Fighting Racism in the Incarceration System
We talk about the crisis of mass incarceration and how we need to move from retribution to repair.
This topic is near to my heart and mission. If you’d like me to share more stories and information about the crisis of mass incarceration, please consider becoming a paid subscriber today!
The United States has five percent of the world's population but 25 percent of its incarcerated individuals. This is what we have come to call "the crisis of mass incarceration."
But the statistics only tell part of the story.
Behind the numbers are real people. Their lives and the the lives of the people who love them are devastated by a system more focused on retribution than repair.
Stanley Frankart is someone who made it out of the prison system and is now helping others to do the same. After getting involved with gangs, drugs, and violence as a teenager, Frankart ended up in prison where he was behind bars for more of his young life than free.
Through a dramatic conversion to Christianity he re-ordered his priorities and now helps justice-involved individuals through Young Christian Professionals (YCP) by offering character education and professional development to reduce rates of recidivism.
Frankart is also one of the inaugural Witness Fellows sponsored by The Witness Foundation. The fellowship grants $100,000 and a two-year fellowship experience to support the next generation of Black Christian civil rights leaders.
Listen or watch below…
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I worked in county jail in Florida for three years leading church services, providing trauma informed care, and leading addiction and trauma recovery groups. It’s been seven years since I worked in the jail, and I still lie awake at night thinking about the horrible conditions, under which the women there are treated, the dehumanization of the mail and prison system, and how so many people profit from the suffering of others. I could write novels about what I learned while working in jail, and now providing re-entry therapy to people who have been released. There is currently no reliable care for incarcerated people, at least not in Florida where I live. We use a profitable system to abuse people, then blame them for the abuse, then blame them for not being able to survive amidst the abuse. It’s a disgusting reality of American culture that needs to be abolished. And the worst part is that so many churches actively support this system or are complicit in its functioning.
Stanley's speaking and sharing his story is so impactful. It reminds me of stories shared on Moth Radio Hour (wrongful convictions too). I watched the episode on the day this report was released: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/one-in-five-racial-disparity-in-imprisonment-causes-and-remedies/ Thank you, Mr. Stanley, and Dr. Tisby!