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prisoner reentry

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant, Guests: Shannon Ross & Kayleigh Atkinson of The Community, Milwaukee, WI, Fri., Mar. 19, 2021, 9 am ET

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On Friday, March 19th at 9 am ET, Shannon Ross & Kayleigh Atkinson of The Community, Milwaukee, WI, were our guests on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed on Facebook Live. On podcast platforms 24/7 everywhere. The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

The Community: We focus on preentry (preparation before reentry) and true outreach (beyond the choir) to foster and promote the successes, humanity, and agency of people with criminal records.

Our preentry inreach consists of three newsletters, read by close to half the Wisconsin prison population and some in the federal system. Our The Community newsletter consists of decarceration news, resources, and insights. Our Keep Moving Forward newsletter consists of personal development tools and commentary designed specifically for people who are incarcerated. And our financial health newsletter is created in partnership with the Urban Economic Development Association. We are also very excited about our new project with industry and business partners to create a variety of career literature and assistance to help those in prison prepare for careers they actually have an interest in and an aptitude for, and for which there are less legal, financial, and bureaucratic obstacles in their way. It will be a customized approach to career preparation for those incarcerated that has neither happened before or is possible without our direct and constant connections to those inside.

Our outreach consists of the Correct the Narrative Campaign, which focuses on people and communities who are more indifferent and antagonistic to people with criminal records and the immense need for decarceration/justice reform in America. Visit our Correct the Narrative Campaign page for more info and videos from events and interviews that illuminate so powerfully why the fears and biases surrounding people who break the law need to be corrected.

And contact us if you want to get involved in decarceration efforts so we can help you figure out what organizations and activities to get involved in, or if you simply want to learn more about this expansive problem.

 

Listen on SoundCloud:

 

Watch on YouTube:

 

Guests:

 

 

 

Shannon Ross

Shannon Ross is the founder and executive director of The Community, which he founded with invaluable outside support in 2014 while he was serving a 17 year prison sentence. The Community focuses on pre-entry through its ever-growing connection with almost half the Wisconsin prison population, and “uncomfortable” outreach through its Correct the Narrative Campaign confronting society with the successes, humanity, and agency of people with criminal records. Ultimately, we help those inside best prepare for success upon release and prepare society to fully embrace them upon release. Since his release last September, 

Shannon is also a grad student at UW-Milwaukee, a community fellow at the Wisconsin Decarceration Platform, a partner with Reentry Rising MKE, and a member of Unlock Higher Ed.

thecommunitynow.us

shannon@thecommunitynow.us

 

Kayleigh Atkinson

As an artist, the mantra we are the walking wounded has tremendously impacted my vision. The main influence on my work is that of selfless service. I believe documentary film, installation art and vulnerability through storytelling are powerful tools that advance consciousness + compassion in humanity. 

kaljatkinson@gmail.com

kaleighatkinson.com

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Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:  

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.

Our Facebook Page: 

Our Twitter handle: @insidercj

Our Instagram handle: @criminaljusticeinsider

   

The show is live-streamed and podcasted anytime/anywhere at:

New Haven Independent:

http://newhavenindependent.org 

Facebook Live: 

https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio 

YouTube: https://youtube 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wnhhlp 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/wnhhradio

Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=wnhh

 

The show is also archived at:

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/new-haven-independent/sets/criminal-justice-insider

Community Foundation of Greater New Haven website: 

https://www.cfgnh.org/LeadingOnIssues/IncarcerationandReentry/CriminalJusticeInsiderRadioArchives.aspx 

 

An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).

Please “like” us on Facebook!    

More info here. 

Contact us: jgrant@prisonist.org 

 Criminal Justice Insider Sponsored by:

 

Criminal Justice Insider Sponsored by:

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant, with Guest: Robyn Porter, CT Representative, Fri., Feb. 5, 2021 at 9 am ET

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Join us on Friday, February 5th at 9 am EST, Connecticut State Representative Robyn Porter will be our guest on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed on Facebook Live. On podcast platforms 24/7 everywhere. The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

 

Listen on SoundCloud:

 

 

Robyn Porter

State Representative Robyn Porter was first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in April 2014 following a special election. Since winning the 94th Assembly District seat, Porter has championed legislation that has provided fair wages and work spaces for Connecticut’s workers, reformed the state’s criminal justice system and increased protections for domestic violence victims.

Porter has been a member of the both the Appropriations and Judiciary committees. She has authored and sponsored legislation that restores respect, dignity and fairer treatment for incarcerated women, prohibits a judge from setting bail for those charged with misdemeanors, outlaws the solitary confinement of minors, requires more data from prosecutors and strengthens transparency between law enforcement and the public.

At the beginning of her second full term in January 2017, Porter was named House chairwoman of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Under her leadership, Connecticut workers have benefited from tremendous progress in the workplace. Representative Porter has:

  • Championed legislation that strengthened gender pay equity laws, which had not been updated since 1963
  • Led a 14-hour debate in the House to raise the minimum hourly wage to $15 an hour by 2023
  • Led a nearly 8-hour debate that establishes the Paid Family Medical Leave Insurance Program, the most generous paid leave program in the country to date
  • Led the creation of the Council on the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Record
  • Expanded Workers’ Compensation Benefits to firefighters and police officers diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

In her role as the co-chair of the Minority Teacher Recruitment Task Force, Porter has worked tirelessly on legislation to ensure that school boards employ at least 250 new minority teachers and administrators across Connecticut, and also helped to champion the passage of African- American and Latino studies in the public school curriculum.

Porter graduated from Gateway Community College with an Associate’s Degree and later obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Charter Oak State College. She completed both programs with honors and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International and the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Societies.

She was employed by the Communication Workers of America from 2001 to 2017, is a longtime community activist who served as co-chairwoman of the Steering Committee for the Newhallville Community Resilience Team (NCRT). During her tenure at NCRT, the committee focused on increasing public safety by building social cohesion.

Porter is the proud parent of two adult children, Akeem and Aminah, and the spirited grandmother of Alana and Amir. She is a native New Yorker who has resided in New Haven, CT since the summer of 2000 and proudly calls it home.

Bio from https://www.housedems.ct.gov/Porter/Biography

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Contact

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Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:  

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.

Our Facebook Page: 

Our Twitter handle: @insidercj

Our Instagram handle: @criminaljusticeinsider

   

The show is live-streamed and podcasted anytime/anywhere at:

New Haven Independent:

http://newhavenindependent.org 

Facebook Live: 

https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio 

YouTube: https://youtube 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wnhhlp 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/wnhhradio

Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=wnhh

 

The show is also archived at:

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/new-haven-independent/sets/criminal-justice-insider

Community Foundation of Greater New Haven website: 

https://www.cfgnh.org/LeadingOnIssues/IncarcerationandReentry/CriminalJusticeInsiderRadioArchives.aspx 

 

An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).

Please “like” us on Facebook!    

More info here. 

Contact us: jgrant@prisonist.org 

 Criminal Justice Insider Sponsored by:

 

Criminal Justice Insider Sponsored by:

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim, Podcast Ep. 16

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White Collar Week with Jeff Grant

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

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Podcast Ep. 16, Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Today on the podcast, we have Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim. After five terms as the mayor of the largest city in the state of Connecticut from 1991 to 2003, Joe was brought down in a corruption scandal for which he served six years in a federal prison. After his release from prison, in 2015 Joe ran again for mayor of Bridgeport and he was reelected. He is currently serving his seventh term as mayor.

Controversial? Sure. But what I find most fascinating about Joe is his resilience and resourcefulness – his willingness to take risks and subject himself to public scrutiny after all he’d been through. Certainly, his story is a lesson to other people convicted of felonies that life is not over once you go to prison.

Full disclosure: In 2016 and 2017, I served as Co-Chairperson of the Advisory Board to the City of Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative on Reentry Affairs (MIRA).

So coming up, Mayor Joseph Ganim on White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

 

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

 

Listen on SoundCloud:

 

 

Watch on YouTube:

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If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.

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Guests on this Episode:

Mayor Joseph Ganim

Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Peter Ganim is in his eighth term as Mayor of Connecticut’s largest city with a population of approximately 147,000 people.  After campaigning on a platform of open government, reducing crime, improving public schools, reducing property taxes and growing the economy and job creation, Mayor Ganim was elected by a wide margin on November 3, 2015 to a position he had last held in 2003. He continues to serve as Mayor having been reelected in 2019.

Mayor Ganim had served six previous terms as chief executive of Bridgeport from 1991-2003, and in so doing accomplished several important things for the Park City.  Mayor Ganim led the city out of municipal bankruptcy by overcoming a $21 million budget deficit and a 5-year projected deficit of $250 million.  Mayor Ganim’s tenure ushered in 10 consecutive years of balanced budgets and a surplus of $58 million.  This was accomplished by implementing difficult cost saving measures and innovative revenue raising techniques.  These included negotiations with city labor unions to achieve concessions and savings of more than $20 million in labor costs without laying off any employees and negotiating a more than $350 million bond issue with multiple Wall Street investment firms to erase the city’s unfunded pension liability.  As a result of these efforts, Bridgeport’s credit rating increased across the board during his tenure and Mayor Ganim was recognized in 1996 by Newsweek magazine as one of America’s most “innovative and dynamic mayors.”

Click here for contact information & more

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

____________________________

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

______________________________

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

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What is the White Collar Justice Community?

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet.  Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his) 
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

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Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

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Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

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Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

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Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! info@prisonist.org

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Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Production: Chloe Coppola

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

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It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015.  Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others.  In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

 

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Erin Harbinson & Jay Kennedy

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White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

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Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Today on the podcast we have four criminal justice professors at four different universities around the country. From the University of Minnesota, we have Erin Harbinson. From Montclair State, we have Jessica Henry. Joining us from Michigan State is Jay Kennedy. And from Pace University, we have my friend Cathryn Lavery.

Our guests are on the forefront of reimagining our criminal justice system at a critical time in our nation’s history – when a pandemic, social unrest, a Presidential election, and the media all call for rapid responses to very complicated issues. Issues that each have dedicated their life’s work to researching and teaching.

I was most impressed with the raw humanity in this episode, and how much all of our guests really care about people in the most difficult circumstances we could imagine.

So, coming up – The Academics. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/white-collar-week-ep-08-the-academics

Watch on YouTube:

 

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If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this email; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info: http://prisonist.org/contact-us.

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Guests on this Episode:

Dr. Jay P. Kennedy is an assistant professor jointly appointed to the School of Criminal Justice and the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection. He is also a Faculty Affiliate with the Michigan State University Graduate School, and Affiliated Faculty with the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and the Center for Business and Social Analytics. Dr. Kennedy is actively involved in research, education, and outreach efforts that focus on external partners including corporations, industry associations, and law enforcement agencies. His current research explores managerial and organizational responses to employee theft within small and medium enterprises, the incarceration and post-incarceration experiences of white-collar offenders, the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet, and the structure of occupational pharmaceutical counterfeiting schemes. Dr. Kennedy’s work has been published in a number of outlets, including American Behavioral Scientist, Criminal Justice Review, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Financial Crime, Security Journal, and Victims and Offenders. He is currently serving as an elected board member of the American Society of Criminology’s Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime and is an editorial board member of the Journal of White-Collar and Corporate Crime and the International Journal of Cybercrime Intelligence and Cybersecurity. Jay Kennedy can be reached at jpk@msu.edu.

 

Cathryn Lavery, MS, MA PhD, received her PhD in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center/City University of New York with a specialization in Forensic Psychology and Ethics. Dr. Lavery is an active trainer, educator, researcher and consultant. She has trained on a variety of topics including: program curriculum and policy development, leadership training, sexual harassment, behavioral and mental health. She has coordinated and executed numerous conferences and seminars for multiple agencies in areas of sexual harassment, recruitment and retention and security threat assessment. She has worked within public educational settings, law enforcement and correctional agencies. Areas of expertise and consulting include: socio-political risk management, criminal justice and public administration issues, assessment and program evaluation, leadership development, sexual harassment and policy development, cultural sensitivity and intergenerational challenges within public and private agencies. After previously working at John Jay College/CUNY, Sacred Heart University and Iona College, where she was Chair and Graduate Coordinator for over  8 years, Dr. Cathryn has recently accepted the position of Chair of the Criminal Justice Department at Pace University. Cathryn Lavery can be reached at clavery@pace.edu.

 

Erin Harbinson is a Research Scholar for the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School, where she works on research projects studying probation and parole. She received her PhD in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Harbinson’s dissertation examined the predictive validity of a correctional risk and needs assessment for people convicted of white-collar crimes. Prior to joining the Robina Institute, she worked as a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center by providing technical assistance to states implementing justice reinvestment legislation and data driven policies. Dr. Harbinson has experience evaluating correctional programs and conducting training for correctional staff on risk assessment and other evidence-based practices in corrections. Her research interests include corrections policy, community supervision, parole decision-making, and understanding how corrections can reduce recidivism among people convicted of white-collar crimes and cybercrimes. Erin Harbinson can be reached at eharbins@uofminn.edu.

 

Jessica S. Henry is the author of SMOKE BUT NO FIRE: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened. She was a public defender for nearly ten years in New York City before joining the Department of Justice Studies at Montclair State University, where she is an associate professor. She is also a criminal justice expert, legal commentator, and blogger, with a particular focus on wrongful convictions, police corruption and misconduct, mass incarceration, and the death penalty. Jessica Henry can be reached a jessicahenryjustice.com. Jessica’s new book, Smoke But No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened, can be purchased on Amazon.com.

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

____________________________

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

______________________________

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

______________________________

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet.  Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his) 
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

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Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

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Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

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Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

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Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! info@prisonist.org

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Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

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Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015.  Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others.  In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

 

An Invitation to Join a Growing Community of Men and Women who have Faced, or are Facing, Prosecution for White Collar Crimes, by Bill Livolsi, Oklahoma

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Bill Livolsi was recently released from a Federal prison to home confinement due to COVID-19. He is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.

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Dear Friends:

This is an invitation to join a growing community of men and women who have faced, or are facing, prosecution for white collar crimes. 

Every Monday evening, I attend a White Collar Support Group on ZOOM. We are a very diverse group, all sharing a common bond, in varying stages of our journey. We share the good and the bad, our struggles and our successes, and what we have learned, all with a focus on compassion and accountability, in a supportive and spiritual setting.

Although the lens is spiritual, we get real in a hurry as we are all in the midst of the most difficult challenges of our lives. Most of us have lost our careers, our friends and our families, some of us were subjected to relentless press coverage, and we were all ostracized from our communities.

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D, M.Div. mentors our group. He has traveled the road we are on. I encourage you to read Jeff’s story.

I met Jeff in 2013, a few months into dealing with a federal indictment for wire fraud. I was confused at what I was facing, and scared at the thought of what this would do to my family, especially my youngest children who were 9 and 11 years old at the time. My children were soon likely to lose both their parents to federal prison. 

The first time Jeff and I spoke, I had just dropped off the kids at school and was sitting in my car in the Wal-Mart parking lot where I wouldn’t be disturbed. Jeff answered my call and I nervously introduced myself. I realized fairly quickly that Jeff was someone who could help me find some of the answers I was seeking. We talked for at least 90 minutes that morning.

Whether it was discussing how best to talk to the children about our situation; setting up a support system for them in school and in private counseling; talking thru the various aspects of dealing with the criminal justice system and what to expect before, during and after; never once did he rush me off or make me feel that my issues were unimportant. Jeff has helped me in so many ways since that first call. In fact, it was Jeff who suggested that my attorney request staggered sentences for my wife and me (which the judge approved).

Since that first call we’ve talked about life in prison and starting over afterwards, maintaining a marriage while incarcerated, and the importance of forgiveness, just to name a few. I value Jeff’s advice because he always gives a straight answer and I can always count on it being true to his experience.

Eventually, in 2015, I was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. My report date was deferred until 2019, while my wife served her time. This time was invaluable; as I was able to raise my children from early childhood to the wonderful teenagers they are today. The most difficult thing I ever faced was saying goodbye to my children and family and walking into R&D at El Reno. Even as I took those steps, and began serving my sentence, Jeff and his ministry were there for me.

Six weeks ago, a little over one year into my sentence, I gained early release as a result of the CARES Act. I’m back home in Tulsa now, living with my children and loving every moment. That’s not to say I don’t face significant challenges. We all do. I am rebuilding extended family relationships, kick-starting a second career, adjusting to the social stigma of being a convicted felon, and doing what I can to reestablish ties to my community.

I was eager to rejoin Jeff and the support group that he has built. After clearing participation with my P.O., I was on the ZOOM call the very next Monday evening. Each week I am reminded that I am not alone, that through my participation I can help, and learn, from others, and that despite all the hardships I have so much to be grateful for.

I encourage you contact Jeff. He will send you a link to join us this Monday night @ 7pm eastern (4pm pacific). If you put in the work it will change your life. It might save it too.

I hope to see you there. 

Sincerely, 

Bill Livolsi, Tulsa, Oklahoma 

Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl: A Book Report from Inside Prison

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Our ministry regularly sends books to our White Collar Support Group members who are serving time in prison. We recently sent in the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. This book has special significance to me because it taught me lessons in hope and faith and informed the way I looked at my incarceration, recovery and reentry. In places of limited control, there are still things that we have power over: our bodies, our attitudes, and our ability to help others. Below is a book review we received from one of our group members. Please send your thoughts to me at jgrant@prisonist.org and I will make sure he receives them. Blessings, Jeff

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Dear Jeff,

Thank you for sending me this book because it deals with suffering and the meaning of life. The author (Viktor Frankl) was a doctor before being imprisoned in several Nazi war camps, and he used his view of suffering to survive the experience and then thrive upon his liberation. Frankl does not take a spiritual view but many of the principles and accounts in the book are spiritual and would have significance in any teaching on the meaning of life or the value of suffering. Although this book deals with suffering caused by literal imprisonment, there are absolute parallels to people imprisoned by their sin and past failures. I highly recommend the book. Here’s the book report I owe you :-).

Although Frankl ignores the subject of HOW a person can change their mind about the value of suffering to enhance the meaning of life, he does a great job of explaining the psychology of suffering and appealing strongly to all of us to appreciate the role suffering can play to make our lives more meaningful. A key message in this book is “it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.” (I would replace ‘life’ with ‘God’).

This book dovetails very well with my studies in Restorative Justice (especially the top of page 138 and 148-149) relative to people who have confessed to committing crimes.

This book gave me some great insight highlighted in the 21 points below. THANK YOU FOR THE BOOK – IT WAS A GREAT BLESSING AND WILL HELP ME ALONG THIS JOURNEY!

1. There are three phases to a prisoner’s mental reaction to prison life: 1) shock 2) apathy 3) liberation.

2. Suffering is more about the mental and emotion than it is about the act.

3. Even in a Nazi prison camp it is possible for a spiritual life to deepen.

4. Using images and memories from the past – especially of loved ones – are essential to survive suffering. In speaking of his wife Frankl writes “My mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look…A thought crossed my mind: I didn’t even know if she were still alive. I knew only one thing, which I have learned well by now – love goes far beyond the physical person of the beloved…Whether or not she is actually present, whether or not she is still alive at all ceases somehow to be of importance.” Bonnie and I have talked about the importance of using our strong memories of vivid events to maintain our strong love. (37-38)

5. “Humor, more than any other emotion, can help us rise above any situation even if only for a moment.” (43)

6. “The majority of prisoners suffered from an inferiority complex. We all had been or fancied ourselves to be “somebody”. Now we were being treated as complete non-entities. The consciousness of one’s inner value is anchored in higher, more spiritual things, and cannot be shaken by camp life. But how many men, let alone prisoners, possess it?” This last sentence/question is provoking – I believe I have this awareness through Christ, but time will tell.

7. “There are always choices to make…which determine whether or not you will become a plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of a typical inmate…Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under these circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually…It is this spiritual freedom – which cannot be taken away – that makes life meaningful and purposeful.” (66-67) WOW!

8. “The way in which a man accepts his fate, and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified, and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become nothing more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not…Do not think these considerations are unworldly or too far removed from real life. It is true that only a few people are capable of reaching such high moral standards…Such men are not only in concentration camps. Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.” (67-68)

9. “The Latin word FINIS has two meanings: the end or the finish, and the goal to reach. A man who could not see then end of his “provisional existence” was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life…Instead of taking camp’s difficulties as a test of their inner strength, they did not take their life seriously and despised it as something of no consequence. They preferred to close their eyes and live in the past. Life for such people became meaningless. It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking into the future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult times although he has to sometimes force his mind to the task.” (70, 72, 73)

10. “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it. The prisoner who lost faith in the future – his future – was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and let himself become subject to mental and spiritual decay. Usually this happened quite suddenly, in the form of a crisis…” (74)

11. “What you have experienced no power on earth can take from you. Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.” (82)

12. It would be an error to think that a liberated prisoner was not in need of spiritual care any more…the man who has been liberated from mental pressure can suffer damage to his moral and spiritual health.” (89-90)

13. There are two fundamental experiences which can damage the character of a liberated prisoner: bitterness and disillusionment. “Woe to him who found that the person whose memory alone had given him the courage in camp did not exist anymore.” (91-92)

14. “The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more – except his God.” (93)

15. “Those who knew that there was a task waiting from them to fulfill were the most apt to survive.” (104)

16. “Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension – between what one is and what one should become.” (104-105). This reminded me of Romans 7.

17. Boredom is now causing more psychological problems than distress. (107)

18. “There are people, however, who do not interpret their own lives merely in terms of a task being assigned to them but also in terms of the taskmaster who has assigned it to them.” (110) AMEN!!

19. “No one can become fully aware of the essence of another human being unless he loves him.” (111). I thought about the relationship between God and us — we can each understand the essence of the other, and of each other, through love.

20. “Freedom is the negative aspect of of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness…THAT IS WHY I RECOMMEND THAT THE STATURE OF LIBERTY ON THE EAST COAST BE SUPPLEMENTED BY A STATUE OF RESPONSIBILITY ON THE WEST COAST” (132). I love this statement!

21. “Human potential at its best always allows for 1) turning suffering into human achievement and accomplishment, 2) deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better, and 3) deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsibility for action.” (138). I want to explore this position in greater detail to see if it is fundamental to Restorative Justice.

Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl: A Book Report from Inside Prison

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our ministry regularly sends books to our White Collar Support Group members who are serving time in prison. We recently sent in the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. This book has special significance to me because it taught me lessons in hope and faith and informed the way I looked at my incarceration, recovery and reentry. In places of limited control, there are still things that we have power over: our bodies, our attitudes, and our ability to help others. Below is a book review we received from one of our group members. Please send your thoughts to me at jgrant@prisonist.org and I will make sure he receives them. Blessings, Jeff

____________________

Dear Jeff,
Thank you for sending me this book because it deals with suffering and the meaning of life. The author (Viktor Frankl) was a doctor before being imprisoned in several Nazi war camps, and he used his view of suffering to survive the experience and then thrive upon his liberation. Frankl does not take a spiritual view but many of the principles and accounts in the book are spiritual and would have significance in any teaching on the meaning of life or the value of suffering. Although this book deals with suffering caused by literal imprisonment, there are absolute parallels to people imprisoned by their sin and past failures. I highly recommend the book. Here’s the book report I owe you :-).
Although Frankl ignores the subject of HOW a person can change their mind about the value of suffering to enhance the meaning of life, he does a great job of explaining the psychology of suffering and appealing strongly to all of us to appreciate the role suffering can play to make our lives more meaningful. A key message in this book is “it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.” (I would replace ‘life’ with ‘God’).
This book dovetails very well with my studies in Restorative Justice (especially the top of page 138 and 148-149) relative to people who have confessed to committing crimes.
This book gave me some great insight highlighted in the 21 points below. THANK YOU FOR THE BOOK – IT WAS A GREAT BLESSING AND WILL HELP ME ALONG THIS JOURNEY!
1. There are three phases to a prisoner’s mental reaction to prison life: 1) shock 2) apathy 3) liberation.
2. Suffering is more about the mental and emotion than it is about the act.
3. Even in a Nazi prison camp it is possible for a spiritual life to deepen.
4. Using images and memories from the past – especially of loved ones – are essential to survive suffering. In speaking of his wife Frankl writes “My mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look…A thought crossed my mind: I didn’t even know if she were still alive. I knew only one thing, which I have learned well by now – love goes far beyond the physical person of the beloved…Whether or not she is actually present, whether or not she is still alive at all ceases somehow to be of importance.” Bonnie and I have talked about the importance of using our strong memories of vivid events to maintain our strong love. (37-38)
5. “Humor, more than any other emotion, can help us rise above any situation even if only for a moment.” (43)
6. “The majority of prisoners suffered from an inferiority complex. We all had been or fancied ourselves to be “somebody”. Now we were being treated as complete non-entities. The consciousness of one’s inner value is anchored in higher, more spiritual things, and cannot be shaken by camp life. But how many men, let alone prisoners, possess it?” This last sentence/question is provoking – I believe I have this awareness through Christ, but time will tell.
7. “There are always choices to make…which determine whether or not you will become a plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of a typical inmate…Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under these circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually…It is this spiritual freedom – which cannot be taken away – that makes life meaningful and purposeful.” (66-67) WOW!
8. “The way in which a man accepts his fate, and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified, and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become nothing more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not…Do not think these considerations are unworldly or too far removed from real life. It is true that only a few people are capable of reaching such high moral standards…Such men are not only in concentration camps. Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.” (67-68)
9. “The Latin word FINIS has two meanings: the end or the finish, and the goal to reach. A man who could not see then end of his “provisional existence” was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life…Instead of taking camp’s difficulties as a test of their inner strength, they did not take their life seriously and despised it as something of no consequence. They preferred to close their eyes and live in the past. Life for such people became meaningless. It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking into the future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult times although he has to sometimes force his mind to the task.” (70, 72, 73)
10. “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it. The prisoner who lost faith in the future – his future – was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and let himself become subject to mental and spiritual decay. Usually this happened quite suddenly, in the form of a crisis…” (74)
11. “What you have experienced no power on earth can take from you. Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.” (82)
12. It would be an error to think that a liberated prisoner was not in need of spiritual care any more…the man who has been liberated from mental pressure can suffer damage to his moral and spiritual health.” (89-90)
13. There are two fundamental experiences which can damage the character of a liberated prisoner: bitterness and disillusionment. “Woe to him who found that the person whose memory alone had given him the courage in camp did not exist anymore.” (91-92)
14. “The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more – except his God.” (93)
15. “Those who knew that there was a task waiting from them to fulfill were the most apt to survive.” (104)
16. “Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension – between what one is and what one should become.” (104-105). This reminded me of Romans 7.
17. Boredom is now causing more psychological problems than distress. (107)
18. “There are people, however, who do not interpret their own lives merely in terms of a task being assigned to them but also in terms of the taskmaster who has assigned it to them.” (110) AMEN!!
19. “No one can become fully aware of the essence of another human being unless he loves him.” (111). I thought about the relationship between God and us — we can each understand the essence of the other, and of each other, through love.
20. “Freedom is the negative aspect of of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness…THAT IS WHY I RECOMMEND THAT THE STATURE OF LIBERTY ON THE EAST COAST BE SUPPLEMENTED BY A STATUE OF RESPONSIBILITY ON THE WEST COAST” (132). I love this statement!
21. “Human potential at its best always allows for 1) turning suffering into human achievement and accomplishment, 2) deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better, and 3) deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsibility for action.” (138). I want to explore this position in greater detail to see if it is fundamental to Restorative Justice.

NEW DATE, VIRTUAL EVENT: Jacqueline Polverari & Jeff Grant will Present at “The Justice Panel”, Albertus Magnus College, Mon., Oct. 19, 2020

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Jacqueline Polverari and Jeff Grant will be the presenters at Albertus Magnus College’s spring 2020 Justice Panel, which is now scheduled for Monday, October 19th, at noon and at 5 pm in New Haven, CT. Details to come!

For the last five years, a semi-annual event at Albertus Magnus College has been a presentation by the Pursuing Truth and Justice Student-Faculty Panel, or “Justice Panel,” for short. The Justice Panel is a student-faculty collaboration aimed at addressing contemporary instances of institutionalized injustice. Themes in the past include police-community relations, human trafficking, access to mental health services, the role of the prosecutor, racial privilege and exclusion, immigration policy, racial justice in the NFL, and the status of Puerto Rico.

The Justice Panel lasts one hour, and allows for each presenter to speak, followed by a respondent, additional remarks by the speakers, and comments from the floor. As we wish to include the students in the evening program, the Panel makes two presentations, one at noon for the day students and one at 5:00pm for evening students.

The themes of incarceration and re-entry are intended to branch out to other elements of criminal justice reform and to other topics that bear on justice. For instance, there is an interest on campus in the topics of mass incarceration, restorative justice, and the loss of civil rights by felons who have completed their sentences.

The Justice Panel is open to the entire Albertus Magnus College population and the community at large.

Justice Panel

“Incarceration and Re-Entry: A View from the Inside”
 
Presenters:
Jacqueline Polverari, MSW, Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Service
Jeff Grant, M.Div., Director of the Progressive Prison Project, Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries
 
Respondents:
Cecilia Sebastian, Ph.D. Candidate in German Studies, Yale University
Tracy Bowens, ’19, Masters in Leadership Program, Albertus Magnus College
 
Please note:  This program will be offered twice
 
Monday, October 19, 2020, Virtual Event

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

and
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
 
To reserve a space please email (akilbride@albertus.edu) or call 203-401-2024

Sponsored by the Preaching Truth and Justice Panel Committee and the Criminal Justice Program

 

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Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW is the founder and Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System.  Jacqueline has over 25 years’ experience as a professional with proven successes in business leadership, mentoring and therapeutic environments. Her experience working with trauma culminated after spending almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women and observing the trauma women experience related to being incarcerated.  She has since dedicated herself to Criminal Justice Reform and Reentry services with a special focus on trauma and reentry services for women relating to incarceration.  Jacqueline is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, JustLeadershipUSA and #Cut50 and speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country.  She most recently designed and hosted the first retreat for women convicted of a white-collar crime in the country in October 2019.  Jacqueline is working diligently to continue her education and has returned to school to obtain her Doctoral Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Criminal Justice.  For more information or to schedule a speaking engagement you can reach Jacqueline Polverari:  evolutionreentry.com, jpolverari@evolutionreentry.com

Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.

After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics.  He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.

As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

POSTPONED: Jeff Grant will be Speaking at the Michigan State University White Collar Crime Conference, East Lansing, Mich., May 28 & 29, 2020

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Michigan State University White-Collar Crime Conference

2020 White-Collar Crime Conference, May 28th and 29th

The College of Social Science and the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University invite you to attend the 2020 White-Collar Crime Conference, to be held May 28th and 29th at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan. This two-day conference will feature the diverse perspectives of speakers from academia, industry and law enforcement, as well as formerly incarcerated individuals.

A limited number of rooms have been reserved at the Kellogg Hotel for conference attendees at a special conference room rate. The conference website will be active in early January 2020 – conference registration and hotel bookings can be made through the site once active.

Location

Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center – Big Ten C Room
219 South Harrison Road
East Lansing, MI 48824

Hotel

Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
219 South Harrison Rd.
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-432-4000

Conference code: 2005WHITEC
Double occupancy: $117.00/night plus taxes
(This rate is available until May 1st, 2020)

Conference participants may book using this rate for the following nights: May 27th, 28th & 29th

Registration & Information Link: Here

Pre-registration only (due to meal commitments)

  • Student: $25.00
  • Faculty, Law Enforcement, non-profit: $75.00
  • CPE (15 hours): $350.00

Registration includes the following:

  • All conference materials
  • Parking for May 28th and 29th in the Kellogg Center parking garage
  • Morning and afternoon snacks on both days
  • Lunch both days

 Speakers and further details will be posted as information becomes available.

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Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.

After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics.  He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.

As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant: Guests Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction and Alex Frank & John Hart of the Vera Institute of Justice, Fri., May 15, 2020

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Please join us on Friday, May 15, 2020, 9 am ET, when Scott Semple, Alex Frank and John Hart of the Vera Institute of Justice will be our guests on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven – Now More Than Ever.

Watch on YouTube:

Listen on SoundCloud:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/criminal-justice-insider-babz-rawls-ivy-jeff-grant/id1027927746?i=1000474745536

Scott Semple was appointed commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction in March 2015.  Scott joined the Connecticut Department of Correction as a front line Correction Officer in 1988 at the high security Cheshire Correctional Institution.  During his tenure, he has served the agency in numerous administrative capacities, to include pre-service training coordinator, external and legislative affairs, and warden of the state’s only correctional facility dedicated for men requiring comprehensive treatment services for significant mental illness.   As commissioner, Scott has successfully implemented several performance based and progressive correctional practices designed to support both staff and incarcerated people.  Most notable, they include the Emerging Adult Units known as the TRUE Unit (located in Cheshire) and the WORTH Unit (located in Niantic).  He has also repurposed an existing correctional facility and other specific housing units for specialized populations to provide a therapeutic environment designed to support community reintegration.   Scott has implemented  numerous agency-wide staff wellness initiatives to support, respond and improve policies evolving around the complex and unique needs associated with the health and welfare of correctional professionals and their families. On January 1, 2019, after more than 30-years of service to the agency, Scott retired from public service.  He now provides professional consult through Semple Consulting, LLC  on various criminal justice and correctional related endeavors.

 

 

Alex Frank is the Project Director of the Restoring Promise Initiative in Vera’s Center on Youth Justice. Restoring Promise works to disrupt the prison system by centering accountability, healing, hope, and racial equity in prison reform. Alex has a track record of bringing innovation into the field of justice reform. She has spearheaded strategies to engage young adults, impacted families, and system leaders within the intersection of addressing mass incarceration, institutional violence, and restorative justice, through an antiracist lens. Alex works to strategically and collaboratively scale multi-layered projects that include fundraising, policy and practice change, research, and capacity building. In addition, Alex works with formerly and currently incarcerated people to ensure that all efforts and solutions center the resilience, cultural identity and human dignity they deserve.

Prior to joining Vera, Alex was part of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation where she worked to close youth prisons, and to develop the foundation’s national strategy for partnering with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their families in reform—the people most impacted by the justice system. Alex’s work at the New York City Department of Probation, at the Suffolk County Jail in Boston, as well as her personal experience with the justice system shaped her interests in justice reform.

John Hart, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate who joined Vera Institute’s Restoring Promise Initiative in August 2019. As a part of his role, John focuses on the data collection program and the qualitative research agenda for the initiative.

Prior to joining Restoring Promise, John was a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Maryland, College Park leading research and community projects examining mass incarceration of Black Men as a public health disparity and the re-entry experiences of young, Black fathers from prison into the communities. In addition, John is a clinician and has spent the last few years consulting with various jails and prisons in the D.C. Metropolitan area to provide psychoeducation to those incarcerated on topics such as co-parenting, relationship skills, coping and emotional regulation.

He holds a Ph.D. in Family Science and a M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Maryland, College Park and a B.A from The George Washington University.

_________________

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month Sept.-June

From the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven.
It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Live-Streamed and Podcast available 24/7.

Please ‘like” us on our Facebook Page (best place for information, news, articles, events): https://www.facebook.com/criminaljusticeinsider

Our website: prisonist.org/criminal-justice-insider
Our Twitter handle: @insidercj
Our Instagram handle: @criminaljusticeinsider

The show is live-streamed & podcast 24/7 at:

Apple Podcasts (iTunes): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wnhh-community-radio

New Haven Independent: newhavenindependent.org
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio
YouTube: https://youtube.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wnhhlp
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/wnhhradio
Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=wnhh

The show is also archived at:

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/new-haven-independent/sets/criminal-justice-insider
Community Foundation of Greater New Haven website: https://www.cfgnh.org/LeadingOnIssues/IncarcerationandReentry/CriminalJusticeInsiderRadioArchives.aspx

An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).

Season Three Program/Guests List (*formerly incarcerated):

Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch*, Chief Strategist at New Yorkers United for Justice
Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel*, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program
Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman*, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters
Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson*, Former Attorney Convicted for a White Collar Crime who is running for Hartford City Council
Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department
Fri., Dec. 6, 2019: “Free Prison Phone Calls” Show, CT Rep. Josh Elliott & Tiheba Bain*
Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs
Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts*, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration
Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri*, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children – L.I.
Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock*, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA Fri.,
Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine*, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant
Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020, Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership
Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain*, Women’s Incarceration Advocate
Fri., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear*, Executive Director, Healing Communities Prison Ministry
Thurs., Apr. 16, 2020, 6:30 pm: Live at Iona College, New Rochelle, NY with Special Guests
Fri., April 17, 2020: Inaugural Inductees* of CT Hall of Change with Charlie Grady, Founder
Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”.
Fri., May 15, 2020: Scott Semple, Alex Frank & John Hart of the Vera Institute of Justice
Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays and Melissa Tanis

 

 

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