• FTB2TB

    @ w-77748 the movement has began! its starts with the mindset and you hit the nail right on the head! You no longer accept the label of “felon” thats a strong statement! Peace and stay focused! 

  • W-77748

    I’m an ex-felon who just got accepted to grad school… (Thanks Nancy for all your help! :) )  I am also a core leader in the Justice 4 All Campaign–A Minnesota based grassroots coalition which is challenging unfair hiring practice (Check the Box and  criminal background checks) used by our states largest employers.

     I can no longer sit quietly and accept the label of “felon” as a  collateral consequence of my past behavior. I am one of many who  identify as a casualty in the War on Drugs.  I have left behind  friends at CCWF (Chowchilla) who have spent days, months, and years dreaming of the day when they too can re-enter life as healthy mothers, employees, taxpayers, community members, voters and law abiding citizens.

    My hope is that this movement will spread across our nation. I applaud the work of Tracey Syphax and others who are working tirelessly to prove that you just don’t throw people away because of poor insight or judgement or life circumstances. 

  • Domino

    Thankyou …

    this, from the top,
    ” approximately 60% of inmates are arrested within 3 years after their release.”
    is this partly due to continually being watched and hounded and taken to task for every minor thing (and possible made-up things) that any other citizen would just get off with a warning??

    • Anonymous

      Hi, Domino – great to see you.  (I’m the former RadioGirl.)

      Yes, Tracey is absolutely right. 

      • Domino

        nice to see you too Kay/RG  :)

        was that already written somewhere in the article and I missed it? I’m just going off of what I know from people around here who have been in jail and now continue to go back and forth to jail for such minor/stupid things…

        • Anonymous

          You didn’t miss anything, Domino.  You’re always right on time.

    • yes

      great to see you here Domino

      thank you

  • Anonymous

    Thanks, Tracey!  Hope folks are inspired to take action.

    • thanks again for making this possible;e conlakappa

      Great story and inspiration for us all

    • Anonymous

      much gratitude, conlakappa, for making this post possible.

  • Anonymous

    An excellent diary and an even more excellent idea!!!
    I look forward to reading your book.

    On another topic:

    If you’ve not done so, please go to Amnesty International’s Web site and sign the petition to
    Stop the Execution of Reggie Clemons in Missouri. Thank you all.

    http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=14230&msource=W1210EADP2

    Thanks to Nancy, Radio Girl and Seeta for making “Criminal Injustice” possible. For every diary we read we expand our consciousness and hope for true justice in this world.

    • thank you ruby!

      appreciate the Amnesty link — yes!!

      always grateful for  you and your support..

    • Anonymous

      deep appreciation, ruby.

      signed.

  • Anonymous

    Excellent work.  Our priorities are seriously out of whack.

    • entirely backwards — aren’t they??

      thanks for being here robinswing

  • Anonymous

    I appreciate Tracey Syphax offering his point of view and sharing some of his life’s story with us here today.  It’s too easy to view ex-offenders as marked people who have nothing to contribute to society once they get out. 

    For sure there is so much that needs to be changed about our criminal injustice system .  We can talk about who gets caught up in the process of being id’d as bad from the time that they are young.  We can talk about disparate treatment in terms of arrests, convictions, and sentencing.  We can talk about prison privitization and the exploitation of prisoners as low-paid or unpaid laborers.  This series has done an excellent job of dealing with all of these topics.

    Today we have another voice of one who has actually lived the experience. He is stressing a positive approach of regaining control of his life that worked for him, and he hopes that it will work for others.  Because the reality is that many of the people in prison now will be out eventually.  What can we do to make their transition back to our world a successful one? 

    I have a close relative who made some bad choices as a young man and served a fairly lengthy prison sentence in Ca. While he was incarcerated he benefited from the support of close family members. He managed to finish his HS credits and take a training course that led to a job when he got out.  He has gone on to work as a gang intervention specialist and has been a good father to his two children.  So, what Tracey writes about here seems very familiar to me.

    • truth sage!

      thank you

    • Badphairy

      That’s what bothers me about the lack of opportunities for people who have theoretically paid their dues. They are often prevented by punitive sanctions from doing the turning their life around that society says it wants with one hand then dangles it out of reach with the other.
      <a href=Partial list:
      Nineteen states “may terminate the parental rights of convicted felons. In twenty-nine jurisdictions (includes states and the District of Columbia) being convicted of a felony is “legal ground for divorce.” In twenty-five jurisdictions, convicted felons can never hold public office. In six states a felon can never hold public employment. Federal law forbids felons from holding many government jobs or receiving federal contracts. In thirty-one jurisdictions convicted felons are permanently barred from serving on a jury. Federal law forbids all convicted felons from owning a firearm. Forty-six jurisdictions require former felons to register with local law enforcement. All sexual offenders must register with local law enforcement officials for at least ten years after release from prison; longer times for certain offenses. The names of those registered are made available to any member of the public. People convicted of a drug felony can be denied all forms of federal assistance, including food stamps. Although states can opt out or narrow the focus of these penalties, only twelve states have entirely rejected them; slightly more than half have narrowed the scope of these rules. Everyone convicted of a drug-related felony, and indeed, many former felons, can be denied access to federal housing. The Higher Education Act of 1998 suspends their eligibility for student loans for at least a year, even for simple possession; longer, for second offenses and for selling drugs. This loss of benefits may be reinstated if the person goes through an “approved” drug treatment program. In twenty-nine jurisdictions (includes states and the District of Columbia) being convicted of a felony is “legal ground for divorce.” In twenty-five jurisdictions, convicted felons can never hold public office. In six states a felon can never hold public employment. Federal law forbids felons from holding many government jobs or receiving federal contracts. In thirty-one jurisdictions convicted felons are permanently barred from serving on a jury. Federal law forbids all convicted felons from owning a firearm. Forty-six jurisdictions require former felons to register with local law enforcement. All sexual offenders must register with local law enforcement officials for at least ten years after release from prison; longer times for certain offenses. The names of those registered are made available to any member of the public. People convicted of a drug felony can be denied all forms of federal assistance, including food stamps. Although states can opt out or narrow the focus of these penalties, only twelve states have entirely rejected them; slightly more than half have narrowed the scope of these rules. Everyone convicted of a drug-related felony, and indeed, many former felons, can be denied access to federal housing. The Higher Education Act of 1998 suspends their eligibility for student loans for at least a year, even for simple possession; longer, for second offenses and for selling drugs. This loss of benefits may be reinstated if the person goes through an “approved” drug treatment program.

      I think our system has some fundamental conflicts about whether it truly wants to rehabilitate or just punish someone forever.

  • Tracey D. Syphax

    Thank you all for your comments! Thanks to my Cousin Karla and Nancy for posting my thought! In these tough times we must now begin to Count the Cost of Incarceration! Thanks!

    • Anonymous

      Tracey, your suggestions for policy that would help are excellent.

      I echo your thanks to conlakappa and Nancy. 

      The cost of incarceration is too high! 

    • Thanks for being here Tracey and thank you again for sharing your suggestions and your inspiring story

      yes the costs in $$ and lives are too great to bear..

      • geminijen

        Tracey – I appreciate your example for people’s ability to change and I am all for developing one’s skills and abilities.  But the Chamber of commerce is supporting a right wing version of success that supports the recent U.S. Supreme court decision making coporations persons and other reactionary positions that pit the business man against his workers.  I am a teacher and one of the things I want to teach people (cons or otherwise) is to think for themselves. I think it is important to educate one’s self, but not just in the ways to be polite so that one can “go along to get along’ with the ruling elite, but to understand deeply how peop;le end up in prison in the first place — to understand that many of the corporate folks in that board room are also criminals amd that the fact they have accumulated wealth does not make them less so.  There are many roads to success, and I hope that we discriminate between those that just turn us into a different, more acceptable kind of criminal and those that help all people get a successful life without  taking others down in the process. 

        • Anonymous

          “cons or otherwise?”

        • Anonymous

          How condescending while offering a facile reduction of a plan of action into a lecture on “the” Chamber of Commerce.  You do know that chambers operate separately from the U.S. Chamber, right?  And you noticed that engaging businesses is only part of the plan?  That being said, it’s all well and good to have a rarefied sense of what people with criminal records will do next, somehow not working in business.  The reality, I should think, is quite a different story.  So what does that leave?

          I doubt that Tracey has gotten where he is by not thinking and/or acting for himself.  I take it you will sign up to do something, though. 

  • Thank you, Tracey! 

    This is a very comprehensive piece.  As seeta said, I have a few people that I want this piece with.  

  • Wow, thank you for this exceedingly powerful piece, Tracey Syphax.  I work with formerly incarcerated men and women — I plan to share your piece and your inspiring story.  Looking forward to your book.

    • i look forward to it also seeta!

      and thanks –as always — for hosting here

    • Anonymous

      He is a speaker, you know.  And just one State away…  Tracey has some great stuff to say about starting businesses.

      • I wonder if Tracey would be interested in doing a talk in Buffalo, if possible?  Perhaps I should email to coordinate? :)

        • Anonymous

          No harm in trying!

  • Anonymous

    so shameful that we can deny felons the vote.  one day, all the states will get over that nonsense.

    thank you, tracey!

    • Anonymous

      shameful indeed, Cedwyn.

      Thanks for being here tonight.

    • hey cedwyn

      voter suppression efforts are escaalting as we speak –with ex-felons as of course a fket part of this

      sooner rather than later is the time to start on all this

      and thanks for being here

    • Anonymous

      And have stuff from decades ago still attached to them. 

  • Thank you so much Tracey! Look forward to the book!

    The list if suggestions is spot on — wish we could increase awareness opportunity and yes of course the repressive laws that make the current incarceration crisis possible ..

    Thank you again for your perspective and work on these issues..

  • Anonymous

    Thank you, Tracey Syphax, for a powerful post – and powerful argument for much greater public investment in education – for prisoners, former prisoners, and for young folks who do not need to be fodder for the school to prison pipeline.

    Looking forward to reading your book.