Reprinted from Greenwich Sentinel, Nov. 6, 2017, By Richard Kaufman, Sentinel Reporter
On Thursday, Nov. 9, at Christ Church’s Tomes-Higgins House, the
board of directors of Family ReEntry, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
supporting individuals and families impacted by the criminal justice
system, will honor Philip C. Potter with the Elizabeth Bush Volunteerism
Award.
The award is given to someone who has gone above and beyond a
volunteer role to make life altering positive changes for individuals
and families affected by the criminal justice system.
The late Elizabeth Bush, a longtime Greenwich resident, was one of
the original volunteers of Family ReEntry, and helped make it the entity
it is today.
Potter, 92, also a longtime Greenwich resident, is a former
Philip Potter will be Honored
chairman of Family ReEntry’s board of directors.
Potter was also a litigation partner with the Davis Polk &
Wardwell firm in New York City and a Fellow of the American College of
Trial Lawyers. He went to Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where
he was also named All American Honorable Mention and All-New England for
soccer. Potter is also a World War II veteran serving in The American
Field Service under the British Army as an ambulance driver.
Over his time with the Family ReEntry, Potter focused primarily on
youth and children’s programs to help disrupt the intergenerational
cycle of incarceration.
According to a press release from Family ReEntry, Potter’s work has
been instrumental in that approximately 65 percent of youths matched
with mentors avoided or engaged in a reduced amount of risk-taking
behaviors.
For Family ReEntry’s Executive Director, Jeff Grant, Potter is a very
deserving recipient of the award and was an invaluable member of the
organization, which began in 1984.
“[Philip] gave up his time, [he provided] leadership, he donated
money,” Grant said. “Philip was a wonderful ambassador for Family
ReEntry and a person with a huge heart. He gave up himself thanklessly.”
Grant became executive director last October after serving eight years on the board of directors.
However, many years prior, Grant’s life was falling apart. After years of prescription drug abuse, and after operating a law
firm that had started to fail, Grant attempted to take his own life in
the summer of 2001.
Months later, after becoming sober, a warrant was issued
Jeff Grant Speaking at The Nantucket Project
for his
arrest. Grant had applied for a loan using false paperwork, and had also
co-mingled client funds at his law firm in Westchester County.
In 2006 Grant went to federal prison for a little over a year and
rehabilitated himself. He walked nearly 3,500 miles on the track during
his time behind bars, and talked with other prisoners convicted of
white-collar crimes about what they worried about most as they prepared
to go back to their normal lives.
Upon his release, Grant was volunteering for many local service groups and found Family ReEntry.
“I was interested in Family ReEntry and it was a perfect match for my
mission and my skill set,” Grant said. “I wanted to give back to the
community, I wanted to give back to the criminal justice community and
Family ReEntry is the perfect place to do that.”
Over the years, Family ReEntry has grown, and although they primarily
serve Bridgeport, there are offices in Norwalk and New Haven. Programs
are located in Stamford, Waterbury, Derby, New London and Norwich.
Grant believes organizations like Family ReEntry are critical, especially in the present economic times.
“We live in a state right now where there are thousands of people
being released from prison every year. Because of the state budget
crisis, there are fewer and fewer programs to support them and to ensure
that they’re successful outside of prison so that they don’t return to
the type of criminal behavior that got them into trouble in the first
place,” Grant said.
“So organizations like Family ReEntry not only provide them essential
services, but they disrupt the intergenerational cycle of incarceration
to prevent it from happening in a family over and over again.”
Friends of Potter and Family ReEntry are invited to attend the event
on Nov. 9, which goes from 5 to 7 p.m. Advance RSVP is required, and can
be made to dianawhitney@familyreentry.org.
In recognition of Potter’s incredible contribution to the community,
donations can be made in his name to the youth and children’s programs
of Family ReEntry by logging onto www.familyreentry.org
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 atfamilyreentry.organd you can follow us onFacebookandTwitter.All proceeds go to supporting these valuable programs.
Jeff Grant, Greenwich White Collar Criminal, Shares His Journey Back to the Board Room
By Emilie Munson - Reporter, CT Post
Jeff Grant Speaking at The Nantucket Project's TNP Library in Greenwich
GREENWICH — It was a transformation that Greenwich resident Jeff Grant never saw coming.
Twenty years ago, Grant was a successful business lawyer in Mamaroneck, N.Y., a member of the Rye Neck school board and owner of “The Good Life” restaurant inWestchester County.
But an addiction to prescription pain killers that led to his arrest
and imprisonment on charges of money laundering and wire fraud changed
all that.
“I was an entitled guy,” he said. “It was a wake up call.”
Grant shared his story at The Nantucket Project Library in Greenwich
earlier this week. Grant has spoken twice at Nantucket Project events
and has known Nantucket Project Founder Tom Scott for 10 years.
“We do this from time to time as a series of ways to learn,” said
Scott, about why The Nantucket Project invited Grant to speak. “We are
about what matters most.”
A literal misstep one day in 1992 set Grant on a path from the corner
office to solitary confinement and back again. The 34-year-old Jewish
lawyer was playing basketball with one of his firm’s biggest clients
when he ruptured his Achilles tendon.
On his ride to the hospital, Grant called his orthopedist and asked for Demerol, an opioid pain medication.
“I was just in pain and I needed it,” Grant said. For the next 10 years, Grant swallowed the addictive medication
nearly every day, picking up a new bottle of Demerol multiple times a
week from a doctor friend who he said he lied to and manipulated to get
the drug.
At work, he said, Demerol-induced boldness made his law
firm, Jeffrey D. Grant and Associates,
even more successful — until 2000, when the money started petering out,
in part because of Grant’s drug-induced overspending, he said. Faced with financial disaster, Grant gave orders to dip into the
account reserved for funds received from and intended for clients.
“With two key strokes on the computer, it was done,” he said.“That
was the day I made my deal with the devil and my life was over.”
Two years later, in the haze of an Oxycontin high, Grant said he
decided to embellish an application for a $240,000 Sept. 11
disaster-relief loan from the Small Business Administration. Grant lied on the application, stating that he had an office in Manhattan, and used the funds on personal spending.
That July, when it became clear he was going to lose his law license
for ethical violations, he resigned the license and swallowed an entire
40-tab bottle of Demerol in a suicide attempt.
“I had no way of knowing that that was going to be the start of my new life, that moment,” he said. “There was no going back.”
After a seven-week stay at a New Canaan addiction facility and
two-years of intensive drug recovery programs, with his house in
foreclosure and his wife on the verge of leaving him, Grant said, he
felt like he was finding himself.
“Finally (in drug recovery), there were people who were not judging
me and willing to accept me with all my warts and my wrinkles and my
flaws,” he said. “I just turned myself over to it.”
At 20 months sober, while walking on West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich,
Grant got a call from the FBI. Because of his Sept. 11 loan, Grant was
under arrest. He handed himself over to the U.S. Marshalls in Manhattan, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges and was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
“There were parts of prison that were helpful. Whatever was chasing
me most of all, whatever I was running away from, I felt safe in this
kind of cocoon, this kind of community,” he said. “I learned a lot about
other religions, suffering and depression and I just kind of found my
calling.”
When he was released in June 2007, Grant reconnected with his drug
recovery community. He volunteered at the New Canaan facility and later
at Family Re-Entry in Bridgeport, a nonprofit with wrap-around services for individuals leaving the criminal justice system. Grant was baptized a Christian, and in 2009 applied to the Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan. He graduated with a master’s in divinity and a focus in Christian social ethics in 2012. He started preaching at First Baptist Church in Bridgeport.
At the same time, Grant realized there was a need for spiritual
guidance and practical advice for convicted white-collar criminals in
Greenwich.
“In Greenwich (drug) recovery, anyone who was kind of going on their
way to or from prison, everybody said, ‘Go see Prison Jeff. He knows
about prison,’” said Grant. “I probably worked with 100 guys who were
going to prison, coming from prison, dealing with incarceration issues
and these were captains of industry! This is Greenwich! It was crazy —
hedge-funders, bank presidents and they have problems just like other
people.”
In 2012, Grant founded Progressive Prison Ministries
in Greenwich — an organization that provides counseling and support for
local white-collar criminals as they transition in and out of jail,
which Grant says is the first of its kind in the United States.
“We were finding broken people and there was no compassion,” he said.
“Their wives are sitting in these carcasses of houses and their
husbands are in prison and they can’t afford to heat the house, they
can’t afford to keep the lights on, they’re on social services, they’re
on SNAP (food stamps)... It’s a personal family disaster and no one is
really telling the story.”
Last year, Grant was appointed executive director of Family
ReEntry, after several years on the organizations board of directors.
“The reason I’m doing it is because I get to be proof that people can
come back from prison,” he said. “It’s been a tremendous experience.”
An insider's view of prison and the road back to the boardroom - with Jeff Grant
Greenwich, CT - (June 20, 2017) - It happens more than you imagine. A high-flying executive makes a fateful decision and winds
up in legal trouble. He’s sentenced to time in prison and his life and the lives of his family are shattered.
Next week, The Nantucket Project presents Down & Out in Greenwich: An
Insider's View of Prison and the Road Back to the Boardroom. On Tuesday, June
27 at 7:00 PM, Jeff Grant will share his story about prison life and his difficult road
back to life after incarceration. TNP Library, 123 Mason Street, Greenwich. Grant was a Main-Stage Presenter at The Nantucket Project in 2013.
In Grant’s personal account, the audience will hear full details about a few poor
decisions, what life is like in prison, and how one man has been able to
successfully navigate a course to become
the first person in the country, who was
incarcerated for a white-collar crime, to be named the head of a major criminal
justice nonprofit. He has methodically rebuilt his
life, personally and professionally,
and was recently named the Executive Director of Family ReEntry, a nonprofit
leader that supports families affected by the criminal justice system. He has been
the subject of articles in regional and national media and has received numerous
business and service awards.
Grant said, “I want my story to be a cautionary tale, but I also want anyone
affected by the criminal justice system to know that there is hope and help after
prison.” "I am grateful to The Nantucket Project for its support and leadership in justice reform."
Currently, there are over 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States and
over 70 million with criminal records. Nearly 11,000 individuals will be released in
Connecticut this year. "It is vital that we reach these individuals at critical junctures
in their lives and provide them with enough support so that they can have every
opportunity to achieve, learn and grow as citizens who are not forced to return to the kind of activity that
caused them to be incarcerated in the first place," said Grant.
About The Nantucket Project: Led by co-founders Tom Scott (who also created Nantucket Nectars and the HBO
television series "The Neistat Brothers") and Kate Brosnan, TNP brings live events, short documentary films, and
meaningful storytelling to audiences hungry to know what matters in our noisy and messy world. Past presenters have
included Tony Blair, Steve Wozniak, Deepak Chopra, Hope Solo, Norman Lear, Christy Turlington Burns, Mellody
Hobson, Neil Young, Seth Godin, Eve Ensler, Julie Taymor and Paul Giamatti. Visit https://www.nantucketproject.com/to learn more.
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.organd on its social media including, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
As managing editor of Reentry Central, I have the privilege of meeting many people who share a deep commitment to bringing about criminal justice reform and for ending mass incarceration. One such person is Jeff Grant, recently appointed the Interim Executive Director of Family Re-Entry, an effective and innovative organization that helps both returning individuals and their families find solutions to issues stemming from involvement in the criminal justice system.
Rather than just post the press release of Grant’s appointment, which can be found here, we wanted to share with Reentry Central’s readers a more in-depth look at who Jeff Grant is, the obstacles he overcame, and what he brings as the leader of a multi-city reentry organization.
Beatrice Codianni: Jeff, please begin with what you were charged with so Reentry Central’s readers can understand your involvement in the criminal justice system.
Jeff Grant: I made false representations on a Small Business Administration 9/11 loan I took out to save my law firm. In no way am I making an excuse for what I did - I was addicted to prescription painkillers stemming from a sports injury in 1992. By the time of my crime fifteen years ago (in 2001), I was taking these prescription painkillers almost every day; it increasingly ate away at my judgment and ability to perform as a lawyer. I put my need for the prescriptions before everything, even my love for my family. After 9/11, my prescription painkiller habit significantly increased. I heard many advertisements on TV and the radio inviting businesses affected by 9/11 to apply for an SBA loan. I called up and found out that my law firm qualified as it was based in Westchester County. Even though I knew the firm qualified, I couldn't help myself and I misrepresented that I had a satellite office in lower Manhattan.
BC: What was your sentence after you were found guilty?
JG: Although I committed my crime in 2001, I was arrested in 2004 and sentenced in early 2006 to eighteen month's incarceration, and three years of Federal supervised release post-prison. I was designated to Allenwood Low Security Correctional Institution in White Deer, PA, a low security prison and not a camp where most white-collar offenders serve their time. At the time of my designation, I understand that even though I had a security level of "zero" and could have been designated to a camp, there were no beds available on that day so I was bumped up to the next level. It was real prison with razor wire, bars on windows and doors, controlled movements, etc. I served 13 1/2 months there until June 2007, when I was released to a halfway house in Hartford, CT and then Federal supervised release.
BC: How did your conviction impacted family, friends, colleagues, and so-called friends?
JG: I lost my law license, career, home, marriage, reputation and virtually all of my friends. My law firm and a restaurant I owned were both located in Mamaroneck, NY, so I had a lot of friends and clients there. After I had tried to commit suicide with an overdose of the prescription painkillers, almost nobody came to see how my family and I were coping. I was an untouchable and nobody wanted to be near us. I had hurt my family very badly, the scars of which are still with us to this day.
BC: How did your conviction impact your ability to find work in your previous field or in finding any work at all?
JG: As with almost all persons convicted of white collar crimes, the consequences were almost unimaginable. No matter the length of one's sentence, we are all serving life sentences. I was truly one of the lucky ones, or I'd prefer to believe it was Divine intervention. I found a new spirituality and connection to God while in prison, and dedicated my life to service of other people and families with incarceration issues. Upon my return from prison, I attended and earned a Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in NYC, with a focus on Christian Social Ethics. My first position after seminary was as Associate Minister and Director of Prison Ministries at the First Baptist Church located in the inner city of Bridgeport Connecticut. From there, my wife and partner-in-ministry Lynn Springer and I founded (in our hometown of Greenwich, CT) Progressive Prison Ministries, the first ministry in the U.S. created to provide confidential support and counseling to individuals, families and organizations with white-collar and other nonviolent incarceration issues.
BC: What will you bring to Family Re-Entry?
JG: In 2009, while I was applying to attend seminary, I was also volunteering for Family ReEntry, a nonprofit based in Bridgeport that serves families affected by incarceration issues. Family ReEntry elected me to its Board of Directors in 2009. That year Lynn and I, through Family ReEntry, converted an inner city block in Bridgeport into one of the largest privately-owned public use parks and gardens in the State of Connecticut. I served as a Family ReEntry Board member and Corporate Officer for almost eight years. When our long-time Executive Director stepped down to become our senior consultant, I was honored and humbled to be elected as Interim Executive Director. Of course I accepted… not only do I owe my second chance to Family ReEntry, but I believe that I am the first person in the country who was incarcerated for a white-collar crime to be made the head of a major criminal justice nonprofit. I hope to serve as a power of example that there is hope after prison.
BC: Since the clients of Family Re-Entry are mostly people convicted of non-white collar crimes do you think you can relate to them?
JG: Although I share a history of incarceration with the men and women Family ReEntry serves from Bridgeport, New Haven, Norwalk (and other cities in Connecticut), I do not for one minute believe that I truly understand what it is to live and have grown up in their shoes. The first thing I do is put my male white privilege on the table so I can own it and make clear that I can only communicate from my social location. It is amazing how open and free flowing things can be when we don't pretend to be anything other than who we truly are. From this authenticity, I have been able to relate to the many men and women I have met, helped, and have been helped by in my role as a minister and at Family ReEntry. I have learned that many or most people, and their families, who committed so- called inner city crimes and those who committed white-collar crimes are suffering many similar issues - shame, shunning, stigma, depression, inability to find a job, etc.
BC: What are your duties at Family Re-Entry and do they expand to other cities?
JG: I understand that as the interim Executive Director the buck stops with me, but I work with the most dedicated and talented group of people I have ever been among. These are seasoned professionals who work in a nonprofit only because they have a calling to serve others. It is often an exhausting job for which they are, as is true with most people working in nonprofits, generally underpaid and sacrifice much. I hope that my background and own prison story, gives me some street cred with our incredible staff and clients.
BC: Any final thoughts?
JG: We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the criminal justice reform movement, and in delivery of critical reentry programs to ensure the success of returning individuals and provide optimal public safety. This is true on the national level, and is especially true here in Connecticut where state budget cutbacks compel us to find new, innovative, cost-effective solutions to the problems and to criminal justice leadership. It is an honor to bring my background and experience in business, law, criminal justice, recovery, and prison ministry to be of service to our community.
Norfield Congregational Church Weston, Connecticut
Sunday, January 18, 2015, 10 am Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday
Authentic
A Sermon by
Rev. Jeff Grant
Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight Oh Lord – our Rock and our Redeemer.
YouTube Video of Jeff's Sermon, "Authentic,"
Jan. 18, 2015, Martin Luther King Sunday
Norfield Church, Weston, CT
Good morning, and welcome to Martin Luther King Sunday at Norfield Church. What an auspicious day to be speaking, to salute the work and life of Dr. King in song and scripture, and to introduce our ministry to this wonderful congregation in the town in which we live.
My name is Jeff Grant. The title of today’s sermon is, “Authentic.” And I’ve received a lot of lessons in being “authentic.” That is, lessons not in talking about authenticity, but lessons living an authentic life, and speaking from an authentic place.
Over the next fifteen minutes or so, I am going to do my very best to be authentic. I’m going tell you the story of a how I was transformed from being a successful New York corporate attorney, to becoming addicted to prescription painkillers, to surviving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison, to receiving my Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, to becoming an inner city minister in Bridgeport, to founding, with my wife Lynn, a prison ministry that supports the families of white collar and nonviolent criminals and their families.
I have an admission to make up front – I am a very flawed guy. I have a lot of other issues that often prevent me from living and working a full day without collapsing. I suffer from bipolar depression. I have diabetes and kidney problems. I have communication problems with my kids. And I’m old. Perhaps you can relate to one or more of these issues?
__________
Let’s start first with the issues I had in writing today’s sermon for Martin Luther King Day. When I first was asked to preach on this particular day, I had lots of ideas. I picked out special scriptures to interpret. I researched deep into the life and ministry of Martin Luther King. Lynn and I even went to see the new movie “Selma,” about Dr. King – (a great movie, by the way).
I tried to do all these things, but frankly nothing authentic was coming. I was feeling dejected. And then, last Sunday we attended church here at Norfield, and in his sermon, Reverend Bernard reminded me that “God Loves Me Just As I Am.” And in the coffee hour after church, our great friend Jim Hodel came over to me and told me that, when I preach next week, he can’t wait to hear MY STORY.
MY STORY, of course! MY STORY is why I was asked to speak here today. MY STORY what has gotten me this far. And in order to preach on Martin Luther King Day, or any day, all I have to do is be authentic, and trust you with the story of Who I Am and Why I Care.
In so doing, hope and pray that, by fully my revealing MY STORY to you, in some small way it helps you to have the courage and agency to reveal your own authentic story own too.
__________
MY STORY began when I suffered a sports injury in 1992. I was a young, successful corporate and real estate lawyer with all the trappings – big house in Westchester County, NY, BMW, and vacations to the Caribbean. You get the picture?
Anyway, I was playing basketball with my biggest client when lightning struck and I ruptured my Achilles tendon. And in the course of the rehabilitation from that injury I got hooked on painkillers. I never meant for it to happen – but it did and for over ten years I took them almost every day of my life. The problem with taking pain killers – at least for me – was that it was insidious. Day after day, little by little, they cut away at my soul, ate away at my judgment. If I had had the ability to pull back and look at my life from a distance and see it in five or ten year slice, I probably could have seen how different everything looked over these different time periods. The compromises I was making. The physical changes. The mood and behavior issues. The money problems. It probably would have been obvious. But I couldn’t do that – instead, day-by-day the cumulative effect was imperceptible. I had no way of understanding that I was self-medicating my undiagnosed bipolar disorder. I was miserable – my weight had ballooned to 285 pounds – I was vomiting up blood from anxiety. I was spending way more money than I was making. I was taking more and more painkillers. I stopped showing up for client meetings. The law firm was spinning out of control.
One day my office manager came to me and told me that we had a problem. She told me that we weren’t going to make payroll that week. How could that be possible? I had been in business as a lawyer almost twenty years – and despite all the problems, all the madness, the business had grown to become one of the most successful law practices in Westchester County - something I still have no explanation for. But we were out of cash – I could have done a lot of reasonable things. I could have called a friend. I could have called the bank. But my mind was reeling, and the drugs wouldn’t let me focus. And that’s when I made my deal with the devil. I told her to borrow the money from the firm’s client escrow account. She asked me if I was sure that’s what I wanted to do, and I told her to do it. And with two keystrokes of a computer, my fate was sealed.
I wound up borrowing and replacing client escrow funds a few more times – but the damage was really done the first time. As these things go, soon there would be a grievance against me that started out over something small - but my client escrow records would be subpoenaed and I would start a three-year battle to retain my law license. To defend the indefensible. Racked with shame and guilt, my pain killer use escalated and I got really out of control.
On Sept. 11th, when I saw the plane hit the second tower, I went into sheer madness. It was as if the world stopped spinning. I couldn’t think and I couldn’t work - I started to lose clients and staff. I was in a pit of denial and was looking for my way out. There were commercials on TV and the radio for small business loans for businesses that had been adversely affected by the tragedy – I called and described my problem. They told me that I qualified for a 9/11 loan. But even having qualified, I was just too desperate and stoned – and I embellished my loan application to make sure I got the loan. In a few weeks I did get the loan and I thought I was on track to save my law firm. But it didn’t help – within a few very short months all the evidence had mounted and it became clear that I was going to lose my grievance case and was going to be disbarred from practicing law.
One day in July 2002 I had enough – I had no more fight left in me. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I called my ethics attorney and told him to throw in the towel and resign my law license. That night, after my wife and kids went to sleep, I sat down in the big easy chair of the den in our house in Westchester, and tried to kill myself. I swallowed an entire bottle of painkillers. I just wanted the pain and the madness to stop.
__________
I woke up a few days later in the Acute Care Unit of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, CT and there was no way of knowing then that instead of my life ending, that my new life had begun. I made it through seven weeks of rehab and started the long arduous but incredible journey of a road back to life through recovery. I went to my first recovery meeting on my first night out of Silver Hill Hospital – and at that meeting I did exactly what I was instructed to do. I raised my hand and said, My name is Jeff, I’m an alcoholic and I need a sponsor. I met my first sponsor at my very recovery meeting, and have attended almost 9000 meetings since then and have never again touched another drink or a drug. I am very proud to say that on August 10th of this year, God willing, I will celebrate my 13th sobriety anniversary.
But, of course, we already know that there was more to my story. I did what any "sane person" would do with no money and no job – I moved my family to Greenwich, Connecticut – perhaps the wealthiest community in the country. There I became a very involved member in recovery, and took on a lot of responsibilities and commitments. After all, recovery had saved my life. Over the first year or two, with so much wreckage to take care of – I had lost my career, my money, I lost our home in foreclosure, my marriage was in shambles. But recovery was my bedrock – I was staying sober.
One morning, when I had about 20 months of sobriety, I received a call from the FBI. The agent on the phone told me that there was a warrant out for my arrest in connection with my fraudulent statements on the 9/11 loan. It had been four years, I was now sober almost two years - and I couldn’t believe that anybody was looking at that loan. But one of the gifts was that I was able to face this as a sober man, and be there for my family, for my community and for myself sober.
I was sentenced to eighteen months in Federal prison. For those of you who don’t know how the designation process works in the Federal prison system, basically on the day your name comes up you are designated by your security level - lowest to highest. I had a security level of "zero" – so I could have been designated to a camp anywhere within 500 miles of our home in Connecticut. But on the day I was designated there were no beds in camps in this area – so I was designated to a Low Security Prison. And that’s where I went. On Easter Sunday, 2006, I reported to Allenwood Low Security Corrections Institution in White Deer, Pennsylvania. And soon found out inside that there was one former lawyer - that would be me - two former doctors, five former stockbrokers, and 1500 drug dealers. This was real prison and would be home for the next thirteen and a half months.
__________
I was released from prison in 2007 and had to do a stint in a halfway house in Hartford, home detention and then three years of Federal probation. I also had court ordered drug and alcohol counseling. It was my counselor – a former Catholic Priest turned drug counselor- who recommended to me that I rebuild my life through volunteerism. I called my old rehab, Silver Hill Hospital, and asked them if I could come interview for a volunteer position – they told me to come over that day. We sat and talked for almost two hours, and importantly, I fully disclosed everything that that happened in the past few years. They asked me to fill out an application and told me that they were going to do a background check – I was nervous. I figured that if my own rehab wouldn’t take me for a volunteer job, who in the world would ever let me work for them? I didn’t have to wait long. Two hours later my phone rang and I was a recovery volunteer for Silver Hill Hospital. This led me next to becoming a volunteer house manager at Liberation House in Stamford, CT, and then to Family Reentry, a nonprofit serving the ex-offender communities in Bridgeport and New Haven, CT. This was the first organization that asked me to serve on its Board of Directors. My first project was with my then girlfriend Lynn – now my wife. We worked with Family Reentry ex-offenders of and converted a blighted inner city block in Bridgeport into the largest privately owned public use park and garden in the State of Connecticut. It is an oasis and completely revitalized that neighborhood.
All this time we were living in Greenwich and attending recovery meetings – and I became known as the “prison guy.” I was sharing about going to prison, surviving prison, and staying sober through the entire experience. Soon hedge fund guys and others who had white-collar legal problems were seeking me out. Over those ten years, I must have met with and counseled over one hundred guys in various stages of going to or coming back from prison. It was an eye opening experience and I had no idea that it was going to turn into a ministry. I was just putting one foot ahead of another.
I went to a Reverend at the church that we were attending in Greenwich, and told him that I was searching for something more meaningful. He recommended that I apply to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I told him that I thought that was a little crazy – for one thing, I’m a Jew. Next, with my story, how would I ever get accepted to the preeminent urban seminary in the world? But, he told me that seminaries are in the redemption business – and that I should apply. And I did. I was accepted to Union Theological Seminary and went to school there for three years.
In April 2011, I was baptized with water brought back by a friend from the River Jordan. In May 2012 I earned a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary with a Focus in Christian Social Ethics.
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A few months later, while still working with white-collar families in Greenwich and doing reentry work in Bridgeport, I accepted an offer from The First Baptist Church of Bridgeport for Lynn and I to start a prison ministry at the church. You have no idea how blessed we felt to have come from where we came from, and to have a life of service in a community where we could really make a difference. And where they could make a profound difference in us. I started to blog about the experience of working in the hood during in the day, and with white-collars in the evening - when lightning struck again.
I received a call from a reporter at a Hedge Fund Magazine who had read my blog – he asked me if I was the “Minister to Hedge Fund Guys?” He asked if I would do an interview. And I told him that I would on one condition: that the story is about the creation of new form of ministry – An Authentic Ministry – that offers a safe space to people from our communities suffering in silence, to share their stories and find support. It is from this place of authenticity, we can bring together suffering people from affluent and inner city communities, to communicate authentically with each other, and learn from each other. What resulted was a sensitive and powerful interview that caught the attention of a lot of people.
The Progressive Prison Project and the Innocent Spouse & Children Project are the first ministries in the United States created to support the families of people accused or convicted of white collar and other nonviolent crimes. These families are everywhere around us – they are in our own town of Weston – suffering in silence. They receive so little compassion and empathy - and are so easy to "other" - by a world that is all too eager to believe the next sensationalized headline and to ignore the human side.
Since then, so many incredible things have happened in our journey. Among them, I was invited to join the Board of Directors of Community Partners in Action, in Hartford, CT. I was asked to join the Editorial Board of the new book, The Justice Imperative, about the state of criminal justice here in Connecticut and in our country. And we moved from Greenwich to our new home in this lovely town of Weston and started to regularly attend this wonderful church.
Lynn and I now split our time doing inner city prison ministry, and ministering to white-collar people and families. The wives and children are innocents of situations not of their own doing, in situations where they have often not been independently represented, in which husbands and fathers have gone to prison often leaving them penniless, homeless, shunned by their communities. For these mothers and children, we have assembled teams of ministers, advocates, lawyers, counselors and other professionals to protect them and get them safely through to a new life in a new family dynamic on the other side of prison.
As I see it, the biggest tragedy of all about white-collar and nonviolent crime is not how big the matter is, or sensationalized the headlines - it is in our failure to see it as an authentic human story, with real people, real brokenness, and real families left behind.
Thank you for this opportunity to be authentic, and share with you My Story. May God Bless You and Keep You Always.
Buddha philosophy was, "It is impossible to change past, but We have
free will to chose Right from wrong" to build our future. Buddha taught
to practice Yoga [any exercise] & Meditation to control the
Temptation {Ego, Anger, Greed, Lust & Attachment} to achieve
[Nirvana] freedom of [Karma] incarnation. "Jesus had the greatest
control on (Temptation) & never got angry at the end prayed for
forgiveness for people crucified him. {people should follow Jesus foot
steeps & learn not to discriminate}.
Investigator at Centre for Justice Mercy & Reconciliation
Jef
you are doing a great work, i shared with you some time a go that we
have similar story as an ex-inmate in Nigeria prison over spent 6 years
in detention over a crime i did not commit and how God send me back to
advocate for those people who are wrongfuly detained and sentence to
death. Last year my ministry free 17 inmates who have spent 6 to 10
years in detention. I am bless by your testimony "AUTHENTIC"
Pleas think of it i will like to partner with you. You can send me your e
mail so that i can share with you some of my work. Have wonderful day.
Fantastic
story of redemption Jeff. As we well know, nothing in life happens by
accident. God always has a reason even though we may not understand the
reason at the time of our adversity and tribulations. Thanks for
sharing. . .
Minister for Clergy Health & Vitality at United Church of Christ Southwest Conference
Awesome sermon. Just awesome! Thanks for your authenticity.
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Donations
We
are grateful for donations from individuals, religious groups,
charities, foundations and the like. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to: “Progressive Prison Ministries,
Inc.” P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883. Progressive Prison
Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. We are a CT Religious Corp. with
501c3 status - all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted
by law. Thank you for your support and generosity.
If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a
family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue,
please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package
by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.
