by MOSES Publications | Aug 30, 2024 | Newsletter, Prisons, Resources, Uncategorized
The Marshall Project Gives the Big U.S. Picture
By Pam Gates
I have become a subscriber to the Marshall Project, a free news service that collects important stories about all aspects of the criminal-legal system across the country – police activity, correctional facilities, individual cases, court decisions, etc., etc. I receive several emails from them every week, with brief summaries and links to fuller accounts with thorough documentation. You can request emails in specific areas of interest only, in lieu of everything they produce.
The Marshall Project was founded by Bill Keller, who wrote the excellent book What Is Prison For?, reviewed in this newsletter in 2023. Keller’s basic premise was that correctional facilities need to be just that: facilities for correcting, not punishing, the behaviors that got people into them. He described approaches to this issue in Norway and Germany, where prisoners are treated with respect and all personnel are expected to be part of their rehabilitation team.
I have to pick and choose among my Marshall Project emails, because I can’t possibly read them all. But I think this is an excellent resource to try, at least temporarily, for anyone who wants to get a bigger picture of what’s going on all over the U.S. in the specific areas that concern those of us in MOSES. The project’s email address is: info@themarshallproject.org.
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Information, MOSES activities, MOSES leadership
Thoughts from the President: Teamwork Is a Strength
From Saundra Brown
While every single team member’s job is important and necessary, teamwork ought never be used to bring personal gain, nor should it ever be based on ill-fated assumptions.
According to WISDOM’s Attitudes and Disciplines, we believe that everyone has something to offer, and that we need everyone’s gifts if we are to succeed.
As I look through the lens of success for MOSES, I perceive teamwork as our greatest tool. Teamwork must be built deliberately and over time. It helps contribute positively to every aspect of our work. It can also help build a deeper connection with people, and possibly open up new opportunities.
Teamwork is not new, and neither is it old, but it is always timely. In my Bible, in Genesis 1:26-27, it says, “And God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image…’” This tells me that teamwork has been in existence since the beginning of time and is an essential component for success.
MOSES has many acronyms, so to bring home my point about teamwork, I decided to add one more.
TEAMWORK IS:
T = Togetherness: All are in the same place mentally and physically.
E = Energizing: It gives vitality and enthusiasm to the work.
A = Agreeing: It affords us the ability to reach a consensus.
M = Mindfulness: It lends itself to being attentive to others’ thoughts,
opinions, and ideas.
W = Working: Teamwork is work. There are duties, tasks, and jobs that must be
properly and effectively done, and sometimes one must deny oneself.
O = Organizing: It calls for arranging, coordinating, and being supportive.
R = Rewarding: It promotes satisfaction.
K = Kinship: It is a basis for forming and building wholesome relationships and
promotes a sense of connectedness.
As we move forward, it is important to remember that TEAMWORK gets the work of MOSES done, in a more excellent way!
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Information, MOSES activities, MOSES leadership, Newsletter
A Tribute to Our Past President, Rachel Kincade
By Margaret Irwin
When Rachel Kincade became active in MOSES, she brought with her a wealth of experience in direct service to unhoused youth and adults. A native of Minneapolis, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Her life’s direction was set when a friend told her about the kids her teenage son brought home because they had no place to stay. Rachel and her friend decided to do something about this. Rachel was especially drawn to this ministry, because she knew she could have used more adult support while she was growing up.
The two began by obtaining a grant to survey youth on the street and the resources available to them. Since many of these kids were basically invisible to the community, the large number of unhoused kids that the survey revealed shocked Duluth. Rachel and her friend decided to provide a home for youth ages 16-24 who had no place to live; they named it Life House. Rachel spent 17 years running Life House, fulfilling its mission to “Reconnect Homeless and Street Youth to Their Dreams.” Life House has grown and flourished to this day, providing many housing units as well as drop-in day services.
In 2010, Rachel decided to move to Madison to be near her daughter and husband and their growing family, which now numbers four children ranging in age from 12 to 21. She continued her direct service work, helping set up a transitional housing program for men leaving prison. Once it was up and running, she moved on to helping establish Breaking Barriers, a service for at-risk and homeless youth.
The director of Breaking Barriers invited Rachel to participate in a training led by WISDOM Executive Director David Liners. David showed her that while direct service is important, it is vital to change the system so that there will be less need for remedial direct service. She realized he was right when she thought about the youth she had encountered in her work, who were on a glide path from “kiddie prison” to jail to prison. Rachel says David pushed the right buttons that made her say, “Yes, yes, yes! Policy is the way to go!” And MOSES was the way to get involved, which she did with enthusiasm.
In December 2023, Rachel concluded four years as our president. Her goals were to keep MOSES growing and thriving, to keep it funded, and to keep the task forces enthused about their work. Being a volunteer herself made her grateful for the many hours of valuable time members contribute to MOSES. Another goal was to get the Leadership Board more involved in decision-making, rather than serving as a rubber stamp for the Executive Committee. This meant ensuring that there was time for discussion in the meetings. She tried to keep harmony within MOSES and to help it operate smoothly. Not wanting a hierarchical situation where the president gets all the kudos, she partnered with current president Saundra Brown in running meetings.
COVID added a new layer of difficulty to keeping MOSES on a steady course. Switching to meetings on Zoom involved a steep learning curve for all of us, and we’re all familiar with the ongoing technical problems in running hybrid meetings. Additional work fell to Rachel and other MOSES leaders because of gaps in the presence of a paid organizer for significant periods of her tenure.
At the same time Rachel was serving as president, she was the lead for the MOSES fundraising team and the chair of the WISDOM Conditions of Confinement Task Force. In addition, she was appointed to the new Civilian Oversight Board in Madison.
Rachel’s MOSES story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning her marriage to James Morgan. James’s kindness was apparent when he helped her with a broken muffler after a meeting at her church and then offered to take her to a medical appointment the next morning. Breakfast that day was followed by walks and talks – lots of talk, and the discovery of their love for one another. James and Rachel will celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary on August 26.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Rachel was elected vice-president of WISDOM at a WISDOM retreat in January. MOSES is well-represented in WISDOM leadership, since Talib Akbar serves as the other vice president. Rachel is enjoying a different form of organization that encourages the free flow of conversation and fresh ideas.
We are grateful to Rachel for guiding MOSES over the last four years in service to our mission, and we wish her and James all the best.
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Life After Prison, Newsletter, Reviews
Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
By Susan Burton and Cari Lynn, with a foreword by Michelle Alexander
The New Press, 2017
Reviewed by Joan Duerst and Pam Gates
Susan Burton has lived her whole life in Los Angeles’s Watts neighborhood – except for the times she spent in California’s jails or prisons on drug-related offenses. Readers will be captured by the ups and downs of Sue’s early life, narrated in the first 18 chapters, Part 1. She grew up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father who was very dear to her and a mother who, though she could be compassionate and generous, was always harsh with Sue. At age 14, Sue was gang-raped while walking home with a girlfriend after a party. The result was a baby girl, Toni, whom Sue refused to put up for adoption.
Sue lost her second child in a traffic accident; the 5-year-old was accidentally killed by a police officer as the child ran across the street in a crosswalk. No one ever even apologized. Sue succumbed to despair, numbing the pain with drugs. She eventually escaped her home by jumping out of her mother’s car; she ended up a prostitute, hooked on crack and in and out of prison. Toni learned to rely on her grandmother, Sue’s mother, who became “Mama” to her.
Many chapters, many relapses, and many releases later, Sue moved into the house that would become the first SAFE House. Of this moment, she wrote: “I had no idea I was on the brink of something that would become larger and more meaningful than I could ever have imagined. My first night in the house in Watts, I stared up at the ceiling. I was lonely, but the least lonely I’d ever felt.”
In Part 2, “Ms. Burton,” Susan Burton creates the house for previously incarcerated women that will eventually grow into five houses, together called A New Way of Life. She also becomes a community organizer who brings together people and organizations that challenge and bring change to practices and laws that block incarcerated women from the chance to become responsible citizens and good mothers to their children.
Every chapter of this book begins with a piece of information or a statistic that connects Burton’s story to the bigger story of women who end up in prison. For example, Chapter 7 begins thus: Two-thirds of those working as prostitutes disclosed having been sexually abused as children – and more than 90% said they never told anyone. Only 1% reported having received counseling.
You will get the rest of the story when you read the book; we recommend it highly. The statements at the beginning of each chapter give an outline of a life of addiction and despair, but one that is turned around into a life of activism and hope. It’s very capably written, and judging by who wrote the foreword, you already know that it is also a highly worthwhile book.
Co-author Cari Lynn writes: “Thank you [to Susan] for bravely and patiently sharing your stories, some painful, all triumphant … I have been fortunate to spend a couple of years in Susan’s world, surrounded by bright minds, pure grit, and constant inspiration.” May our MOSES readers take advantage of this fine, gripping story to experience all of that for themselves!
This book gives readers a chance to live in Ms. Burton’s world. They will not only learn about the gift of the SAFE House in Madison, but also see the constant challenges of community organizing. How will MOSES, like Ms. Burton, work to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and eradicate the racial disparities that make these systems the new Jim Crow?
Special note: Ms. Burton is coming to Madison! She will be the keynote speaker at EXPO’s Gala on Oct. 5, 2024! Reserve your place; she should be a powerful, inspiring speaker!
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Community Issues, Events, Newsletter
On Saturday, June 15, MOSES participated in the Juneteenth celebration at Penn Park. Along with many other community groups, we walked in the parade from Fountain of Life Church to the park; there we had an information table to tell the MOSES story.
(newsletter had pictures we could add)
