Recidivism and the cure for it

I recently took a trip upstate to Ossining. I went to the infamous prison Sing Sing for a tour. The tour leader was an intelligent and engaging young man by the name of Sean Pica. He is a remarkable man - a former inmate who is now the executive director of the amazing Hudson Link - a partnership with Mercy College and Sing Sing inmates to use education as a link in the chain that keeps inmates from sliding towards recidivism upon release from state's custody - those figures (for recidivists) are somewhere near 60% as I recall.

I thought I had a vague idea of what to expect at the facility. I was wrong. It was a much colder and harsher environment than even I had envisioned. We were a group of about 15 on the tour on that cold Monday evening. The cold made even more bitter with the frigid wind whistling off the Hudson river. I was truly not prepared for the way I would feel once those heavy gates slammed shut behind our group.

We were, of course, with a guard at all times - counted every time we went through another locked area or cell block. We kept ourselves together as instructed, always keeping to the right like the prisoners are trained to do. One group of inmates in cell block A was watching the news and did not seem to mind the intrusion on their private life. One inmate even showed us the inside of his small cell - he had tried to make it seem like "home" - a man can spend a lot of years in Sing Sing - some are lifers - we didn't meet any of those.

The highlight of the evening was a presentation about the previously noted Hudson Link program. It is a truly amazing collaboration between Mercy College and certain inmates at Sing Sing - whereby inmates (carefully selected based on behavior and academics) are given the opportunity to receive a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management. Amazingly, not a single former inmate has returned to prison after going through this program - not a single one! Those are statistics that should not be taken lightly, given that again - some 60% or more of inmates will become repeat offendors and return to prison at some time after being released from Department of Corrections rolls.

You can call Sean directly if you would like to have him schedule a tour for a group, or even come and speak to a group with which you are affiliated - you can reach him at 914.941.0794, or if you would like to donate a specific amount of monies - $3000 is the cost of one complete course - $300 is the cost of textbooks for a semester - $100 is the cost of the commencement fee, cap and gown per student and supplies and dictionaries for new students is $50.

You can view more information about this amazing program via their website. www.hudsonlink.org

A tale of two men - or African American men growing up without fathers

They both travel heavy and with the Greyhound bus. One has a fear of flying since 9-11 and he thought his aunt and grandmother had been lost in the terrorist attacks. The other is a student in the Carolinas and is coming to Peekskill NY for Christmas. Both young men travel with a ton of clothes, shoes, belts, jeans and those hats with the darn gold stickers on them even months after purchase - another clothing phenomenon that is lost on me.

They are both African American men - one is brown - a black mother and Caucasian father and the other is black - both were raised by single parents - mostly their mothers. The college student is a sophomore and is planning to teach math. I told him to be good to his mom and to never forget the sacrifices she has made so that he can be in college.

The other sits in a state prison - the divorce and subsequent fallout too much for him. He had been an average student. He was shy, skinny and played football and baseball. He was a boy scout and loved to clown around for family and friends.

After the divorce, he lost his way - it was just too much to bear - he started hanging out with the wrong crowd - some gangsters, others peripheral gangsters. His mother put him in an alternative high school and worked with some programs to get him back on track, even reported him to the police when a valuable item was missing from the family home - a police sergeant told the mother she was overreacting - there was no real punishment for a kid who had never before been in any real trouble and she should not expect a judge to take it seriously. Would that she had that choice to make over again - she would have insisted on peer court, a real court, intervention of ANY kind.

There are far too many of our young men incarcerated for minor and major offenses. We cannot continue to lock up generations of men and expect there to be no ramifications for families and society. Would that this young man were in school studying, instead of getting his GED in a locked facility.

Choose wisely, my friends. There but for the grace of God go many of us........