Voices From Within: Voices From Sing Sing

Progressive Prison Project 

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

Voices From Within:

Voices From Sing Sing 

Among the incredible things that we saw at TEDx SingSing 

on Weds., Dec. 3, 2014 was the world premiere 

of this amazing video responding to gun violence head on.  Produced by Dan Slepian of Dateline NBC, 

it stars the inmates of the 

Sing Sing Prison Voices From Within Project.

It took our breath away. - Jeff

Voices From Within

Confronting Gun Violence Head On 

www.voicesfromwithin.org

___________

 

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887  

Linked In Twitter  Facebook 

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

___________

TEDx SingSing, by Sean Pica - Guest Blogger

Progressive Prison Project 

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

TEDx SingSing

by Sean Pica - Guest Blogger

We first met Sean Pica, and the wonderful students & graduates of Hudson Link, when they spoke for us at Union Theological Seminary.  In their honor, we hosted a panel on Religion and Prison, a showing of their important movie "Zero Percent," and a midday chapel service featuring a sermon by Union Trustee Petero Sabune, former Chaplain of Sing Sing Prison.  Leading up to their groundbreaking project on Dec. 3rd - TEDx SingSing - to be filmed by director Jonathan Demme - we asked Sean if he would guest blog for prisonist.org. - Jeff

___________

The night of Friday November 21 was a cold one, but the cold could not damper the excitement of the TEDxSing Sing organizing team, even though the heat in the venue had not yet been turned on! Bryonn Bain and several colleagues from NYU were on their way in to help coach the speakers to make sure their messages came across as powerfully as possible on the big day, December 3. This was the first time some members of the organizing team heard all of the inside speakers’ presentations, and they were blown away. The creativity, charisma, and passion that the speakers displayed ignited our excitement even more.

Bundled in coats, hats, and scarves, we did one run-through before Bryonn and his team arrived.  The organizers and the speakers gave each other feedback, and the MC got a feel for the stage. When Bryonn arrived, the real fun began! He performed some of his incredible poetry to live musical accompaniment, a guitar player and cello player both playing in the background. Sitting in a circle making  art together, it was easy to forget that we were freezing cold, and deep inside a maximum security prison. We transcended our differences in that moment and were simply people, communicating through lyrics and song. Superintendent Capra (who will be speaking on December 3) and his wife stopped by to see how everyone was doing, and both were very impressed by how everything was coming together. We are so lucky to be working with such a supportive and invested administrators like those at Sing Sing.

After the jam session, the real work began. We broke into small groups, with one or two speakers in each group, so everyone would have the chance to receive feedback. Speakers were instructed to find their “offering,” the main take-away from their talk, the big idea they were trying to communicate. All of the speakers knew abstractly why they were talking about their chosen topic, but focusing in on that offering, putting it into words, and connecting it to the core, personal reason that topic was so important to them, unlocked these presenters in an incredible way.  The speakers were already so engaging, but this centering and clarifying gave their presentations a new dimension of passion and confidence.

We left Sing Sing that night feeling such excitement for the day of December 3, and so eager to give these men a platform to offer their valuable ideas to the world. But we also knew that we had already succeeded; through the process of planning TEDxSing Sing collaboratively with incarcerated men, advocates, and members of the community, we had already created the healthy community we would be focusing on on December 3.  

Sean Pica, MSW is the Exec. Director of
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison 

and Co-Founder of TEDx SingSing. He can be reached at 

(o) 914-941-0794 ext. 12, SPica@hudsonlink.org.
 P.O. Box 862 | Ossining, NY  10562

www.hudsonlink.org
 Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
 

___________

 

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887 Linked In Twitter  Facebook 

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

___________

Comments from Social Media:

Big Time: American Justice Summit, JustLeadershipUSA & TEDx SingSing, by Jeff Grant

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

Big Time: American Justice Summit,

JustLeadershipUSA & TEDx SingSing

New York

By Jeff Grant

The stars are aligning for the advancement of criminal justice in this country.  It is not surprising that the light seems to be shining on New York, and spreading out to the rest of the country. Here in neighboring Connecticut, we not only are not only doing significant criminal justice work of our own, we are also honored to be involved and included in these New York milestones. 


On Monday, Nov. 10th, Andrew Kaplan and I attended the American Justice Summit at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.  Babz Rawls Ivy, Andrew and I are the Online Editors for the important new book, The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked The American Dream. We met up with Connecticut criminal justice leaders, Vivien Blackford and Kumar Viswanathan, who are the Chair & Exec. Director, respectively, of the Phoenix Association. The Summit was glorious - it was not only led by of some of the most notable and influential voices in criminal justice today, it was a gathering of the tribe; a place where our community came together to breathe the same air and know that we are not alone in our noble cause.  You can watch the entire Summit on YouTube here.

JustLeadershipUSA’s benefit and launch was held on Weds. evening, Nov. 12th at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City. Lynn and I had a blast - lots of photos below! It was hosted by its Founder/President Glenn E. Martin (who did an outstanding job speaking at the American Justice Summit), and was chaired by Piper Kerman of Orange is the New Black. Our ministry, the Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project was selected to have its work highlighted among fifteen Leaders in Criminal Justice at the JustLeadershipUSA event.  We are humbled and honored.

"I believe that the launching of JustLeadershipUSA will be viewed, one day, by historians and advocates alike as a true game changer: the moment in the emerging movement when formerly incarcerated people finally had a chance to be heard, to organize, and to influence policy in major ways — even though many of them still lacked the right to vote." - Michelle Alexander, Author, The New Jim Crow

TEDx SingSing will be a landmark in New York and American criminal justice history. Dec. 3, 2014.  We are grateful to Sean Pica, Exec. Director of Hudson Link, for inviting us to attend TEDx Sing Sing and bear witness to this groundbreaking event! Check out the speakers here. Counting days till this one.

Here are some photos from our big time this past week.  - Jeff 

 with American Justice Summit panelist, John Wetzel.

with Andrew Kaplan.

P.S. Big Thanks to Community Partners in Action, 

Hartford, CT, and Family ReEntry, Bridgeport, CT, 

for your support this week! - Jeff

________ 

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org

jg3074@columbia.edu
(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

___________

Comments from Social Media: 

Barry Kolanowski | Director

Non-Profit Executive Director | Energizing Speaker | Author | Strategist

I can still remember taking a delegation from Japan through our dedicated drug prison in Illinois when asked by the interpreter, who pays for this program? When i explained that it was not only very effective in reducing recidivism and paid for by grants, donations, and State funding he just shook his head. He responded this will never work in Japan as they view prison as punishment not a place to help them improve their lives. Over 90% of all those in our prisons will be released some day. If nothing is done, they will just recommit a crime and return. 

Jerry Porricelli 

Personal & Corp Development

Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time - Steve Uzell. It is such a common myth that we can do more than one thing at the same time, people think it is something they ought to do. It's a recipe for disaster.

Tom Dudley 

President/Owner at R Club Productions "88 Keys to Freedom"

I will be at the Sing Sing event I am a music coordinator for Road Recovery's music program there, Hope to meet you

Sr Charles Ellis

Pastor at Harvest New Life Church

On behalf of Harvest New Life Church we like to extend an open invitation to those of you who like to join us on tonight @ 7 PM We're going to be in the book of PHILEMON

TEDx SingSing: December 3, 2014

Progressive Prison Project 

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

TEDx Sing Sing: December 3, 2014

Sometimes an event comes along that is so important and groundbreaking for our community that we are jumping out of our skin - this is one of them.  Sean Pica and the Hudson Link education people at Sing Sing have organized this incredible day - Jonathan Demme is filming it! This is a must! Link to Tedx SingSing Event Page. - Jeff

TEDxSingSing will focus on "Creating Healthy Communities"
December 3, 2014

On December 3, 2014, Sing Sing Correctional Facility will host TEDxSingSing, an independently organized TED event. TEDxSingSing will be the first TEDx event to take place in a New York State prison.

The theme for the event will be "Creating Healthy Communities." Speakers will explore this concept from a variety of perspectives, including individual, physical, mental, and emotional health, and how to work together to build a nourishing and supportive community, no matter where you might be; even in a maximum security prison like Sing Sing.

A variety of exciting speakers will contribute, including Gina Belafonte, Majora Carter, Bryonn Bain, Dan Slepian, and Sing Sing Superintendent Michael Capra. Several of the men incarcerated at Sing Sing will also speak, read original poetry, and perform musical numbers. The event will be filmed by acclaimed producer and director, Jonathan Demme, with assistance from the Jacob Burns' Film Center.

TED is a global community devoted to the power of ideas to help change attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world. The concept has become so popular in recent years that TED launched TEDx, a program that helps organizations independently organize their own events based on the TED model: A gathering of individuals to share ideas with one another in the form of a sequence of carefully curated talks on a variety of topics. Independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

The event is being organized by Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a nonprofit organization which provides college education, life skills and re-entry support to incarcerated men and women. The incarcerated men participating in TEDx are helping to create healthy communities through their involvement with Hudson Link's college program, Rehabilitation thru the Arts, and the Carnegie Hall Music Program.

For more information, please contact:
Emily Gallagher
egallagher@hudsonlink.org
(914) 914-941-0794
Twitter: @TEDxSingSing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxSingSing

Tedx SingSing Event Page: https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/10820

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes or less. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast event in nearby Whistler. The annual TEDGlobal conference will be held this October in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self- organized TED-style events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.
###
Hudson Link
for Higher Education in Prison
914.941.0794
www.hudsonlink.org
Believing in the Transformative
Power of Education
_________  
 
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director

jgrant@prisonist.org
jg3074@columbia.edu
(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

 ____________