Taxation Without Representation

Formerly Incarcerated Citizens and Civil / Political Disability

By Danny Ray Thomas

When returning citizens reenter society, probation and parole expects us to immediately find employment and begin the process of developing as productive citizens. Our paychecks have the same withholdings just as anyone else in the workforce. By April 15th of every year, we’re required to have our taxes filed, and if we’re lucky we’ll get a refund. In other instances, we’re told we owe money or funds are withheld for child support or other debts the state or federal government have made claims to.

What has always concerned me is the fact that we can be taxed as anyone else without restoration, yet we cannot vote without permission. Our tax dollars will assist in funding schools and first responders, ironically our tax dollars also pay the probation officer who’ll violate us and send us back to prison where our taxes will also pay the corrections officers and prison officials who’ll stand watch over us.

Well after incarcerated citizens complete their sentence, we remain “civilly disabled.” Why is it that we lose the right to determine which legislators and other politicians determine what’s best for the communities we live in? This is clearly “retribution,” which is considered one of the (4) four goals of incarceration, the other three being, societal protection, deterrence, and punishment. In some instances, the Courts have referenced “rehabilitation” as a fifth, but refuting that fallacy would be encyclopedic in length.

In any event, we remain “civiliter mortuus” (civilly dead) to the state which not only impacts our right to vote on the local level. Clearly this makes no sense. Again, we don’t have to prove ourselves to pay taxes yet we must do so to vote. I’d love to hear Governor Youngkin’s answer to this question; better yet, I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he’s discussing this issue behind closed doors!

Governor Youngkin is empowered to remove what the Courts refer to as “political disabilities,” but not all rights lost as a result of a felony conviction, for instance, the jurisdiction to restore firearm rights lost in those circumstances is vested in the circuit court. The Virginia Constitution allows the Governor of Virginia to individually restore political rights of convicted felons without judicial review, see the
Va. Constitution article V, section 12.

Restoration of the right to vote, hold public office, to serve on a jury, or be notary public does not constitute an inherent danger to public safety or does it? Maybe this is true for those in power that realize the power of the formerly incarcerated citizen.We all know that old addage “givem an inch they’ll take a mile!

Today we’ll vote, tomorrow we’ll serve on a jury, the day after we’ll hold public office. Neither aspiration of serving on a jury or holding public office can occur without the initial ability to vote. If they nullify our ability to vote, they also nullify our ability to have a direct impact on the system. It’s obvious which side of the aisle the ‘formerly incarcerated citizen’ stands on, can someone say “Progressive!”

In 2016, Governor Terry McAullife used his executive power to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 former prisoners in response to campaigns to end felony disenfranchisement. “I remain committed to moving past our Commonwealth’s history of injustice to embrace an honest process for restoring the rights of our citizens,” the governor said.”The struggle for civil rights has always been a long and difficult journey but the fight goes on.Unfortunately, republicans challenged the Governor’s executive order to The Virginia Supreme Court and the court determined that Governor McAuliffe did not have the authority to restore these rights without an individual application by each petitioner. Howell v. McAullife , 292 Va. 320.

The opposition to the restoration of voting rights to the formerly incarcerated has created an attitude of pessimism and defeat in many. My message to them is simple, “If voting doesn’t matter, why do they fight so hard to keep you from participating in the process?”

In Struggle,
D Ray Thomas, Green Rock Correctional, #1054249

My name is Danny Ray Thomas and I’ve been incarcerated for 21 years. I am from Pittsylvania county just outside of Danville, Va. I currently reside at Green Rock Correctional and I work as the Treatment aide. I work with counselors teaching anger management, thinking for a change, victim impact and ready to work.I am an activist and mentor in this community of men. I’m not one who’d shy away from the struggle we face, instead I embrace it. I’ve written for the “unlocked project,” a collaboration between the Coalition for Justice and Virginia Tech. I’ve also written for NYU ‘s review of law and social change publication called “The Harbinger,” my piece with them is called “The Calamity of Sentencing in Virginia” which can be found at http://www.socialchangenyu.com.I am also a part of NYU’s “Jailhouse Lawyer’s Initiative. Needless to say I am a student of this movement against mass incarceration and I look forwarded to collaborating with anyone who feels the same as I do.

My American Citizenship

I want to touch on voting and on enhanced earned sentence reductions. The right to vote is fundamental to any civilized nation. As is the right to liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. Should I, as an inmate and convicted felon, lose these things? No. It is true that I have lost a portion of my freedom, but only a portion. I am still covered by the Bill of Rights and the Constitutions of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia. I did not lose my American citizenship when I was convicted of my crime. I did not cease to be a resident in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So why should I, as an American citizen and a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, lose my right to vote just because I was convicted of a felony? The answer is simple, because it is a way to further punish me and because most Republicans believe allowing me to vote will cost them elections. Now that’s not how Conservatives will frame their argument against my right to vote of course. They will claim, with a very staunch look, that removing a convicted felon’s right to vote is a deterrent to crime. Honestly, though, have you ever heard anyone say they aren’t going to commit a felony because they will lose their right to vote? Nobody has. So here is the crux of my position on convicted felons, incarcerated or not, voting. If it is constitutional to take away the right to vote from an American citizen and a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia because he or she committed a felony, then who is next? What’s to stop the government from taking away the right to vote from people who are pro choice? What’s to stop the government from taking away the right to vote from people who are Muslim? Now you are probably saying the Constitution stops them. Well, it didn’t stop them from taking away the right to vote from felons who are covered by the same Constitution of which you are speaking. Let me be fair though. I have been on both sides of the criminal justice system. I do fully understand stripping some rights away from convicted felons. I understand stripping a convicted felon of his or her right to bear arms. I understand stripping a convicted felon of some of his or her protections against searches and seizures. These things are done for the protection of society at large. But how is anyone protected by denying convicted felons the right to vote? They aren’t. That takes us back to my earlier point, denying convicted felons the right to vote is nothing more than further punishment. It is a Conservative stance to show that they are tough on crime and a product of their fear that allowing convicted felons to vote will cost them elections. However, I don’t think anyone believes it is constitutional to deny someone the right to vote just because they won’t vote the way you want them to. Yet that is what is happening to convicted felons each time we have an election.

Now to my second point, enhanced earned sentence reductions. These reductions make good sense on a number of levels. First, they make prisons safer for inmates, officers, and staff. The more an inmate has to lose, the more that inmate will think before doing something wrong. The less an inmate has to lose, the less that inmate will care about doing wrong. Second, giving an inmate the chance to earn credits toward a sentence reduction gives an inmate hope and something to work for. Hope and purpose are essential to anyone’s mental and physical wellbeing, especially an inmate’s. Now I realize that Departments of Correction do a great job of talking about rehabilitation, but that is basically all smoke and mirrors. The reality is that they do the absolute bare minimum to even try and rehabilitate anyone. That leaves rehabilitation in the hands of the inmate. He or she must take the initiative to better themselves. However, for most inmates that seems pointless. What is the point in trying to better yourself when you are not rewarded for it? Therefore, I have an idea I would like to see implemented in Virginia and other states as well. As the federal government makes pell grants more available, I believe this idea will become more and more implementable. Many inmates leaving prison are behind the eight ball educationally when they seek employment. I propose that states enact legislation that allows an inmate to earn enhanced sentence reductions for every degree the inmate receives while incarcerated. States could provide an inmate with a five percent reduction in their sentence for each degree they earn, on top of their good behavior reduction. This would make for smarter and more knowledgeable inmates. It would make for more qualified and employable men and women looking to join the workplace following prison. It would improve the mental and physical wellbeing of inmates. It would allow inmates a quicker transition back into society. It would allow inmates the opportunity to do something that would bring themselves, their families, and their loved ones a sense of pride and accomplishment. And it would keep inmates busy, leaving them less time to get into trouble. I firmly believe this program would benefit the States, the inmates, inmates’ families, employers, society, and our nation as a whole.

Travis Sorrells, Haynesville Correctional Center

BIO: Currently, I am about nine years into a fifteen year sentence. I am also seeking a Theological Degree through International Christian College and Seminary. My goal during this time is to make myself as ready as possible to reenter society in a way that allows me to be both productive and contributive.

The Loudest Voice is Our Vote

While sitting in the Birmingham jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in longhand his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Within this letter, he stated how he couldn’t sit idly by in Atlanta, his home state, and not be concerned about what was happening in Birmingham. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

In my 23 years of incarceration, I live with the direct result of an injustices I created. This injustice is now effecting me and many others and that injustice is: “NOT VOTING.”

In November of 1994, my late father-in-law warned me of not voting. It was during this time that Mr. George Allen was campaigning for governor. His campaign was fueled by the ‘tough on crime’ mantra, with the abolishing of parole as the prize for electing him as governor. I never paid much attention. And to be honest I really didn’t care. Never in a million years did I think that abolishing parole would become like a modern day genocide.

I know that crime must be dealt with, and we all want a safe society. However, many make mistakes, are remorseful and seek rehabilitation to become a better person.

Now in 2023, I find myself facing a very lengthy prison sentence, without the possibility of parole. During these past 20 years, I have met many individuals, some guilty, and a few not guilty. I’ve also met many who, through the rehabilitative process are better and different people today. But the majority of us continue to find ourselves at the mercy of the governor to one day enjoy the freedom that we took for granted and forfeited.

I didn’t vote in 1994, the following year (1995), he fulfilled his promise and abolished parole in Virginia. I’m living in the results of not voting. Many think that my one vote doesn’t matter, just think in a small town, someone won a school board seat winning 3 to 2. Voting matters from our local elections to the highest elections. Voting is actually your voice!!

I lost my right to vote; now, I try to inspire others to vote. I speak to inmates often telling them to encourage their family to vote. Yes, we’ve lost our rights to vote. But think if each of the 37,000 plus inmates in Virginia would inspire 10 people to vote, that would be would be 370,000 votes cast. Yes, it would be in different districts, but I promise you this would make a difference.

So inspire your family and friends to vote. When they ask if they can help, say yes, Vote!! Also tell them to get in touch with their elected officials, from their local representative (senate and delegate) to your national (senate and delegate) prior to elections. If these elected officials will not return your email, letter, or call, then thats a blatant example of them not EARNING your vote.

It’s time that they realize that our votes must not be taken for granted but must be earned.
Let them know what issues effect you and your community. These elected officials are there because of you and for you.

It’s time that we stop being “Democrats, Independent or Republican.” We are humans with a voice, and the loudest voice is our VOTE. It’s time that they stop taking us for granted. Many have gone before us before us, oftentimes being jailed and treated harshly for wanting to vote. We no longer have to count the “jelly beans” in jar. We just have to register. Pass on the importance of voting on to your kids.

To my fellow ex offenders, vote for us! Make getting your rights restored a priority. Speak out for change.
Its time that we stop giving away what many others earned through their blood, sweat, tears and some death.

Many died for us to have the right to vote, don’t give it away, because this injustice is a threat to justice everywhere.

Samuel E Harris #1026738
Lawrenceville Correctional Center

Suffolk, Virginia

(Sam) a successful car salesman in the Tidewater Area who suffered an accident while in service to his country and later diagnosed with PTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but later denied treatment due to bureaucratic red-tape, caused him to self-medicate and lead to his incarceration for robbery with a 220 year sentence, with 60 to serve. In spite of his situation of incarceration, he has used the last 23 years to rehabilitate and become the devout man of God he is, that has served others through the positions and platforms he’s held within prison. He’s also co-authored several books :”Beyond The Shackles” and ” Speaking Out for Change” as well as authoring his own book ” A Double Minded Man” soon to be released. He can be contacted via US mail or email @ JPay.com Samuel E Harris #1026738

It Would Forever Unfit Him To Be a Slave

“….A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master – to do as he is told. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now,” he said, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontent and unhappy.” – (The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas)

Within the above quote, Frederick Douglas recounts the moment his slave master admonished his wife for teaching him (Frederick Douglas) the alphabet. According to Frederick Douglas, his enslaver was fearful that an education would make him unfit to be a slave. After witnessing this exchange Douglas was certain that the words his master spoke were true. He now understood that Whites greatest power over Blacks was their ability to keep them blinded through their ignorance. From this moment on, Douglas became obsessed with learning to read and write. But since his mistress now forbade him to learn, Douglas had to devise clever ways to get around the social barriers that made it unlawful for him to learn.

This quote is relevant today, because we now live in an era where the White power structure once again has erected new barriers that prohibit Black children from learning. Groups like Moms For Liberty have lobbied for, and Republican leaders like Florida’s Governor Desantis, have passed laws outlawing Critical Race Theory and banning books by Black authors that address race issues in America. The deprivation of a quality education for Black children remains a prominent agenda of White supremacy in America.

If Blacks living in America today hope to overcome the education barriers of our era, then we must adopt the resolve of Frederick Douglas. We must adopt the mentality that any where we are at can be transformed into a classroom and we must use every conceivable opportunity and resource at our disposal to educate ourselves and our children. As a race, we cannot allow our ability to learn to be limited by our group’s inability to receive a quality education inside of the White power structures public schoolhouse.

I once heard a story about this ancient philosopher. It is said one day one of his students came to him requesting additional education. The philosopher looked as his pupil and said, “You want to know what else I have to teach you?” The pupil replied, “Yes!” The philosopher told his pupil, “Follow me.” The two men walked to the coastline and the philosopher enter the water where it was waste deep and gestured for his pupil to follow. When they both were submerged waste deep in the water the philosopher said, “Now I will show you what else I have to teach you.” The philosopher grabs his pupil’s head and pushes it down into the water. The two struggle as the philosopher continues to hold the pupil’s head beneath the water. Finally, the philosopher relents and the pupil comes up from the water gasping for breath. The philosopher looks at him and says, “This is what I have to teach you. You should want knowledge the same way you wanted air.”

Ensuring that Black children in America are receiving a quality education is something that we have taken for granted. But when we are deprived of it, or it under threat to be taken away. We quickly realize just how important it is to our overall survival as a race of people. This should naturally produce resistance within us and create a power struggle where we fight now begin the fight for power, we now understand why it important for us alone to control our own education the same way the drowning man understands why he needs to fight for control over his right to breathe independently.

Lord Serious Hakim Allah
#1404741

Lord Serious is an author, artist, activist, blogger, and representative of the Nation of Gods and Earths and the Director of Umoja Nation. His latest children book “Squirrels, Beavers, And Everyone Else” is scheduled to be released in March as an eBook on LuLu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most major distributors where ebooks are sold. Work Release (The Mixtape), Vol. 1 is available on his social media pages @ Lord Serious Speaks. Lord Serious is the co-author of the “10 TOES DOWN” drug rehabilitation program and interactive facilitator of this program and the “My Next Step” program at Lawrenceville Correctional Center.

Many Small Particles

First of all thank you guys for giving my thoughts a voice box!! All too often, thoughts and ideas, dreams, and/or aspirations are severed due to the inability of us with them to have an outlet or audience to express them to!!! So thank you!!!

My quote has a small background in that I’ve currently been incarcerated for 27 years straight and counting!! And in 2000, while in longterm segregation at Red Onion State Prison of which I did 3 years 10 months and 17 days straight of “HOLE” time, I was studying Marcus Garvey, (my personal idol) and in his book he said: “We are but small particles, and it takes many small particles to make up a unit, and many more units to make up a WHOLE!!!”

Meaning, we are but parts and pieces that has to be brought together to make up a whole, and even when brought together, we still have to be adhesive enough to actually grow and bond in order for it/us to work!!! We as a people always find ourselves looking at what we don’t have in common and how different we are and we use that as our guides to discredit or to reject others instead of focusing in on what we want to achieve and how our different ideas and methods or approaches can be of a greater benefit!!! We all too often say the same thing but say it different!!! We can be so much more powerful, we can be so much more effective if we allow our differences to be the magnetic force that pulls us together, instead of being the thing that drives us apart!!!

The American Mafia did more with less! They made billions of dollars with far less people, than say for instance these modern day gangs whose numbers are in the 100,000 whilst collectively they don’t have a million dollars!!! The economic freedoms and opportunities that are ever present today literally have paved roads to success should we take the proper steps!!! But with ignorance, unbalanced preconceived notions we trip ourselves up and those that can or are in a position to help aren’t even given a chance when we snatch the rug from under foot “just because” all too often, we let what separates us guide us and when wonder why we can’t progress!!! We are all survivalists, but we can stand a better chance to NOT only survive but succeed in any endeavor should we look to each other and look at each other as supports rather than adversarial pieces that hinder us.

We can be as different as we naturally are but have the same common goals, objectives, methods, etc… without ever having to sacrifice who and what we are! People with shared ideas/dreams have a higher probability to succeed working with others rather than going at it alone!! Fighting for freedom which a lot of guys imprisoned typically do realize pretty quickly that outside of placing oneself in the vicinity of a crime that fighting for freedom with poor representation does NOT hold well!!! So why do we represent ourselves so poorly????

We sit back and allow others (strangers even) to represent US based off of whatever information/lies/disillusionment that we feed them instead of caring enough to educate ourselves to a point where we stand up and fight for ourselves!!! Every day we wake up to is another unique opportunity to do better than the day before, it can be a day to learn more than the day before, but more than anything everyday we wake up we should always challenge ourselves to do more than the day before!!!!

Most people find weakness in working together, or feel weakened by it!!! It sounds crazy but its the raw truth!!!! When I read the quote from Marcus Garvey, I realized that alone I am small and almost insignificant, but put with the rest of Hashems’ (God’s) creation I become significant and relevant which carries over to those around me and to those who share in my plight, to those who share in my pain,I implore you to now share in my effort!!!

Abraham didn’t know that through His progression that He would advance from Abram and Moses asked God, “Why me for I am slow of speech?” Hashem (God) said, “Go!!! I will be your words!!” We are living in our predestined paths all of which God has chosen specifically for us!!! But we must know that the world spins whether we witness it or not and its our egos and self doubt that holds us back and our circumstances derive from OUR thoughts!!!

In order to rise, we must stand!!! Alone we are small and together we are strong it takes us all and if my insecurities make it hard for me to stand up, will you please give me a hand or boost????!!! Your helping hand and your time and your ears are what gives me the confidence to face myself and the inner changes that I need to make to rise above my past and current circumstances to be lifted to a higher place and peace of mind!!!! Let the God in me commune with the God in you!!! That simple truth can break down so many barriers, walls, prejudices, etc!!!

It takes many units to make up a whole, which means it takes us all!

Yours Truly,
Andrew Suspense, B.K.A. Droopy
#1127539
Lawrenceville Correctional Center

Black America Inside Out ’23

Words from Q:
It has been 3 years since the team at BrillianceBehindBars.com set out to show the world that there are living, breathing, intelligent men and women incarcerated and worthy of a voice.

In this short time, Brilliance has gained a multitude of incarcerated contributors spanning several prisons and correctional centers across Virginia. Brilliance has continued to provide a unique platform for incarcerated voices to sound off on current events affecting their lives and the lives of their families. We have even gained the attention of several Virginia state legislators! To top it all off, a group of our contributors have been actually able to meet with state officials!

Brilliance continues to build with the hearts and minds of the incarcerated at its center. We are being noticed. We are being heard. We are here because of all the work of our team and incarcerated contributors. I’m proud of what our community has been able to accomplish, but the struggle never stops, so neither can we. Let’s keep it going!

Please continue to encourage your loved ones to get active and support the efforts of our freedom fighters who keep our voices and faces front and center of the media, the public, and VA lawmakers. They ensure that we are not forgotten…

Continue to spread the love for your fellow incarcerated. None of us want to be here, but since we have to, let’s be creative, constructive, and uplifting. Do the time, don’t let the time do you.

I have great love for all of you and your families.

Love, Light, and Godspeed,
Q.

BlackAmericaInsideOut ’23 Assignment – 3rd Year

Participants are asked to take a quote from a prominent Black American figure, past or present, and write a short essay, compose a poem, or any type of written creative work explaining what that quote means to you and its relevance to our current situation in this country…

Remember: Add your name, number, and where you are from. People may see your submissions, so let em’ know who you are.

A Message From Keen Mountain

Peace and chaos and confusion universe, and salute to Q always.

This is off-topic but I would like to share a jewel with you. Today is the funeral of a nurse at Keen Mountain who was murdered by her baby’s father who was a correctional officer here…

Now, this is a sad moment because she treated me as a human, one of the very few that do in the system. Thou I’m weird to almost everyone I meet, due to me claiming to be God and also short, legally blind, and walk with a limp lol. But ask anyone who knows me, I stand on all infinite because I don’t go through life looking at it as if its dangerous. I go through life as I know I control it, and life don’t control me because me and life is bond meaning together…. understand. Everything is attracted to everything when U understand you. Thus, my name is Allure meaning attraction. -smiles-. This is what im predicting (The Seer, which is the follow up of my name Allure, which means prophet) -another smile-. This was a sacrifice so the Universe can now show U that don’t have a development of realization that the material world power is unstable in the mind…the devil. And they look at us (inmates) as if we are nothing but hire deadly inmates!?

All these years the government – and when I mean government, I’m including prison guards along with police cause they all are one. Murdering us. Committing crimes while working as a crime fighter. Then they say correctional center, ha ha, yea to correct you not to know self. Look, I’m Allure The Seer Of Truth GOD! And iuno what the rest of y’all will do but peaceful talks only work with a peaceful person. The government is not peaceful. Extremely tired of talking fareal to all who just hear, rather than listen and application. Last chance, know yaself.

-Allure The Seer Of Truth God

Share this with the world:
“Change comes from knowing we are all the same.”

Am I Imprisoned for Profit?

Editor’s Note: Quadaire has been on a long lockdown for the past few weeks, and spent some time researching the deep roots of mass incarceration. He wanted to share the facts he learned and engage the incarcerated population in Virginia.

Since its conception, America has benefit from free labor and the industry of slavery. Slavery has long been abolished, but the clause of ‘supporting it in cases of punishment for a crime’ has been continuously exploited by corporations and politicians. This has lead to the modern day social crisis of mass incarceration and the lucrative enterprise of the prion industrial complex.

Post-civil war, disgruntled Southern lawmakers sought to evade the parameters laid out by the Reconstruction Amendments (Amendments XIII, XIV, and XV). They used the exception marked out in the 13th amendment that legalized slavery in case of punishment for a crime as the basis for achieving their goal. Incarcerating former slaves disqualified their newfound citizenship, nullified their voting rights, and returned them to chains and involuntary servitude. These Southern lawmakers legislated numerous laws and policies such as “Race Codes,” “Black Codes” and many more targeting former slaves for incarceration. White Southerners effectively weaponized the law to enlist America’s Criminal Justice System as a device to perpetuate slavery under other names.

One of these reimagined forms of slavery mirrored a pre-civil war program used in Louisiana, known as “convict leasing.” Incarcerated prisoners were leased to private companies and plantations as laborers. Ironically, these programs were often many more times dangerous than slavery conditions prior. Private companies held no direct investments when it came to their leased laborers. Unlike former slave owners who stood to lose money if the slaves were to get horribly sick or die, private companies with leased convicts were less dissuaded to put them in very unsafe and hostile environments. Convicts were more harshly abused, and in many cases, company task masters would drive them to their deaths. Since the convict leasing program was facilitated through contracts between the prison and the employer, when a laborer died, the prison would simply replace them to meet their contractural obligations and business resumed as usual.

Convict leasing took numerous lives before it was outlawed. Eventually, the program was replaced by ‘correctional enterprises’ — state-owned companies that used prisoner’s forced labor. Correctional enterprises used prisoner labor to manufacture a number of products ranging from eye glasses, shoes, and state license plates. Correctional enterprises are still widely used today. While they gross multi-million dollars a year, their workers, incarcerated peoples, average to earn about $1 per day to take care of themselves and in many cases, their families.

The prison industrial complex has thus evolved. Today, the highest grossing business fueled by the incarceration of Americans is that of the private prison sector. Private prison corporations gross multi-billion dollars a year. The business arrangement set between these corporations who provide incarceration services to the governmental agencies that employ them is a simple one: Incarcerated service providers supply bed space to state and federal agencies and must meet a quote of occupants in order to satisfy their contracted obligations. The most sinister part of this dynamic is the corporations that provide private prisons are publicly traded on the stock market. Thus, anyone and everyone, even law enforcement officers can profit from an increase in the incarceration rate.

One more interesting concept to identify in the scheme of prison for profit is a little more subtle than others. In 1994, 10 years after the first installation of a private prison, the Clinton Administration enacted the Crime Act. This piece of legislation awarded incentives to the states who get more severe on crime. The Crime Act inadvertently encouraged systemic racism with monetary gain and further the profit-for-prison dynamic.

In a perfect world, we can see the logic in society profiting from anti-social acts such as crime. But in America, our racist past infects our criminal justice system to its core. Post-Civil War and Jim Crow politicians have taken advantage of that notion from the onset of the Emancipation Proclamation. Segregationist politicians worked hard to frame the tactics of the civil rights movement as ‘crime running rapid in the streets’ and spawned “tough-on-crime” politics that still serve as the breeding ground for dog whistle politics today. (as defined in Rethinking Incarceration, as racial legislation ensconced within coded rhetoric about the common good)

Never forget that the American justice system is built on principles of the slave trade, monetary gain at the cost of human lives. Everything from the low cost, low quality food being served in prison mess halls, the highly marked up nearly expired food products being pushed through commissary, excessive price tags on essentially free services such as emails, all combined with state-sponsored monetary incentives for persecuting felony charges, keeping an ample incarceration rate, and cutting corners on a bare essentials are all aimed at profiting of human lives…

All of this takes place under the guise of sound economical principles, public safety, and justice for victims, but just as slavery was regarded as a noble conquest in the eyes of many Americans, profiting from the misfortune of already poor, disparaged people is nothing more than vile, life-costing capitalism.

Quadaire Patterson

Thought Starter Questions for the Incarcerated:

Write your own essay, poem, or submit art relative to this topic. Do not forget to include your name and any contact information for any readers who may be able to offer you some assistance.

Do you believe it is possible to overcome hundreds of years of slave trade mentality in America and your lifetime?
Crime must be addressed in order to have a functional and productive society. How can society better use the prison system to work for those incarcerated and the general public?
How can the prison system be used to serve communities?
Do you believe that mass incarceration is racially motivated due to the past? Why or why not?
Do you believe America can survive without the use of slavery in one form or another?

Why I Believe “CHANGE” is Possible

I would like to thank you ll for this opportunity to share my thoughts and feeling, about the current status of the VADOC, and its policy. I have been incarcerated for almost 30 years, and by no means am I asking that anyone should feel sorry for me. I committed one of, if not the worse crime, I took another person’s life.

With that said most of the men incarcerated today (90-95%), will be released back into someone’s community. I know for many of you this is a very scary thought. Now that we know this fact, my question to you today is: who do you want that man or woman to be? One that has been given the opportunity to change, or a very angry person? The next question is: do you believe people are capable of “CHANGE?” If so don’t we want these men and woman who could be your neighbor, to at the very LEAST be given that chance.

In my almost 30 years of incarceration, I have held many jobs, some for the income to support myself. For the last 5 years, I have worked as an Elder/Peer Mentor in the Deerfield Correctional Center Re-entry Program, and I can say without a doubt this has been the most rewarding job I’ve held. This gave me the opportunity to see first hand that people can “CHANGE.” It also allowed me to help others, and myself at the same time. It is so amazing how much you learn about yourself when you are helping someone else. The other thing that I have learned is “CHANGE” is a personal choice, there is nothing anyone can do until the person wants that “CHANGE” for him, or herself. The best part of my job was to see that light come on for them. This is why it is so important to have these programs and opportunities in place for those man and women who want help. They may not always know how to ask, but I know change is possible because l have seen the change, and am lucky enough to be here to help these men when they are ready.

The very sad truth is under our new Governor, we have lost the re-entry program here at DFCC. The re-entry program provides the time and opportunity for these men to make that “CHANGE” in programs like Thinking for a Change, and Victims Impact. The focus seems to be more about punishment, not rehabilitation; which we all know does not work. If it did, why are so many men and women locked up today? I know it sounds great to say ‘lock them up and throw away the key,’ and if that was the end, that might work – but that brings me back to this fact: 90-95% will be released.

My hope in writing this is just to say we can “CHANGE.” I have changed, I have grown, but it was not easy. The most important thing is I wanted help. I have taken responsibility for all my action. I know I caused a lot of pain to so many good people, some that I can never repair. It also doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. The last thing that I would like to leave you with is: one of the answers to the violence that we are seein today is not the police – its men like myself, who will be willing to go out into those community and speak to these young men, and women to tell them there are other choices – you too, can “CHANGE.”

Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you. If you would like to contact me with your feedback, questions or a longer conversation, go to the app store and download the JPay app using my name and number to create an account and email me.

I have not lost hope and I won’t, nor will I give up on “CHANGE.”

Kenneth Bibbs #1114910
Deerfield Correctional Center

Thinking Within

What’s poppin’ my God’s & Goddesses of the Universe? I invade your atmosphere as God of my Universe in the name of Allure The Seer of Truth and as always, I want to give a warm and genuine thank you and salute to the brilliant founder of this platform, Q.

I want to start off by saying: “The devil’s time is up. These are desperate times for the devils for they know what most of us know not.” I know what they think I know not, I don’t feel bad cause I know and understand they are 100% weak and wicked they have no good in them. So when they do things of this nature, I understand it is their nature to do so. The evolution of extraordinary things is happening before our physical eyes but we have to give more attention to our mental eye for it is the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise. These devils do these hideous things to us because they know we care about the material rather than the most precious jewel on earth, universe, which is ‘US’. If what we’ve been doing isn’t working, then let’s do something different. For example, Dragonball Z, when a villain comes with all physical powerful strength, they use their energy and thoughts to ‘in-think’ the villain. I say ‘in’ because within is where everything exists, and is projected out. GET It?

Let’s use our energy together and overcome everything that is not us. For all that belongs to us, do your research on self and find out how powerful you really are.

Allure The Seer of Truth
DeAnthony Clark
#1411732, is where you can reach me on JPay.