by MOSES Publications | Jul 13, 2025 | Featured, Newsletter, Prisons, Reviews
By Sherry Reames and Margaret Irwin
On May 22, EXPO (Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing) sponsored the showing of an award-winning 2012 documentary, The Grey Area: Feminism Behind Bars, at the Urban League of Greater Madison. The film was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by MOSES Organizer James Morgan and featuring three previously incarcerated local women.
The film had its beginnings in 2009, in a small class on feminism. Student volunteers from Grinnell College taught the class; their students were a small group of women incarcerated at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women. One of those volunteer instructors, Noga Ashkenazi, who went on to become a professional writer-director in Israel, started filming during the class and put the rest of this documentary together after she graduated.
The finished documentary includes eye-opening statistics on the number of incarcerated women in the U.S., the large proportion of these women who are mothers, and the even larger proportion who had previously been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. But the most powerful parts of the film are the personal testimonies of the small group of incarcerated women who share their life experiences in the course of the class discussions. For example, we won’t soon forget the young woman who confessed that she felt safer in prison than she had ever felt on the outside. And we have been haunted ever since by the apparently hopeless case of a very appealing juvenile lifer, now middle-aged and obviously rehabilitated, who may never get a second chance because Iowa governors don’t give commutations.
The three women on the panel that followed the film, all previously incarcerated, declared that the current system is not a system of justice, but one of retribution. They suggested ways to improve the situation, including the following:
- The Department of Corrections needs to prioritize maintaining family connections while women are incarcerated.
- The community needs to support the children of incarcerated parents.
- It’s essential to have housing available for those being released, as well as help with transportation and jobs.
A large contingent of MOSES members was on hand for this event. But if you missed it – or if you saw the film and would like to share it with your congregation or neighborhood – the website “Women Make Movies” has information about buying or streaming it for nonprofit use. There’s also a trailer on YouTube. Just don’t confuse this Grey Area with the very different podcast and 2022 movie that use the same title.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 13, 2025 | MOSES activities, Newsletter, Organizer
James Morgan, interviewed by Margaret Irwin
As Organizer, what has stood out to you since the last newsletter?
“I’m struck by the number of opportunities that are being presented to MOSES for further community-based collaborations and partnerships,” James said. “At the June General Meeting, Harry Haney spoke about the Madison Justice Team. Kina Collins, Interim Executive Director of WISDOM, spoke about plans for our statewide organization. Following those conversations, I see this as a time of opportunity for us to expand our presence in the community, build our capacity, and increase our membership. Additionally, I recently had the opportunity to engage the president of the Urban League. I will be meeting with him sometime soon to talk about a possible collaboration with MOSES. The Black Men’s Coalition has already expressed an interest in MOSES, and I will be meeting with Cory Marionneaux.”
In addition to the Juneteenth celebration, what are you looking forward to in the next couple of months?
“I am at work on two major events. We hope the November 22 Gala will have a sell-out crowd. We’re getting started early by contacting potential sponsors, considering the cost of tickets for this fund-raiser, and getting people thinking early of things to donate for the raffle. An impressive trio of honorees has been lined up. In addition, I am bringing back the practice of giving a community-impact award to a local organization.
“The National Bus Tour on Solitary Confinement will come to Madison in November. In addition to Talib’s solitary confinement truck, we’ll have the national truck present. We are arranging for several locations where people will be able to access these solitary confinement spaces. We’re also planning a video screening and a panel discussion. Mark Rice from WISDOM’s Transformational Justice Campaign is working with us. We want to have ample time to publicize this campaign, to ensure that the logistics are in place, and to recruit volunteers.”
What do you want our readers to know?
“I am invested in them, in MOSES. I take my position within the organization seriously. I am constantly thinking about and engaging with people in coming up with creative ideas to expand our presence and connections in the community at-large. We also need to increase knowledge within MOSES.
“Community organizing is fun! I meet a lot of wonderful people and also a lot of people with challenges, who simply need someone to listen to what they’re going through. I try to assure these folks they can come to us; we will do our best to reach out to public officials and to legislators to advocate for their needs and to do what’s best for everyone in the community. I would like to sponsor community listening and informational sessions to achieve this.
“Another idea in development is a MOSES-sponsored sit-down with other nonprofits, business entities, and public officials. We would have a conversation to see where we connect on issues and how we can start working collaboratively. It’s important to show that we are not in competition; we can work together to accomplish our goals. This could set a model for the greater community in how to network, how to grow, and how to advocate for themselves. If anyone has suggestions of who to invite or other ideas for implementing this idea, please let me know.”
Let’s Do MOSES!
by MOSES Publications | Jul 13, 2025 | Advocacy, Behavioral Health, MOSES activities, Newsletter
By Shel Gross
Kevin is his real name. This is a true story. I’m not omitting his last name to avoid a slander lawsuit; there is no slander in this story. It is possible that someone reading this will figure out to whom I am referring. Fine. The point is that I don’t want to personalize it too much. While what Kevin did was exceptional to me, I don’t want to portray it as an exceptional occurrence. The point is that the relationships you develop with legislative staff can deliver. Big time.
At the April MOSES General Meeting, two things rose up that, together, led me to share this story. In introducing his discussion of our Disciplines and Attitudes, James Morgan noted that a number of people had expressed frustration about when we were going to get some “wins,” that is, some victories on our issues. Later, during a breakout processing our experiences from Madison Action Day, someone expressed disappointment that they had not been able to meet with their elected representative, only with a staff person. I think my experience as a lobbyist brings some perspective to these comments.
First, let me say that it is great if you get to meet with your elected representatives and develop a relationship with them, especially if their interests intersect with yours and they sit on committees that hear bills of importance to you. If you’re part of MOSES and your legislator sits on the committee dealing with Corrections, you want to leverage that relationship as best you can. But that will not always be the case. If your legislator’s interests are in banking or agriculture, they may have little real knowledge about corrections. They will often leave those details to one of their staff people. Just sayin’.
And there is the reality that your visit may end up conflicting with something else your legislator has to do, like attend that committee meeting, or maybe meet with someone who they decide is more important to meet with than you (although no one will say that). And that someone may be someone who can actually advance the issue you are concerned about. You may not know. But you’re left with meeting with the staff person. Maybe that’s okay.
Kevin worked in the office of a Joint Finance Committee member. As a member of the Wisconsin Council on Mental Health (WCMH), we had a statutory responsibility to report to the governor, the legislature, and state agencies on mental health concerns. So that gave us access to Joint Finance Committee members — a real plus for a registered lobbyist! We did, on occasion, meet with Kevin’s boss, who was supportive of some of our issues. I would note that at the time there was a fair amount of bipartisan support for mental health issues in the legislature. But often we met with Kevin. He clearly resonated with our concerns and developed a strong relationship with the leader of our statewide mental health consumer group (a person who, herself, was living with mental illness).
But this is actually not the story of what the legislature did while Kevin worked there. I think we got some wins, but nothing earth-changing from our perspective. It is the story of what happened after 2011, when Scott Walker was elected Governor and appointed Kevin’s boss to be Secretary of the Department of Health Services (DHS) – and she brought Kevin along as her executive assistant. DHS was the focus of our advocacy work. While there were important mental health issues addressed by other departments, like Corrections and Public Instruction, DHS had responsibility for overseeing Wisconsin’s county-based system of services for adults with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disorders, which were a core focus for the WCMH.
And so, of course, we used our relationship with Kevin to continue our advocacy. And an amazing thing happened. You may or may not remember that December 2012 was when the Sandy Hook shootings occurred. I do, because that is when the Governor was finalizing plans for the 2013-2015 state budget, and he wanted to do something in response to those shootings. But he didn’t want to address gun control or gun safety. So, he decided to roll out a major mental health funding package. (Note: Mental health advocates do not like it when politicians respond to mass violence by addressing mental illness, because it draws an incorrect connection between mental illness and violence, but, to his credit, Gov. Walker did not play this up.) I still clearly remember the day Kevin got a bunch of us on a conference call to give us a sneak preview of what was to come. The Governor’s package was going to include six of the top items we had been advocating for, some for over a decade. Any one or two of them would have been enough for crazy celebration — would have been big wins — but this was almost surreal.
Now, I don’t really know what role Kevin played in this, but it is not hard to imagine that the Governor shared his wish with the Secretary and that she talked with Kevin. How else do all our priorities show up in one package? Kevin never denied it.
Relationships matter in politics. You just don’t always know which ones. You know which seat someone is sitting in right now; you don’t know where they’ll be sitting in five years. So if it is staff you are talking with, then use that time to gain that person as an ally.
Politics, as most of you know, is a marathon, not a sprint. We do ourselves a disservice if we reduce our idea of a win to “what did you do for me today”. We do not know, we cannot know, which conversations that we are having today will become the seeds for our future victory. Many of the conversations we had with politicians over the years about mental health issues impacted their understanding of those concerns, changed the way they thought about mental health services, and helped lay the groundwork for “wins” that may have only come many years later. Our job is to have those conversations, advocate as best we can, and remember that this is a long game.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 13, 2025 | Events, MOSES activities, Newsletter
On June 21, MOSES folks and others from throughout the community, young and old, braved the heat to participate in the festive Juneteenth parade. Walkers started at the Labor Temple and moved up South Park Street, which was closed for the event, to Penn Park.
The celebration at the park included music, dancing, games, vendors of souvenirs, and tasty food. Under the big tent, an array of community groups, including MOSES, provided information about their services. It was a day to reestablish connections and make new ones; a day to laugh, a day to hug, a day to remember, and a day to commit to a better and brighter future.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 13, 2025 | MOSES activities, MOSES Groups, Newsletter
By Nancy Kosseff
The First Unitarian Society (FUS) has been a MOSES member since 2013, following a vote at our annual parish meeting. Carol Rubin and James Morgan had stirred interest through a presentation they had made previously at FUS.
At the time, our congregation was moving from a standing-committee structure to a ministry-team structure. Small groups of members could form a team focusing on a particular justice issue or parish need. The idea was that these teams would be flexible in responding to current needs, and that they would disband when no longer needed.
Several of us organized the MOSES ministry team shortly after hearing Carol and James. We attended MOSES organizational meetings and worked to put MOSES membership on our next parish meeting agenda.
FUS is a large congregation, with dozens of new people joining and others moving on from one year to the next. Keeping everyone aware of the work of MOSES is a continuing challenge. Our team members have also come and gone. We currently have about six active members, who meet monthly to brainstorm, plan, and evaluate our efforts at engaging the broader membership. Kathy Luker is our current facilitator.
We have sponsored two or three First Friday Films each year, which have included a pre-film potluck dinner or snack and a post-film discussion. Our team has also hosted several forums on local and state justice-related issues, which are presented between the two Sunday services. Once or twice a month, we host a table during the coffee hour between services. On the table we have MOSES brochures, newsletters, and yearbooks; half-size sheets explaining the work of our ministry team, and sign-up sheets for people wanting to join the team or to learn more. A trifold on the table highlights current and upcoming MOSES and WISDOM news and events. A lending library of relevant books fills one end of the table.
This spring, the congregation designated a weekend offering for the Dane County Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP). The DPP offers selected people who have committed an offense the chance to attend classes and set up a restitution plan. When they complete all their requirements, the offense is deleted from their record. Donations collected that weekend went to a DPP fund that helps low-income participants with bus fare, court fees, class costs, and other requirements, such as restitution payments, for remaining in the program. Two people spoke about the DPP’s impact on real lives at all three of our weekend services.
One of our co-ministers, Rev. Kelly Asprooth-Jackson, has attended several MOSES and WISDOM events, including the MOSES Gala, WISDOM’s Madison Action Day, and a protest action against lockdowns at Waupun Correctional Facility. Rev. Kelly also provides regular staff support to our ministry team. Most recently, we have brainstormed together about ways to add younger FUS members to our team. We have also been exploring the idea of writing letters to incarcerated individuals, a project organized by our national denomination. We are hopeful that this type of undertaking will have broad appeal to our membership.
