Incarcerate Us Podcast Interviews: Recent Episodes
Incarcerate US Podcast
Here at The Incarcerate Us Podcast Channel we are working hard to bring you the very best Podcasts from people across the Nation who have been affected by and or have been Advocating transformation and reform of the Prison Criminal Justice System. If your Organisation/Loved one needs to be heard then we urge you to subscribe and create your prison Podcast. Give your loved one a voice on America’s first Social Media Prison Platform today!
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to New Men New Money. A tutorial aimed at sharing information to prisoners (and friends and family of prisoners) about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. This group will also involve information about how to take advantage of the investment opportunities created by Bitcoin and blockchain technology. This group will also serve as a “think-tank” and it will help to develop an advanced view of what our world could be and should be. Blockchain technology is set to change the world in very dramatic and radical ways. And is doing so already.
The technology was created to even the playing field for the less fortunate. But the less fortunate must first become aware that this new tool even exist. And thats why we are here. Please join and spread the word.
Youth Violence Post
(S.T.P.C.) Stop the Pain Campaign
Every breath we take is priceless, some we can’t put no amount of money or wealth on! I would like you to join me in this campaign and epidemic with our youth and this violence.
Summer time has came for many of us. It is an important time in our lives. We got the chance to vacation, visit family and friends and enjoy the beautiful weather.
In time we have this serious (epidemic) on our hands with this youth violence, it’s out of control and at an all time high in this country, US, the land of the free. This (epidemic) is nothing, but a “disease” and we as a community village we have to find a cure and some solutions to this (epidemic) before we lose our future.
The statistics are egregious, among the world’s wealthy nation, the United States accounts for 91 percent of all “Firearm Deaths” of children younger than 15, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine. Familyfirst.org/youthviolence “Homicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 24 that’s enough right there, let alone gang violence up there as well in all the major cities and small towns.
Join me in this campaign in finding some solutions to this “madness”!!
Help stop the pain!
I would like to hear from all so feel free to send comments and questions with your solutions to this problem.
I can also be reached at abarnes1037@emailinterface.org
www.incarcerateus.com
Today I had the opportunity to share my story with you. I am certain many of you have heard about my case but for the first time in over 30 years I can finally speak for myself, in my own words and tell you my truth. Please listen to what I want to say to you.
I think its important I give you my address here at Coleman federal Correctional. This is how a person could
write to me, but they can’t send any type of thinking of you cards, or other type of cards. The letters you can’t use address
labels, you must write your address and name on the envelope, you can send up to 25 pictures, your letter must be written on white paper and your envelope must be white and no perfumes on the letter. If a person send funds to me it could be sent
through western union or money gram and all they have to do is give them my name and number and tell them at either
western union or money gram the want to send it through what’s call “QUICK COLLECT”, and that way I get the funds in
an hour or so at the prison. Now writing me the address and other is below:
Rufus Rochell
08628-017
Federal Correctional Complex-Med.
P.O. Box 1032
Coleman, FL 33521-1032
https://incarcerateus.com/members/ruf...
www.incarcerateus.com
incarcerateus@aol.com
British Actor and Director Alex Dower – Creating Freedom
Incarcerate US Podcast Host Dant’e Cottingham Interviews Actor Alex Dower – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom … Royal National Theatre … & multi-award winning director, writer & acting teacher. London-Russia-Africa
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
On August 7, 2013, Floyd Myers reported he and his friend, John Hamlett, were victims of an armed robbery at a park by two men. He claimed his car was taken. Police found the car the same day two miles away, drug paraphernalia was found inside the vehicle. A partial fingerprint was found on the steering wheel of the vehicle, and was matched to Bryan Adams, who was interviewed by police on September 18, 2013. Bryan was unable to remember what he was doing that day, but was positive he had not been at the park on the day in question, had never been in Myers’ vehicle, and, further, did not drive, as he did not have a license. At trial, Myers testified that he did not recognize Adams as the man who robbed him, nor had he seen the assailant who confronted Hamlett during the subject robbery. Hamlett did not turn up to testify. The defense failed to vigorously challenge the reliability of the fingerprint identification. Solely on the basis of the partial fingerprint match, Bryan was convicted and sentenced to consecutive sentences of 20 years for armed carjacking and 20 years imprisonment, all but ten years suspended, for the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, as well as a concurrent sentence of 15 years for the robbery with a dangerous weapon. Source: Ruling denying an appeal. Transcripts Discussion | Proposal Post
https://www.facebook.com/FreeBryanAdams/
Bryan Adams is currently incarcerated in a Maryland prison , convicted of armed car jacking and armed robbery but he strongly asserts his innocence and adamantly declares he is wrongfully convicted. Listen to his story and fight for exoneration.