Family ReEntry Announces Three New Board members - Carlah Esdaile Bragg, David Light and Christian Morris

Family ReEntry Announces 

New Board Members

 

Bragg, Light and Morris Elected to Board

Bridgeport, CT – (May 22, 2017) – Family ReEntry, a nonprofit leader that assists families affected by the criminal justice system, today announced the appointment of three key new board members, who will help guide the organization on its program expansion and advocacy efforts.

Carlah Esdaile Bragg, David Light and Christian Morris have accepted nomination to serve on the Family ReEntry board of directors. The commitment enlists the skills, knowledge and advisory of all activities for the organization to increase its services that restore dignity and renew families that have been impacted by incarceration and the justice system.

Jeff Grant, Executive Director of Family ReEntry, said, “Carlah, David and Christian bring exceptional experience, expertise and relationships to our board. They each have a special, different perspective that is ideal for guiding the future of Family ReEntry.”

Bragg is a lifelong resident of New Haven, CT with an

Carlah Esdaile Bragg

understanding of local and statewide conditions, community needs and strategies. She is currently the Director of Marketing and Community Relations for Cornell Scott – Hill Health Center, Connecticut’s oldest and one of the largest community health centers in the state, providing medical, behavioral health and dental services to more than 30,000 residents. She is an advocate, holding various positions with the NAACP. Bragg served on the City of New Haven Fresh Start planning team and serves on the City of New Haven Reentry Advisory Committee, and the Reentry Roundtable Faith Based Committee.

Light is a biotech scientist and entrepreneur from Branford,

David Light

CT. A graduate of Yale University, David studied molecular, cellular and developmental biology. At Ion Torrent, David invented a particle that enabled the commercial viability of DNA semiconductor sequencing and helped lead to the acquisition of Ion Torrent by Life Technologies. At Life Technologies, David was Head of Chemistry R&D, and when Life Tech was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Light transitioned to Director of Product Management in order to directly handle the commercialization of the technologies that he helped develop. For the past six years, David has guest lectured at Yale where he teaches undergraduates about DNA sequencing. Light is also a founding board member of the ShuLounge of New Haven. a novel congregation catering to a vibrant and diverse community.

 

“I’m honored to be a member of the board of directors at Family ReEntry and support its vital and impactful work, which has special meaning to me and my family, who have directly felt the effects and difficulties resulting from incarceration,” Light explained.

Morris, who first consulted with Family ReEntry on strategic

Christian Morris

business planning, now brings added value to the organization with his background in technology and software business application solutions.  Morris is co-founder of SmartPath Labs, a technology and business advisory firm focused on new market adoption and strategic partnerships for emerging technology companies. As the former Executive Vice President of CometaWorks, Morris delivered technology solutions across financial services, healthcare, educational institutions, and entertainment sectors. Previously, Morris served on the board of Sound Affects, a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing how the war on cancer is fought and financed with a mission to increase the implementation of promising new treatments by empowering individuals to directly support bio-entrepreneur’s research. Morris lives in Westport, CT.

With the assistance of the three newest members, the board of Family ReEntry seeks to advise the organization in supporting, not just the individuals who are reentering society after incarceration, but the families and friends of those individuals as they transition. Family ReEntry provides vital services to help individuals and families in the areas of prevention, intervention, diversion, in-prison and reentry.

Currently, there are over 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States and over 70 million with criminal records. “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, a man who knows very well of the difficulties that formerly incarcerated individuals can face. He served almost 14 months in Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001 when he was a lawyer. Grant said. “As the first person in the country formerly incarcerated for a white-collar crime to be appointed as Executive Director of a major criminal justice nonprofit, I try to be a role model that there is hope after prison.”

“The situation can seem overwhelming to those most affected, but there is help,” Grant explained. “Men and woman and their families who come through Family ReEntry are succeeding in making positive contributions and improving their lives. While national averages show a large percentage of this population returning to prison, we are seeing that Family ReEntry’s work is significantly lowering that percentage.”

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.

Inside the Heart of a White-Collar Criminal, by Will U. Lystn - Guest Blogger

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Inside the Heart of a 

White-Collar Criminal

by, Will U. Lystn - Guest Blogger

The author writes about the gratitude 

he feels on his third anniversary 

home from prison. 

He is a member of our 

confidential online Tuesday evening 

White-Collar/Nonviolent Support Group

_____________

Today is an anniversary of sorts: it is 3 years ago to about this very moment when I began the process of exiting that awful and woeful place. Three years ago, right @ this very moment, I found myself:

·         Saying goodbyes to the kind men that were to soon be left behind
·         Giving away the last of my personal items to those in deepest of need
·         Hugging and sharing both this moment of celebration for me and condolences for those not yet ready to gain access to the freedom tarmac
·         Walking up that paved incline happily for the final time and this time, turning and heading towards the outside of the orientation and processing center
·         Sitting patiently and waiting for the prison official to give me the time of day
·         Exchanging my clothes and getting my own clothes back---and then putting them on
·         Waiting for my get-away vehicle
·         Climbing into that cold van and making small talk with the inmate driver
·         Winding down that serpentine road and heading to the exit
·         Waiting patiently for the cab to arrive that would whisk me away to freedom
·         Getting into that cab and nearly breaking in two
·         Closing my eyes and asking the cabbie to speed away @ light-speed
·         Asking him to not judge me, closing my eyes and asking him to let me know when the misery was no longer visible in his rearview mirror (he told me that others asked the same thing many times over)
·         Opening my eyes and seeing the brightness of the morning sun and the fresh vistas of mountains that rose like earthen diamonds on the horizon. Earthen diamonds that represented scalable freedoms yet to be discovered and conquered
·         Drop off at the airport and clinging to my little ditty-bag and wondering if I looked suspicious
·         Purchasing with my prison-issued debit card my first tastes of freedom-laced foods
·         Boarding the plane and heading to my home…wondering what this might look like and if it would welcome or repel me
·         Taking off and vowing never—ever to head that way again
·         Landing @ LAX and watching in wonder as the people milled about in such ease and with such unfiltered awareness of their luck and fortune to be so free
·         Boarding the small commuter plane that would take me back to my home
·         Watching out the window as we passed by Anytown, USA and seeing where my house sat and marveling that once again I was ‘home’
·         Greeting my wife and realizing this was going to take a while to heal the wound that I created
·         The Drop Off @ The Half-Way House: that was tough and the 30 + days there were not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination
·         Coming Home: that day I exited incarceration and found my way back to my house
·         Chico and My Homecoming: opening the door and there to greet me: Chico!
·         In the Middle of The Floor: there I sat, in the middle of the floor sobbing and hugging Chico

More…so much more. But that is pretty darned close. Wow! Three full turns of the calendar and I am still nowhere near to that province I thought would easily reappear: ‘recovered’. I mean nowhere near.

Struggles and Challenges Abound:
The struggles and challenges abound. There are plenty of days when I feel overwhelmed and ostracized. But I would NEVER, as in EVER want to head back to that literal bondage.

The smell, taste and deep-pleasures of freedom way supersede and repress the powers of that awful and woeful place.

Freedom = home + courage + capabilities to try again + tiny victories + 10-S! + Family and time with my wife and kids and grandson + friendships rekindled + opportunities to speak and teach and write and broadcast + leadership leanings + this general sense of well-being.

I am home. I never take this lightly. I never approach this, or my relationships, or my sobriety or my intellect with a casual callousness. I am Uber aware that life can snatch these bounties and blessings and special moments from us, ‘in the twinkling of an eye’.

Like the speed of flight from which a bat exits the deep chasms of hell, life can turn on you. And the fact that I get a 2nd and 3rd and 4th chance = pure and lasting amazing grace.

Reentry Central: Jeff Grant's Story Is an Inspiration to Other Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

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Reentry Central: Jeff Grant's Story 

Is an Inspiration to Other Formerly 

Incarcerated Individuals

By Beatrice Codianni, Managing Editor,
Reentry Central

Grant went from having an eight digit

 prison number to being number one

 at Family ReEntry, a top reentry

 organization in Connecticut

Reprinted from Reentry Central, 

Dec. 7, 2016

_____________

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.

 

_______________

Press Release: Jeff Grant Appointed New Interim Executive Director at Family ReEntry

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Press Release: 

Jeff Grant Appointed New Interim 

Executive Director at Family ReEntry

 

Jeff Grant Appointed New Interim Executive Director at Family ReEntry

Bridgeport, Connecticut – Thurs., October 13, 2016

The Board of Directors of Family ReEntry has appointed Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, as interim Executive Director of Family ReEntry of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Grant served on Family ReEntry’s board of directors since 2009 — his new appointment marks the first time in the United States that a person formerly incarcerated for a white-collar crime has served as the head of a major re-entry agency. “It’s a tremendous step, and a bold decision on the Board’s part,” Grant said. “This is a transformative period for Family ReEntry. I owe them my fresh start, so of course I said yes when they offered me the position.”

“From an advocacy, program and fundraising perspective, it resonates with people to have a formerly incarcerated person at our helm,” stated Jeffrey Earls, Director of Development for Family ReEntry, “with a background in business, law, prison ministry, recovery and prisoner reentry, Jeff brings a wealth of experience to Family ReEntry.”

“We live and work in an area that has the largest disparity of wealth in the country,” said Grant, referring to the economic divide between affluent suburbs such as Greenwich and inner city communities such as Bridgeport. Family ReEntry receives tremendous support from individuals and families who have been very open and receptive to our mission,” Grant said. “We have a message that resonates around the state and the country — to lower recidivism and disrupt the intergenerational cycle of incarceration.”

There is a new sense of energy and purpose at Family ReEntry. The staff and directors are committed to advancing the agency, its core values, and above all its mission.

Family ReEntry provides essential support and programs to individuals and families who have been involved in or impacted by the criminal justice system.  FRE works to reverse the impact of domestic violence, crime, incarceration, drug abuse and mental illness. FRE also offers Youth Mentoring programs that focus on assistance to youth that are impacted by the devastating effect of an incarcerated parent or sibling.

Ronda Muir, Board Chair, said, "Family ReEntry was fortunate to have a long-serving board member with roots in the Agency's Fresh Start program who could step into the Executive Director role. Jeff's own experience and commitment to our mission makes him an ideal choice to quickly and effectively move the agency forward. He has the full support of the board as we build on Steve Lanza's tenure to support those impacted by the criminal justice system."

Mr. Grant replaces Stephen Lanza, who served as Executive Director since 1999.  Mr. Lanza will continue his relationship with Family ReEntry as a senior advisor and consultant. “Steve Lanza has been the heart and soul of Family ReEntry, and has served our agency, community and mission for the past fifteen years with dignity, grace, compassion, empathy and human kindness,” says Mr. Grant.

More information, visit www.FamilyReEntry.org or call Jeffrey Earls, Family ReEntry Director of Development at (203) 576-6924, jeffreyearls@familyreentry.org.

For press inquiries email to: fre-press@usadagency.com
 

Support Group for Formerly Incarcerated Women, by Stephanie Schacher, PsyD - Guest Blogger

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Support Group for 

Formerly Incarcerated Women

by  Stephanie Schacher, PsyD 

- Guest Blogger

Stephanie counsels individuals and groups 

 who have experienced abuse and trauma

in her Branford & Westport, CT offices. 

We recently met with her and invited her to 

write a guest blog for prisonist.org. - Jeff  

_____________

Last weekend I was reading an article in the New York Times called “Cellblock Albany: Still ‘the Senator on the Inside”.  It talked about the number of New York City and State politicians who were convicted in recent years of various white collar crimes, who did or are doing time in Federal prisons. It made me think more about the subject of prison and trauma.

One of the things that stood out for me in this article was the sentiment that imprisonment righted no wrongs that may have been committed. Prison was about punishment, not restitution and rehabilitation. The people interviewed talked about how imprisonment devastates lives and families.  It was a theme I was familiar with, because a few months ago I started a support group for women who have been convicted of white collar crimes and have spent time in prison.  I am a clinical psychologist in private practice, and this was not an area I ever trained in during graduate school.  This was a world that I never knew much about before.

I come from a background of privilege. An intact family with two supportive parents who provided for me emotionally and financially. I lived in a safe and desired community. I had the requisite piano lessons, horseback riding lessons, and summer camps. My parents were involved in my life and my schooling, and they enabled me to complete college and graduate school with minimal debt.  I was set on a path to succeed.

Privilege was not something that I ever thought about but I first became aware of it during graduate school. I was doing therapy with an African-American male with an extensive history of drug addiction and incarceration.  Against all odds and many, many failed rehabs, he had had a few years clean under his belt when I met him. He had probably been incarcerated more than 30 times for various drug-related offenses, and cumulatively had spent the majority of his adult life in jail.

In one particular session after many months of therapy, he began talking about his childhood, and asked questions about mine.  He asked if I’d ever not had enough to eat as a child. He asked if I had lived in a dangerous neighborhood. He talked about how he learned never to back down from a confrontation on the street. The first and only time he did, his mother had beaten him worse than the other kid would have.  He explained that mothers taught their kids this survival strategy – that if you are always willing to fight, others will respect you and leave you alone. I said that there had been no need to learn this survival strategy where I grew up, and that parents taught their kids to walk away from physical conflict.

As he contemplated a childhood where one could safely walk the neighborhoods, one with the privilege of going to sleep well-fed and safe, he asked if I grew up far away from New York City.  I believe he felt that this sort of childhood utopia could have only existed far away from the dangerous cities. When I told him no, that I had in fact grown up less than 30 miles from NYC, he burst into tears. That we could have grown up in communities so close, yet worlds apart, struck him, and me, as profoundly unfair. Our lives had run their courses largely based on the circumstances of our births. I fought to keep myself from crying openly as I contemplated this truth.

Upon becoming a psychologist, I never again looked at another individual or myself without thinking about the question of privilege.  One of my main areas of interest as a psychologist is working with people who have experienced trauma. Childhood abuse and neglect, domestic violence, the trauma of losing one’s mind to mental illness and residing in a locked psychiatric hospital.  Also 9/11, devastating hurricanes, Newtown.  My eyes still well with tears as I think of Newtown.  When one, then two, and finally three clients came to see me individually in my practice who all shared the experience of having been convicted of a crime for which they had been or were to be imprisoned, I began to learn about this particular type of trauma.

I learned about trauma from the inside, by listening to the stories of the traumatized, the stories of people who lost almost all there was to lose.  Trauma is about facing the unimaginable, being powerless and helpless as a force greater than yourself does what it will with you.  The aftereffects are many.  There is loss of a sense of safety that all who walk through the world feeling safe take for granted.  I leave my house every morning because I feel safe.  I do not think that a car will run me over in my driveway, or that a tree will fall on me, or that someone will jump out of the bushes and attack me.  My sense of safety is part of my privilege that I take for granted.  With trauma, there is a loss of agency, a person’s sense that they can have an impact on their world, and control their world to some extent.  There is a loss of a sense of having a future and a loss of feeling that the world has meaning and purpose. It now feels random, uncaring, even malevolent.  Everything you thought you knew about yourself and the world is now wrong.  You can never look at life the same way again.

Healing from trauma means finding a way to reestablish some sense of safety.   Not as safe as you once felt, perhaps, not safety-taken-for-granted, but safety with a careful eye.  It also means finding a way to regain a sense of your own agency, that if you set an intention, you have a good chance of reaching it. As healing continues, the future begins to take a shape, most likely a different one than before, but there is a sense that there can be a worthwhile future.  You then search and struggle to find new purpose to your changed life, and begin to find meaning in your trauma.  The trauma is now not just a horrible reality that comprises all of you, but becomes only part of you.  It becomes an experience that enables you to learn something valuable about yourself, about others, and enables you to feel that you have something valuable to give to others because of it.

While I never worked in a prison, listening to the women in my group talk about their experiences in prison reminded me of working in a psychiatric hospital.  Years ago, I was a staff psychologist at a state psychiatric hospital where the sickest of the sick received their treatment, and often, lived out their lives. Some patients had been there so long that if their charts were stacked end to end they would reach the ceiling. Walking into the hospital each morning, through the security doors, into the lobby filled with patients who had the clearance to leave the grounds for off-site programs, one was immediately hit by the smell of unbrushed teeth and unwashed faces.  Morning breath times 40.   The staff kept a strict division between employee and patient, us and them. The hospital was a strange world where it felt like time stood still and the outside real world didn’t exist.  But over time, the hospital began to feel like the real world, with patients’ struggles to get through each and every day, hanging on to psychic and physical existence and trying to fulfill their most basic needs.  In turn, Manhattan, where I lived at the time, began to feel like an unreal world full of people keeping tabs on trending topics, thinking about their jobs or bonuses, or if they can get a reservation at a popular restaurant …. I am not trying to belittle these pursuits – hey, I was part of that privileged world of those who had their mental health, physical health, jobs, education, and support systems.  But hearing the differences in people’s strivings, and what felt important to them, was so striking that it somehow felt that the world of the day to day struggles of the patients in the hospital was more “real” than my outside world.

Ok, so why am I talking about all of this? Part of a psychologist’s job is to see patterns and symbolic parallels. Something my brain does fairly well by nature.  I see many parallels between the real world/unreal world dichotomy of those in the hospital and those in prison. I see many similar patterns and themes between those who have suffered abuse and those whose lives have been upended by the criminal justice system.  I see a similar division between the have and have-nots, the privileged and those without.

My clients have always been my best teachers, and I have learned the most from them. About mental illness and mental health, about coping and resilience, about suffering and pain. About life.  Through my group I see that people who have gone to prison experience a shift in perception about the “real” world. The old rules from the outside world no longer apply, and if you try to follow what you’ve always known about how people and the world work, you may seriously jeopardize yourself physically and psychologically.  Physical and psychological survival depends on adapting to this “real” world, and making the outside world unreal. Just as abuse causes people to lose their sense of self (or never develop a healthy one if the abuse occurred in childhood), so too do people in prison begin to lose themselves. Loss of safety, loss of agency, loss of meaning, loss of a future, loss of a place in life.  The healing process from this type of trauma is the same. But people are released from jail having to heal, having to piece together their lives and their selves alone, without support. They are repeatedly confronted with the division between “us” and ‘them”. The belief that those of us who have never been incarcerated are nothing like “them”.  I’m sure many of “us” would feel something akin to “they brought it on themselves”. I probably would have thought something along those lines too had I not learned from the stories these women had to tell.  Yes, people do the wrong thing, some do them knowingly, others unknowingly. That’s part of human nature. Part of all of us, perhaps.  

A famous quote from Harry Stack Sullivan, a famous psychiatrist and psychoanalyst: “We are all much more simply human than otherwise”.

 

Stephanie Schacher, PsyD  is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Westport and Branford, CT.  One of her main areas of interest is in the treatment of trauma.  She has worked for a grant funded program through Columbia University treating individuals impacted by 9/11.  She has developed curriculum and providing trainings to educators, nurses, and mental health clinicians in the Gulf Coast following hurricane Katrina in 2005. In her private practice she works individually and in groups with people who have experienced abuse and trauma.  Stephanie can be reached at s.schacher@att.net, 203-292-9845

__________

 Donations

We are grateful for all donations this past year to our Ministries. These donations enable us to grow, reach out and serve this community for which there is far too little understanding, compassion, empathy and accurate information.  Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status -

all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. We hope you will consider making a donation to our appeal this year.  Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal here, at the "Donate" button on on our site, prisonist.org or by sending your check payable to: "Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc." P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883.  We have enclosed an addressed envelope for your use. Thank you.

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If you, a friend or a family member are experiencing 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

__________

Progressive Prison Project/  

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
(o) 203-769-1096
(m) 203-339-5887
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Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouse & Children Project
lspringer@prisonist.org

(203) 536-5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
jgabal@prisonist.org
(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
mediababz@gmail.com

Fifth Letter from Prison, by Lee Gutierrez, Guest Blogger: A New Light Shining

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Fifth Letter from Prison: 

A New Light Shining

by Lee Gutierrez, Guest Blogger

This is the fifth letter of Lee's from prison 

that we're publishing with his permission.   
He wrote it from from a new
 prison, during which transfer we were unable to communicate. Lee's first four letters were among the most read posts ever 

on prisonist.org:

Inner Surrender, Inner Suffering

The Night Before Prison

 In Prison for the Holidays

Letter From Prison
 

Dear Jeff, 

YES, yes, 'Houston we have contact!" Your response to XXX's email was appreciated.  I really didn't expect to hear from you. It's comforting to know I am still in your thoughts....

Wow, I've been incarcerated for 2 years, 7 months, time is passing. This weekend my son [almost 3 years old] is coming for a visit, my folks are coming North now that spring has arrived. I haven't seen his angelic face in 6 weeks, I can't wait.  He is growing in leaps and bounds, he has my heart. 

In September of last year my transfer went through.  I dropped down to a medium classification in July, 2015 but they wouldn't confirm it. In late August there was a gang war, in two days there were seven cuttings.   We were in lock-down for a week.  Once lock-down was over, they shipped about 30 inmates out at once.  "The place that has no name" is a horrific place.  Murders, cuttings, suicide, overdoses, 5 dead in one year, all hidden from the public. There is a hell on earth. 

I have so much emotion within me, so much fear, anger and resentment. That leg of my journey may be past me, but the emotion scares linger...damage has been done, I don't know if it will ever heal. There is so much pain inside that needs to come out, to be expelled from my spirit, to be shared with others.  I have no time now to focus on this task...

My Appeal, what a challenge... [redacted]

Currently to keep my mind busy I enrolled into a certificate course of Paralegal studies.  Studying law and researching the case has piqued my interest.  I plan to send an updated resume to law firms in Manhattan and Long Island... If you have any thoughts on this subject, that would be appreciated. 

Jeff, I am in good spirits, my Lord is providing strength and hope. He has given me the opportunity to rebuild my relationships, believing that I am loved and needed. I wish all the mates in prison could see the light the way I do. 

Going forward I will be writing down my thoughts again and sending them to you as I perfect them.  You are very kind to say that my articles are still being read. May you and your blessed family have an uplifting spring.  Rejoice in the work you are doing and celebrate life each day.

Your friend, 

Lee 

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Donations

We are grateful for all donations this past year to our Ministries. These donations enable us to grow, reach out and serve this community for which there is far too little understanding, compassion, empathy and accurate information.  Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status -

all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. We hope you will consider making a donation to our appeal this year.  Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal here, at the "Donate" button on on our site, prisonist.org or by sending your check payable to: "Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc." P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883.  We have enclosed an addressed envelope for your use. Thank you.

__________ 

 

If you, a friend or a family member are experiencing 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

__________

Progressive Prison Project/  

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
(o) 203-769-1096
(m) 203-339-5887
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Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouse & Children Project
lspringer@prisonist.org

(203) 536-5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
jgabal@prisonist.org
(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
mediababz@gmail.com