Shattering the Big Trapdoor: Empowering with Hope and Redemption | Louis L. Reed | TEDxNewHaven

I want you to imagine something imagine you are watching an Olympic 300 meter race the stadium is palpable with energy you can see the runners in their block you hear the announcer on your mark get set Bang that was for dramatic player the runners take off and as they run around the track in their respective Lanes one runner in particular falls down and hits the ground hard however you can see her get back up and get back in a race you can see her determination would you cheer for her would you think that she has the resiliency of a spring and a ballpoint pen would you think that she has amazing potential and deserves to be in the race now I want you to imagine that you're not watching a race you're actually watching the life of someone with a criminal history you're watching someone who's been disenfranchised by the American legal system otherwise known as our criminal justice system imagine if this runner in particular this person who has this criminal history is in the race of life but as that person is running their race as a consequence of him falling down and hitting the ground hard they had to start all over again and when they started out all over again they as they ran the race imaginary trap doors begin to Spring open in their respective Lane would you think that the race was fair for this person in particular I'm here to talk to you today about the Morden 3.8 million people who are currently under Supervision in our communities otherwise known as Community Supervision or probation and parole I call these the big trap doors the big trap doors every five and a half minutes or so someone is reincarcerated due to what we call technical violations technical violations technical violations are things that if you are under Community Supervision the slightest misstep can actually place you back into custody it can remand you into a prison a prison cell and or a jail cell let's get some language situated quickly parole is for the purposes of people who are currently incarcerated and want to get out early while probation in and of itself is a community supervision option that doesn't require the person convicted to spend time in jail or prison and the original concept of supervision was actually to set people up for Success it was designed in theory to get people out of prison earlier and it was to help people who were in the community get back on their on their feet it was actually designed to be a springboard of the sort for success but instead it has become a trapdoor to failure allowing people for the slightest missteps and or the slightest indiscretion to find themselves in a prison cell I want to give you a few examples of what technical violations are unemployment changing your address without permission relapsing from substance abuse inability to pay your court costs or even a monthly bill all of these things actually can put people right back into a trap door of inequality instability insufficiency and quite frankly disenfranchisement I want to lay some statistics on you if the entire population of people who are incarcerated and on probation or parole were a city it would be the second largest in the United States of America right in between New York and Los Angeles and if you think that's something buckle your seatbelt if the entire population of people with criminal histories in the United States of America were a country it would ranked number 20 in the world right before the United Kingdom at approximately 68.5 million people I want to tell you story about myself when I was 14 I was shot in my chest it was a near fatal wound that almost took out my life my father was arrested at the time my father wasn't arrested because he was the one who shot me my father was actually arrested because he was on probation at the time when I was five years old both of my parents were incarcerated and I was raised by my maternal grandmother and so when my father was eventually released from prison he was under a term of supervision which meant any incidental contact with law enforcement could send him back to jail so back to the above when I was shot at the age of 14 years old fighting for my life my father as any parent would tried to rush to the hospital to get to me on the way there he was stopped by law enforcement not for committing a new crime but because he was speeding and as a result of such as a result of that incidental contact with law enforcement my father never made it to the hospital to be by my side he fell through that trap door and was sent back into custody for a technical violation that is what the big trap door looks like that is what people who are under Supervision in the United States of America deal with day in and night out it's a nightmare that makes Elm Street looked like Sesame Street in comparison you have to be over 30 to really appreciate that that metaphor but not only Not only was my father a person who experienced a technical violation but I myself experienced a violation as well when I was approximately 21 22 years old I served 14 years in federal prison on a 16-year sentence during the time that I was incarcerated I did everything that I could in order to be able to transform my life I got me a little bit of Education I had worked so diligently in order to re -imagine what a life a pro-social life would look like for me post-incarceration and I think that I was fairly successful so after 14 years in federal prison approximately a week out from Christmas after having been home for approximately two or three months I got into a disagreement with my supervised release officer based off of a job that I wanted to accept in New York City a job that I in my mind thought that I had worked to earn prior to me even being released from federal prison so an argument ensued the day before Christmas on Christmas Eve I was remanded back into custody for insolence not because I committed a new offense simply because I offended someone else someone who had arbitrary power to send me back into custody and that is exactly what happened it was a devastating blow to my family and even to myself and so I want to give you some more statistics statistics because my story is not necessarily unique in the United States of America blacks are five times more likely to be incarcerated than our white counterparts women black women are two times more likely to be arrested and or incarcerated than their wipe counterparts if blacks and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rate as white people the prison population would automatically Reduce by 40 percent in the United States of America and lastly black families 64 percent of black families have a family member who has either been a incarcerated or B arrested 64 percent of black families know someone with a criminal history now I want to talk to you about some odds I ran some odds through a sophisticated algorithm that has been scientifically proven called Google and I found out that through these odds through these odds there are more than 46 000 collateral consequences to one felony conviction 46 000 collateral consequences to one felony conviction pause for a second Mahatma Gandhi Springs to mind here when he said the true measure of any society can be found and how it treats its most vulnerable members how it treats its most vulnerable members in the United States of America there is no population more vulnerable more locked out of opportunity than those with criminal history so back to these odds did you know that you have a greater odd of bowling a perfect game you have a greater odd of becoming an astronaut you even have a greater odd of living to 100 years old than you do if you were under supervision and not receiving a technical violation and so if you think that that's something when you have a criminal history in the United States of America here are a few things that you can't do number one you can't get a job number two you can't get housing number three you can't get life insurance right here in the state of Connecticut you can be denied life insurance if you have a felony conviction not going back one year not going back three years not going back five years indefinitely even if the criminal conviction has nothing to do with insurance fraud in and of itself but let's continue on you can't get a business or occupational licensure you can't volunteer in your community you can't enroll in higher education in 34 states you can't even vote and last but not least just some of the examples that we're spitting against the wall you can have your credit card revoked as in the case that I recently experienced even with a 720 credit score and no missed payments Reuben J Miller Springs of Mind here when he said those under Community Supervision are halfway home living as carceral Citizens every day for people who have criminal histories every day for people who are under the threat of remanding being remanded back into custody it is a very real very real uh circumstance and Ordinary People are not impacted in and of themselves even celebrities are impacted Meek Mill Meek Mill who when he was 19 years old was sentenced to 11 he was sentenced to three years three years under supervision that three years turned into an 11 year term an 11-year term and while he was under supervision he was violated for breaking up a fight that was captured in an airport he was also violated for popping a willy on a motorcycle on the set of a music video no one is exempt Jay-Z in the New York Times wrote an op-ed and he said the criminal justice system stalks black men like Meek Mill and I couldn't agree more a good friend of mine whose name is Glenn E Martin he's the founder of the closed Rikers campaign he he said probation and parole are gateway drugs to prison the intervention of opportunity I want you to reimagine something if you would imagine what it would be like if the 2.8 billion dollars that we spend as taxpayers annually if it wasn't swallowed through that big trap door on a broken and failed system imagine what it would be like if people with criminal convictions were not unemployed at a rate 27 percent higher than those without a criminal conviction think about what it would be like if our legal system actually offered real solutions if we didn't apply criminal solutions to social problems imagine how much better we would be as a community imagine how much better we would be as a society I want to introduce to you three Broad reforms that I think could help transform our criminal justice system and actually increase Public Safety at the same time reintegrating people back into our communities number one we need to limit technical violations everyday life should not be a crime for people if an action is not a crime it shouldn't put a person back in a prison cell number two we need to shorten supervision terms what we saw happen in the situation as described with Meek Mill is not something that's exclusive it's actually standard practice in a lot of States across our country you can be sentenced to a term of supervision probably for about a year for example and through a series of violations through a series of of complications that really feel like a labyrinth you can find yourself going from one year of supervision all the way to approximately 11 years of supervision continually locked out of opportunities and so we need to shorten supervision terms supervision terms should not be any longer than necessary to rehabilitate and reintegrate people back into society any longer is simply a waste of time it's a waste of money it's a waste of resources and more importantly it's a waste of human potential number three we need to pass Clean Slate legislation Connecticut in and of itself has taken a big leap in passing clean late Clean Slate legislation I'll try that three times fast before uh my talk is over uh Connecticut in and of itself has has really taken a big leap in passing clean late slate legislation but we need clean legislation in all four corners of our country and everywhere in between and it's in effect this is what clean slate legislation is after a period of Time Records should be cleared you paid your debt to society the account needs to be closed and our legislation should demonstrate to people that their history is not bigger than their destiny let me say that one more time for the people in the back your history should not be bigger than your destiny a few weeks ago and Uvalde Texas unless you were on the planet Mars and you do not have a great matter in your head you could not be affected by what happened in that Middle School a mother who probably experienced trauma that no person in life wants to experience not only did she have to deal with the anxiety of her children being In Harm's Way thank God her children weren't harm but she dealt with the anxiety of her children being involved in an active shooter situation she also dealt with the nightmare of being violated because she spoke to the news media while under supervision and her probation officer said that she would be violated if she continued to speak with news media if not for the empathy of an understanding judge she probably would be part of that number where every five and a half minutes in our country people under supervision are remanded back into custody I believe in grace I believe in Mercy I also believe in Redemption My grandmother used to say no one is worse then the poorest decision that they've ever made in their life no one is worse than the poorest decision that they've ever made in their life we can reimagine what our Criminal Justice System would be if these trapdoors for technicalities did not exist we can reimagine what it would be like to give people an opportunity a real opportunity not a second chance because many people truth be told never had a first chance to begin with we need a fair chance we need to create an opportunity where people are going to be able to thrive they are going to be able to grow they are going to be able to glow and they are going to be able to really be contributing members to our society we can close the big trap door that constantly perpetuates this system of transgenerational failure and we can create springboards of successes for people who have been locked out of opportunity we can help them level up thank you so very much [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 491

Keywords: Criminal justice, English, Humanities, Marginalized, Reform, TEDxTalks, [TEDxEID:38836]

Id: gSKGhynub-U

Length: 20min 15sec (1215 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2023