Afternoon, i am a person and longterm recovery. I hail from the great state of hawaii. [applause] oxford house is alive and well and strong on the island of oahu. Ive been with oxford house since 1990 through 1992 and employed since 1993. We would like to welcome our panelists. From oxfordh dan house, state coordinator from oklahoma. Taylor, oxford house alumni from North Carolina. Michael, oxford house alumni, outreach in florida. Jason wilson, oxford house resident and reentry coordinator, North Carolina. Jesse. What did i say . Jesse. Cleveland, oxford house alumni. [applause] over three quarters of oxford house population has done some jail or prison time. In america today, approximately 60 of those in jail or prisons are addicted to alcohol or drugs. Each year, thousands of those incarcerated reenter society. One year ofhin reentry, about half of those individuals will commit another crime and head to conviction and reentry into the into incarceration. The expense of those who enter oxford house following incarcerates are incarceration is usually longterm recovery in crime free behavior. In some states, oxford house has developed relationships with programs that permit those leaving incarceration to go straight to an oxford house. Other residents come to oxford house at the recommendation of drug courts or parole officers. Found that clients tend to do well if they live in an oxford house. Not only do such intervention one of a clients to begin to master the recovery process, it also saves taxpayers the cost of incarceration and recidivism. Oxford house residents who enter from incarceration are exposed to a theocracy rather than they take shared responsibility for the operation of the house and most residents rise to the occasion. This kind of reallife training is rare for most individuals reentering society. Needanel will discuss the for the postincarceration recovery opportunities, practical ways to facilitate individuals leaving incarceration into an oxford house, how oxford houses can help drug Court Clients achieve longterm sobriety, and meet the expectation of drug courts, and how oxford house living facilities facilitate transition into longterm, crime free recovery for most residents. The panelists are all experienced in the field from the inside and the outside. Our first speaker will be dan. [applause] good morning, my name is dan and i am an alcoholic. I have been clean and sober sense to 18th, 2007. [applause] lucky toincredibly stumble into an oxford house, can we all agree on that . I want to talk a little bit about reentry. When you discuss reentry, ive been involved with it a long time and how i ended up there was a constant cycling in and with a plan toem do Something Different and every time back in prison. I was able to find recovery in an oxford house. I lived in an area years ago that we didnt really have any direction on how to get people out of present. And reentry is not just prison. Reenteringfolks society, in any capacity, from homelessness, whatever area it is. If its a homeless shelter you have a relationship with, getting people back into society. And it takes a village, it takes all of us pitching and together to understand there are folks who need our help. Its not because they dont have money or clothes on their back. That we dont want them because they dont fit us. We will lift them up and that is what my life is centered on, my passion is lifting people up and giving them something they never thought possible. Living in a home, getting into an environment where they can practice a Stable Program of recovery right away. That is done by example. Coming out of prison, there are a lot of things we dont have. I work in oklahoma today and most of the guys we get to come out have nothing more than a walmart sack. How do we except folks like that into an oxford house and point them toward success . Giving them a hand up and us,izing that most all of whether we have been incarcerated or not, have committed felonies whether we were convicted of them are not. Some of us just got caught. Realizeme 25 years to im just not a very good criminal. [laughter] through that process oxford house is a prime place to ,ork with drug courts incarceration, homelessness, but what it takes is some basic things. I work a lot and the oxford House Community and houses will say things like, he doesnt have any money. Ok. I teach houses all the time, build yourself up some money and hold people accountable. Folks move into our houses i work with people out of incarceration all the time and i will sit down with them and just tell them what they are about to experience. Here is what is ok and oxford house. I think we can all agree on this. It is perfectly ok to do your chore. [laughter] we like that. D and we like you to put a money order in the box and we like you to be employed. And we like you to work a program of recovery of your understanding. Those are nonnegotiable. Folks moveoften is into our homes and they are not explain clearly what is expected of them because the people explaining it to them have either not been there or dont understand. It is our job to get out and teach people what it takes to live in an oxford house. We deserve a Second Chance as the formerly incarcerated. The key component is the oxford , it is anot a shelter home for recovery. [applause] are not there to provide somebody a place to live until something gets better. We are there to provide them a place to work a program of recovery. So some things that folks can do to help reentry in their areas is building relationships with your local probation and parole. Give them tors of the houses, showing them what we do and what we require. It is not a place to lay your head, it is a place to get better. Courts,ughout the drug all of those things, i feel like our primary focus sometimes its a little muddled. We need to focus on those basic things, those basic things. Recovery andram of do the basic things it takes to live in our homes. I dont have a whole lot more today, i want to turn it over, and i appreciate it. Thank you. [applause] thank you, dan. Our next speaker is no stranger from the inside or the out. Please welcome Curtis Taylor. [applause] thank you, joe. Was that your polite way of saying im a convict . [laughter] man. Speak at a get to lot of places and ive got to say, having the opportunity to speak at an oxford house world , itention is the highlight is one of the highlights of my life. Right here, i am at home. This is my family. [applause] yeah. Whats up, justin . My man. Is taylor and i am a person a longterm recovery. What that means is i have not used alcohol or any other substance for over 16 years now. [applause] i found his thing called recovery, i found this thing called oxford house i got grace and mercy. Mercy way back and 1996. You juste quick math, said its only been roughly 16 years. I had a little more research to do. [laughter] but i did the math earlier this morning. Been in96, i have sustained recovery all but about eight or nine months. That is 23 years and only eight to nine months of that was i not engaged fully in recovery. That in and of itself speaks volumes. Once this oxford house thing gets in your blood, the streets will never be the same. You will never be the same. So the last time that the disease of Substance Use disorder exhibited itself in my life, or should i say i exhibited the symptoms of this particular illness, i found two felonyng charges. I had been in the county jail, i grew up in the county jail, lets put it like that. But i had never been in the apartment of corrections, in prison. This time, there was no way for me to avoid a prison sentence. There isison more to that story but we dont and i cameit home may 25, two thousand four with absolutely nothing. I didnt even have a change of underwear. Uniformaring the white that the kitchen workers from re because io didnt have a change of close. Gibson,behold, kathleen your wonderful chief operating officer house, was in the parking lot of the prison that day. I had no idea she even knew it was my release date, but she did. She had been keeping up with me. She was there and i walked over to her truck and i said what are you doing here . She said, look, her husband keith, my husband and i have been talking about you and praying about you and we decided youre going to stay with us for a few days and dont worry about anything, given the truck and it will be ok. [applause] so dan talked about the things that we dont have coming home from prison. That is a long list. I didnt have anything. Fortunately, a dear friend of and helped support me provide me with some of those things. One of the most important things that she and keith and their beautiful daughter provided me with was understanding. They werent judging me. And welcomed me, a convicted felon fresh out of prison into their home and they fed me and clothed me and 11 me. A week or so there and kathleen semiopen interview at set me up an interview at oxford house. They had been giving her a fit for about 18 months and she was theregically placing me to fix it. [laughter] toso i went from there speaking to people about my prison experience and kathleen and i develop this thing called a reentry coordinator. We created a position out of thin air and all of a sudden i had a job at oxford house, how about that . [applause] and so what i need to say is prison, iile i was in saw so many people, so many men, so many polaroid pictures of mens children and i couldnt help but think to myself, what is happening to those kids what we are locked up in this cage . And so god again to instill in my heart this passion. How many thousands upon thousands of thousands of people come home from prison every day that dont have a Kathleen Gibson in the parking lot . How many people have never heard of oxford house . You see, it is plain and simple, right . Was,in 1971, i think it this man named Richard Nixon declared war. He declared a war on drugs. Now what he was really do was declaring a war on people. He was declaring a war on an illness excuse me, people suffering from an illness, and they got together and they said, lets do it like this. We will take these people suffering from Substance Use disorder, give them enough rope to hang themselves, let them commit various crimes and as soon as they do, we will jump on them. We will lock them up in a cage like an animal. In the meantime, we will make sure there is absolutely no treatment available to these people, no help, and to make sure that this big moneymaking machine that we call mass sure itation, to make continues. Continues to be viable. We will label these folks. We will call them felons. We will call them exconvicts. It is really easy to discriminate against someone and to judge somebody to justify your discriminatory behavior when you put a label on someone. Thats why on certain news channels you hear words like illegals, it makes it easy to cast these folks into the garbage and forget they are living, breathing human beings just like you and i. How many of you have been arrested . [laughter] let me ask you another question. How many of you have been to prison . Hands, right . Let me put my hand up. [laughter] now, i am in longterm recovery for a long time, right . Owner, i am the executive director of the Alcohol Drug Council of North Carolina. [applause] i was the very first, as far as i know, the very first on the National Level paid reentry coordinator frocks or house. For oxford house. The very first. [applause] with oxford years newe, i opened some 40odd oxford houses and placed somewhere around 4000 people. And that is just me, right . All of your hands went up. Obviously youre not in prison today. You are not using today. So each and every last one of you who put your hand up, you have a different story to tell about yourself today. You are doing incredible things in your community, we just all have time to hear all about it, right . But i guarantee you that not one of us would stand appearance a stand up here and say that going to prison is what eventually helped us achieve recovery. Been there may have been an excellent Treatment Program in that prison, but you shouldnt have to go to prison to get good treatment. Up like an animal, caging me like an animal, taking away all of my dignity, all of my human rights, dressing me in aggedy orange jobs do jumpsuit and flipflops and strip search me while you make millions off the backs of incarcerated americans. People incarcerates more than any civilized country in the world. I think we heard earlier today, 4 of the worlds population, 25 of the worlds prison population. Its not hard to figure out. Nixon, he declared a war on drugs. Taylor and irtis am officially declaring a war against mass incarceration. [applause] family y oxford house we declare a war against stigma, discrimination. We refuse to sit back and watch our brothers and sisters continue to be caged up like wild animals treated like dogs, a person suffering from Substance Abuse disorder need help, they need treatment, they need detox, in patient, outpatient and they of course need oxford house. They need a doggone job. How are you going to call me a convicted felon and say oh, you cant get no we cant hire you because you got a felony . We cant rent this apartment to you because you got a felony . My son dont care nothing about me having no felony. He hungry. He needs something to eat. [applause] you know, addiction can be a real dark place. When i was a little kid some of you probably had the same experience. I remember being afraid of the dark at some point. And the thing that i recognize is that the very second that you flipped on that light switch, the dark ran away. And the light took over. I consider mass incarceration and the way we treat each other as a society as a darkness. And im proud to stand up here this morning and say that oxford house is that light [applause]. Oxford house is that light. So to my oxford house family, you all know i wouldnt stand up here and not remind you folks, dont you dare look down your nose and judge your brother or your sister. Dont you dare sit up in the house and not answer that doggone telephone. Dont you dare sit up in that house and vote no at the interview because oh, he got convicted of a b e and we dont want no thieves in our house. Who do you think you are . They already said you might not have got caught but you did plenty. Even if it was driving a 5,000pound vehicle, drunk as a skunk, thats a crime. So dont get it twisted. Youre not better than me. Youre not better than anybody. And guess what . Im not better than you. None of us are. Were all imperfect human beings trying to do the best that we can on a daily basis. So lets cut out this nonsense. Lets shut down the prison system. Lets close it. Lets close it. [applause] lets take some of that money and fix some of these raggedy treets in washington, d. C. Im sure im over my time. But theres so much more that i could say, man. But, you know, this reentry thing is powerful. Its powerful. My life today dedicated to making sure that the next man and the negotiation woman next woman have the same opportunities that ive been given. Because i fully understand that if i got everything i deserved, i couldnt handle it. I would bust hell wide open long time ago. Its gods grace and mercy that im standing here today. So as a result, im obligated, im committed, im dedicated to turning around and making sure that im being a Kathleen Gibson for somebody. Ask yourself, who are you being Kathleen Gibson for today . Who are you helping . Who are you making sure got a nice change of clothes or can get a haircut to get ready to go to that next Job Interview . Who are you doing that for . Or are you so caught up on facebook . Or worrying about meeting your next baby mama that you aint got time. [laughter] that you aint got time. You know, man, you all are beautiful by the way. Oxford house is an incredible thing. I thank paul malloy and kathleen and john fox for giving me an opportunity to work for such an Incredible Organization for so many years. I thank you guys for your ontinued support as my journey continues. But one thing ill leave you with, if this convicted felon, i know ive been arrested over 60 some odd times in my life, i can remember getting out of jail, out of the county jail in the morning and being back that night. Yeah. So if i can go through all of that, and on may 11, 2019, graduate from shaw university, summa kum ladde with my achelors in social work [applause] if i can become executive director of an agency, if i can most importantly be a father to my beautiful daughter and my wonderful son, you can, too. Thank you. Cheers and applause] very powerful. And the beauty of oxford house, just so you know, and i sat curtis and i probably stand the opposite ends of the spectrum in our philosophy of what constitutes fair and liberal punishment. But the one thing that we both agree on is the light of oxford house. And, you know, i tell this to guys when i go to the house meetings and theres problems, you know, where else in our lifetime have we ever sat at a table and discussed issues in a calm manner . Some heavyweight issues. But no one is getting loud. No one is screaming. You know, no one gets slapped. Everybody, you know, behaving themselves. And oxford house taught me that. It taught us that. That we can communicate and we can share ideas. And you dont have to agree with everyone. But certainly you have to respect everyones point of view. And its powerful, curtis, powerful. Mr. Xt speaker will be Michael Mckeon from outreach florida. Cheers and applause] well, hello. This is a great honor to be able to speak here. I dont know how im going to follow that, though. Ive been clean and sober since july 15, 2016. [applause] i moved into an oxford house in hattiesburg, mississippi. And i had a trash bag and a movein fee and that was it. The guys brought me into the house, and very early on, i started seeing people getting their lives together. I started seeing people getting their kids back. I saw people get college degrees. I saw people get good jobs and cars. And just getting things back in life. And early on, i was really on the fence about my recovery. I didnt know that this is what i wanted to do with the rest of my life. I didnt know if i wanted to use again. But i started going to meetings with these guys. I started to just really getting involved with the whole accountability of the houses and the chapter and eventually go on to work with the Regional Association. And it just motivated me so much. It was exactly what i needed after serving 7 1 2 years in prison. I was formerly known as 15553 in the Mississippi Department of corrections and today i work as a senior outreach. Oordinator for florida [cheers and applause] it was a huge fluke as how i got into an oxford house. The case manager i was working with didnt know where to send me. I was asking about different Halfway Houses in the area. And like you do not want to go to those are not for you, michael. Dont go there. One day i was at a Community Work center. I cam back in from work. And she said i heard about this place called oxford house. I dont know what it is. But we can do an interview. I did the interview over the phone with the guys just sitting in their office. They accepted me. I didnt know what i was going to walk into. He didnt know what to expect. But it worked. I got in the house. I got out of prison. Made my parole. And got in. D i think that the biggest holdup is that the different case managers, transition specialists, these people dont know about oxford house. If they did, could you imagine the amount of peoples lives that we could change if every single case manager transition specialist knew about oxford house . And i just really hope in the future that we can really work contracting with all 50 states, that we could really work having our reentry coordinators and people that have stepped up into a leadership role work with all these people in all these different prisons across the country so that we can solve this problem. Could you imagine the statistic of individuals reentering living in a oxford house as opposed to the individuals moving m to their grandmas house or their moms house or to somebody some other place for recidivism . I think dr. Kelly said the number of recidivism rates in oxford house is two thirds less than what it is as opposed to a Different Organization a different situation. [applause] so i ask you as members of oxford house to really get o there and work with the prison reentry. Work with these transition specialists. Work with the parole probation officers. Work with anybody that is going to help these individuals find a place to go after they leave prison. Thank you. Thats all i got. Cheers and applause] thank you, michael. Our next speaker is the reentry coordinator for the state of North Carolina, mr. Jesse wilson. [applause] a lot of hope in here. Once upon a time somebody was telling us he or she aint ever going to change. Look at us. Im jesse wilson. Im a man in longterm recovery and what that means i havent had a drink or drug since anuary 21 of 2018. [applause] because of peek like Curtis Taylor and justin that paved the way for me, im able to help people like me. Looking back on my life, when i was a younger man, 8 or 9 years old i was very mischievous and ended up drinking at 9 years old examine shayoking marijuana at 10 and doing cocaine and meth at 13. Started selling drugs at 17. Lost my dad to accidental overdose. I was with him, you know, so i was heading to prison early. So yeah, whenever i got to prison i was 149007 roommate. Thats who i was. I was. Thats not who i am today. [applause] once upon a time they wouldnt let me see my son. I was a drug dealing maniac. I liked to get violent. Thats who i was. I was a street guy and wouldnt let me see my son. Now they let me pick him up from school today. [applause] of course, there is a process, and i tell you North Carolina, the prisons love us. They love they love Curtis Taylor. They love justin roser and now they love me. So yeah, there is a process, you know, whenever i whenever i received the email from the case manager i do send that reentry application a. Fivepage application that goes into great detail. I send the oxford manual and tell them have them read this. Because i will be asking about this. You know . Then after i get it back, i conduct my phone interview. The longest phone interview i had was almost two hours long. I get real into it. Like im telling you the truth. I tell them a piece of my story, you know . I let them know youre not talking to somebody behind the desk. I know im in a suit now. But i tell them look im a regular guy thats trying to stay sober and been to prison and wearing clothes just like you. And it lets them open up to me. I let them know, it doesnt matter what game you may claim. It dont matter what youve done in your past. It dont matter to me. You know . Because gang banging in prison is real, you know . And it doesnt matter to me. I want to see your desire to change. Your willingness to do what it takes to stay clean and sober. Thats what matters to me. When i got out of prison i went back home. I relapsed that day. Who relapsed the day they walked out of prison . Its real. So i found oxford house and this guy tried to hug me right out of the gate and said dont hug me. [laughter] hes like do you shake hands . I said thats it, though. I was that guy. I was that guy. I was and we were talking about that the other day. But these guys love me, man. These guys love me. And i i did end up going back home and relapsing. I said i got to go back to my real home which is in oxford house. [applause] i got to get a real sponsor and work some real stats, you know . [laughter] and i let them know like and a lot of times on my interviews, it sounds really good. And im like and i get real with them. And im professional with the case managers. But im real with the guys trying to get into an oxford house. This sounds really good. If you do this, man, youve youre heading to the top. But the only person that is going to do it is you. Aint nobody going to do it for you. And the things that im writing down is the things im advocating and telling houses what youre planning on doing and if you dont do that you will be held accountable for that. I give them the rundown. I tell them what to expect. You know . I have done over 130 phone interviews. Placed close to 100 people in nine months. [applause] i go hard for this. Because i relapsed whenever i got out of prison. But it doesnt have to happen. You know, i got out of them close to 100 people i placed i got 20 contacts in my phone of people that i know thats still around. You know . I try to put them in the strong houses. To set them up for success. You know . Ive had people say, well, weve done accepted two people. That we got burned and that doesnt mean the third one wont succeed. You know . [applause] we was given a chance. So lets give back. I went all over the state advocating that chapter meetings, setting up reentry subcommittees me and justin. You know, following up. And talking for people behind those walls that dont have a voice for themselves yet. Thats what i do. And i love it, man. You know, and i let them guys know that i har the desire. Theyre afraid to go back to where they came from, you know . Because like old man told me one time if you continue doing what youve always done you will continue being who you always have been. But on the flip side of that coin, if you want to become someone youve never been, you have to begin doing things youve never done. Thats where we come in. [applause] talking about how to bag bag clothes and didnt have a change of underwear. When i first got this job i was getting donations and putting them in my trunk and taking them all over the state to people. You wouldnt believe the difference it makes to see somebody. Because a lot of people that im placing told me they dont have no family. They aint got nobody. I say you do now. You know . [applause] the thing the job to me, i mean, yeah, i get paid for it. But i love what i do. I love what i do. I love sitting down and doing an interview with somebody and letting them know that im here to help them, you know . And dont get me wrong. I sit over 1 interviews and have to deny people. It just aint for people. Some people arent for us at oxford house. Thats unfortunate. But thats the truth. You know . If youre not showing any willingness, and youre not listening to what im saying, and we are not going to waste no more time here. Because just like i tell people in houses, if youre not serious about your recovery, and youre in somebodys bed thats going to be. Im just [applause] im just being real. You know, and everybody deserves a chance. I do love reentry. And people do change their lives like all of us here. You know . Thank you, guys. Thats all i got. [cheers and applause] thank you. Well have a special well, our next speaker is Annie Cleveland from outreach virginia. [cheers and applause] just want you to know that her parents came down here to see her with her daughter. [applause] good morning. My name is Annie Cleveland. Im a woman in longterm recovery. And what that means to me is i havent felt the need to put a mood or mind altering substance in my body since april 23 of 2015. [applause] im super blessed to be here with all these panelists. Really hard to follow. So im just going to tell you a little bit about myself and what ive found works for me. I am one of 13 Washington State outreach workers. Washington state, over 300 strong. Yeah. So i work in six different counties. I work with six different drug courts and i work with prisons and jails. All across Washington State. One of the biggest things that i have found is establishing that positive, you know, communication. You can be a liaison between the houses and these entities. You know what i mean . And youre there to help change peoples bias. So thats one of the main things i do. I go to those Drug Court Graduations. I meet with the compliance officers. I sit down with the judges. And i also sit down with my house mates and my members and i and present for Drug Court Graduations there to support them and not some of the things that they need. Oxford house thrives because of our integrity. And it helps participants adhere to policies and stipulations of the program that they are trying to complete. We hold each other accountable. We lead by example. And we love people until they can love themselves. [applause] leadership for me is among peers is very important in meeting our challenges. Drug courts strongly encourages their participants to live in oxford houses because they know that they stand a better chance of recovery than anyplace else. Making it through a Drug Court Program is not an easy task. But living with a group of people who understand and are working through their life challenges and support one another is paramount for success. So im grateful to be a Washington State outreach worker. And im very grateful to help bridge the gap between drug court, parole and reentry. Thank you. Cheers and applause] thank you, annie. Our next speaker will be the c. E. O. Of National Association of drug court professionals, please welcome mr. Carson fox. [applause] im at a disadvantage because you all know plenty of people on the panel but you dont know me. [laughter] and you probably are wondering why im here and how i got involved in what im doing. And everyone has had a little time to tell a story so ill tell you a short story. So im not in recovery. But i was well, let me ask you this. How many of you ever all play with max match boxcars when you were little . All right. Lets give a hand for the match boxcars. Love them. [laughter] so im a long, long way from playing with matchboxcars. But when i was a little kid, a friend of mine grew up with them. And we played with matchboxcars. Thats when you do when youre a little boy. Play with matchboxcars. And we lived across the street from each other. And kind of similar household, similar everything. And he got involved in alcohol and drugs and i got involved in alcohol when we were both very young. And for whatever reason, his path was different than my path. And he had honestly with his family, he had a lot more resources than my family had. And they tried. They threw every resource at him they could. Im 51 now. He would be 49. My guess is 49 years, he pent 25 in prison. I became later on i became a prosecutor. And i didnt want to be a lifetime prosecutor. Wanted to be lawyer but a prosecutor when youre a young gsh out of law school a lot of lawyers go into prosecution because you get court work. And they asked me to help start drug court there. And what a drug court, can you start this . I started recognizing what it was and it looked like it was actually helping people. And i said sure. And its weird. A lot of my friends after i started doing that, i was like i think i want to make this a career. And they were like, youre crazy. Youve been go on and practice law. No, i think i want to do this. So what im here to ask yall for is help. And any annie touched on this, too. Theres about 4,000 treatment courts in the country. And drug courts which many of you might know and we have veterans courts where veterans come in and veterans might have alcohol and drug problems and they might also have ptsd or traumatic brain injury. And were moving to place where most of the folks in drug courts now are treatment courts in the country. Theyre not in there for like for like a possession charge. Theyre in there for a charge thats driven by drugs, right . Theyre in there because like my friend that i grew up in, i grew up with, before he was arrested, before he was ever arrested the first time, he other things happened. My parents woke up in the middle of the night and he was in their bedroom rifling through my moms purse. Because if you remember for those who are around my age 25 or 30 years ago when i was a kid that was 40 years ago and a lot of communities in the u. S. Nobody locked their doors. My parents actually would get pissed off at us if i if i had to wash the car, and i pulled it into a certain place and washed it, but i didnt leave the keys in the ignition. They got mad with me because how are you going to find the keys if theyre not in the ignition . So everybody left their keys in the ignition and left their doors unlocked and in the middle of the night going through her purse. And well, a lot of the folks that i dealt with as a prosecutor, too, and ive been and this is one thing i need your help with is a lot of folks understand what you all understand. And i explained to people, ill talk to people sometimes and i was talking to somebody who had worked in our field for a while and recently i was in a drug court and it was interesting because not a single participant in that whole drug court had a drug charge. Not one person had a drug or alcohol charge. And they couldnt understand what i was talking about. And i said theyre all there because drugs and alcohol are issues they had to have driven them into the justice system. And its its interesting, i was we had a big conference last time. This summer and then last summer and last summer, my sister came. She came to the conference. She was able to come, on her own and wanted to see what it was i did. And my sister is one of though people suspect maybe you all have friends or family members that does this and one of those people and wants to hug every dolphin and probably stop her car to hug a tree. [laughter] but she heard stories of graduates who stood up in front of people and one young woman who was a graduate and spoke at our conference. And when she finished drug court she had 18 felonies. And these werent drug possession felonies. These were felonies. And she finished drug court and now she runs a treatment facility. And my sister, this is close with the story. So my sister afterward, she told me she said she likes what i do but honestly ill tell you this not understanding the system, i dont know that i would have given this person another chance. And what i need you alls help on is that a lot of folks dont understand that. They dont understand that the folks in drug courts in the country more suspect more of these folks are having charges theyre not drug and alcohol charges. Theyre charges where they have victims but i can tell you when you talk to people, and im not going to ask you to raise your hands and youve had to raise your hands nor a bunch of stuff here today but having worked in the system and working in drug courts a lot of the times the victims that people have, the people who if youre in a drug court, for example, that if youre paying restitution to folks, those victims are who . Like in my friends my friends case . Family, neighbors, and employers and friends. And my friends case it was a neighbor and a friend. When karl was talking, people arent disposable. And its thats a message that for that yall can help me with is to get folks to understand that. To get folks to understand that theres folks in the system, theres folks, for example, that are that are living in the communities and part and if you arent familiar with drug court the idea you dont send people in prison and often people in drug court dont have drug charges but charges where there is some they might have restitution or long criminal records and criminal records that are pages and pages long but youre giving them a chance and trying to get them connected to recovery. Its about a connecting these folks to recovery. And i need you all to help me with that. I need you to help with that understanding because theres a lot of folks that when they think about when they think about people in recovery and think about people finding recovery, and they think about people who have who have charges, they think about just drug or alcohol charges. They dont think about other charges. It doesnt enter their mind. And it needs to enter their mind. I guess ive already said finally once and ill say finally again suspect and a big push recently theres research out there, and this is this may or may not surprise you. It looks like depending on the state that youre in, in the united states, that we talked about the number of folks in prison that in some states over 50 of the people in state prison are there because they were revoked from probation. And the reason that most of those folks were revoked is because they had a technical violation. And those technical violations most of them have to do with what . Thank you. And so it whats critical also for folks to understand and the push that were making is that if you have a drug court in your community, and what someone someone has shown you is they basically need more services and a higher level of care, why put them in prison . Why not offer them more services and a higher level of care . Why are folks why are maybe in some states over 50 of the people in prison . People who when the judge first sentenced them, that judge decided, youre not a threat to public safety. You can be out in the community. What you need is treatment. But when that person replapses and cant make it, at some point in time down the road that person is sent to them in thekeep community and give them more services and the extra step they need . You could be talking about a million folks behind bars who should probably still be in their communities receiving treatment. And that is a heavy left. A heavy lift to get folks to understand that. I was surprised when my sister did not understand that. For quitehas known me some time and per her not to understand that a lot of folks that come into drug court have more than drug or alcohol charges. Keep keeping up the fight and doing the good work. The guy i know, that i grew up with, somebody told me when i was back home on a visit they said, do you think his life would have been different if we had a program like that . I certainly would hope so. I would like to hope so. If we had had that, he wouldve had a different path. And our work at my organization is to ensure as many people as possible are given the opportunity for that different path. I want to thank you all for what you do and if anyone ever has any questions for me, i work every day of the year. I love the work that you do. The worst thing that ive had to do all week is to follow these people. These are fantastic, fantastic people. [applause] we finished a little earlier and we are going to open it up now for questions. If you could line up and please identify yourself with what house or state you are from. I am britney from houston, texas. In houston, we are trying to integrate reentry which is really hard right now. We think it is a great idea but i think people treat reentry in the same way that they treat it. And they are scared of a lot of houses are closed off in houston. They do not want to accept somebody. What is a different approach to offer these houses to a reentry person . People are turned off to the idea of reentry. We do have a few Success Stories. It does work. It is just that a lot of houses are closed off. Is there a different word we can . Se then reentry does anyone want to answer . We have several answers for you. I will take a stab at it. My first inclination is to grab a baseball bat and start beating the heck out of people. [laughter] i dont know, man. You saw it. We ask how many people in here have spent time in cars 3 did and the whole room raised their hand. If you went back to those houses, the result would be the same. It sounds like a simple case of people forgetting where they come from. Stumble in recovery and get a haircut, take a shower. Bottle ofcheap cologne and all of a sudden, we forget laying on the prison floor. We forget when it was time for us to come home, all of the prayers and the hoping and the wishing and the god help me stay clean. God help me find a job. God please allow someone to welcoming god please allow me. One to welcome i guess all you can do, man is keep pushing the message and keep holding up your corner of the world so to speak and keep being the example. Suppose, i know in texas you all are crazy. At the events, the more you can put a reentry Success Story out in front, maybe make them the keynote for that event. Get them to start being elected to the positions and take leadership roles and maybe that will help turn the tide. [applause] i wanted toe things add to that also is you were asking if there was a different name for them. There is. Oxford house resident. Thethey want to stop easiest way to classify them differently is that they are different. Do they want to stop using drugs . Than they are a member that wants to live in oxford house. I would like to add to that. Not only with reentry but a lot of times there will be some houses where someone has an illness or they are gay or something and i find that houses that seem to operate with a narrow mind that education will bring it out. Go there and explain the situation and remind everyone that we are in recovery. As long as we all start on the same page, we are all in recovery, we can work miracles from there. But let us establish the fact that we are a house built on recovery and all are welcome to. Name is angie and i am from the fort worth, texas area. I sit on the fort worth in her chapter oxford house. We are having a role in texas with parole unapproved oxford houses. We need more houses are approved for parole. What is the central problem . We cannot get our houses parole approved. Have two. How were they approved . By accident. A happy accident. They are saying up. That they require a license. All of thernible] houses in texas have to be individually approved. Each house hasng to addressed her with probation and parole. They will not blanket approve a group of houses. That is the role from texas. A house has to deal with it individually. And i think they have a lot of stipulations in place that we need to work on. They want a Constant Contact in the home. You have some obstacles that will be difficult to overcome because of texas law. It is not your fault at all. Actually, hawaii is the same way. Haveen up a new house or an existing house and we invite the parole officer to come out and view the property. Call the phone number. It and if it tour is satisfactory to them and we fall into certain categories where you do not want to be next to a school. But that is on parole, not on oxford house. They will approve but they also found they used to just they had abut then shotgun approach to their clientele and they had trouble monitoring those people. They limited it to about six houses out of 30 that they will send their clients to. And it is easier to manage on their end. Just call one of the patrol officers parole officers and invite them to the house. Have a cup of coffee and show them the place. See if that works. , from austin,kson texas. I have two questions. One for curtis and the other for the gentleman that works for the state. I have three numbers. I am also the chapter 11 reentry coordinator. Reentry chairman. With oxford house, what i realized is that as chairman, we have different positions and there is no coronation with other chairman in other cities. Could there be more on exactly what our job or what we could be doing . It is a position where you have a chapter meeting. Unique to the area. Looking to expand it and help each other out. And with texas, we have a Reentry Division that is part of the parole. They really only have a presence while you are inside. There is no presence outside. When you are released, you are given a package with a number with a bunch of numbers. What is the mission for you in North Carolina . What would a state reentry i can advocate more for reentry and initiatives . Asking what more can you do as a subcommittee . Someone who is a reentry coordinator at a state level, what exactly i know you or meeting with other people. What exactly is the hard data . Does i help assist people transition out of incarceration upon release into an oxford house. The subcommittees we have in North Carolina do help with the placements. Sometimes. They do help advocate. Me personally, i work the whole tote but if you are willing own your own drive around and advocate. And bringing Success Stories with you. A couple of things we have done in our area is we have had houses that donate clothing. They donate their old clothing. We dont get donations from everywhere because of bugs but we started reentry closets for people that are coming out of incarceration without clothing. Ourommittee subcommittees helped guide me in a good direction for a good house. Stuff like that. That really is all i have for the subcommittees. Unless you want to start doing presentations on your own at homeless shelters. That is really one of my main jobs. Making sure someone has a safe place to transition into a not a homeless shelter. Your name again . Quinton jackson. You are in texas, correct . Yes, sir. The folks that work for oxford house have worked tirelessly in a lot of your stay. Regional leaders trying to get the system polished. The vast advice i would have for you is to try to make your position feel valid is to go out and work with salvation army, homeless shelters, and focus on people that are starting from zero, getting and a houses. Reentry is not just incarceration. That needs to reenter society. Unless tax until texas gets these political things ironed out, just focus on helping those that do not have. Chapter austin just got parole. Ive heard curtis talked about the reentry person for oxford house as a whole. I am from houston, texas as well and my question is the civic late it was suggested that to help out with the Reentry Program and efforts we are doing was to start working with the drug court. I want to know the process. Do i literally walk in and say john h, which im willing to do. Good luck with that. [laughter] i was an employee of the througho i can get backdoors but once i am in there, who am i looking for . Who am i talking to . Thing i did was introduce myself. And then i set up conferences. One of our areas has a coordinator of all of the course. Whether it be Mental Health court, drug court, family court, they usually have a type of liaison the train the courts that can direct you. And because i am outreach, we have worked out with a bunch of different counties. I work with six counties. In some counties, they have authorized me to have roy because of hip a. There is open communication. They would like us to help them if one of their participant relapses or has moved out. Themould be able to call and ask, what have they really been sanctioned for . I like being involved. Officers soliance those are the people between the counselors and the court. They have their own system. I introduced myself. There are officers that come by the house. Introducing yourself and showing up for those events. Celebrating the graduation markers. Moving from the different phases. Making yourself get out there. Way to give you my email address. Cfox allrise. Org. Isil me and what i can do there is a coordinator of all of the eastern area drug courts. I will do interruption. Email me and i will do an introduction. And then it is Relationship Building from there. Cfox allrise. Org. My name is bo kelly and i am from colorado. I also came from reentry. An important component for me. Now, i am an outreach representative but have been working in reentry since i got out of prison almost a year ago. Someone touched on it but we have such an amazing outrage and reentry team in colorado but the one thing i find most frustrating is the cooperation and the stigmatism we get from the houses. There is a backlash especially from the houses that are already established. Y try to separate reentry i think the guys that were out of theet department of corrections come out with a stigmatism. I was just trying to figure out how to combat this problem. I have tried a lot of different approaches. And yet, it seems to be a constant problem in our area. Theyure saying that once get there, they are still ostracized . To some degree. There is a level of people that do not want to work with the entry in our state. I dont want to play someone that comes out of prison into a are alreadythere negative feelings or behaviors because were setting them up for failure at that point. You yourself having been reentry, tell your story. Tell them about yourself. Be the leader. That is what i did. When i ran into problems like that, i let them know that i did seven and a half years in prison and this is where i am at in my recovery. And this is what oxford house has done for me. And encourage them that it does not matter where you come from. It does not matter. People get caught and some people do not. It is as simple as that. We are all here as recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. Push yourself to own it story and that will touch people. We have five minutes. My name is hagy. I am from louisville i name is peggy. Kentucky. Louisville, i graduated drug court in 2012 after three and a half years. Without that supervision and accountability, i would be high before the dawn of the next day. I caught my first felony in december 2018. They help to me get clean but oxford house helped me stay sober. I wanted to give gratitude because you all are changing lives. [crying] thank you, all. [applause] ammy name is willie and i from dallas, texas. I am one of the north texas reentry sharers. I wonder if you have any sources for federal funding or state funding. We are trying to get together a bunch of resources and create a resource list to where when these people come into our houses, we have days one through three, get food stamps. Get your birth certificate. Drivers license. Are there any state or federal sources that you might have connections with that might be able to help get this stuff for these people. None that im going to share. [laughter] no, listen. Out of texas, i am using an Organization Called clean cause. They have helped us with first months rent. And state as federal funding, you are on your own with that. I dont have a clue. Thank you. Ofin North Carolina, a lot the houses and chapters contribute monthly into a fund. We color the reentry fund. Out of that fund, we were able to pay the entry fee and some expense share for folks coming home. Those guys that do not like the reentry folks coming in, they will love that idea. Texasently, the state of created a reentry position. The question i wanted to ask is people on the panel is there any experience on reentry at the reaction at the regional level . Were still trying to figure it out. What our current reentry chair has been doing is working on her own city. What role can the Regional Association play on reentry and working with reentry . I think curtis explained it well. Him and kathleen created this position. And you have to build it. A network. Schedule and own pace. But when you have other team focuss, and you have to so youre not overlapping each others work. Thats how you make headway. Before i came to florida, i was working in louisiana. They recently started a reentry association. In the past year and a half. It has been very successful. I would highly recommend that you find some of those people while you are here and talk to them. It is really about getting people to volunteer in their area and meeting as a group monthly. And hitting all of the bases. And collectively, deciding what is best for the entire state. Ok. One of the Biggest Challenges is getting the word out. There are so many people that do not know that oxford house exists. And they have options when they come home. If we are going to be that light and run the darkness away, it is up to you and i to volunteer and go inside the facilities. Introduce yourself to case managers and superintendents of facilities and tell them about oxford house. Any opportunity you get, invite these people to see and oxford house. Tool you haveful is to bring people in. Once they see the model, they are sold. Is all theu, that time we have. I would like you to thank the panel. Thank you for your participation. Enjoy the rest of the convention. And tonight, at the hospitality suite, they will be playing jeopardy at 8 00. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, we will discuss labor unions and workforce issues with national right to work president mark mix. And then come with the center for american progress, strategic director david. Watch cspans washington live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Join the discussion. Today, senator Bernie Sanders will hold a town hall meeting and ice cream social in raymond, new hampshire. Watch live coverage starting at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight on q a, university of Pennsylvania Law School professor amy wax on Free Expression on college campuses. In the conflicts surrounding an opinion piece she coauthored in the philadelphia inquirer. I think this is what ruffled a lot of people. Not all cultures are a light. Not all cultures are alike. Cultures it to other which are not as functional. We gave some examples. And that immediately caused a firestorm. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. On thursday, the American Political Science Association held a discussion on constitutional issues in the Trump Administration and what that could mean for american democracy. A panel of legal scholars discuss the separation of powers, executive
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.