WE BELIEVE

- We believe that those closest to the pain should be closest to the solutions.- We believe healing is not separate from justice, it is the foundation of it.- We believe Black women’s leadership is essential, not optional, in building strong and sustainable communities.- We believe lived experience is expertise, and our communities already hold the knowledge needed to transform systems.- We believe in accountability with care not punishment without understanding.- We believe safety is more than the absence of harm, it is the presence of connection, stability, and opportunity.- We believe in building with community, not for community.- We believe in truth-telling as a pathway to liberation.

HOW OUR WORK MATTERS

Systemic inequities are not accidental, in fact, they are designed. Poverty, incarceration, housing instability, and disinvestment are interconnected outcomes of policy choices.CEO addresses root causes by:- Naming structural harm
- Restoring community voice
- Building pathways to self‑determination
- Transforming pain into powerWhen communities are resourced, trusted, and organized everyone benefits.People Over Policy – Policy must follow the lived experience of the people.Healing Is Power – Trauma-informed, healing-centered work is foundational to civic engagement.Black-Led, Community-Guided – Those closest to harm must lead the solutions.Education as Liberation – Civic literacy is a tool of resistance and self-determination.Collective Accountability – We build together, not alone.

WHY CEO EXISTS

Our communities carry generations of harm caused by policy, policing, displacement, and exclusion. Too often, people are expected to participate in civic life without healing, context, or access to truth. Too many communities are excluded from the decisions that shape their lives - housing, safety, education, and economic opportunity.CEO exists to:- Close the gap between lived experience and policy- Heal trauma caused by systemic harm- Equip people with the knowledge to lead and advocate for themselves and others- Restore knowledge that was hidden or distorted- Create space for healing and accountability- Prepare people to engage systems with clarity and powerWe believe empowered people build empowered communities.Healing is not separate from civic engagement - it is the foundation.

KNOW the LEDGE

CEO's Civic Engagement program builds knowledge, skills, and solidarity so that all people can participate fully in shaping a just and liberated future.Participants explore:
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
How law and policy shaped mass incarceration and racialized policy
Voting, governance, and civic power and responsibility
Economic justice and the racial wealth gapIn this program you will gain the knowledge and confidence to engage, educate, and advocate.KNOW the LEDGE does not tell people what to think - it gives us the tools to think critically, ask better questions, and teach others.

CORE DETAILS:
12 Week Curriculum
Leadership Development
Black cultural and historical lensWHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE:
Restoring Dignity
Build Community Power
Collective LiberationOUTCOMES:
Stronger confidence + self-awareness
A deeper understanding of community and systemic power
A sense of belonging and responsibility to collective healing

P.I.E.C.E.S.A HEALING-CENTERED TRANFORMATION

P.I.E.C.E.S. (Personal Recognition Process) is a 12-week trauma-informed, healing centered program focused on healing, accountability, and personal growth. It supports personal responsibility, emotional literacy, and community accountability.Through guided reflection and dialogue, participants:
- Recognize trauma and its impacts- Develop emotional regulation skills- Strengthen healthy relationships- Reconnect to community valuesP.I.E.C.E.S. prepares people to show up whole - for themselves, their families, and their communities.

CIVIC EDUCATION FOR LIBERATION

CEO is building a leadership-to-liberation pipeline.Participants who complete P.I.E.C.E.S. and KNOW the LEDGE don’t just graduate, they have the opportunity to return, train, and become certified facilitators of the very curriculum that impacted them.This creates a cycle where directly impacted individuals become the teachers, healers, and leaders bringing the work back into their communities while also creating sustainable, income-generating opportunities for themselves.

GET INVOLVED

- Join a program- Host a workshop- Partner with CEO- Support our work- Bring CEO into your school, facility, or community- Support community-led education and healingCONTACT US: [email protected]

CONNECT WITH THE TEAM

Adriane (ah-dree-aw-nay) - she/her
"Enthusiastic"

Adriane Wilson is an independent consultant specializing in equity and community engagement, particularly focusing on communities of color and low-income communities that are typically underrepresented in the policies, programs and services that seek to serve them.
As a woman who identifies from the African Diaspora that has deep ties in Tacoma has herself overcome personal and professional challenges. She is extremely skilled at connecting with people where they are and listening and motivating their engagement to bring about real change. With more than 15 years experience working with nonprofits and government agencies, she excels at clearly articulating community concerns and creating suggestions for how to improve community engagement to ultimately improve outcomes and advance equity goals.

CHIEF DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Zayda - she/her
"Empathy"

Zayda is a passionate educator-in-training whose journey to the classroom began long before she ever stepped into one. Currently pursuing her degree in Education, she brings a rare and powerful perspective to her work - one rooted in lived experience.She currently works at a specialized school serving students with exceptional needs, many of whom have been displaced from traditional educational settings due to complex behavioral and emotional challenges. These are young people who have endured significant trauma, and who often lack the communicative tools to express what they carry inside.For Zayda, their stories are not unfamiliar - she was once one of those children. That shared experience allows her to meet students where they are, building trust and genuine connection in ways that go far beyond what training alone can teach.

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER

De'Jaya - she/her
CommUNITY "Education Organization

De’Jaya is a dedicated educator, administrator, and community architect whose career has been built on one unwavering commitment - showing up for young people before the world gives up on them.
With five years as a top administrator for the Kent School District and hands-on experience overseeing after school programming for students K through 12, she has spent years creating safe, enriching spaces where young people can grow beyond what the traditional school day offers. Her work is rooted in empathy, strong communication, and a deep belief that every young person deserves the chance to realize their full potential, regardless of the obstacles they face.
Passionate about uplifting youth, advocating for equity, and empowering communities, she now brings her experience, vision, and heart to CEO - Community Empowerment Organization as a facilitator and CEO is better for it.

COMMUNITY ARCHITECT - YOUTH GIRLS GROUP

Que - she/her
"Equity"

Que is a Brief Service Staff Attorney who joined Children’s Law Center in 2025. She completed her law degree in 2023 at Howard University School of Law where she was a member of the Charles Hamilton Houston Moot Court Team and a Fair Housing Clinic participant working on landlord/tenant issues in the Washington, DC area.Her previous experience includes being a First Year associate at a personal injury firm in Northern Virginia. Originally from Tacoma, Washington, in her spare time Quenessa is an avid Seattle Sports watcher and enjoys spending time with her cat Logan.
Education:
Howard University School of Law, JD

LEGAL SUPPORT

Milli - she/her
CommUNITY "Elevation" Organization

As a professional Financial Literacy Coach, Milli is a dedicated to empowering individuals to take control of their financial futures. She has built her career around helping people get out of debt, understand credit, and develop sustainable money habits through practical and easy to follow guidance.Having earned a business degree, she has earned multiple certifications in management and accounting, equipping herself with a strong foundation in both financial principles and real-world application.Her work focuses on supporting nonprofit programs by delivering accessible, community-centered financial education that meets people where they are.

FINANCIAL LITERACY COORDINATOR

Derrick - he/him
CommUNITY "Expression" Organization

Derrick is a local music artist, community organizer, and youth advocate whose greatest instrument isn't just his music, it's his presence.
Rooted deeply in his community, he has built a genuine and lasting trust with young people who see in him something rare - someone who stayed. As a musician, he speaks the language of a generation that often feels unheard, using his art to connect, inspire, and open doors to honest conversation.
As a community organizer, he doesn't just perform for his community - he builds it. Young people don't just look up to him because of his talent. They look up to him because he looks back at them - and sees all of who they are.

MUSIC & ART COORDINATOR

Leveryll - he/him
CommUNITY "Empowerment" Organization

Leveryll is a certified personal trainer whose gym is unlike any other because when you walk into his space, you don't just work out. You heal.
Specializing in fitness and wellness for marginalized communities including Black folx, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and young people, he has built a training environment rooted in something that too many people in these communities have rarely experienced, safety. In his sessions, there is no judgment, no shame, and no pressure to be anything other than exactly who you are. Just the quiet, powerful invitation to discover what your body is truly capable of.

CERTIFIED PHYSICAL TRAINER

Ted - he/him
CommUNITY "Experience" Organization

Ted is a youth mentor, program developer, community organizer, and visionary leader whose nearly 15 years with Community Passageways tells only part of the story because the real story began long before that.
Ted's most powerful credential isn't a degree or a title. It's his lived experience, a firsthand understanding of the difficult circumstances and choices that too many young people in his community face daily. Rather than leave that experience behind, he picked it up and turned it into a torch, using it to light the way for others who are standing exactly where he once stood.

COMMUNITY ARCHITECT - ANTI-VIOLENCE

OUR PROGRAMS

THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY

CommUNITY Empowerment Organization- CEO hosts a first time ever, Black Prisoners Caucus global resolution.... THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITYThis July CEO is launching an eight week series highlighting voices of solidarity trumpeting from inside the concrete. We are asking you to show up...and show support! Every Saturday, from , from July 11th -through August 29th, we will be taking a deeper dive into the PM, Projects to Prison Pipeline and asking should justice always function through a trauma informed lens? Each week a different incarcerated individual from around the state will facilitate a themed conversation on an important aspect of this topic. The previous week building into the next. No filter, No hesitation, No hiding, just the lived and experienced truth. Other "pipelines" have been considered- poverty, preschool, foster care, etc., but we haven't wrestled with the housing projects as a predictor for crime, violence, drugs and incarceration.The ways environmental factors shape our lives is something most people readily accept, but what if we knew that those factors were primarily driven by policy? Could we then ask questions about whether the people impacted truly had a chance to redirect the trajectory of their lives?...Maybe- maybe not. Or should those ensued experiences be considered (at any time) while those people interface and interact with the structures, institutions and systems that shape the wider society?...Maybe- maybe not. This series exists to name it, to trace it, and as a refusal to keep it invisible...because no matter where you stand, the harsh reality exists that there are young people navigating the same circumstances right now, and healing cannot begin, we cannot RETURN TO HUMANITY until we are courageous enough to first acknowledge the harm.

Saturday, July 11th from 11-12 PM - PROGRESSIVE ILLUSIONS
The hidden conditions within impoverished communities created by policy and governmental neglect. Facilitated by Derrick L. Jones Sr "DJ"

Saturday, July 18th from 11-12 PM- THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECTS
How environment shapes identity, emotional survival, self-esteem, and worldview. Poverty as a predictor for prison. Facilitated by Travon McCoy

Saturday, July 25th from 11-12 PM - THE STRUCTURE OF PRISON
How prison environments shape identity, emotional survival, self-worth, and behavior. Facilitated by Steven Marshall

Saturday, Aug 1st from 11-12 PM - THE HANDOFF
How the projects prepared many for prison: normalized violence, deprivation, criminalization, distrust, and survival. Facilitated by Derond Potts

Saturday, August 8th from 11-12 PM - NEW COMMUNITY STRUCTURES
Communities may look different, but many of the same conditions remain. Gentrification creates displacement, instability, violence, and deepened poverty. Facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill

Saturday, August 15th from 11-12 PM - NEW PRISONS
New language, same conditions: neglect, trauma, punishment, and dehumanization. Facilitated by Bryan Powers

Saturday, August 22nd from 11-12 PM - POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS
Policy helped create these conditions, and policy must also be part of the solution: Judicial Discretion Act, parole reform, emerging adult legislation, release readiness, amended 6164, and more. Facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain.

Saturday, August 29th from 11-12 PM - CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER, A VICTIM CENTERED APPROACH. Facilitated by Annousheh Adab and Virginia Parham (Families Shoulder to Shoulder)

To Contact a Facilitator on Securus:

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Series produced by Adriane Wilson
Content written by Derrick L. Jones Sr
Conversations facilitated by CEO - Community Empowerment Organization

WHAT IS A PIPELINE?

A simple explanation is that a pipeline is actually a system with interconnected parts built to move something from one place to another- efficiently.This analogy has been repeatedly used to highlight the way interconnected system failures have had long lasting impacts on peoples lives. The projects to prison pipeline is no different.The Housing Projects were built and designed to serve the needs of the state, but the consequence was that it has moved Black and Brown people from poverty and under resourced communities into incarceration- efficiently.Nothing about it is accidental. How do we know, because when we hurt someone accidentally and we are made aware of it- we apologize, stop committing the act and repair the harm- underfunded schools, over policed neighborhoods, school explosions, street involvement, arrest, prosecution, incarceration.Each stage feeds the next...

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WHY DO VOICES FROM THE INSIDE MATTER?

I once listened to a very poignant speech at a Legislative Advocacy Day event- at the state capital- by one of the host presenters of this upcoming series (Derrick L. Jones Sr. "DJ"), where he reminded us all that:"Social problems are almost always based on a truth so distant from the mainstream experience that when they're exposed, it shocks the soul of a society and becomes a very powerful tool of political persuasion....the movements that spring forth, are always initiated by the individuals who are most impacted by the problem, however, the discussion about root causes and possible solutions get coopted by folks with letters on their lapels, unrestrained access, platforms to speak from and the most resources- people furthest from the issues...Rarely do we ever find where there's an ongoing equitable working relationship between these two often divergent experiences, but when we do...its something powerfully potent with the potential to change the world."When we talk about the Projects to Prison Pipeline and Trauma informed Justice, people on the inside have lived it from the beginning- growing up in the neighborhoods where the pipeline starts, sat in classrooms that pushed them out, stood on corners that got them watched, marched into courtrooms where they were processed, and now existing in the cells that the pipeline was designed to fill.No body as more data than they do, more context, or more at stake in making sure people understand what this pipeline is and how it actually works.Think about this: Decisions get made about incarcerated people everyday- by legislators, judges, parole boards, prison administrators- yet, the people those decisions affect are rarely in the room. Their voices get filtered through advocates, lawyers, case managers, through statistics, and through news coverage that consistently reduces them to their worst moment. This series places the unfiltered version in front of the commUNITY. No intermediary, no translation.Why?An internal shift happens when you hear a person- not a statistic, not a headline, not a policy brief- describe how the pipeline worked in their life, in their schools, and in their communities. It makes it impossible to look away, impossible to pretend it has nothing to do with you.We are sending these stories back through the pipeline, with hopes that every time a voice from inside reaches the community, the pipes crack a little and the flow is disrupted.The speakers in this series are not speaking from defeat, they are demonstrating that incarceration is not the end of their story, their thinking, their leadership, or their contribution to their communities.They are speaking from experience, critical analysis, from the love of the communities they come from and from an clear-eyed understanding of what needs to change and how to get there....Trauma Informed Justice and a Return to Humanity."...who tells the story is just as important as the story itself, our humanity calls us to center the pain of the people who are hurting- all of them- when the authentic voices of "the people" are not present, their needs usually go unmet and...we all end up suffering in the end." (DLJSr)These are not voices to ignore.These are the exact voices this moment needs.Adriane L. Wilson
Chief Director of Operations
CommUNITY Empowerment Organization- CEO"Healing the Individual, Educating the CommUNITY, Changing the System"

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WHAT IS BLACK AUGUST & WHERE DID IT START?

In 1968, incarcerated Black men in San Quentin State Prison in California, began observing the month of August as a time to honor all incarcerated individuals who are actively involved in the struggle for justice. Initially they were commemorating the life, death and work of George Jackson, a revolutionary writer, critical thinker, and *political prisoner who had been killed by prison guards on August 21, 1971- at just 29 years old.George had been sent to prison at 18 for stealing $70 from a gas station. He was suppose to only serve one year, but because of who he became- a thinker, an organizer, a leader- he was treated as a threat to the system and spent the next decade in and out of solitary confinement... and was never released. His letters- published as "Soladad Brother"- became one of the most important documents of the Black Liberation Movement.When guards killed him, they called it an escape attempt, the Movement called it what it was. The men in San Quentin refused to let the memory of George and others who are still imprisoned be forgotten. Black August was their answer.WHY IT MATTERS RIGHT NOW?The same system that put George Jackson in a cell at 18 is still operating today. The proverbial pipeline- schools, over policing, malicious prosecution, sentences that erase entire lives and violent prison environments that increase the existing harm- is operating in Chicago, Baltimore, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Fresno, the Reservation and rural communities, Portland, Tacoma, Spokane and Seattle, the areas that the men in this series come from.These are not new problems, they are the same experiments being conducted on a new generation. Black August holds that line of continuity, refusing to allow the movement to treat these injustices as if they appeared out of nowhere. It says, "We have been here before, the problem still exists and the people inside- the ones the system is trying to disappear- are still risking their lives to be seen and heard".This series is our contribution to that tradition.Every Saturday from July 11th through August 29th, an incarcerated brotha will facilitate a live conversation with the community. Every week a different voice, someone who has lived through this pipeline will address a different facet of the issue in their own words.Week 1- Progressive Illusions
Week 2- The Structure of the Projects
Week 3- The Hand Off
Week 4- The Structure of the Prison
Week 5- The New Projects/Communities
Week 6- The New Prison
Week 7- Policy Prescription
Week 8- Children Deserve Better/ Victim Centered ApproachWe are not doing this because its August, we are doing this because the most pressing issues of our times demand that we study truth, center the people most affected and refuse to look away. This series is that commitment made visible.
The final voice on August 29th will not only tell you what the pipeline is, but how to dismantle it. This is what Black August is for.A political prisoner is...

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SEEING THE WHOLE STORY

What Happened?Trauma informed justice begins with a simple but profound truth:
People are who they are because of a story we dont know about.Often conversations about folx who enter the system starts and stops with the worst thing they've ever done, leaving out the totality of what they have lived through. For many people of Color and in poor white Communities, the path to incarceration often begins long before a courtroom. It can start in neighborhoods affected by poverty, violence, unstable housing, underfunded schools, untreated mental health conditions, addiction and a lack of meaningful opportunities. These experiences create trauma that shifts how individuals see the world, develop identity, find belonging and make decisions.For young folks growing up in poverty stricken neighborhoods, trauma is not one single event, its a daily occurrence- hearing gun shots at night, watching loved ones cycle in and out the of prison, experiencing racism, living without adequate healthcare or nutrition, losing friends to violence, or just constantly having to navigate an environment where survival takes presidence over development.Does that make sense?!Over time these experiences shape how the brain responds to the most basic challenges in life. Hyper-vigilance becomes normal, distrust becomes protection and anger becomes armor.Trauma inormed justice does not excuse harmful behavior, instead, it asks a deeper question: "what happened to this person" before asking "what did this person do".
When children grow up surrounded by hunger, violence, neglect, homelessness, addiction, or/and chronic instability, those experiences can affect brain development, emotional regulation, educational opportunities and future outcomes. Many enter adulthood carrying those wounds- silently. The justice system often encounters these individuals after the trauma has already manifested into survival behaviors, substance use, mental health crisis, or criminal activity.Accountability and healing can exist together. Public safety is strengthened when systems address root causes to behavior instead of focusing exclusively on punishment.As a parent, I learned early that I couldn't motivate my children to act "good" by treating them "bad" and that any sort of correction could only come through love and support. I had to learn how to balance patience with firmness, accountability with kindness, guidance with promoting their agency, but more importantly, that my children were not all the same and therefore, what they needed from me- to become the dynamic human beings they are- would not be the same either. My approach had to center their lived experiences as whole persons.Systemically, this looks like expanding access to mental health services, ensuring quality education, stable housing, restorative justice projects, building strong community support networks and looking deeper into past practices with the intention of correcting past wrongs- such as....examining disparities within the legal system.Across the generations, communities of color and economically disadvantaged populations have often faced unequal access to resources, legal representation, health care and education. This can contribute to different outcomes at every stage of the justice process- from arrest and charging decisions to sentencing and reentry. Justice should not be blind to the realities that shape peoples lives, it should be informed enough to understand them.A trauma informed justice approach does not lower standards of accountability, it raises the standards of understanding and acknowledges that healing broken communities is often the most effective crime prevention strategy available. Yes, people should be responsible for the harm theyve caused, as well, there should be recognition for the harm theve endured.Here's the key: It seeks to not only answer the question, "What law was violated" but also, "What conditions contributed to this outcome and how do we prevent it from ever happening again". True justice asks us to see the whole person, the whole story. It seeks to not only to punish harm but to prevent it, repair it and create pathways towards restoration and transformation.The goal is not to remove accountability, the objective is to distribute it with equity. Here's what I mean:
"Individuals must be accountable for their actions- Communities must be accountable for the conditions they create- Institutions must be accountable for the opportunities they deny...and- Governments must be accountable for the laws/policies they enact and then enforce."Trauma Informed Justice challenges the system to examine- not only- individual behavior, but also, collective responsibility. Can a discussion about justice be had without identifying root causes of injustice?For people serving extremely long sentences, trauma informed justice becomes even more important. A sentence of twenty, thirty, forty years or life, assumes that people are frozen in time and even worse- irredeemable. It assumes that people who violate the law at 18, 21, or 23 are the same at 40, 45, or 50. Science, human experience and common sense tells us otherwise.*People learn
*People grow
*People mature
*People changeMany incarcerated individuals spend decades confronting their past, pursuing education, participating in treatment programs, mentoring others, and rebuilding relationships with family and community. Should justice be measured by the length of the sentence or the degree of transformation that occurs?At the heart of it all, Trauma Informed Justice is a Return to Humanity- and our humanity should challenge us to build a society that doesn't measure justice by how we punish harm, but by how courageous we address those conditions that produced it- and this can't be done without the whole story.Derrick L. Jones Sr.
B'MAD (Black Men Against Domestic-violence)

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WHY DOES BLACK AUGUST MATTER?

Cause it was born inside.Black August did not start in a conference room, classroom or as a nonprofit social justice strategy. It started inside the walls of San Quentin State Prison in 1978. When incarcerated Black men chose to fast, study and train in honor of George Jackson- a revolutionary thinker, a writer, and political prisoner who was killed by guards in 1971 at the age of 29. They were honoring him and the broader Black Liberation Movement from inside the very system that movement was fighting against.
Origin stories matter.One of the most powerful things about Black August is that it was created by incarcerated folx- not for them. Its not yet another "about them without them' storyline. Its created in the tradition of political agency from with inside the "concrete".Black August is the study of truth, not celebration. The point is not to simply feel good about movement history. The point is to understand it deeply enough to carry it forward. That means reading, discussion- that means sitting with the hard parts- the defeats, the betrayals, the unfinished work- and deciding to keep going anyway...The system that fills prisons today is not separate from the system that Imprisoned, surveiled and killed Black Liberation organizers in the 60's and 70's. Although there has been slight alteration- the war on drugs, mandatory minimums, three strikes laws, and the various pipelines to prison- are tools of the same project.People inside are still part of the community and when they are actively pursuing pathways to atonement, restoration and resistance, we have a responsibility to support it- our collective healing is tied to one another. They did not stop being part o the community- nor the movement- when the doors closed. In many ways, this places them closer to the issue than folx on the outside.Every person in this series who is writing, speaking, facilitating, and offering solutions has well over two decades of lived experience, standing strong in that tradition (some have over three decades).Black August asks something of us every year. It connects the past to the present and asks what your role is right now. It asks us to sacrifice something small so we can remember what others have sacrificed completely- time.We not only owe it to the people who didn't make it out, we owe it to the community at large to carry the work of justice, restoration, and healing- forward.

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Travon McCoy

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: July 18th, 2026
TOPIC: The Structure of the ProjectsAPPROACHHow environment shapes identity, emotional survival, self-esteem, and worldview. Poverty as a predictor for prison.

My name is Travon McCoy. I'm from Baltimore, MD. In 2003, I was transferred to Washington State on a inner state transfer. I been incarcerated for the past 26 years. Since 2012, I started my transformative. My journey had its struggle however I overcome those obstacle with staying focus on my belief.

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Vincent Sherrill "Tank"

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 8th, 2026
TOPIC: New Community StructuresAPPROACHCommunities may look different, but many of the same conditions remain. Gentrification creates displacement, instability, violence, and deepened poverty.

Vincent Sherrill aka "Kifaru Joka Bluu" (Tank da Blue Dragon), is a Concrete Root Activist (a concept he created to define the organizing work imprisoned men and women do behind the wall and razor wire fence). He's member of the Black Prisoner's Caucus (BPC), and chair of the Freedom, Justice and Equality Committee (FJEC).He's a Gangologist, Certified Peer Support Specialist, and a Concrete Poet, who writes his lived experiences in poetic prose. Tank has been down - but not out - for three decades on a Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) sentence. He's atoned and reconciled the harm he's caused the Families and his Hilltop CommUnity. He now stands at the gates of the Prison Industrial Complex (or the Cemetentiary) as a signpost and pillar, in order to redirect the young-life from travelling down this wide road, that lead Blackmen back into perpetual slavery, and leaves our community open to the gentrifiers (or the modern day carpetbaggers and robber barons.)Tank is a visionary, and sees the CommUnity as the Capitol of governing power. He seeks to broaden the work he does outside with his Beloved Hilltop CommUnity (Hilltopia), by networking with other visionaries from gentrified communities. It's his hope to collaborate with like minds, and turn thoughts into actions and actions into building blocks, that will construct concrete communities versus the abstract communities we are living in today.Tank is your Brotha in the Struggle.

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Stephen Marshall

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: July 25th, 2026
TOPIC: The Structure of PrisonAPPROACHHow prison environments shape identity, emotional survival, self-worth, and behavior.

Steven Marshall (Zane) age 47 is a member of the Black Prisoners Caucus. Zane is a man of Faith, Family, Community, Strength, and Integrity.He is the Executive Treasurer for the BPC and also the Executive Secretary of BPC T.E.A.C.H (Taking Education And Creating History) He was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Right off of Hoover Street and has been incarcerated for 13 years on a 36 years sentence.

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Bryon Powers

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 15th, 2026
TOPIC: New PrisonsAPPROACHNew language, same conditions: neglect, trauma, punishment, and dehumanization.

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Joseph McClain

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 22nd, 2026
TOPIC: Policy PrescriptionsAPPROACHPolicy helped create these conditions, and policy must also be part of the solution: Judicial Discretion Act, parole reform, emerging adult legislation, release readiness, amended 6164, and more.

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Derond Potts

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 1st, 2026
TOPIC: The HandoffAPPROACHHow the projects prepared many for prison: normalized violence, deprivation, criminalization, distrust, and survival. Facilitated by Derond Potts

Derond PottsDerond maintains a powerful presence in community. Leading in bringing cross cultural alliances to the forefront of upward mobility, he fortifies his strong positions on education, aptitude, and empowerment with a stark determination of an unmet will and passion.As chair of the Family and Youth Committee of the Black Prisoners Caucus Derond has demonstrated his agency in civic engagement, mentorship, and as an ambassador of breaking barriers. Derond has headlined summits, conferences, leadership seminars, mentorship programs and more.More notable involvements have been his role in serving on the Student Voice Council for Spokane Community College, African American Literature Program, A.H.C.C.'s Meet and Great, Alternative to Violence Program, Violence Reduction Committee as well as his active community outreach.With over twenty five years of prison experience, Derond continues his commitment in opposition to injustices alongside his family, friends, and network of community organizers.

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Robert Hampton

Robert HamptonRob will provide us with a video of him speaking, explaining what voices on the inside actually contribute.

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Charles Longshore

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 22nd, 2026
**TOPIC: Policy PrescriptionsAPPROACHPolicy helped create these conditions, and policy must also be part of the solution: Judicial Discretion Act, parole reform, emerging adult legislation, release readiness, amended 6164, and more.

Charles LongshoreCharles comes to us as a spiritual leader, community organizer and advocate leading the charge for second chances in Washington State. He is a member of the Skokomish Tribe and one of the founding member's of the Washington State Coalition on Second Look where he currently serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board.Charles has presented before the Office of Public Defense Advisory Board, Washington State Reentry Council, Minority and Justice Commission, Washington State Legislature and most notably the Washington State Supreme Court. He was the first incarcerated person to lead a resolution and secure the support of 57 Tribal Nations represented by the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.He has been featured in Seattle Times, KUOW, Washington State Standard, King 5, TVW and more. What makes Charles’s case so unique is he has accomplished all this while currently incarcerated within the Washington State Department of Corrections through grass roots organizing.Leading on the Judicial Discretion Act, Charles hopes to create opportunities for a Second Look at individual sentences. We're honored to have him be a part of our series and present during our week 7 program.You can reach out to Charles at: [email protected]Huy,
Charles S. Longshore
Pronouns: he/him/his (what's this?)
Skokomish Tribal Member
WA State Coalition on Second LookTuwaduq (people of the river)

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Virginia Parham

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: August 29th, 2026
TOPIC: Children Deserve BetterAPPROACHWhat responsibility do we have to ensure that children growing up in the conditions we’ve explored over the past eight weeks do not arrive at the most predictable outcome - incarceration?Too often, these children grow into victims who go on to harm others.As we seek justice for the policy-driven conditions that have shaped their lives and funneled them into prison, we must also grapple with the harm they have caused.So the question becomes:How do we hold both truths at once?
How do we account for the institutional harm endured and the harm that harm produced?What does justice look like when we refuse to ignore either?

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Derrick L. Jones Sr. "DJ"

TIME: 11-12 PM
DATE: July 11th, 2026
TOPIC: Children Deserve BetterAPPROACHWhat responsibility do we have to ensure that children growing up in the conditions we’ve explored over the past eight weeks do not arrive at the most predictable outcome - incarceration?Too often, these children grow into victims who go on to harm others.As we seek justice for the policy-driven conditions that have shaped their lives and funneled them into prison, we must also grapple with the harm they have caused.So the question becomes:How do we hold both truths at once?
How do we account for the institutional harm endured and the harm that harm produced?What does justice look like when we refuse to ignore either?

Derrick L. Jones Sr.Concrete Organizer | Visionary Educator | Transformative LeaderDerrick L. Jones Sr. is a concrete organizer, visionary educator, and transformative leader with over three decades of experience building community and cultivating liberation behind prison walls. A 32-year member of the Black Prisoners Caucus (BPC), Derrick serves as the organization’s Program Coordinator and Special Projects Organizer, helping guide its mission to educate, heal, and empower incarcerated individuals through cultural and political consciousness.Derrick is the creator and director of B’MAD (Black Men Against Domestic Violence), a groundbreaking initiative that addresses cycles of harm and promotes accountability, healing, and the redefinition of Black masculinity. He is also the author and lead facilitator of PIECES – Personal Recognition Process, a 12-week trauma-informed and healing-centered curriculum designed to support self-improvement and collective healing.Committed to civic empowerment and political education, Derrick authored and teaches KNOW the LEDGE, a 12-week civic education curriculum that examines the U.S. political system through a Black cultural lens - encouraging critical consciousness, voter education, and community engagement.
In collaboration with Whitman College professors Dr. Reid Helford, Professor Heather Hayes, and Dr. Kazi Joshua, Derrick created and developed the first Inside-Out program at the Washington State Penitentiary, bringing incarcerated and non-incarcerated students together in shared learning spaces that challenge injustice and foster mutual understanding.Derrick also owns a consulting firm, Consulting for Success LLC (C4S) - a dynamic, multidisciplinary agency committed to guiding individuals, families, and organizations toward personal growth, professional success, and holistic well-being. As a certified paralegal, Derrick offers legal navigation support, including assistance with system navigation, brief preparation, and understanding law and policy.Derrick L. Jones Sr.’s life and work exemplify resilience, vision, and the power of organizing from the inside out. He continues to be a cornerstone in the movement for healing, justice, and systemic change.Contact:
Email: [email protected]

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Annousheh Adab

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To Contact Any of the Facilitators on Securus:

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PRESCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE

We talk about the projects to prison pipeline like it begins in middle school, or high school, when kids first get suspended or arrested.
It starts before that. It starts in preschool.Research shows that early expulsions and suspensions predict later expulsions and suspensions, academic failure, school dropout, and an increased likelihood of later incarceration - what researchers call a "preschool to prison pipeline," or even a "cradle to prison pipeline."Let that sit with you. Cradle to prison.And the disparities start almost immediately. Department of Education data found that Black preschoolers were 3.6 times as likely to be suspended as white preschoolers and while Black children make up 19% of preschool enrollment, they account for 47% of preschoolers suspended one or more times.These are 3 and 4 year olds.
Black boys specifically represent 19% of male preschool enrollment but 45% of male preschoolers receiving out-of-school suspensions. And the research suggests this isn't really about behavior, it's about perception. Studies have found that teachers, when presented with identical disciplinary records, reported feeling more "troubled" by infractions when the student had a stereotypically Black name, and were more likely to recommend severe punishment.This is what we mean when we say the pipeline is built. It is not something kids fall into by accident. It is a system that begins forming judgments about who is "trouble" before a child can even read.
This is Progressive Illusions. This is The Handoff - except the handoff starts at age three.If a 3-year-old can be labeled, watched, and pushed out before they ever have a chance what does that tell us about everything that comes after?This is exactly why this series exists. The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, a different incarcerated Brother breaks down a piece of this system from the inside.Read the full research here: https://nam.edu/.../expulsion-and-suspension-in-early.../Register for the series: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetYu2cKjcgVShrO63berGXXLRALbBx9jz_3v2IWlPHZb5OmQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=103653491276356604855

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POINT OF ENTRY

We talk about the school-to-prison pipeline like it starts in middle school. Research says it starts in preschool.African American children make up 18% of preschool enrollment - but 42% of preschool suspensions. White children make up 43% of enrollment but only 28% of suspensions.Preschoolers, yes - preschoolers - are expelled at 3x the rate of K-12 students nationally.These are 3, 4, and 5 year olds - and research shows early suspension predicts later suspension, dropout, disconnection from school, and incarceration.A door this small shouldn't lead somewhere this big.
This is Progressive Illusions. This is The Handoff - starting before kindergarten.*Do you remember the first time you saw a child get labeled as 'trouble' even before they were old enough to understand what that label would follow them into?The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.Read more: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/point-of-entry/

THE PIPELINE HAS STOPS. LET'S NAME THEM.

We've been talking about where the pipeline starts. Today let's talk about how it runs every stop, every policy, every decision that moves a child further from a classroom and closer to a cell.The ACLU calls it a "disturbing national trend" but let's be clear: there is nothing accidental about it. This pipeline was constructed, policy by policy, decision by decision. And it has very specific stops along the way.Stop 1: Failing public schools.
It starts with underfunded schools that have overcrowded classrooms, undertrained teachers, no counselors, no special education support, not enough textbooks.When a child's needs aren't met, they disengage. When they disengage, they get pushed out. And some schools actively encourage it because "No Child Left Behind" created incentives to push out low-performing students to raise overall test scores. Read that again: schools had reason to get rid of the kids who needed the most help.Stop 2: Zero tolerance policies.
In response to school shootings, schools adopted zero-tolerance policies that were automatic and provided severe punishment regardless of circumstances or context. Students have been expelled for bringing nail clippers to school. Suspension rates nearly doubled from 1974 to 2000 and the sharpest increases were among children of color. Zero tolerance doesn't make schools safer. It makes the pipeline faster.Stop 3: Police in the hallways.
Under-resourced schools replaced counselors and administrators with cops also known as school resource officers with little to no training in working with young people. The result: school-based arrests skyrocketed, most of them for non-violent behavior like being disruptive. A child acting out in class is now a child being arrested. The classroom became a gateway to the jailhouse.Stop 4: Disciplinary alternative schools.
When children are suspended or expelled, many are sent to "disciplinary alternative schools" - some run by private, for-profit companies - that are exempt from standard educational accountability. No minimum classroom hours. No curriculum requirements. Students come back unprepared, stay trapped in inferior settings, or get funneled directly into the juvenile justice system.Stop 5: Juvenile detention.
Once inside the system, children are often denied basic legal protections. In one state, up to 80% of court-involved children had no lawyer. Students of color are far more likely than white peers to be suspended, expelled, and arrested for the exact same behavior. And once a child enters juvenile detention facilities that often provide little to no education, returning to a traditional school becomes nearly impossible. Most never graduate from high school.This is The Handoff. This is The Structure of Prison. These are not separate topics in fact they are the same conveyor belt described from different angles.The pipeline does not happen to children. It is built around them; one policy, one police officer, one expulsion at a time.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother who has lived every one of these stops will break it down from the inside out.This information is connected to the series:
-Structure of the Projects (Stop 1–2) July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
-The Handoff (Stop 3–4) August 1st facilitated by Derond Potts
- and The Structure of Prison (Stop 5) July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall

Has the pipeline touched your life or someone you love?

• ACLU - School-to-Prison Pipeline
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EDUCATION OR INCARCERATION? AMERICA CHOSE!

We want to ask you a question before you read this.When a child misbehaves in school what does that child need?Hold that answer. Because somewhere along the way, America answered that question very differently.Research by sociologist Nancy Heitzeg lays out exactly how the school to prison pipeline was built and it's not by accident, not by coincidence, but through a series of deliberate policy choices that chose punishment over education, incarceration over intervention, and fear over facts.Here is what those choices look like:Zero tolerance policies introduced in the 1990s amid media-driven panic about "super-predators" imposed automatic, severe punishment for school rule violations regardless of context or circumstance. Students have been expelled for nail clippers, suspended for mouthwash, arrested for writing a Halloween story. And these policies have no measurable impact on school safety - zero.What they do have is a measurable impact on who gets pushed out. Black students are suspended and expelled at nearly three times the rate of white students for the same behavior. In some states, Black students are expelled at six times the rate and in certain districts, ten times.Media manufactured the fear that made these policies possible.Throughout the 1990s, television news constructed an image of young Black and Latino men as violent predators, an image unsupported by data but so deeply embedded that 60% of people who watched a newscast without an image of an offender falsely remembered seeing one. And 70% of those viewers remembered the perpetrator as Black. Policy followed perception, not reality.The prison industrial complex completed the circle. The U.S. prison population grew tenfold since 1970. Prison became a source of corporate profit, it's cheap labor, has construction contracts, and gainspolitical capital. And as one researcher put it bluntly: for that supply to keep growing, policies must ensure a sufficient number of incarcerated Americans whether crime is rising or incarceration is necessary. The pipeline wasn't just a consequence. It was a supply chain.The cost tells you everything about the choice that was made: it costs about $10,000 per year to educate a child. It costs over $50,000 per year to incarcerate that same child.America chose the $50,000 option. For Black and brown children specifically.This is Progressive Illusions. This is The Handoff. This is The Structure of Prison.These are not separate topics. They are the same machine described from different angles and the Brothers facilitating this series have lived inside that machine.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother who has lived every one of these stops will break it down from the inside out.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Handoff - August 1st facilitated by Derond Potts
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall

Who in your life got pushed out of school before they had a chance?

• Education Or Incarceration: Zero Tolerance Policies And The School To Prison Pipeline
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THE MONTH EVERYTHING CHANGED.

We talk about the pipeline like it's a long slow drift. Like there's time. Like something could intervene between the school and the squad car.This research says otherwise.A longitudinal study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence tracked over 1,300 young people, month by month, and found something that should stop every school administrator, every school board member, and every policymaker in their tracks:
The month a young person is suspended or expelled from school is the same month their likelihood of being arrested goes up.Not eventually. Not years later. That same month.When a child is removed from school, when that door closes behind them, the risk of criminal justice contact doesn't build slowly. It arrives immediately. The school yard and the squad car are not two stops on a long road. They are closer than most people want to admit.And here is what makes this finding even harder to sit with: the effect was strongest among youth who had no prior history of behavior problems. Meaning the children most harmed by suspension are not the ones the system tells us to worry about. They are the ones who had never been in trouble before. One suspension. One door closed. And the likelihood of arrest - that same month - goes up.This is The Handoff reduced to its most precise form. It is not a metaphor. It is a mechanism. School removes the child. The child is now unsupervised, disconnected, marked. The system moves in.The study also looked at truancy and found that while being absent from school also increased arrest risk, it was explained by factors like lack of parental monitoring and disconnection from school.Meaning truancy is a symptom of conditions the community already knows: families under stress, schools that failed to hold young people in, neighborhoods where showing up felt pointless.Suspension is different. Suspension is the school making a choice. A choice with documented, immediate, measurable consequences for a child's contact with law enforcement.
Every suspension is a decision. Every expulsion is a decision. And this research tells us exactly what that decision leads to - in the same month it is made.This is why the Brothers in this series are not speaking from the margins of this conversation. They are speaking from inside the data. They lived this. Month by month. Stop by stop. And they are here to tell us what it looked and felt like from the inside and what needs to change.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother who has lived every one of these stops will break it down from the inside out.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Handoff - August 1st facilitated by Derond Potts
- Policy Prescriptions - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClainSource: Monahan, K.C., VanDerhei, S., Bechtold, J. & Cauffman, E. (2014). "From the School Yard to the Squad Car: School Discipline, Truancy, and Arrest." Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

If a school knows suspension increases the likelihood of arrest that same month and suspends a child anyway - what do we call that?

• From the School Yard to the Squad Car: School Discipline, Truancy, and Arrest
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THE SYSTEM THAT WAS
SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THEM.

We have been talking about the projects to prison pipeline. Today we need to talk about another pipeline that runs alongside it, it's one that starts inside a system with the word "care" in its name.The foster care to prison pipeline.At any given time, nearly 450,000 children are circulating through the United States foster care system. These are children the state removed from their homes, children the government took legal responsibility for. Children who were supposed to be protected.Research tells us that 90% of youth who experience five or more foster care placements will enter the juvenile justice system before leaving child welfare. Not 50%. Not 60%. Ninety percent.By age 17, more than half of all juveniles in foster care have been arrested, convicted, or confined overnight in a correctional facility. And youth placed in group homes where multiple foster children are housed together are 2.5 times more likely to end up in the justice system than other foster youth.
Let that be clear: the more placements a child has, the more likely they are to be incarcerated. The system designed to give them stability is producing instability. The system designed to protect them is delivering them to the same pipeline we have been tracing all along.How does this happen?Part of the answer is simple and devastating: when foster parents don't know how to handle conflict, which research shows happens often, because many are undertrained and under-supported, they call the police. Local police become the first line of response to arguments between children in a foster home. A verbal disagreement between two teenagers becomes a law enforcement matter. And the moment a foster child walks into a police station, juvenile facility, or courtroom, the research says, the damage has been done.Black youth are twice as likely to be placed in foster care as white youth. LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented. Children with mental illness are disproportionately represented. The most vulnerable children - the ones who need the most care - are the ones most likely to be placed in a system that fails them, moved from home to home, and eventually handed to law enforcement when the system runs out of answers.This is not a coincidence. This is what happens when a government neglects the conditions that produce family instability in the first place such as poverty, lack of mental health resources, lack of housing and then responds to the consequences of that neglect with surveillance and punishment instead of support.A child removed from an unsafe home should find safety. Instead, too many find another version of the same pipeline just wearing a different name.This is Progressive Illusions in its most heartbreaking form. The illusion of care. The reality of a conveyor belt.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother breaks down a piece of this system from the inside.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

We call it 'the system' like it's neutral. But who does the system consistently fail?

• Foster Care to Prison Pipeline
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TO REGISTER FOR THE FROM HERE TO THE PROJECTS: A RETURN TO HUMANITY SPEAKING SERIES.*

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THEY LEFT THE SYSTEM.
THE SYSTEM DIDN'T LEAVE THEM.

So far, we've talked about what happens to children inside foster care. Today we need to talk about what happens when they leave.One quarter of foster care alumni will become involved with the criminal justice system within two years of leaving care.Two years. Not a decade later. Not slowly, over time. Two years after the state stops being responsible for them, the system that was supposed to prepare them for life hands them to a system that will punish them for not being prepared.And the pipeline doesn't target everyone equally. The foster care to prison pipeline hits hardest on the communities already carrying the most weight:
Black children are twice as likely to be placed in foster care as white children and because Black youth already face disproportionate school discipline and criminalization, foster care compounds that risk. Every disadvantage stacks on top of the last one.LGBTQ youth already more likely to end up in foster care because of family rejection are then more likely to be placed in group care settings and experience frequent placement moves, which research shows dramatically increases the likelihood of justice system involvement.Foster girls face a danger that rarely gets named: they are specifically targeted by sex traffickers. And when the criminalization of sex work enters the picture, girls who are victims of modern-day slavery get funneled into the criminal justice system as offenders rather than protected as victims.Youth with mental illness are overrepresented in foster care and dramatically underserved once inside it. When their needs go unmet, which they often do, behavior that should be met with treatment becomes behavior that gets met with handcuffs.Only 13 states protect foster youth from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Thirteen. Which means in 37 states, a young person can be discriminated against in the very system the government placed them in.This is not a system with flaws. This is a system producing exactly what an under-resourced, under-regulated, over-surveilled set of institutions produces: more trauma, more instability, and more contact with law enforcement.The pipeline has many names. School to prison. Projects to prison. Foster care to prison. But it is the same pipeline and the same children keep ending up inside it.This is Progressive Illusions and The Structure of the Projects running at the same time - the hidden conditions that government neglect creates, and the environment that shapes who a child becomes before they ever have a chance to choose.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother breaks down a piece of this system from the inside.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Handoff - August 1st facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent Tank Sherrill
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

Do you know someone who aged out of foster care? What happened to them after?

• What Is The Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline?
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CLOSE TO ONE IN FIVE.

That is the share of the United States prison population made up of former foster children.Let that sit. Not one in fifty. Not one in twenty. Close to one in five people behind bars in this country spent time in foster care as a child.
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research set out to answer a question that sounds simple but had never been properly tested: is the foster care to prison pipeline real or is it just a correlation? Are children who end up in foster care more likely to be incarcerated because of foster care itself, or because of the conditions that put them in care in the first place?The answer is complicated and important.The researchers found that foster care placement, when it happens, can actually reduce the likelihood of adult arrest, conviction, and incarceration for children who needed to be removed. But, and this is critical, they also found that most children in their study reunified with their parents after one to two years in foster care. And that when parents had support and the placement was handled well, parents themselves were less likely to have criminal justice contact afterward.What does this tell us?It tells us the pipeline is not inevitable. It tells us the damage is not coming from removal itself, it is coming from what happens after. The instability. The multiple placements. The group homes. The lack of resources. The caregivers who call police instead of counselors. The system that processes children instead of caring for them.It also tells us something about family that the system has consistently refused to center: when parents are supported rather than simply punished, outcomes improve for the children and for the parents.The research points toward what the solution actually looks like - not more removal, not more surveillance, but investment in families before removal becomes necessary. Housing. Mental health resources. Economic support. The conditions that make safe families possible in the first place.This is Progressive Illusions and Policy Prescriptions at the same time. The illusion is that removing children protects them. The prescription is that investing in families, before crisis, is what actually does.And this is exactly what the Brothers in this series have been saying from the inside - not as researchers, but as people who lived it.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice — A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother breaks down a piece of this system from the inside.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Harry "Broq" Whitman
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Handoff - August 1st facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent Tank Sherrill
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

What would have changed in your family or community if the support had come BEFORE the crisis?

• Is There a Foster Care-To-Prison Pipeline? Evidence from Quasi-Randomly Assigned Investigators
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WE CLOSED THE HOSPITALS. WE OPENED THE CELLS.

When you think about where people with serious mental illness receive care in America, what comes to mind? A hospital? A treatment center? A community clinic?The answer is none of those.The three largest mental health facilities in the United States are the Los Angeles County Jail, Cook County Jail in Chicago, and Rikers Island in New York City.Not hospitals. Jails.This did not happen by accident. In the 1960s, large psychiatric hospitals began closing as new medications made it possible to treat people outside of institutions. The promise was that community-based mental health care would replace those hospitals. That promise was never kept. The funding never arrived. The community clinics were never built. And the people who needed care were left without it, until they ended up in the street, in crisis, and eventually in handcuffs.About 2 million times every year, people with mental illness are booked into jails - most often for behaviors directly related to symptoms of untreated illness. Not violence. Not serious crime. Symptoms. Public behavior that was once considered a health matter is now treated as a criminal one.Nearly 2 in 5 people in state and federal prisons have a history of mental illness. In local jails, that number is 44%.People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are 10 times more likely to be in jail or prison than in community-based care.And here is what makes this a pipeline issue, not just a health issue: many people receive their first diagnosis of mental illness inside a jail or prison. Not before. Inside. Meaning the system that was supposed to prevent harm is the place where harm first gets named and after it has already been punished.Once inside, treatment is far from guaranteed. Only 3 in 5 people with a history of mental illness receive mental health treatment in state and federal prisons. In local jails, less than half do.
People with mental illness are not the danger the system makes them out to be. Research is clear: people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of crime than to commit it. The violence runs in the other direction, it runs toward them.This is the projects to prison pipeline operating through a health lens. Poverty creates the conditions for untreated mental illness. Untreated mental illness produces behavior the system criminalizes. Criminalization produces incarceration. Incarceration produces more trauma. Trauma produces more illness. And the cycle continues, particularly in communities of color, in impoverished neighborhoods, in the same zip codes that were already targeted by every other mechanism of the pipeline.This is The Structure of the Projects, The Structure of Prison, and New Prisons all at once. Different institutions, different names, same function: contain the people the system has refused to care for.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM, an incarcerated Brother breaks down a piece of this system from the inside.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

Have you or someone you love ever needed mental health support and ended up in the justice system instead?

• Criminalization of People with Mental Illness
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BEING POOR IS NOT A CRIME.
AMERICA TREATS IT LIKE ONE.

In the United States, if you need mental health care and can't get it you may end up in jail.If you have a substance use disorder and can't access treatment you may end up in prison.If you have no home and nowhere to go you may be arrested for sitting down.This country spends more than $80 billion a year on corrections. And it has decided, over and over again, that punishment is the answer to poverty, illness, and need. The Vera Institute of Justice breaks it down across three populations and the numbers tell a story that should make every one of us angry.Mental HealthPeople in the United States wait an average of 48 days to access mental health or substance use services. While those waiting lists grow longer, jails fill up with people experiencing treatable mental health conditions and are arrested not for violence, but for behaviors like loitering, disorderly conduct, and trespassing that are directly connected to untreated illness. Nearly two-thirds of people with mental illness in jails and prisons receive no mental health treatment at all. And solitary confinement - which is known to worsen mental illness - is routinely used on people experiencing severe psychiatric symptoms.In Los Angeles, it costs $180 per day to provide community-based housing and clinical care for someone with serious mental health needs. It costs $445 to $650 per day to hold that same person in jail. America chooses the jail.Substance UseForty percent of people in state prison met the criteria for a substance use disorder in the year before they were incarcerated. Yet little is done to treat them once inside. Meanwhile, community-based treatment works, one study found that of clients with prior law enforcement involvement who engaged in treatment, 70 percent had no further law enforcement contact after just six months of care. We know what works. We choose not to fund it.HomelessnessCities across this country have made it illegal to sit, sleep, live in a vehicle, or urinate in public because there are not enough public restrooms, shelters, or affordable housing units to give people anywhere else to go. Dozens of cities have even made it illegal to feed people experiencing homelessness. As a result, unhoused people are 11 times more likely to be arrested than people with housing.In New York City, it costs $556,539 per year to jail one person on Rikers Island. It costs approximately $42,000 per year to house someone in supportive housing with individualized services. America chooses Rikers.
This is not confusion. This is not inefficiency. This is a choice made by policy, sustained by investment, and enforced by law enforcement on the bodies of the poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable people in this country.This is Progressive Illusions, New Community Structures, and New Prisons running simultaneously. The illusion that punishment produces safety. The new community stripped of resources. The new prison wearing the name of a shelter, a treatment center, a hospital that was never built.And this is why the Brothers in this series matter so much. They did not arrive at incarceration by accident. They arrived through a system that chose punishment over care at every single turn and they are here to name every turn out loud.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice — A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- The Handoff - July 25th facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

What would your community look like today if America had invested in care instead of punishment?

• The United States Criminalizes People Who Need Health Care and Housing
• Register for FROM THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY

THE DAY THEY TURNED 19.

Researchers have long known that mental illness and incarceration are connected. But knowing two things are connected is not the same as knowing one causes the other. A Princeton economist set out to prove the causal link and what she found should change how every policymaker in this country thinks about mental health care, Medicaid, and the pipeline.In South Carolina, low-income children receive mental health care through Medicaid. On their 19th birthdays - automatically, without warning, without a plan - that coverage ends.The researcher tracked what happened next. Month by month. Birthday by birthday.
Young men with mental health histories who lost Medicaid coverage on their 19th birthdays were 19% more likely to be incarcerated in the year that followed. By their 21st birthdays, they were 21% more likely to have ever been incarcerated for the first time.And the divergence began precisely, not gradually, not eventually, but precisely at the moment coverage ended.
This is not a correlation. This is cause and effect. Take away mental health care from a young man with a mental health history, and the likelihood he ends up incarcerated goes up that same year.Low-income men with a mental health history are already nearly three times more likely to be incarcerated by age 24 than men without one. Among men who were incarcerated in state prison by age 21, 76% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder during adolescence.But here is what makes this study different from everything else: it shows that access to mental health care was suppressing that risk. While these young men had coverage, while they had access to medications, appointments, treatment, their incarceration rates were comparable to their peers. The moment coverage ended, they diverged. The care was doing something. And when it disappeared, so did the protection it provided.The cost-benefit analysis says everything the policy world needs to hear: for every dollar spent providing Medicaid mental health coverage to low-income young men, society gets back approximately $2.17 in reduced incarceration costs, fewer victimizations, and lower criminal justice expenditures. Reducing crime through longer prison sentences costs twice as much as providing mental health care through Medicaid.We are spending more money to punish people we could have supported for half the price.This is Progressive Illusions, The Structure of the Projects, New Prisons, and Policy Prescriptions in one study. The illusion that punishment is cheaper than care. The conditions in the projects that strip young people of health coverage precisely when they need it most. The new prison that fills up with people who aged out of a health system that stopped covering them. And the policy prescription to expand Medicaid, extend mental health coverage, keep young people connected to care through the most dangerous years of the age-crime profile - that this research proves works.The Brothers facilitating this series did not need a Princeton study to tell them this. They lived it. This research just finally says it in the language the policy world demands.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice — A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- The Handoff - July 25th facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain
- Children Deserve Better - August 29th facilitated by Virginia Parham and Derrick L. Jones Sr.

The care was working. The moment it ended - they diverged. Have you ever lost access to something that was keeping you stable?

• Mental Health and Criminal Involvement: Evidence from Losing Medicaid Eligibility*
• Register for FROM THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY

NOWHERE TO GO.

We talk about the pipeline as if it ends when someone walks out of prison. It doesn't.The Prison Policy Initiative conducted the first national study of homelessness among formerly incarcerated people and what they found is that the pipeline has one more stop that nobody talks about enough: the street.Formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.
Nearly 570 out of every 10,000 formerly incarcerated people are housing insecure, either living in shelters, on the street, or in hotels and motels that offer no stability and no foundation for rebuilding a life. That is almost three times the number who are technically "homeless" because housing insecurity is a much larger and much quieter crisis than the statistics usually capture.
And the crisis doesn't hit everyone equally.Black men experience unsheltered homelessness at significantly higher rates than white or Hispanic men after release. Black women experience the highest rate of sheltered homelessness of any group - nearly four times the rate of white men. This is not a coincidence. It is the same racial hierarchy that operates inside the pipeline operating again on the outside.Women overall are more likely to be homeless after release than men, carrying the compounded weight of incarceration, lost housing, fractured family connections, and a job market that punishes criminal records even more harshly for women than for men.People incarcerated more than once experience homelessness at 13 times the rate of the general public which is nearly double the rate of those returning from their first prison term. And here is what makes this a cycle, not just a statistic: being homeless makes formerly incarcerated people more likely to be arrested again. Cities criminalize homelessness. Sleeping in public is a crime. Sitting is a crime. Asking for money is a crime. The same people the system released without housing support are now being re-arrested for surviving without it.This is the revolving door and it was built this way.The barriers are everywhere. Most landlords will not rent to people with criminal records. Public housing authorities can and do deny housing based on conviction history. Credit checks, security deposits, and professional references exclude people who have been out of the labor market for years. Up to 15% of people who end up incarcerated were homeless in the year before their arrest meaning the pipeline often starts with homelessness and ends with it too.The solution exists and has been proven: Housing First. Stable housing before anything else - before job training, before sobriety requirements, before anything -because without a home, nothing else is possible. Utah reduced chronic homelessness by 91% using this approach. The research is not ambiguous. The barrier is not knowledge. It is political will and funding priority.This is New Community Structures and New Prisons at the same time.The new community that gentrification and disinvestment built with no affordable housing, no support infrastructure, and no pathway home for the people the prison released. And the new prison that operates on the street: citations, fines, sweeps, and re-arrest for the crime of having nowhere to go.The Brothers in this series did not leave prison and arrive somewhere safe. Most of them returned to the same conditions that produced the pipeline in the first place or worse. They are speaking from inside that reality. And they have something to say about what it would take to change it.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice - A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- The Handoff - July 25th facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain

Do you know someone who came home from prison and had nowhere to go?

• Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people
• Register for FROM THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY

THE CYCLE HAS A PRICE TAG.
AND WE'RE ALL PAYING IT.

We previously talked about how formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public. Now, we need to talk about what happens after that because homelessness and incarceration are not just connected. They are a cycle. And that cycle was built to keep spinning. The Urban Institute lays it out in five devastating charts. Here is what they show: The cycle starts with incarceration.A jail or prison stay can cost someone their job, their housing, and their personal connections all at once. More than 50,000 people enter homeless shelters directly from correctional facilities every year. That number does not include the people who end up on the street without ever making it to a shelter. People incarcerated more than once are 13 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. People incarcerated once are 7 times more likely. Each time someone goes in and comes back out, the likelihood of having nowhere to go increases. Then homelessness feeds back into the system.Without investments in real solutions, communities send police to respond to people living outside. People experiencing unsheltered homelessness reported an average of 21 police contacts in six months which is 10 times the number reported by people in shelters. They were 9 times more likely to have spent at least one night in jail in that same period. Think about what that means. You are homeless. You are surviving. And you are having police contact 21 times in six months, not for violence, not for serious crime, but for existing in public without a home. And each contact increases the likelihood you go back inside. And each time you go back inside, the likelihood of having nowhere to go when you come out goes up again. This cycle has a price tag and we are all paying it.In Denver, one person experiencing long-term homelessness had 24 police contacts over 90 days including citations, an arrest, a jail stay, and 18 other contacts. That 90-day period cost the city nearly $4,000 for one person. Denver previously calculated that the cycle for 250 people cost the city an average of $7.3 million a year. Los Angeles found that people experiencing homelessness accounted for $65.5 million in jail costs in a single fiscal year. We are spending tens of millions of dollars cycling people between the street and a cell and producing nothing. No housing. No stability. No safety. The solution is proven and it is not complicated.Housing First - stable housing with no preconditions is the only strategy proven to break the cycle. In New York City, a supportive housing program found that after two years, 86% of participants remained housed compared to only 42% of those who didn't receive supportive housing. They spent 40% less time in jail. Their annual jail and shelter costs were more than $8,000 lower per person. Their crisis health care costs were more than $7,000 lower. The program cost roughly $23,000 per person but 67% of that cost was offset by the savings it generated. Housing First does not just help people. It saves money. It reduces police contact. It reduces jail stays. It reduces emergency health care costs. And it keeps people housed. We have the solution. We have the cost analysis. We have the proof. What we do not have is the political will to choose it over the cycle we keep funding. This is New Community Structures, New Prisons, and Policy Prescriptions - the community that has no room for returning residents, the street that functions as the next institution, and the policy that could break the cycle if anyone in power decided to fund it.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice — A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- The Handoff - July 25th facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain

If Housing First works - if the data proves it saves money AND keeps people housed AND reduces jail time , what would it take for your city to choose it?

• Five Charts That Explain the Homelessness-Jail Cycle—and How to Break It
• Register for FROM THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY

THE CYCLE HAS A PRICE TAG.
AND WE'RE ALL PAYING IT.

We previously talked about how formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public. Today we need to talk about what happens after that because homelessness and incarceration are not just connected. They are a cycle. And that cycle was built to keep spinning. The Urban Institute lays it out in five devastating charts. Here is what they show: The cycle starts with incarceration.A jail or prison stay can cost someone their job, their housing, and their personal connections all at once. More than 50,000 people enter homeless shelters directly from correctional facilities every year. That number does not include the people who end up on the street without ever making it to a shelter. People incarcerated more than once are 13 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. People incarcerated once are 7 times more likely. Each time someone goes in and comes back out, the likelihood of having nowhere to go increases. Then homelessness feeds back into the system.Without investments in real solutions, communities send police to respond to people living outside. People experiencing unsheltered homelessness reported an average of 21 police contacts in six months which is 10 times the number reported by people in shelters. They were 9 times more likely to have spent at least one night in jail in that same period. Think about what that means. You are homeless. You are surviving. And you are having police contact 21 times in six months, not for violence, not for serious crime, but for existing in public without a home. And each contact increases the likelihood you go back inside. And each time you go back inside, the likelihood of having nowhere to go when you come out goes up again. This cycle has a price tag and we are all paying it.In Denver, one person experiencing long-term homelessness had 24 police contacts over 90 days including citations, an arrest, a jail stay, and 18 other contacts. That 90-day period cost the city nearly $4,000 for one person. Denver previously calculated that the cycle for 250 people cost the city an average of $7.3 million a year. Los Angeles found that people experiencing homelessness accounted for $65.5 million in jail costs in a single fiscal year. We are spending tens of millions of dollars cycling people between the street and a cell and producing nothing. No housing. No stability. No safety. The solution is proven and it is not complicated.Housing First - stable housing with no preconditions is the only strategy proven to break the cycle. In New York City, a supportive housing program found that after two years, 86% of participants remained housed compared to only 42% of those who didn't receive supportive housing. They spent 40% less time in jail. Their annual jail and shelter costs were more than $8,000 lower per person. Their crisis health care costs were more than $7,000 lower. The program cost roughly $23,000 per person but 67% of that cost was offset by the savings it generated. Housing First does not just help people. It saves money. It reduces police contact. It reduces jail stays. It reduces emergency health care costs. And it keeps people housed. We have the solution. We have the cost analysis. We have the proof. What we do not have is the political will to choose it over the cycle we keep funding. This is New Community Structures, New Prisons, and Policy Prescriptions - the community that has no room for returning residents, the street that functions as the next institution, and the policy that could break the cycle if anyone in power decided to fund it.The Projects to Prison Pipeline: Trauma Informed Justice — A Return to Humanity starts July 11. Every Saturday, 11AM-12PM.This information is connected to the series:
- Progressive Illusions - July 11th facilitated by Robert Hampton
- The Structure of the Projects - July 18th facilitated by Travon McCoy
- The Structure of Prison - July 25th facilitated by Stephen Marshall
- The Handoff - July 25th facilitated by Derond Potts
- New Community Structures - August 8th facilitated by Vincent "Tank" Sherrill
- New Prisons - August 15th facilitated by Bryon Powers
- Policy Prescription - August 22nd facilitated by Charles Longshore and Joseph McClain

• Five Charts That Explain the Homelessness-Jail Cycle—and How to Break It
• Register for FROM THE PROJECTS TO PRISON PIPELINE: TRAUMA INFORMED JUSTICE- A RETURN TO HUMANITY