will come through loud and clear for your listeners. Media kit available on request.
Shenandoah Chefalo is a graduate of Michigan State University, holding a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science, a Core Essentials Graduate from Coach U, and a member of the Foster Leaders Movement. She is a sought-after speaker on topics surrounding youth in foster care, and has been featured as a guest locally, nationally and internationally.
Guest Latest Book:Garbage Bag Suitcase, A Memoir (2016), Mission Point Press.
Shenandoah Chefalo 13919 S. West BayShore Dr., Suite 106 Traverse City, MI 49684 T:(231) 499-8973 E: shen@garbagebagsuitcase.com
Entrepreneur and former Prisoner Ron Freeman is changing the standard for Inmate Food Born Ronald Freeman to Brenda and Ronald Freeman Sr., in Phoenix, AZ. He moved to Inglewood, CA, where he would soon find his footing in the business world.
This entrepreneur doesn't have any fancy degrees, but he is truly savvy when it comes to owning and running a successful business. He does however, have a sales and marketing background by hard work and determination. He was never privy to a ‘silver spoon,’ so he had to make it the best way he knew how, with shear grit and ingenuity.
Ron Freeman is the epitome of integrity and dependability, which is how he runs and stabilizes his current company: “Mama Pats Foods,” started in 2010.
The Future of Mama pat's – Whats the Plan? “My goal is to market this into the prisons and jails across the U.S. to inspire the youth and incarcerated that they can start and own a legal business just like I did.”
Chef Ronald Freeman II, CEO of Mama Pat’s Foods USA / President Mama Pat’s Foods International
Incarcerate US Podcast Host Dante Cottingham Interviews Lina Trevino Co Founder of Inmate Lives Matter (Texas Chapter) from behind Prison walls. Dante is America's 1st and Only Incarcerated Podcast Host.
How was the Organisation founded? Lina Trevino – Inmate Lives Matter was founded by 2 passionate prison wives just under a year ago. We decided to do something constructive with our time while our loved ones were away. We provide support and advocacy. We teach family members how to advocate for their loved ones and provide resources. We also have an office address and corrlinks set up if an inmate who does not have family on the outside and would like to request our assistance. We are a nationwide organisation, but we have reached out to other local advocacies so we can be more effective and educate the community at a local level. Right now, we’re working on a nationwide parole reform project.
What is Our Mission? We’re hoping to convince the states that have parole boards to add an inmate advocate to the parole board in an effort to level the playing field. In Texas, my group will be attending the march for prisoners in Austin in August to protest prison slavery and a juvenile lifer summit coming up in November. The purpose of the juvenile lifer summit is to hopefully pass a bill in 2019 that allows juvenile lifers to receive good time credits which isn’t currently a possibility. We do have a Wisconsin chapter however, we are currently looking for someone local to help us run it.
This group is for those who hope to give a voice to those behind bars in Texas. Our mission is to advocate on their behalf, and to bring awareness to the tax payers and elected officials of the injustices that these individuals face.
Incarcerate US Podcast Host Dant’e Cottingham Interviews Kat Warner Criminal Justice Advocate from behind Prison walls. Dant’e is America’s 1st and Only Incarcerated Podcast Host.
Advocate and Law Student Kat Warner is currently pursuing her Criminal Justice Degree. Her personal experiences have changed her life’s journey and put her on the path of Advocacy for prison reform and re entry. In this podcast she talks about the problems within the Justice System both whilst in prison and upon release.
One of the many things this podcast channel tries to do is to provide a platform for the voices of US citizens who have been impacted by mass incarceration. In this interview Kat openly talks about the loss of her son and it shows how powerful that loss has been in driving Kat to change not only her own life but that of those lost in the Prison system.
Incarcerate US Podcast Host Dante Cottingham Interviews April Segura McFarland from behind Prison walls. Dante is America's 1st and Only Incarcerated Podcast Host.
Activist, Tutor, Advocate and Mom Being a busy mother of three does not deter April from being one of the most pro-active prison reform activist’s on the planet. From teaching classes to inmates in a work release center, cooking meals for guys who come out and work on vehicles through a program called “Charity Auto”, and then just befriending those incarcerated and listening to their stories as much as she can.
Northern Lighthouse Ministry The program that April teaches classes with is called “RIP” (reintegration program) with the Northern Lighthouse Ministry She also assists with:
Charity Autos On Saturday mornings, a group of inmates from the Community Corrections Center of Lincoln and a handful of volunteers work on cars by donation and cost of parts only. To receive this service, please call the Northern Lighthouse by the Wednesday and give us a detailed message about your auto repair needs. (402) 477-3550
To find out more about the work April is doing or to get involved we would like to recommend you take a look at the promotional Video available on you-tube. Re-Integration Program Lincoln, NE promo video. During the conversation April explains the difficulties facing inmate families, both financial and emotional, the effects on the children when a parent is incarcerated and what she believes Judges and legislators are blind to during sentencing. Our Mission Love: We will help people understand and practice God’s standards of love in community. Intercession: We will pray for those who are in danger, those who are lost, and those who need direction. Giving: We will give of ourselves, our time, and our finances to help those who lack resources. Hospitality: We will open our homes to each other and to those God brings to us, even strangers. Thankfulness: We will worship the Lord personally and corporately, celebrating who He is and what He has done for us.
Incarcerate US Podcast Host Dante Cottingham Interviews James D Kronenberger former President Ohio Cure from behind Prison walls. Dante is Americas 1st and Only Incarcerated Podcast Host.
Fair Treatment Reform & Re-entry’s mission is to raise public awareness about the criminal justice system through education and dissemination of information.
We advocate for a fair, just, and transparent parole process and encourage State lawmakers to support these goals. We believe in the power of inmates to change and think they should have a fair chance at justice. Fair Treatment Reform & Re-entry also focuses on assisting those released from prison with effective re-entry strategies by providing information and resources. We love to help out with certain parole board issues.
FairtreatmentReformAndReentry.org T: 614-809-3288 T: 614-404-4924
Incarcerate Us Prison Podcast Introduction - Americas 1st Social Media Prison Platform. In this Podcast Series our host Dant'e Cottingham a Prisoner in the WI. Dept of Corrections interviews Concerned Citizens, Activists and Advocates who have been affected by Mass Incarceration or are pursuing Prison Reform.
www.incarcerateus.com Email: incarcerateus.podcast@mail.com
To contact Dante direct: Dante Cottingham #259241 PO Box 233 Black River Falls, WI 54615