Criminal Justice from the Inside Out: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Launch New Criminal Justice Radio Show

New Haven Independent: 

Criminal Justice from the Inside Out

Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant 

Launch New Criminal Justice Radio Show

First & Third Fridays 9 am

WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven

livestreaming everywhere at:

 newhavenindependent.org

Jeff Grant & Babz Rawls Ivy

Babz Rawls-Ivy is the editor of the Inner-City News, the host of daily WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk,” and a frequent guest on WNHH shows. Jeff Grant is the executive director of Family ReEntry, a social service organization in Bridgeport working with people who have gotten out of prison, and helping to prevent them from going back in.

They’ve both also served prison sentences themselves. They are now co-hosts of a new show on WNHH, “Criminal Justice Insider,” that tackles criminal justice issues from the inside out.

“Criminal Justice Insider” will air once a month on WNHH, featuring Rawls-Ivy, Grant, and a series of guests as they talk about the lives of people in prison and how it affects not only the prisoners themselves, but the family.

When one family member goes to prison, “the whole family goes to prison,” they agreed on their debut episode.

They will also talk about the lives of people who have gotten out, and the factors that contribute to them going back in — or staying out for good by rebuilding their lives, a reality both of them have lived.

Click below to listen to or watch the first episode on SoundCloud and Facebook Live.

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Join us as We Take It Personally on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant, First and Third Fridays at 9 am, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, live-streaming on newhavenindependent.org. Call-in # (203) 872-7356‬. On Nov. 3rd CT State Legislator Robyn Porter will be our guest. Other guests coming up will include U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, CT Commissioner of Corrections Scott Semple, Co-Executive Director of the Katal Center Lorenzo Jones, Carlah Esdaile-Bragg of Cornell Scott Hill Health, CEO of Flikshop Marcus Bullock, Christopher Llinas, Esq., and many more.

Criminal Justice Insider Radio with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant. Starting Weds, Oct. 4th

Criminal Justice Insider Radio 

with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant

Starting Weds, Oct. 4th

Criminal Justice Insider Radio 
with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant. 
Starting Wednesday, Oct. 4th, 9 am. 
WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven or livestream: http://www.newhavenindependent.org. 

Jeff Grant & Babz Rawls Ivy

Sponsored by Family ReEntry

Envisioning a First Chance Society.

Family ReEntry Insider: Two Reflections on the Cheshire Tragedy

Two Reflections on the Cheshire Tragedy

Monday, July 24th, 2017

After my release in early summer of 2007 from a Federal prison (where I served almost fourteen months for a white-collar crime), I spent five weeks in a halfway house in Hartford that served both Federal and State of Connecticut clients. I was released just two weeks before the Cheshire tragedy, an event that not only traumatized all in our state (including my family) but effectively shut down all Connecticut halfway house and parole releases for over six months. For good reason. The Cheshire murders called to attention deficiencies in the state system of release. These deficiencies were successfully addressed (in part) over the next decade by strengthening the system of community nonprofit partners that provided critical, effective wraparound services to those returning home so that they would be less likely to return to criminal behavior and return to prison. Unfortunately, due to the state fiscal crisis, many of these services have been cut back or terminated. The Governor and Department of Corrections are committed to enlightened, progressive criminal justice reform, but without adequate funding it is easy to see how their hands are in many ways tied. What we need are creative private-nonprofit-public partnerships to rethink, rebuild and fund our system of community corrections, and mental health and substance abuse programs, before there is even one more tragedy. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div Executive Director, Family ReEntry Bridgeport, New Haven, Norwalk CT

The summer of 2007 was the most challenging of my professional career. As the Director of the Department of Correction’s Parole and Community Services Division, I received the call from then Commissioner Theresa Lantz advising me that the two men charged with the Cheshire murders were under my Division’s supervision. Like all citizens of CT, I had been horrified that week to learn of the brutality that had been visited upon the Petit family. As the father of young children at that time, I was also struck by the random nature of the crime, and the realization that even in my “safe” community, my family was equally vulnerable. I was then at the 27 year mark of a career in community corrections and proud of the role that it played in public safety. The shock of that crime was also met with the knowledge that I would be responsible to help ensure that crimes of that nature would not be repeated. For the next two years until my retirement, I kept a picture of the Petit family in my top right hand desk drawer; a constant and personal reminder of the stakes involved. Within weeks of the Cheshire tragedy, men on parole were charged with several other high profile violent crimes, prompting then DOC Commissioner Theresa Lantz to suspend all further releases and to order a complete review of the Department’s community release, supervision and support services infrastructure. In addition to a renewed emphasis on inter-agency information sharing (neither the Parole Board nor supervising parole officers had complete prior arrest reports), and the increased use of new technologies (i.e. Global Positioning Systems), DOC reexamined the role of the parole officer, and reinvested in the tools and resources they needed to better perform their responsibilities. Chief among these concerns, was the recognition that evidence-based risk and needs assessments, and the intervention strategies that they would direct, would become an essential ingredient in addressing the complex behavioral health needs of offenders; needs that when left unaddressed, can substantially increase the likelihood of continued criminal behavior. In the years that followed the Summer of 2007, CT made substantial investments, in partnership with our non-profit provider network, to streamline, expand and coordinate the number, type, and proficiency of services available to the reentry population. Those investments contributed, along with many other factors, to CT’s substantial reduction in its prison population (from over 20,000 in ‘07 to approximately 14,000 today). Unfortunately, as a result of our budget situation, these programs have experienced severe reductions. Last year, DOC was forced to terminate contracts that provided essential mental health, substance abuse and employment services to men and women transitioning from incarceration to the community. This year, additional budget cuts have already forced some non-profits to shut their doors or roll back the services they provide. The inability to learn from our past failures and our past successes, will cost Connecticut not only in dollars, but in human misery. Randy Braren Director of Reentry Initiatives, Family ReEntry, Inc, Bridgeport, New Haven, Norwalk, CT Former Director, Parole and Community Services Division, Department of Correction, State of Connecticut

Family ReEntry’s mission is to develop, implement, and share sustainable, cost-effective solutions for the unprecedented numbers of people involved in the criminal justice system, which empower individuals, strengthen families, and build communities. For more info please visit our website at familyreentry.org and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. All proceeds go to supporting these valuable programs.

DONATE

Advocacy | Programs | Opportunities | Contact

Family ReEntry, Inc.  |  jeffgrant@familyreentry.org  |   501(c)3 Organization  |  203-290-0865

   

First Do No Harm: How Can the Connecticut Criminal Justice Community and State Government Work Together to Get Through the Fiscal Crisis? An Open Letter

First Do No Harm: How Can the Connecticut Criminal Justice Community and State Government Work Together to Get Through the Fiscal Crisis? An Open Letter

An Open Letter to Governor Malloy, State of Connecticut Legislators, and Members of the Connecticut Criminal Justice Community: The Hippocratic Oath compels those in the medical profession to make certain that they first do no harm. A just and ethical principle to which all professionals should pay heed. History, as well as Connecticut’s recent experience, shows that rescissions to cost effective programs has far reaching detrimental collateral and economic implications. Once cut, restoration simply does not happen. These vital and proven programs will likely vanish. It costs about $34,687 per year to incarcerate an individual versus less than $5,000 per year to provide services to that same individual in the community.  Too often, economic downturns compel funding cuts to social services, cuts that are both inhumane and end up driving up costs to our state in the long run. Many services have already been reduced to the bare bones over the past several years as a result of the last recession. The current series of proposed cuts to community-based prevention, intervention, diversion and reentry criminal justice programs – as well as to including and mental health and addiction services – will lead to more people unduly suffering, costing the state (and the taxpayers) significantly more money in the end than it would to help provide for their basic needs. People returning from prison are among society’s most vulnerable – as are their families.  After having served their sentence they are now trying to rebuild their lives with the stigma of a felony conviction that functions as a scarlet letter. Many of these individuals live in the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods in our state, with limited opportunities – which is in part why they became susceptible to crime in the first place. Many or most also suffer from mental health issues and addiction problems. Without public policies that promote social cohesion and well-being for individuals who have been in prison, research shows that they will soon return to the criminal behavior that landed them in prison in the first place. Nonprofits already do the job with very little funding and resources. Research, for which Connecticut has been at the forefront, categorically demonstrates that good community criminal justice programs (crime prevention, reentry, mental health, substance abuse treatment, diversion programs) reduce recidivism and incarceration rates thereby saving the state (and taxpayers) money (Fagan & Buchanan, 2016); a lot of money in both the short and long term. These programs have a positive return on our investment by eliminating the costs of returning these individuals back to prison or the court system, and helping individuals become productive, tax-paying citizens. Long-term benefit-cost ratios for some community reentry programs in CT are as high as $405.23 for every dollar invested (see “Results First Benefit-Cost Analyses of Adult Criminal and Juvenile Justice Evidence-Based Programs”). Connecticut can be the nation’s leader in criminal justice reform.  We propose that that the state and the nonprofit sector jointly adopt a motto of “First Do No Harm.” While we recognize the challenges and competing priorities within social service programs, let’s not rush to reduce spending on or cut critical interventions that have been built over thirty years of thoughtful planning supported by research and measurable outcomes. Instead, let’s create a re-envisioned public-private-nonprofit partnership that is committed to enlightened policy decisions in our state by investing today in programs that work to help reduce recidivism and provide health coverage and addiction services to those in need, so as to help ensure our future prosperity as a state and a country. We urge the legislature’s passing of the mini-budget this Thursday as an important next step! We at Family ReEntry welcome all thoughts and comments. My contact information is below. Respectfully and gratefully submitted, Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Executive Director Family ReEntry, Inc. 75 Washington Street Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604 (office) 203-290-0855 (mobile) 203-957-0162 jeffgrant@familyreentry.org familyreentry.org

learn more

Citations: Clark, A., Janicki, M. M., & Noonan, J. (2016). Connecticut Results First Benefit-cost Analyses of Adult Criminal and Juvenile Justice Evidence-based Programs, Pursuant to Public Act 15-5, June Special Session, Connecticut General Statutes, Sections 4-68r and-68s. Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University. Durose, M. R., Cooper, A. D., & Snyder, H. N. (2014). Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Fagan, A. A., & Buchanan, M. (2016). What Works in Crime Prevention?. Criminology & Public Policy, 15(3), 617-649.

Family ReEntry’s mission is to develop, implement, and share sustainable, cost-effective solutions for the unprecedented numbers of people involved in the criminal justice system, which empower individuals, strengthen families, and build communities. For more info please visit our website at familyreentry.org and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. All proceeds go to supporting these valuable programs.

DONATE

Advocacy | Programs | Opportunities | Contact

Family ReEntry, Inc.  |  jeffgrant@familyreentry.org  |   501(c)3 Organization  |  203-290-0865

   

Prison Portal Project to be Presented at CT Governor's Reentry Conference - First Portal Installed in a U.S. Prison Scheduled to Open in CT this Fall

Prison Portal Project to be Presented at 

CT Governor's Reentry Conference 

First Portal Installed in a U.S. Prison 

Scheduled to Open in CT this Fall 

 

PRESS RELEASE: Hartford, CT - (June 14, 2017) - Family ReEntry, a nonprofit leader that assists families affected by the criminal justice system, and Shared Studios, a design technology company, will be presenting the new Prison Portal Project during the Connecticut Governor's Reimagining Justice Conference in Hartford, June 14-15. 

Amar Bakshi, Founder & Creative Director of Shared

Studios, and Jeff Grant, Executive Director of Family ReEntry, will present the new Prison Portal Project, including a video demonstration of the real-time, face-to-face interactive technology, on Wednesday, June 14th, at 11:15 a.m. as a part of the special conference held at The Hartford Marriott Downtown (200 Columbus Boulevard in Hartford). 

Created by Shared Studios, the portals and

the patented innovations in hardware, software and design, can be made for all types of remote presentation uses. Family ReEntry’s Prison Portal Project will establish Connecticut as one of the first states in the nation to adopt the use of the portals specifically for incarcerated individuals,
returning citizens, and their families and friends.

Working in partnership with the State of Connecticut Department of Corrections and the City of Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs, portals will be installed this Fall linking the nation's first portal to be

placed within the confines of a correctional facility and a second portal anticipated to open in downtown Bridgeport. This will allow families to directly communicate with their loved ones in prison in an immersive environment “as if they were in the same room,” saving them time off from work and school, costs in travelling to remote prison locations, etc. 

Additional portals are being considered for presentation around the state later this year and in 2018. Suggested sites for the new portals include New Haven, Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford and New London, among other locations. 

Grant explained, "The Governor's Conference is a perfectly

Pres. Barack Obama utilizing a Portal

timed opportunity to show the full extent of this new, immersive audiovisual technology and the way it will be used by the families and communities impacted by the criminal justice system. Not only do the portals allow accessible remote visitation between loved ones, but are means for curated 'visits’ to other portals installed around the world in locations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, etc. They can also be utilized for multiple location visits, group dynamics, counseling sessions and much more.”

The Prison Portal Project presentation is in addition to Family ReEntry's booth exhibit throughout the conference, where attendees can discover all of the programs and services that the organization provides.

Organized by the office of Governor Malloy, the Reimagining Justice Conference brings together leading criminal justice professionals from across the country for robust discussions about the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system and will aim to strengthen a growing consensus that states must reimagine justice in order to reduce crime and end the cycle of mass incarceration. The conference will include new approaches on the topics of juvenile and young adult offenders, pretrial justice, incarceration, and re-entry. Additional information about the conference is available at http://portal.ct.gov/reimaginingjustice 

More about Family ReEntry:

Family ReEntry is a 501c3 nonprofit, which was founded in 1984 as a reentry support group for men at the Isaiah House in Bridgeport. It has since grown to include policy advocacy, and intervention, prevention, in-prison, reentry, fatherhood and youth & family programs. Over the past 33 years, effective advocacy efforts and community-based programs developed by Family ReEntry have significantly reduced the likelihood that clients will re-offend, be re-arrested, or be re-incarcerated. Its programs provide a spectrum of services designed to disrupt the intergenerational cycle of incarceration. Family ReEntry addresses the specific needs of each client and their families through individualized case management and support services. It works to create a positive social network for each client, helping make their transition from prison back into the community a successful, self-sufficient one, while strengthening their families and the community. Family ReEntry operates its programs in strategic locations that encompass eight municipal regions and judicial geographic areas, two parole districts and five prisons. Approximately, sixty-percent of those served by Family ReEntry are from greater Bridgeport – Connecticut’s largest city. The organization has offices in Bridgeport, Norwalk and New Haven, CT. Programs are also held in Stamford, Waterbury, Derby, New London and Norwich, CT. 

More information is available at www.FamilyReEntry.org and on its social media including, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. 

Media Contact: Greg Walsh, Walsh Public Relations 305 Knowlton Street, Bridgeport, CT 06608
Tel: 203-292-6280; E-Mail: greg@walshpr.com