by MOSES Publications | Oct 15, 2024 | Events, Life After Prison, Newsletter
Some Highlights from the EXPO Gala, Held October 5
By Sherry Reames
I bought tickets for this year’s EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing) celebration and fundraiser primarily because I wanted to hear the guest speaker, Susan Burton. Ms. Burton’s organization, A New Way of Life, is providing a transformative model of housing for formerly incarcerated women, as many of us learned from Delilah McKinney when she spoke at the MOSES Lunch and Learn in May.
Each Gala attendee received a copy of the book Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women. But Ms. Burton was too modest to give a very long speech. She shared a little of her own life story: falling into despair and addiction after the death of her 5-year-old son, and being sent back to prison six times because she relapsed whenever she returned to her troubled old neighborhood in South Los Angeles. What finally saved her was being welcomed into a safe and quiet home in Santa Monica, where she could genuinely start to heal from all the traumas.
As a result of that experience, she decided to buy a little house and turn it into a sanctuary for a few recently released women. Today her organization has a dozen such houses in South Los Angeles, each of them providing its residents with other needed services, including assistance in reuniting with their children, and there are dozens more in other parts of the country.
Ms. Burton’s program started taking root in Wisconsin, she said, when EXPO and FREE members Marianne Oleson, Tamra Oman, and Delilah McKinney came to one of her training sessions. They established the first house here in Madison with her advice and assistance, and she continues to work with them on both planning and fundraising. As she explained, “We do the work behind the hope – and hope is not free.” If the rest of us want to help provide safer, healthier housing for vulnerable women, an ideal way is to make a recurring financial donation.
Besides its headline speaker, the EXPO Gala featured selected artworks and a catalog from “Art Against the Odds,” a major exhibition of works by incarcerated artists that has been shown in Milwaukee and elsewhere in Wisconsin, but unfortunately not yet in Madison because of last-minute snags at our Museum of Contemporary Art. This wonderful collection is reportedly still in need of a permanent home.
The program at the Gala also included awards and brief speeches by some heroic members of the community who are doing vital work on behalf of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. This year’s honorees: (1) Cheri Branham, a social worker and prison doula who gave birth to her own child while in prison 10 years ago; (2) David Murrell, a former juvenile lifer who now works with incarcerated people in his position with WISDOM; (3) Peter Moreno, director of Odyssey Behind Bars, which is now partnering with the UW-Green Bay to offer Wisconsin’s first associate degree programs in the prisons; (4) Erica Nelson, director of Lift Wisconsin, which helps returnees get their drivers’ licenses back; and (5) Ruben Gaona, director of “My Way Out,” which tries to provide returnees with whatever they need, from bicycles to moral and psychological support.
Another highlight of this sold-out event was the company! People were connecting and reconnecting throughout the enormous Monona Terrace dining room. I happened to be seated next to Jeffrey Stovall, the principal of Wright Middle School, and enjoyed hearing news about that school (where I used to volunteer as a tutor) and the work of Jeffrey’s wife, who owns a home in Milwaukee for women re-entering the community after incarceration. Pam Gates reported that she had the honor of sitting next to Eugene Nelson, who has worked with Project Return in Milwaukee for six years, helping people get back on their feet after incarceration. After his own 21-year incarceration for a crime he didn’t commit, Eugene is very proud of his work, his clients, and most of all of his tiny daughter, who had just celebrated her first birthday!
by MOSES Publications | Aug 30, 2024 | Events, Fundraisers, Newsletter, Support MOSES
Why Is MOSES Having a Gala?
By Mary Anglim and Joan Duerst
The word gala, a festive celebration – is derived from the French word galer, which means “to have a good time, to rejoice.”
The mission of MOSES is to build collective power to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and to eradicate the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them.
Why is MOSES rejoicing?
Imagine that you did something that harmed the community or someone in it, and that you were convicted of a crime and sentenced to years in prison. How would you feel? Might you try to change your ways? You might study, write letters, pray, or see how your life could be different. Not only do you not want to cause harm and sadness, but you also want to be renewed, to be helpful to friends and family.
Finally the day comes, and you are released. With the help of others, you find ways to get your life in order. You see that there are things you can do to restore your family. You even begin to reach out to other families. With your new insights, you want to find ways to make the community safe. You dream of a place where everyone will get along — a place where everyone who needs a job has one, where everyone is safe, where everyone has enough to eat and a place to live and can enjoy life! Now how do you feel?
Shall we rejoice with you? Shall we have a celebration? You are making such a great difference in a difficult time that we want to tell the whole world. We want to have a GALA!
Since 2017, MOSES has brought people together to honor and celebrate those who were incarcerated and who now are making the world a better place. One of those people had an idea: Wouldn’t it be great if there could be an occasion when we could get dressed up and meet other people who have worked to make the prison system one of compassion, one that helps people overcome the traumas of their lives, rather than a place of lifelong punishment?
Let’s all go! Let’s do MOSES! Let’s rejoice that we have helped build power to create systems that enable people to be the best they can be! Let’s celebrate that we are dismantling disparities, so that we have communities of justice, peace, and caring!
We will greet each other. We will eat great appetizers and sweets prepared by the young people trained by the Goodman Center. There might be a raffle! We will especially welcome the new awardees who have overcome the pain of incarceration and become stars in the community.
Sponsors and participants contribute to the ongoing work of MOSES. Those who can will add to the cost of their tickets, so that some folks fresh out of the carceral system can celebrate with us and dream of how they will make the world a better place.
MOSES will hold its seventh annual Gala on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at the Brassworks of The Goodman Center, 214 Waubesa St. Tickets are $75/person, or $65/person for two or more registering together. Save the date! Further information will be available in October.
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)
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Community Issues, Events, Housing, Information, Newsletter
Who Is Corey Marionneaux and Why Do I Keep Seeing His Name?
By Sherry Reames
If MOSES members haven’t yet heard about Corey Marionneaux and his ambitious projects, trust me – this is a young community leader to watch. Marionneaux is founder and CEO of Black Men Coalition of Dane County, a nonprofit established in 2020 “to foster and develop a safe and inclusive environment for Black men and other vulnerable populations in Dane County through community involvement, mentorship, education, and employment skills.” The “vulnerable populations” at the heart of its mission are men who already have lived experience with the criminal-legal system, as Marionneaux himself does, and youth at risk of going that way.
Marionneaux has been in the Madison media this summer primarily because of his play, “The Kernel of Truth,” which had two performances at the Overture Center on June 15. He devised this powerful play, based in part on his own incarceration story, to raise public awareness of the human costs of the current system, both for the individuals locked up and for their families and communities. To increase its impact, he hired seasoned professionals to write, direct, and act in the play instead of trying to pull it all together himself. See Katie Mulligan’s review for an account of the final results.
As with the play, so with other projects of the Black Men Coalition (BMC): Marionneaux’s strategy is to recruit experienced, reliable partners to advance the various aspects of his vision. Among his partners at this point are Jerome Dillard of EXPO, who chairs BMC’s board; Diane Ballweg, who has provided seed money to get things started; Summit Credit Union, which works with BMC to provide a financial literacy program for vulnerable youth; the Boys and Girls Club, Urban Triage, the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, the Madison Area Builders Association, and a growing list of local employers. Marionneaux’s coalition tries to think of everything – not just matching job-seekers with potential employers, but bolstering their odds of success with “wrap-around support” that includes job-readiness skills, reliable transportation to work, any required clothing and tools, weekly contact with mentors, and referrals to appropriate community resources. The BMC even provides a free youth baseball league for kids ages 4-12.
The missing component so far is what Marionneaux calls “Supported Employment Housing.” He is hoping to break ground before the end of 2024 on an affordable housing development in Sun Prairie that will offer a range of supported options – four-bedroom shared units, efficiency singles, and one-bedroom apartments, with monthly rents ranging from $600-$900 – for participants in BMC’s programs who face barriers to housing as well as employment. More information on this project, which would include onsite facilities for exercise, learning, and other necessities, can be found on the BMC website: bmcdc.org/employment-housing.
Dane County clearly needs a lot more of what Marionneaux describes as “housing that creates a path from entry-level employment toward home ownership.” How can MOSES help to bring this promising vision into being? At present the chief impediment, he says, is NIMBY opposition from some Sun Prairie residents who haven’t grasped the difference between BMC’s wrap-around plan and the kinds of housing projects that just throw low-income people together and hope for the best. Advocacy from groups like MOSES at the local and county level could make a difference.
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Events, Information, Life After Prison, Newsletter
Lunch and Learn Fundraiser Celebrates Madison’s New SAFE House
By Katie Mulligan
On May 15, MOSES members and others gathered for a “Lunch and Learn” fundraiser at Lake Edge Lutheran Church in Monona. We were there to hear EXPO member Deliliah McKinney speak about the special problems of women who spend time in prison, what they need to succeed after release, and how she obtained a grant for a SAFE House that helps them move toward new lives.
“I am in awe of her,” said MOSES organizer James Morgan when he introduced McKinney. The two had met at JustDane, where they were peer specialists, and clearly had a special bond. In fact, it was obvious from the event’s opening that lived experience and peer support are crucial elements in efforts to help women who are rebuilding their lives after incarceration.
McKinney began with a daunting list of what she and other women have faced upon discharge. “We are released to a motel and given a week to find a place – usually a shelter. We must have a job to pay rent but might not have anywhere to take a shower and keep our clothes. And we might be revoked if we can’t provide an address to our parole officer.”
Many women also suffer from the emotional trauma of separation from their children and the prospect of a long struggle for permanent reunification. In fact, the ACLU recently sued the Department of Corrections because it had failed to set up a program that would enable some women to keep physical custody of their children while in prison.
These problems are not unique to Wisconsin, and they are increasing throughout the country. The rate of growth for female imprisonment has been twice as high as that for men since 1980. In 2022, over 50% of the women in prison were mothers of children under 18, as were 80% of the women in jails.
McKinney moved on to become a certified peer support specialist and looked for ways she could help other women who had been through similar struggles. She found inspiration in the work of Susan Burton, who had cycled in and out of prison for more than 15 years before she found help at a drug rehabilitation facility.
Burton developed a reentry program called A New Way of Life that included housing and access to various supportive services. But it also featured other kinds of help she knew women needed. Stability and a sense of security are key to their healing. as is assistance with their efforts to reunite with their children. Burton’s model program has evolved to a SAFE Housing Network that now consists of 31 organizations in 18 states, including Wisconsin.
McKinney attended a three-day training in Chicago, where she learned how to establish a SAFE House and implement the model. She then succeeded, in a highly competitive process, to obtain a grant that helped secure a mortgage for a SAFE House In Dane County
That SAFE House opened last fall and has four residents. Each of them was urged to take 30 days after release to “do nothing,” an acknowledgment of the difficulty of adjusting to post-prison life. They also are allowed to stay in the SAFE House as long as they need. A video showed comfortable overstuffed furniture, flowers on a mantle, and colorful bedspreads. “I knew what I would want to see when I come home,” said McKinney.
The luncheon offered an inspiring story about a successful effort to help women after prison. For me, however, its greatest gift was a better understanding of the value of lived experience and peer support. McKinney repeatedly told the audience how important it was to her to be surrounded by people like her “who were doing the work,” and to be the person who could provide hope to others like herself. The SAFE House model works because it reflects the hard-won knowledge of women who know what it takes to survive reentry from prison and build a better life.
by MOSES Publications | Jun 30, 2024 | Advocacy, Events, Newsletter, Prisons
What’s the Significance of “23”?
By Pamela Gates
On the 23rd of every month, MOSES and EXPO members plan to gather from 12 to 12:30 pm on the State Street steps of the Capitol to draw attention to the fact that hundreds of people are being subjected to solitary confinement in Wisconsin’s prisons, and to demand that the state put an end this practice. The 23rd was chosen because people in solitary spend 23 hours alone in their cells every day. They spend the other hour someplace else, but also alone.
The United Nations has declared that solitary confinement for more than 15 days is torture. By that measure, we are torturing hundreds of people in Wisconsin prisons and jails. On April 30, 2024, 787 people were confined in solitary in Wisconsin’s prisons, and Wisconsin’s county jails use the practice as well. People are confined to solitary for various reasons, including breaking a prison rule, having a mental breakdown, or being perceived as a danger to themselves or others. Says WISDOM’s David Liners: “Wisconsin needs to join the states that have implemented the ‘Mandela Rule’ that limits the practice to 15 days, and that only for extraordinary circumstances.”
On May 23 members of JOSHUA gathered outside the Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI) to call attention to the 129 people confined in solitary at GBCI on that date; 81 had been there for over a month. Seven of those in solitary were acknowledged by the DOC to have “severe mental illness.”
On May 23 in Madison, about 15 people gathered to offer prayers for those in solitary and to deliver a letter to the Governor’s Office reminding Evers of his stated opposition to solitary confinement and demanding that he take tangible steps to put an end to it in Wisconsin.
On June 23, a Sunday, only two were there: Patti La Cross and Pam Gates. We talked with one couple at some length and otherwise held signs (“Solitary = Torture” and “End the Lockdown”) as people moved up and down the steps enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the beautiful day. (Ongoing lockdown measures at Green Bay, Waupun, and Stanley have mimicked the practice of solitary confinement to a significant degree. The excuse has been lack of staff, but releasing people who are eligible for release would solve that problem completely.)
You are invited to join the gathering at noon on the 23rd of each month on the State Street Capitol steps to remember, as Liners puts it, “some of the most isolated, marginalized, suffering people in Wisconsin.” To learn more or become further involved with this effort, email WISDOM Organizer Mark Rice at ricermark@gmail.com.
Note: This report relied heavily on a May 22 press release by WISDOM Executive Director David Liners for background information.
