By Daniel J. Simms, Independent Journalist/Author/Podcast Host. www.DanielJSimms.com. www.DefundDOC.net.
One social justice cause is at the forefront in the United States this year: criminal justice reform. The George Floyd protests opened a festering wound that has plagued our country for decades. Igniting anew the calls for a more humane and fair system. One based on treating crime as a public behavioral health matter rather than an opportunity to arrest and imprison. (See: George Floyd Protests: A Timeline. By Derrick Bryson Taylor. New York Times. (Nov. 5, 2021) http://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html) Millions of Americans went into the streets to demand a paradigm shift away from the contemporary overreaching criminal justice system. (See: Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. Prison Policy Initiative. http://PrisonPolicy.org)(See also: Criminal Justice Reform at a Crossroads. 20 Tex. Rev. Law and Pol. 249. By John Malcolm. (2016)). Pitting evidence-based approaches to crime against the retributive historically inequitable "hard on crime" approaches of the past. (See: Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse 103 (2007). By Todd R. Clear). In many low-income communities, it appears inevitable that you will be arrested and imprisoned. Sadly, virtually everyone in the country has been touched in some way by mass incarceration. (See: You Might Be Committing A Federal Crime, Heritage Found. By Robert Alt. (Dec. 17, 2010). http://www.perma.cc/WT9S-8WPT). (See also: You're [Probably] A Federal Criminal, In The Name Of Justice. By Alex Kozinski and Misha Tseytlin. (Thomas Lynch Ed., 2009)). That certainty of arrest and imprisonment has altered cultural norms dramatically. Ensuring the alarming new quasiregular norm of equating incarceration with manhood. (See: The Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration in African-American Communities. By Dorothy E. Roberts. 56 Stan. L. Rev. 1271, 1272, (2004)) (See also: Why Are So Many Americans In Prison? Slate Magazine (Feb. 6, 2015). By Leon Neyfach. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_politics/crime/2015/02)
The time is ripe for reform. To finally usher in the criminal justice system the people want. 73% of respondents in a 2020 poll agreed that governmental funds should be spent on services rather than incarceration. And 76% agreed that barriers to housing, jobs, and education should be removed to increase an individual's chances of success on supervision. (See: Voters Support Reducing Incarceration and Supervision Under Probation and Parole. By Molly Greene and Sean McElwee. The Appeal (2021). http://www.theappeal.org/the-lab/polling-memos/use-clemency-power-to-fight-mass-incarceration). The drug and crime wars have only made our country more divided along the lines of socioeconomic status and wealth. (See: From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime. By Elizabeth Hinton. (2016)) The poor and disadvantaged are systemically ensnared in mass incarceration or mass supervision. While the wealthy escape relatively unscathed or pay high-priced lawyers to evade liability. Such disparities are widely known and prolific. (See: An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System. By Hinton. Vera Institute of Justice at 7). Despite the overwhelming majority of Americans wanting genuine reform, the politicians in power have not delivered. Perhaps believing the masses would divert their attention to other causes, allowing them to continue the status quo. Nevertheless, the criminal justice reform movement has refused to die. It is persistent with the notion that change is overdue.
The psychological damage imprisonment inflicts severely traumatizes our troubled citizens for life, resulting in outsized recidivism rates. (See: Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time. By James Kilgore. (The New Press 2015)). Two organizations are intended to hasten the fall of mass incarceration. Amplifying the message of turning all prisons into treatment and career centers, ending prisoner slavery, enacting sentencing reform, and implementing extreme socialization efforts. DefundDOC.net, in partnership with GA Media Group, LLC, is embarking on the world's first entirely social justice-focused reality television show: "LOVE AND PRISON ACTIVISM." The groundbreaking reality show will showcase loved ones of the incarcerated (i.e., wives, fathers, mothers, children, etc.) as they organize rallies, protests, and demonstrations around the country. We are interviewing potential reality stars in every State and distributing the reality show pilot on MTV, VH1, TLC, or streaming networks Netflix or Hulu. The project goes live on July 4, 2024. Commemorating and aligning our Nation's fight for freedom with our current fight for equity and justice. For practical purposes, everyone wanting to be on the reality show will have an opportunity to be featured. We have an inexhaustible need for protestors. Of course, to be a featured protestor in the reality show, you must subscribe at www.DefundDOC.net.
If you are interested in learning more about participating in the reality show, auditioning, or simply liking prison stories, prison politics, or prison reform, then please subscribe to our podcast and blog at www.DefundDOC.net. All new subscribers will get one free digital copy of my books, DEFUND DOC: TURNING ALL PRISONS INTO TREATMENT AND CAREER CENTERS, or THE ART OF LIVING: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS IN LIFE AND BUSINESS, I LEARNED IN PRISON. This is an uphill underdog undertaking that requires many people. From all walks of life and socioeconomic status. Regardless of whether you have had experience in mass incarceration or not. This is a social justice cause that affects everyone. Therefore, everyone is welcome to join. Please do so today at www.DefundDOC.net.