The Prison in 12 Landscapes

An incredible film! Highly recommend.

You can watch on Vimeo click here

2019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor

2019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor

For his wide-ranging contributions locally and statewide, J. Paul Taylor has been named the Sun-News 2019 Distinguished Resident by Diana Alba Soular click here

"From working in the registrar’s office, Taylor shifted his career sights back to his childhood goal of education, becoming a sixth-grade teacher at Mesilla Park Elementary. It was the only job opening available to him at the time. He may have been the teacher, but, as he recalls, he was a student, as well. He spent his first year overcoming a big learning curve.

“Boy did I learn a whole lot,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d gone from college students who were just back from the war and who were very serious about their education to these little sixth-graders, who seemed very little then.”

A deep write up about the life of J. Paul Taylor. This note is to congratulate Mr. Taylor. I first met Mr. Taylor at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on South Espina for a meeting with him, my CJ professor/mentor, and staff from the J. Paul Taylor prison. My goal was to propose an idea for a creative expression Hip Hop workshop at the J. Paul Taylor prison. He was a kind man, very open to ideas. He was very encouraging and overall the meeting went real well. For the next 10 years I'd have the chance to volunteer teach at the facility through our Voices Behind Walls program which had started a couple of years before at the Delta Youth Facility in El Paso.

I've always been interested in learning more about Mr. Taylor's involvement with juvenile justice issues in New Mexico. I've heard and from time to time saw him speak on the importance of addressing the juvenile injustice issues that seemed to be deeply rooted in New Mexico. I hope to learn more this in the future. There may be a few photographs I have somewhere of J. Paul Taylor's work with some of the programs I was involved in. There's not much mention of his connection to juvenile facilities one of which is named after him, the J. Paul Taylor Center. It's something worth exploring though, especially if there are any papers or reflections documented in J. Paul Taylor's historical records. 

Much thanks Mr. Taylor! I still remember that day at the Justice for Children symposium, when in a rare occurrence the facility had allowed a bunch of our participants that were incarcerated at the time to attend. You got up and asked one of our poets, "what can we do to help you? What can we do to help change things for the better?" And they answered your question. It was one of the most honest moments I'd seen in thinking about juvenile justice reform and just finally having a platform where an incarcerated youth could engage in a conversation with the public with a mic in his hand after having read his poetry. It was definitely a day to remember. Thank you for being kind to me and for encouraging me. It led to nearly a decade of connections with youth inside who were able to express themselves and document their voices. Some of them have passed on young, some of them are incarcerated for longer stretches of adult time, and some are finally expressing themselves outside the walls.What we refer to as our VOWs (Voices Outside the Walls). 

Thank you.

Kids for Ca$h

The Movie

In 2013 as I prepared for the following Spring semester 2014, I searched for a text that I thought would compliment our reading of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.  I was looking for something that revolved around juvenile justice when I stumbled upon another New Press title by William Ecenbarger through an email blast about his book Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.6 Million Kickback Scheme.  I felt this text would be fit the focus on history we get from Alexander's text connecting mass incarceration to the roots of slavery and the modern day practice of zero tolerance and an American juvenile justice system in Luzerne County Pennsylvania that fed off the vulnerabilities of American children cycling them into an unnecessary costly detention binge. 

Over the course of the semester I had no idea a film would reveal itself based on the Kids for Cash scheme.  I finally got the chance to watch Kids for Cash the movie on Netflix and encourage everyone, especially CJ students, justice professionals, educators, policy people, etc. to watch and continue to pass the word on this film, especially the text.  It's an informative and detailed account not only of the Luzerne County story, but how it reflects a much bigger problem nationwide when it comes to both adult and juvenile incarceration.

This film puts a face to injustice unlike any documentary film I've ever seen.  By the end I wondered who's face sat behind the bench when Kalief Browder was remanded without bail having to endure three years on Riker's Island. 

For more information on the film visit kidsforcashthemovie.com

The film is available as DVD and stream from Netflix.  You can access Netflix through the app and watch on any mobile device.  You can also purchase your own copy through Amazon click here.

The Beat Within 2020

The Beat Within 2020

Taking a moment to honor The Beat Within, a publication of art and writing from the inside...Here's to another year & all its challenges. Check them out at thebeatwithin.org.

Ear Hustle HQ

Ear Hustle HQ podcasts

It's been a while! While frequent updates are posted on the Twitter handle @vbehindw more often than not, I did want to slide into the VBW blog to put up a permanent note about this podcast right here. In a podcast landscape that continues to grow daily, this is one of the few that I often return to to make sure I don't miss a beat! Broadcasting out of San Quentin Prison, there is absolutely nothing like Ear Hustle. One of the most unique and interesting forms of storytelling about the American Legal System that I feel I've ever heard. It makes me wonder what other prisons sound like. It makes me wonder the role it plays in the lives of all those involved and how exciting it must be to embark on an opportunity as groundbreaking as the podcast universe. I'm a big fan of earhustle and encourage everyone to check in with this podcast at the following link: earhustlesq.com

Respect to the Ear Hustle family...can't even express how crazy it is to have followed Earlonne's journey from the inside out. That's a story I'll never forget, especially to hear it all develop through the podcast itself. Tune in world!


If you have a podcast that explores aspects of the American Legal System please reach out and let us know! We'd love to be your audience! voicesbehindwalls@gmail.com

Latinos in the CJ System

Study: Latinos under-counted in criminal justice system
John C Moritz , USA Today Network 11:25 a.m. CST December 15, 2016

The Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center says the data means Latinos are short-changed on rehabilitation services.

AUSTIN – Latinos in the criminal justice system — from the point of arrest, through their incarceration and during their time on parole or probation — are often categorized as white on official records, which shortchanges the nation's largest minority population when it comes to targeted reforms to reduce recidivism, a new study finds.

The report by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center shows that many of the nation's most diverse states undercount Latinos in the criminal justice system, making it appear that the disparity between black and white offenders is more narrow than it  is.

“Leaving Latinos out when documenting the consequences of the American criminal justice system means our data tells an incomplete story,” said Ryan King of the Urban Institute. “As a result of that missing, inaccurate, or insufficient data, their voices are absent from the conversation when policy reforms are developed.”

The study, done in cooperation with the advocacy groups Latino Justice and the Public Welfare Foundation, surveyed the 50 states and the District of Columbia about demographic information on people who have entered the criminal justice system. While many states, including Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma and Alaska, compile publicly accessible data on how many Latinos have entered the system, several others have little or no data on their websites, the study found.

The report, titled "The Alarming Lack of Data on Latinos in the Criminal Justice System," is scheduled for release Thursday when it will be posted on the Urban Institute website. The USA Today Network obtained the completed draft on Wednesday.

According to the report, only Alaska has accessible data on the number of Latinos arrested, in prison, on probation or parole and breaks down race and ethnic numbers for each offense category. Texas, Idaho, Oregon and Oklahoma have numbers for Latinos who have been arrested, incarcerated and placed parole or probation.

Thirteen states, including Florida, Maryland, Louisiana and New Mexico, do not have any accessible recently reported numbers for Latinos in their criminal justice systems, according to the report. Twenty-nine states keep Latino-specific numbers for between one and three of the categories.

Juan Cartagena, who heads Latino Justice, said the undercount means that the needs of specific ethnic groups are not been adequately addressed.

"This affects how we look at programs to help with re-entry (from prison to the community). And that impacts recidivism," Cartagena said. "And what about how we look at sentencing disparities — who gets prison and who gets probation? We need to get a good handle on this."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at John.Moritz@caller.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.

#tweetcite #RT #retweet

#Latinos Undercounted in #CriminalJustice System @JohnnieMo @callerdotcom @USATODAY 12/16 http://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2016/12/14/study-latinos-under-counted-criminal-justice-system/95430624/ #tweetcite #VBWResearchNet

The Impact of an Aging BOP Inmate Population

#Tweetcite

#DOJ @OIGatHHS Impact of Aging Inmate Population on the Federal #BOP. Report. Washington, D.C.: @TheJusticeDept 2016 https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2015/e1505.pdf

Original Tweet: click here