(203) 405-6249 — jeffgrant@familyreentry.org

jeff

Forbes: Feds Bust Prison Consulting Firm, By Walt Pavlo, Forbes Contributing Columnist

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Reprinted from Forbes.com, Jan. 28, 2019

The prison consulting business has been plagued by gimmicks and false promises.  Now a federal indictment in Connecticut could blow the lid off of a number of scammers that have taken advantage of defendants and their families.

US Attorneys in Connecticut have indicted three people who worked at RDAP Law Consultants LLC (RDAP Law) a firm that promised, guaranteed, that its clients would earn up to 18 months off of prison for hiring them.  Tony Tuan Pham, Samuel Copenhaver and Constance Moerland were indicted on charges that they coached people to fake drug and alcohol habits to gain entry into the Bureau of Prisons’ 500-hour program, Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP).  Getting into the program can get inmates up to one year off of their prison term and it is the only program in the BOP that offers a reduced time in prison.   The BOP considers it one of their premier successes:

“The Bureau and National Institute on Drug Abuse combined funding and expertise to conduct a rigorous analysis of the Bureau’s RDAP. Research findings demonstrated that RDAP participants are significantly less likely to recidivate and less likely to relapse to drug use than non-participants. The studies also suggest that the Bureau’s RDAPs make a significant difference in the lives of offenders following their release from custody and return to the community.”

The RDAP program is a 9-month program of intensive drug and alcohol therapy.  Those who enter the program participate in a regimen of therapies while incarcerated and counseling sessions after their release from prison.  To qualify, a defendant must state that they have a drug or alcohol dependency within the year prior to their arrest … but that statement must be included in a Presentence Report, a historical report that provides detail on the defendant’s life (criminal past, family history, medical history and drug abuse).  In many cases, defendants, particularly those involved in the drug trade (the majority of federal charges), have a drug problem.  However, having that abuse documented in the Presentence report is imperative to gaining admission.  When it is not, documentation must be provided to support a history of abuse … and that has launched a cottage industry of  “consultants” who are falsifying information for those who did not initially qualify for the program.

When a defendant, a desperate defendant, reached out to RDAP Law, they would direct them to fraudulently obtain one or more prescriptions for medications used to treat withdrawal symptoms, and to bring those medications upon reporting to a BOP facility to begin serving their prison term.  This created the false appearance of substance abuse disorder. RDAP Law also educated clients about how to mimic withdrawal symptoms and instructed clients “who were not yet in custody to adopt a daily habit of drinking alcohol or to have a medical professional provide a prescription for anti-anxiety medication prior to the client reporting to a BOP facility.”  If none of those worked, RDAP Law recommended that defendants show up at prison drunk.  For all of this, they would charge fees up to $10,000.

I have talked to a number of defendants and they all tell me that they are bombarded with emails and phone calls for prison consulting services once they have been sentenced.  These consultants promise results ranging from time off of a prison term to luxury prison designations.  It is a scam that has been going on too long.

RDAP Law’s luck ran out when it promised a defendant entry into RDAP and the defendant was working in cooperation with the FBI and US Attorneys office in Connecticut.  Pham’s pitch had six pieces of advice according to an excerpt from a recorded call:

Number one, you drink every day, including weekday. Number two, alcohol is very important to you. It’s a big part of your life.  Three, you’re a good drinker now. . . . Your first glass of wine you don’t feel anything.  Number four, you’ve tried to quit many times and you can’t. . . . You get sick if you don’t drink, you don’t feel like yourself. Ok? You can’t sleep. You can’t think.  Like an alcoholic, like an addict. You don’t feel good unless you have a drink.  That’s five. And number six, it’s called abuse. Abuse meaning bad things. Ok? You do bad things when you drink.

Now, the defendant in that case is not going to the RDAP program but will likely receive some time off for cooperating against RDAP Law.  The RDAP Law website is still up, but I’m guessing the feds are monitoring it … as well as a few others.

It is also likely that the BOP will look at their requirements for qualifying for RDAP.  For every person who has faked drug or alcohol abuse to get into the program, there are many who did not qualify but had real substance abuse problems that were not properly documented.  The BOP, for all of its shortcomings, has a successful program in RDAP that needs to be strengthened.  Prosecutions like this will start that process.

When Walt is not writing on white collar crime, he works with experts who present on it. Check out 500 Pearl Street Speakers or contact him at waltpavlo@500pearlstreet.com.

Walter Pavlo Contributor

I established 500 Pearl Street Speakers as a boutique speaker bureau that brings together journalists, former law enforcement agents, forensic accountants, lawyers and those involved in white collar crimes to create memorable training events. When I’m not speaking or writing, I’m working with Jack Donson at Prisonology LLC to help everyone facing federal prison. In 2007, I released the book “Stolen Without A Gun” with Neil Weinberg, former Executive Editor Forbes Magazine (now a Reporter for Bloomberg). I write on white-collar crime and try to provide a different perspective than that of the mainstream media.

Blog: The Cost of Calling Loved Ones from Prison should not Pay a Billionaire’s Salary! By Venezia Michalsen, Ph.D.

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Do you have a loved one behind bars in Connecticut prisons?

Do you find that even keeping in touch with your imprisoned loved one is too expensive?

Were you once in a Connecticut prison? 

Was calling your family and friends very expensive?

House Representatives Robyn Porter, Josh Elliott and I are working to make calls from prisons free, but we need your help! 

Contact me at VeneziaHM@yahoo.com if you would like to tell your story and make change in our state.

When a person is in prison, their connections to loved ones on the outside are some of the most important factors in their happiness and success both behind bars and when they return home.  Connecticut ranks 49th in the nation for the affordability of a 15 minute call from an incarcerated person to someone on the outside, usually family members and other loved ones. An incarcerated person will spend $4.87 for 15 minutes on a collect call or $3.65 for a 15 minute prepaid call.  These costs are absolutely prohibitive for people working to maintain relationships in the community while incarcerated. 

The prison phone industry is a billion dollar business in the United States, profiting from our most vulnerable and poor residents, overwhelmingly people of color. The amount of money going from the wallets of Connecticut’s poorest people into the coffers of billion dollar corporations, is astronomical.

When people are more easily able to make contact with their loved ones from behind bars, everyone benefits.  Connections to family while one is incarcerated are one of the most important predictors of recidivism; people who can maintain contact are far less likely to not only have infractions while they are incarcerated, but also to return to incarceration after release.  By making phone calls free, we enable our residents to connect to those they love, improving many lives in the process:

  • Incarcerated people who maintain hope, retain parenting rights, reduced recidivism, improved reentry outcomes.
  • Families on the outside who no longer have to choose between talking to loved ones and paying their bills.  The benefit is particularly strong for children of incarcerated parents, who benefit from having regular contact with an incarcerated parent,
  • Taxpayers, who reap the increased public safety and thriving communities, and 
  • Correctional officers, who have to manage fewer infractions.

Contact with loved ones decreases depression and anxiety, it taps into the best support system for incarcerated people, and enables families to prepare for their loved one’s eventual release, since almost all incarcerated people will be released to the community.

Please join us in our fight to make phone calls from prisons free in Connecticut!  You can tell your story in writing, you can tell it to me and I will present it, or you can tell your story in testimony in Hartford.  It’s time for telephone justice behind bars!

Venezia (Venice) Michalsen, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in N.J. and author of the new book “Mothering and Desistance in Reentry.”  Venice can be reached at VeneziaHM@yahoo.com.

New Haven Independent: 16 Years For A Crime He Didn’t Commit

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by Tom Breen, Reprinted from New Haven Independent, Feb. 6, 2019

Jeffrey Deskovic was playing whiffleball with a friend the night his high school classmate was raped and murdered.Despite DNA evidence to the contrary, the state still thought he did it. So did a jury. Deskovic spent 16 years behind bars, until the actual killer’s DNA finally helped clear his name and set him free.

Deskovic told that story of his wrongful conviction and successful exoneration on the most recent episode of WNHH’s “Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls-Ivy and Jeff Grant.”

Now the CEO of the Deskovic Foundation, a nonprofit that has helped overturn seven wrongful convictions and succeeded in advocating for the country’s first Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct in New York, Deskovic was just a 16-year-old sophomore in high school in 1989 when police arrested him for the rape and murder of a fellow classmate in his home town of Peekskill, N.Y.

Initially, Deskovic said, he and his family weren’t concerned about him being found guilty. He knew he hadn’t committed the crime, and pretrial DNA tests of semen found inside the victim didn’t match his own.

“They all thought the system worked,” Deskovic said. “Me being wrongfully convicted was the last thing on anybody’s mind.”

But, as Deskovic has learned over the past three decades, innocence sometimes has little to do with whether or not one is found guilty for a crime.

The medical examiner failed to disclose complaints from surrounding communities about his history of providing untruthful testimony. He also rushed to the grand jury and urged them to find Deskovic guilty even before the results from the DNA test were in.

The public defender representing Deskovic failed to bring up in court the teenager’s alibi, that he had been playing whiffleball in a friend’s backyard, and didn’t even interview the friend Deskovic claimed to have been with.

And the district attorney, eager for a conviction and unwilling to accept that a negative DNA test meant that Dekovic hadn’t in fact raped and murdered the victim, proceeded with the prosecution, and succeeded in getting a guilty verdict from the jury for first-degree rape and second-degree murder.

Besides his family, he said, “everyone else in the community turned on me. Everybody hated me.”

Still just a teenager, Deskovic was sent to a men’s maximum security prison. He spent the next 16 years bouncing between Elmira and Sing Sing, learning law, earning a GED and an Associate’s Degree, and urging his attorneys to keep fighting his case.

The first break in Deskovic’s case came in 1996, and had nothing to do with him. New York created a DNA databank designed to link DNA evidence from crime scenes with offenders. The second break came in January 2006, when the Innocence Project decided to pick up his case and test his DNA using new technology.

The third, and critical, break came in September 2006, when the DNA found inside the high school victim some 16 years earlier was matched with that of Steven Cunningham, who was in prison for a different murder he had committed over a decade prior. Cunningham eventually confessed to committing the crime for which Deskovic was locked up. Later in September 2006, Deskovic was released at the age of 32.

Since then, he has started his own nonprofit, helped overturn seven wrongful convictions, and worked on a campaign to establish a commission in New York to provide independent oversight of prosecutors.

“One of the most common elements that runs through many wrongful conviction cases is prosecutorial misconduct,” he said. That can be anything from withholding evidence of innocence to withholding evidence that has to do with witness credibility to making inflammatory statements over the course of the trial.

Sometimes misconduct stems from political ambition, he said, a prosecutor’s eagerness to get a conviction at all costs. Sometimes “it becomes kind of like a game, like wins and losses,” he said.

Now about to graduate from law school, and scheduled to take the bar this summer, Deskovic said he has no interest in slowing down his advocacy for the wrongfully convicted.

“Between now and when I drop dead,” he said, “I’ll be doing this work.”

Video on Facebook Live:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSIDER WITH BABZ RAWLS-IVY & JEFF GRANT | Jeffrey Deskovic, CEO of the Deskovic Foundation for Justice

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSIDER WITH BABZ RAWLS-IVY & JEFF GRANT | Jeffrey Deskovic, CEO of the Deskovic Foundation for Justice

Posted by New Haven Independent on Friday, February 1, 2019

 

 

 

 

New Haven Independent: Insider Trading Cases Easier to Prosecute

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by Thomas Breen I Reprinted from the New Haven Independent I  | Jan 23, 2019

(3) Comments | Post a Comment | E-mail the Author

Peter Henning (center) with WNHH hosts Jeff Grant and Babz Rawls-Ivy.

The government will always prioritize going after insider traders over subprime mortgage lenders. Even if the latter precipitate a nationwide financial crisis.Why? Because one kind of case is sexy to prosecute. And the other is difficult.

Law professor and New York Times columnist Peter Henning offered that insider insight on the most recent episode of WNHH’s “Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls-Ivy and Jeff Grant.”

Henning teaches courses on white collar crime, corporations, and legal ethics at at Wayne State University Law School in Michigan. He also writes a regular column for the New York Times called White Collar Watch, in which he discusses the latest in nonviolent, financially-motivated legal misconduct.

He was asked to reflect on why only one U.S. banker to date has gone to jail for participating in the subprime mortgage lending and securitization that led to the 2008 worldwide recession. Henning said the answer is relatively simple: prosecuting those kinds of cases is really, really difficult.

“Essentially you’ve got to dig through hundreds, maybe thousands of loans,” he said about the work required of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials in going after subprime lenders.

On the other hand, he said, he thinks of insider trader cases, where financial players trade on the stock exchange using confidential information, as “the low-hanging fruit of the securities world.”

“They’re fun cases,” he said, “they’re not very difficult.” And, most importantly, “they make headlines.

“Insider trading is, if you will, sexy.”

A four-year investigation of a mid- or upper-level banker will draw a shrug from most media outlets and members of the public, he observed. Arresting billionaire hedge fund managers like Raj Rajaratnam and tax-scheming celebrities like Martha Stewart will land a story on the front page of The New York Times or Washington Post.

Furthermore, he said, the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deliberately pursues wealthy, well-known individuals for alleged financial misdeeds as a strategy for discouraging financial crimes among the broader public.

“Their view is that you get deterrence through publicity,” he said.

After working for the SEC during the late 1980s and the FBI in the early 1990s before joining Wayne State’s faculty in 1994, Henning knows well that the government will always have a more difficult time securing convictions of the heads of banks rather than overworked middle managers. That’s because the former often insulate themselves from the day-to-day fraud that employees at their institutions permit often because of intense corporate pressure rather than direct orders from above.

He drew a parallel to the special counsel Robert Mueller’s early pursuit of relatively low-level Donald Trump associates like George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort in his office’s investigation into whether or not the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. The goal in both investigatory scenarios, he said, is to put pressure on low-level players to reveal information about crimes committed by those higher up the food chain.

“Getting to the CEO is very difficult,” he said. “Getting to Donald Trump is very difficult. Because those top level people don’t get their hands dirty.”

That leaves prosecutors with the onerous, and often subjective, task of getting inside the mind of someone who may have intended to break the law even if there is no direct evidence tying the illegal doings of underlings to explicit orders from the top.

“These cases are really about intent and knowledge and involvement,” he said.

“Criminal Justice Insider” is sponsored by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

Audio on SoundCloud:

 

Video on Facebook Live:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSIDER with BABZ RAWLS-IVY & JEFF GRANT | Peter J. Henning, Professor of Law

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSIDER with BABZ RAWLS-IVY & JEFF GRANT | Peter J. Henning, Professor of Law

Posted by WNHH Community Radio on Friday, January 18, 2019

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If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are experiencing a white collar or other nonviolent criminal justice issue, Progressive Prison Ministries hosts a confidential online white-collar/nonviolent support group on Monday evenings, 7 to 8:15 pm Eastern, 6 to 7:15 pm Central, 5 to 6:15 pm Mountain, 4 to 5:15 pm Pacific.
 
This is the first confidential white-collar/ nonviolent online support group in the United States. This is a huge step in forming a community of individuals and families with white-collar and nonviolent incarceration issues.
 
Our experience shows us that many of us are suffering in silence with shame, remorse, and deep regret. Many of us have been stigmatized by our own families, friends and communities, and the business community. Our goal is to learn and evolve into a new spiritual way of life centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance and empathy, and then to reach out to offer all those suffering from these issues. In so doing, we share our experiences, feelings and resources to help make the quality of each other’s lives more manageable. More info: prisonist.org/white-collar-support-group.

 

New Haven Independent: Next Goal: Ban The Box For Housing, Too

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Reprinted from New Haven Independent, Jan. 3, 2019, by Tom Breen

Ban the box, not just for job applications, but for housing applications, too.

A criminal justice reform group plans to pitch that idea to the state legislature this coming session as part of recommendations on how to create housing opportunities for Connecticut’s recently incarcerated.

Fernando Muñiz and Rosa Correa came on WNHH Radio’s “Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls-Ivy and Jeff Grant” to talk about that initiative, and about housing policy and criminal justice reform in Connecticut more broadly.

Muñiz and Correa are two of the three co-chairs of the Legislative Housing Re-Entry Working Group, which the General Assembly created in June to study housing options for the recently incarcerated and to recommend an evidence-based housing policy to help people reentering society.

The group has spent the past six months holding meetings with stakeholders throughout the state, and plans to present recommendations to the legislature in Feb. 2019.

“We’re looking at housing options and opportunities for people coming out of incarceration,” Correa said. “We’re looking at housing options not only in apartments, but also in public housing. … We did this work. When the work comes before the legislature, we might need some people to come out and support any bills that comes out of that.”

Correa is a lifelong Bridgeport resident and community activist who recently retired from Career Resources, Inc., where she focused on workforce development initiatives.

Muñiz is a former deputy commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families (DCF). He’s currently the CEO of the Connecticut-based nonprofit Community Solutions, Inc., which runs eight halfway houses in Connecticut and dozens of other reentry programs in eight other states.

One such policy recommendation that the working group will likely deliver to the legislature come February, Correa said, is a “Ban the Box” proposal that relates to housing, and not just to employment.

As of last year, the state prohibits employers from asking applicants about criminal history at the onset of the job application process. That’s to ensure that employers don’t discriminate against applicants simply because they have spent time in prison.

Correa said the state legislature should pass similar laws that would prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to tenants simply because of their criminal background.

“Why should a person disclose [criminal background] if that person comes across as having the financial” means to rent an apartment? Correa asked. “If you get shut out in the beginning, where do you go?”

“I want to remind homeowners,” Correa continued, “that these individuals have families. They have children. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to bring them back together so that they can begin to relive their lives in a healthy, contributing way in the community, which most want to do anyway?”

Muñiz added that the state needs to take the money it’s saved through the closing of prisons and the reduction of the prison population, and reinvest those funds into residential housing and reentry services for the recently released. Don’t let these savings just roll back into the state’s general fund, he warned, or else the population coming home from prison will have nowhere to live, nowhere to work, and no way to fully reintegrate into a community.

“We’ve been closing prison beds,” he said, “and zero of those dollars have gone into the community-based kinds of supports and services that folks need.” That means more beds at halfway houses, he said, as well as policy changes and community partnerships that make housing available for recently incarcerated. He said he has been happy to see landlords showing up to some of the public meetings that the working group has held.

“We have to think about investments outside of government” too, he said. He said the time when nonprofits could sit back and wait for Requests for Proposal (RFP) for government-funded housing projects to show up at their doors is over.

Instead, nonprofits like Community Solutions, Inc. need to work with private foundations and other private companies to develop their own support programs for the recently incarcerated. He said his company currently works with a construction company in California to hire people living in their halfway houses.

“We’re preparing the road for a better life,” Correa said. “You want your business to thrive. You need to invest in these initiatives.”

Prisonist.org: Holiday Messages of Experience, Strength, Love, Hope & Faith

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We invite you to share your holiday messages of experience, strength, love, hope and faith. Please email them to me at jgrant@prisonist.org and I will post them on our blog at prisonist.org/prisonist-the-blog and email them to our families, friends, neighbors, colleagues and fellows. Please feel free to forward them to anyone who is in need this holiday season. Below are a few holiday messages to get us started. Wishing you and your loved ones a happy & healthy holiday season. – Jeff Grant

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THE GIFT OF NOTHING.

At Christmastime, my twenty year old daughter Skylar likes to read one of her favorite holiday books from childhood “The Gift of Nothing”. It is the story of little Mooch trying to find a Christmas present for his best friend Earl, but Earl has EVERYTHING. Mooch racks his brain and searches high and low and cannot find the perfect gift. Finally, he realizes, the very, very best present of all can’t be wrapped and put in a box, it’s NOTHING. Nothing…but time together, a hug, laughter, friendship, empathy, love.

For those of us whose lives have been impacted by indictments, incarceration and the attending complications, it can feel as though we’ve lost EVERYTHING, it can feel as though we have NOTHING to give at Christmastime or anytime. But it’s a funny thing about kindness, friendship, love and compassion, the more we give, the more it seems there is to give, and from what had seemed to be an existence of scarcity, a life of true abundance begins to emerge. It’s a feeling, and it’s real.

When I have the blessing of spending time with Babz, Joe, Iyabo, Scott, Joshua, Lynwood, Jacquie, Doug and Jeffrey, just to name a few, the room is filled to overflowing with NOTHING and my heart is so full, full of truth, companionship, warmth, encouragement. I feel as if I have EVERYTHING.

As I sit writing this blessed Christmas Eve morning, there is a dusting of snow across the paddock outside my window, my kitten is purring on the chair beside me, my husband wished me a good morning with a big, warm hug. I know that God loves me and that I love him. Everything. Nothing.

Wishing you each the gift of nothing, today and everyday through out the new year. With love. – Lynn Springer

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Tomorrow, most of the world will pause and pay homage to the Christ child. As a priest in the Old Catholic Church I recognize the power and beauty of this season, sacred event and holy time of the year.  One that has endured the test of time; a narrative that has lived on for over 2000 years. A celebration that proclaims the “good news” and offers hope and strength to countless people.

I wonder how many of us stop and think that we are celebrating someone, Jesus, who was a convicted criminal and one who was sentenced to death.  That “passion” story that we read during Easter doesn’t really talk about the failure of the justice system or even society when they make a mistake.   When they fail to see the good in people or the possibility of radical change and love. The story, like the man Jesus, is about transformation.  The theory is that second chances are supposed to happen and that forgiveness, hope and resurrection was the point of that truly terrible event.

However, tomorrow it all about the birth of Christ. A new beginning and a fresh and wonderful start.  Some of us, if not all of us, know a little about failure, loss, and even being a criminal.  You see, most of us, if not all of us, have made mistakes.  Some of us have learned a great deal from those and have endured great pain and suffering. Very much like Christ after only 33 years from that magical birth in Bethlehem. 

Imagine that birth! A mother who was so scared because she was pregnant without being married. Disenfranchised by family and friends and no place to go or stay.  A birth that was so common that few at the time even paid attention.  I wonder if today that some of us are still too busy and are not paying attention.  I am honored to be part of a wonderful ministry of Returning Citizens.  People who once had great power and wealth, a force to be reckoned with. Some of us, myself included, probably didn’t pay much attention to this “birthday” idea. But now every Monday night we talk, pray, share our stories and tell a narrative of hope, change, and redemption.  Most of us have started anew and are doing important things again, but for very different reasons. Even though we are making the world a better place again, most of us haven’t learned the simple idea of forgiveness, especially for ourselves. I am hoping for a miracle…..that we can change this during our Christmas season. 

When I celebrate Mass I am reminded each time of this great gift and season.  When we pour the water into the Chalice, every Priest recites an ancient prayer; “Through the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.”  The God we celebrate tomorrow became human so that all of us can become divine.  With our broken and fragile lives, even amidst the sorrows and losses, we can be the message of hope, joy and love.  Indeed, that is a message of humanity and our divinity. The message, and the greatest gift, is that we can all be a divine Christmas miracle.  May God love you all! – the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Ciccone, St. Joseph’s Mission Church, Progressive Catholic Church

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To my fellow pilgrims,
 
During my time in prison I was struck by the contrast in lifestyles. This wasn’t a comparison of opulence versus scarcity. For me it was never about the absence of material possession. Rather, it was about embracing the gift I had been given: moral bankruptcy. I came to realize that all that I had thought was real, important, and meaningful was empty. I was able to think critically for perhaps the first time in my life, and I became open to a new truth: wealth lies in a foundation of relations predicated on common purpose and understanding and a true love for my fellows. 
 
 
I saw a movie during my “correctional vacation” called The Way. It was a film about a man who alone begins a spiritual journey over a European trail called the Camino Santiago de Compostela, and completes his journey connected to others in a way he’d never previously known. I came to know the phrase “Buen Camino”, loosely translated meaning, “Good way”.  It’s a greeting that each traveler offers a fellow pilgrim on the Camino. And in my new life I came to understand that each of us are on our own path – our own Way, if you will. 
 
A few years ago I had the opportunity to make my own pilgrimage on the Camino and I met hundreds of people from all walks of life, from around the world, and we shared our common purpose and understanding. We understood intuitively the love inherent in the simple greeting “Buen Camino”. That love was predicated on our individual and shared mission, born of our experiences and struggles. So to has it been getting to meet each of you. In you I have found our common understanding, common experience, and common purpose despite the eclectic nature of our backgrounds. 
 
The holidays are a time to celebrate the unity that our Higher Power has endowed us with, among our family and our fellows.  And in this new life – no longer morally bankrupt (most of the time) – I embrace each of you as my fellow pilgrims, and I hope that I can be the same to you. 
 
Whether Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic, or Christian this time of year allows us to take inventory of who we are, what we have, and how we value those men and women around us. I’m proud to be included among you, my fellow Pilgrims, and to celebrate our common struggles for the myriad ways in which they’ve brought us together, and made us better Pilgrims. 
 
To each of you I say thank you, Happy Holidays, and Buen Camino. – Joshua Cagney
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My Beloved Once Friends, but now Family, 

With deep gratitude, I find myself reflecting on our group and what you’ll (I am in the South!) mean to me as we draw into Christmas season and the New Year. 
 
You know I was not on too many calls when I first joined. I felt uncomfortable. I was struggling between letting everything in the past stay in the past and moving into the future. Now, I rearrange my life based on Monday nights. You have become family. 
 
Christmas reminds me of my paternal grandpa. He was a Methodist minister and my parents were card carrying atheists. My grandpa would teach me about Jesus and tell me, “Your parents have read too many books. Just ignore them. They don’t know anything.” He promised me Jesus was real and I loved my grandpa so much I believed him. His name was Samuel Emmanuel Onipede and I was the youngest grandchild and we were best friends. When I think of Christmas, I think of my grandpa because of the name, “Emmanuel” which means “God with us.” My grandpa died when I was 10 years old and I still associate the presence and awareness of God to him because he planted that seed in me. 
 
God indeed has been with us as a group. You may not see it, but I do. 
 
I see how Jeff is like the parent of the group. He gathers us. He reminds of how we find our way as a community, as a family, and gets us on track. Just like God does in your life. Father Joe is the enduring priest. He keeps us spiritually grounded and is such a wonderful example of humanity in a clerical robe as we enjoy the highs and lows of his life. He reminds us to be hopeful. Just like God does. Jeffrey A. is our businessman. He is relentless and works hard, representing those in reentry out there in the world. He is focused and clear on who he is and reminds us that we have value in the world and that is why he does what he does. Just like God does. Basia shows up and draws support from us as she seeks to be a good mother to her children. Just like God is to us. Jackie keeps fighting for women behind bars, as she has struggled with her own kid and business life. She believes in those women and regardless of her own personal struggles, she prioritizes the women coming out of Danbury so they can have a soft landing entry and know that someone cares for them. Just like God does for us. Steve faithfully shows up and brings wisdom but always steps back, not wanting it to be about him as he reflects love to the group. Just like God does. Joshua is so rooted and vulnerable, so transparent. He brings such therapeutic wisdom, no judgment, and a simple but deep form of acceptance to each of us. Just like God does. Doug is so practical, does not sugar coat stuff but is compassionate and he keeps putting one foot in front of the other and encourages each of us to do the same and not get side tracked and hung up on regret. Just like God does too. 
 
And I could go on with every single person who is on the call. 
 
You see, I deeply believe that each of us represents a facet of the Divine. There is something about this animation we call life that is sacred. And no matter how badly any one of us has messed up, that Divinity still exists within each of us. Nothing we have done can mess up the fact that we have sacred, beautiful lives, filled with value, filled with the ability to reclaim our lives and do good with it. No matter the framework of your faith: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist or anything, you represent the Creator of everything. 
 
Even if you do not believe in Jesus, Our Emmanuel, (the way I do) I invite you to take comfort that the Entity that created everything knows all about you, and loves you passionately. That is why you can never use up all the oxygen provided just for you. And just like that oxygen, opportunities, love, relationships, everything that we need and want is available to each us. We live in an abundant playground. We must know this and believe it. 
 
You represent Emmanuel to me because each of you have been such a huge blessing to my life. I see God in you and it gives me great comfort to experience connection with you. You guys have been the hands, feet and voice of God for me. 
 
And so I can say with joy, God indeed has been with us this past year. 
 
My prayer is that this time next year, when I write this same email to our group, that I get to say things like, “I am so proud of you guys. Look, you got jobs, you have new relationships, you are making and saving money, you are making a difference, you are feeling fulfilled in your work, you have reconnected with your kids, you are feeling purposeful, you have experienced such joy. You have made a difference in society. Indeed God has been with us again this year.” 
 
My your holidays and the new year be filled with the kind of joy that heals things that you did not know were ailing you, may you experience a deep and profound love and know that you matter. 
 
Blessings and Peace upon your life, you and yours. Amen. – Iyabo Onipede
 
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JOY
To everyone who has been released and also those living with the stigma of a criminal record, I give hope and joy.  May your life return to normal and being alive your holiday present.  You are here for a reason, find it!!! – Barry S. Diamond

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From Disdain to Distinction:

Fellow Paddlers:

I admire you.

I want you to know that I too am a person that paddles a solitary canoe during this Holiday Season.

I want you to know that I too am a person that once lived life inside of a correctional institution.

I want you to know that I too know and comprehend what it means to find all seaworthy vessels otherwise occupied.

I want you to know that I too have stood on the shore of many a strong stream and mighty, roaring river and wondered how in the world I would find the resources, or, muster the strength to ford, let alone cross them.

I want you to know that I found a single, rickety, time-and-water-swollen canoe.

The canoe, long-ago abandoned, simply arrived.

I did not summons it. And I most certainly did not build it.

The canoe arrived.

Weather-beaten and abandoned by those who once cherished it as a prized-possession.

I rescued the canoe.

Or, maybe the canoe rescued me.

I rid its moss and sanitized its mold-ridden bottom.

I patched its holes.

I sealed its leaks.

I repaired its sodden twin-paddles.

And then, one, fine, brisk morning, I launched its new, maiden voyage.

I sat in my new canoe.

I tested its buoyancy.

I pointed its stem towards the center of the stream.

And I began paddling.

I admire you my fellow paddler.

This Holiday Season, find a discarded and disregarded canoe.

Admire it.

Rescue it.

Polish it.

Turn its disdain.

Return its distinction.

Some very strong and potent potion will do the same for you.

Cherish This Day! – Steve Bonenberger

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It’s Christmas Day! Thank God I haven’t missed it!     ~ Charles Dickens

As we grow older, it’s entirely possible to lose a lot more than our belief of Santa Clause. Through our trials and tribulations, we can forget how to have fun. Whole summers go by without a single picnic, a swim, or a baseball game. Birthdays become nothing more than restaurant dinners. What a far cry from our youth when looking forward to a good time and then wringing every drop of pleasure out of it was what we knew best!

Christmas is one of the occasions that many of us forget how to celebrate. “Christmas is too commercial,” we say as an excuse for our crankiness. “Christmas is for children.” Yet for all the hustle and bustle that surround the holidays, there is also much that is lovely and inviting of spiritual growth. The warmth on so many faces, the increased sense of caring and giving, the gathering of families, the beauty of the music – all are invitations to turn away from worry and lift up our hearts.

We don’t have to become like Scrooge just because we’re not children anymore. The wonder of Christmas is available to all comers. Let us not miss it.

So, let’s put our worries aside for this day, enjoy our surroundings and take a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air.  Take a moment today to be thankful for this community of beautiful, strong people that have blessed our hearts because of our various obstacles of life. You have all personally helped me deepen my capacity for enjoyment by your friendship and constant support.

Raising my glass, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  As we move into 2019 together only incredible things can possibly be waiting for us! – Jacqueline Polverari

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 With deep joy and gratitude, I extend to you my prayerful best wishes for a holy and blessed Christmas.

During this Advent Season, it has been my prayer that each of you would find opportunities to reflect on your own faith and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. Whatever it is that our hearts and souls desire, whether we realize it or not, our ultimate desire is Jesus Himself, for this reason, we are filled with joy and consolation at Christmas to know that all that we hoped for has been fulfilled in the person of the Christ Child.

Several years ago I received a Christmas card with this message: “This Christmas, I wish you Jesus.” On the inside it read: “Isn’t it nice to have everything!”

In the midst of all our current challenges and concerns, the love of God the Father is made manifest to us in the wonderful gift of His Son, Jesus. With the angels in Bethlehem, our faith moves us to sing: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth!” We recognize that true peace on earth flows from our recognition and praise of God in our lives.

Christmas has a way of bringing to Church individuals and families who, for various reasons, have not been to Mass or the Sacraments for months or years.  What a wonderful and grace-filled opportunity to put aside past differences and old habits and begin anew that prayerful relationship with the Lord and His Church community. I extend to all of you an open, grateful heart of welcome regardless of your past or present life situation. For Christ’s Love is for all. Together, may we grow in strength and grace to know and celebrate together God’s presence in our lives and His dominion over all things of this world.

May our Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, bless you, your families and loved ones at this blessed time of hope and grace. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! – The Rev. Fr. William E. Riley

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Blessings, l’שלום

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide

PO Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
501(c)(3) I donations: PayPal.me/ppminc