fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Using Participatory Design to Help Parents with High Data Privacy Values
By: Zora Moore
Tags: Babytracker, Inclusive Design, Accessibility, Participatory Design, Parents

Our process began with an initial interview to help us learn more about our participant’s life and pinpoint the main problems he ran into throughout his day. Following the interview, we began brainstorming and sketching various solutions to the problems we identified. Next, we conducted a co-design session where we brainstormed with our participants, shared our sketches, and settled on a final design concept.

Sketches by team members

We took the insights from this session and began designing the final solution. To conclude our project we conducted an evaluation session with the participants to receive feedback on our designs and apply it to our final product.

The biggest challenge we faced was having a remote co-design session. Our participant interview and the co-design session were both conducted through google hangouts. While the interview went smoothly, a lot of preparation went into our co-design session in order for it to work well and provide good insights and design ideas. We used Crazy 8’s as a brainstorming exercise and used our pre-made story maps to support discussion around our design ideas.

Participant sketches from Crazy 8’s exercise

By directly inserting our participant into the design process, we were able to come up with a solution that was highly relevant to them. Our solution has very specific features that cater specially to our participants’ needs, like the smart doorbell controlled through the sleep tracker. Most of these features were a result of the brainstorming we did during our co-design session.

The Solution: Baby Steps

Our final solution focused on addressing two problems identified through our process– keeping track of the child’s daily activities and privacy centered information sharing. We designed an application, called Baby Steps, that allows the parents to track their child’s daily activities such as what he ate, turn the doorbell off while the baby is sleeping, and share information with each other through a central hub.

Using the participatory design method allowed us to identify multiple problems and come up with one solution to address the parent’s most important issues. Baby Steps allows parents to share the child’s daily activities. The app’s homepage is customizable to include any data points that the user wants to track.

The Application

This shows how the parent can take a photo of the meal and update what the child ate that day as well as a timeline of all the meals he/she had throughout the week.

This shows the sleep tracking feature that allows the doorbell to be silenced when the sleep timer is started. There is also a display of the sleep the child has gotten throughout the day.
My parents moved back to El Salvador
By: Ana Rosa Granados
Tags: Immigration, Culture, New York, El Salvador, Parents

After both my sister and I graduated from college, my mom and dad finally sat us down and told us that their work here in the U.S is done. We then looked at each other in the eyes and realized that this has been something we knew was going to happen in time but didn’t truly understand the reasons why until we got older.

My parents had no choice but to move to the U.S when a violent civil war broke out in El Salvador in the 1980s, this was a long time coming. So, they did what many Salvadorean immigrants had to do to survive, they went on a life-threatening voyage to the United States. They barely made it to the U.S and worked very hard, provided a better future for their family and now they are back in their country trying to reconnect to it. Some never truly make it back or feel reconnected to their country or ancestors.

My father mainly fled because he organized, fought alongside farmers and students who were against the military government. Many of whom were looking for him after he got to the U.S. He landed in a small New York City apartment in the Bronx where his sister “my tia” was living at the time. I to this day admire him for what he did for his country and never really questioned his decisions. Until, he was about to go back to El Salvador and I asked him why after so many years in the U.S he decided to leave? and this is what he said “Hija El Salvador es mi tierra, y todos los dias pienso en ella, en este pais nadie me conoce y nunca me an reconosido ” Which translates to “My Daughter, El Salvador is my homeland and every day I think about her and in this country, no one knows me or has acknowledged who I truly am.”. My father never had the opportunity to connect with others and he was always seen as an outsider, therefore, he felt like one. He also was too busy working endless hours to even have time to think about who he truly was or did in his past.

My mother, on the other hand, came from one of the most rural towns in El Salvador, she was smuggled here in a small car and hiked with other migrants all the way to Jamaica Queens, New York, just to find that her father had a separate family, which was common to Salvadorean culture at the time. She then moved up to the Bronx and met my father. Her trauma is more deep and real. I remember my mother always refused to cook American food and always spoke to me in Spanish even though she taught herself how to speak English, this I am very grateful for. She always struggled to connect with others (non-Spanish folk) because she felt like an outsider all the time but she at times let loose and was so interested in so many other cultures around her.

So, should safety hold them back or fear? I think fear is way behind them and a sense of connection and identity is more important. Now, both my sister and I identify with two countries one that was past and now a present. Another, well is present and kinda erased our past. Culture helped us all and I am glad EL Salvador was a place my parents refused to let go of.
Greetings, Amy Marley.
By: Henery X
Tags: Protection, Love, Children, Preparation, Parents

Greetings, Amy Marley. You are welcome and worthy. We don’t have to be a parent of a child or even know the child personally to care for them, to help guide them in the right direction. We must become the change we desire to see in this world or begin to question the degree of our sincerity.

In my first self-published book, Positive Energy 24/7, I dedicated several piece offerings to children and people who have children, as well as those who will have children. In one of the offerings, I took the excerpt below from it and placed it in my second self-published book; It Was Destined…Urban Legend:

“Children are young adults in training. So, instead of trying to protect them from the ways of this world, we should be preparing them. In fact, the preparation is protection.”

So many parents make the mistake of believing all children are created equal as far as how they are raised, some children are wise beyond their years, and this wisdom began within the womb of their mother. Saying that to say this, a child is never to young to be taught what they need to know, which in my opinion is everything. When they know better, they can do better. They can recognize danger before it’s too late to avoid it. They won’t always physically have us, but mentally we can stay with them forever.

I wish you, Billie, and the rest of your family all the best this life has to offer.
4 — Alpha and Work in Progress_2. Alpha Checkpoint — 10/13/19
By: Grace Liu
Tags: Collaboration, Game Development, Game Design, Art, Parents

Team Bair’s general narrative was complete and just needed a final dialogue script. This element was delayed to prioritize the design and implementation of the third level, along with the production of the child and parent walk cycles, backgrounds, and puzzle assets. The team met up outside of the weekly team meetings to gain some traction on progress. There were some nice learning moments (i.e., Adrian Mester helped teach Grace Li how to import and layer assets in Unity).

On the other hand, Team Door’s narrative was a key part of the game, and needed the dialogue script to be written and implemented as much as possible by Beta. The team met up outside of the weekly team meetings as well to close this gap, and was fortunately able to finally solidify a proper narrative. Without a cleaner narrative, we realized that it was difficult to make any progress on the programming and art. Malek was originally working with Twine and a Dialogue Blocker, but after some difficulties using them with Unity, he ended up switching to Inkle. This eased the narrative importing process greatly. Now that narrative was progressing, some production art for the first scene was able to be made (i.e., young kid and dad’s sprites, walk cycles, first scene background).
5 — Beta and Work in Progress_3. Beta — 11/1/19
By: Grace Liu
Tags: Collaboration, Game Development, Game Design, Art, Parents

WIP_3 — 3 Sunday meetings from Beta to Pre-Release

11/3/19 + 11/10/19 + 11/17/19 — meeting_7, meeting_8, and meeting_9

We had a little less than 3 weeks before Pre-Release, but as a producer and contributing team member, I felt that the real crunch has begun. All teams needed to have a MVP of their game by Pre-Release, and from an overall standpoint all Channel teams were relatively far from having a decent product. Compared to other GCS games, our team was arguably more behind, despite having a greater foothold on a finalized look. These 3 weeks mainly involved intense crunching, design/art implementation, and any final cuts/accommodations to complete the production schedule on time.

On the note of production schedule, we ended up not using the Trello board; everyone seemed to work out their own production schedule. To make up for this, every meeting I would go around to each team and check up on their progress, asking for their production plan for the next week up until each checkpoint. We mainly used the whiteboard to illustrate tasks and deadlines.

Team Bair continued to work on the last stretch of background art and implementing the layers into Unity. Levels still needed to be tweaked and smoothed out. The final level was originally going to involve wolves, but after some discussion about the complexity of programming certain logic with the wolves AI, the extra character animations, and lack of time, it was decided to scrap it for an extended pathing puzzle. Another issue that slowed progress was a team member’s gradual absence from the meetings, leaving extra work for others. Although they had indicated the walk cycle art to be completed at Beta, the other Team Bair members had immense difficulty formally retrieving the raw files. I ended up stepping in as well, but ultimately the characters weren’t able to be properly implemented till Release. Music and sounds were in progress for Pre-Release and the final Showcase.

Team Door mainly faced a mountain of work creating the final art assets and implementing them and the dialogue properly in the game. There were no sudden surprises or need for drastic cuts. The crunch lasted all the way till the day of Pre-Release. Music and sounds were communicated with Adrian Mester from Team Bair, and a production schedule was made for Pre-Release and the final Showcase.
Global Parents Day Issue- Because parenting is a full-time job!
By: Supdup Kids
Tags: Parenthood, Parenting, Parenting Toddlers, Parenting Advice, Parents

Global Parents Day Issue- Because parenting is a full-time job!

It’s Global Parents’ Day — the day to thank and appreciate parents for all the effort they put in to cushion us from the grinds of the world. SupDup Kids Jun 1·2 min read

During the pandemic parents had to step in to ensure that their children don’t miss out on the fun of the crucial growth years.

Parents juggled between work-from-home jobs and chores but made sure to not compromise on the development of their children.

To list out all of the things parents did or do for children is a task in vain because it is immeasurable. But, there are several honorary mentions from the list that are laudable.

#1- Played with them- Parents had to become friends in the absence of peers, playgrounds, and schools. They went down several years in age trying to be the kids they had once been to make good company for their kids. Friendship with kids helped both parents and kids to communicate better with one another.

#2- Sat through classes with them- Initially, it was hard for children to get used to sitting through long online lectures. Parents made sure to sit along with them to do away with any distractions and help kids with concepts they find difficult to grasp.

#3- Expose them to good content- The world is replete with content but exposing children to the good ones is what good parents do. Alongside online classes, parents enrolled their kids in other helpful courses and lessons that may benefit them in the future.

#4- Actively listened- Children have a world of their imagination and all they need is someone to lend ears to their fantasies. Among millions of other things, parents also accompanied their children into the magical world.

#5- Accommodated them in chores- Parents did not just teach their kids academic skills but also life skills. Dalgona coffees and banana bread were made with the assistance of little chefs around the world.

And that’s what makes parents so special! Don’t you think they deserve some rest too?

Well, SupDup is here to be a parent in place of a parent.

SupDup is a technical parent, friend, and guide that helps kids grow and allow parents some free time.

SupDup creates a space that is engaging, educational, and fun.

It becomes a playmate for kids and displays to them a wide variety of content that allows them to understand and equip themselves better for the future ahead.

If you wish someone to take care of your kids while you unwind, download the SupDup app now!
Dear Parents, Get Off Your High Horse
Tags: Perspective, Parents, Teenage, Parenting

This is a story about my parents. Oh! What disgusting, stupid idiots they are! Oops, sorry, I can’t talk about them “like that.” Well, at least our religion, and family dynamics, forbids it. It’s right that way, you know, because they are “god” in all forms, for they have provided for us, brought us up, (also loved us, apparently). But, let’s look at things they haven’t fucking done, or even tried to do.

Consider our perspective: Have any of you ever seen them listen to us, no, like really listen to us. Not the fact that we did it. But, why we did it. That there may be some underlying condition, or valid reason, there. And even if there isn’t, it’s their time to make mistakes, learn, adapt. And fucking, just be happy. No, dear parents, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you can’t shout at us; just that we wished you would actually think, rather feel, and then shout. You know why children turn out to be liars? To be sick brats, hiding coke and wine in the closet? Well, of course you don’t know why! If you did, I wouldn’t have been writing this right now. Accept their mistakes: They’re always right, always correct, always perfect. We’re imperfect, right? We’re the ones who do all the shit, make stupid decisions, for whatever reasons that aren’t important, and then be blamed at anyways. We’re put down in public, treated like kids, expected to act like adults; oh, look, the saying actually fits! Whether it’s an educational decision, or a healthcare one, they have the say. Well, seems proper, doesn’t it? They’re the elders, they have more experience, and by the way they treat us, we practically “belong” to them, so why not? To the parents reading this, I say, we have our own bodies, our own minds, and while your parents didn’t even include you in the conversation, just take a look at how you turned out. Really turned out.

I don’t want to write more, it’s like I don’t have the energy to. Now, I’m just sad. Thinking about my future, my life, that, I realise tonight, is simply in my parents’ hands. They can crush it, or mould it into something to fit the desires of themselves.

I decide, crushing it would be less painful.
Gladiator School: Stories from Inside California’s Most Violent Juvenile Prison “We were not afraid to die”
By: David William Reeve
Tags: Gangs, Photo Essay, Crime, Prison Reform, Los Angeles

In late 1992, I was sentenced to a parole violators program at Youth Training School (YTS). The purpose of going to YTS was to reform me. But, those days, prisons were full of gangs and the gang is more important than anything else. Jail was a place to meet up with your buddies. That’s what it was.

A typical cell at YTS held two prisoners.

My mom came to visit and I asked her for $10 and snuck it into my room. I gave the $10 to this guy to buy me three packs of Camel non-filter cigarettes — the going rate for three packs. He gets to keep one; I get two. Weeks later, I ask the guy, “Where are my cigarettes at?” He says, “Have patience, don’t worry.” After three weeks, someone tells me this guy is selling my cigarettes. I go to the day room and find him. I sit down next to him and ask him for my cigarettes.

“Are you trying to punk me?”

“What do you think?”

“Let’s go inside the laundry room and get down?”

I go to the laundry room and wait for him and he doesn’t come in. I knew he was a punk. The next few days every time I see him, I talk crap to him, call him names.

I’m not a vicious guy, but I had to do what I had to do, because if not then I’d get a bad name for myself. I tighten a broken razor blade into a toothbrush making a little slicer. I had it all planned out. I showered and returned to my room. This guy was about three doors down from me. I shut my cell door but didn’t let it lock. I built my nerves up and sliced him one time across the face when he passed my door. He was with a buddy from his same gang, so when I sliced him I ended up holding him down and I sliced him again across his chest as his buddy was hitting me. The guards come and spray us with mace. I let go, they handcuff me and throw me into isolation for three months. They only let me out to shower. It was hard. It was dark in there. Always dark.

Isolation cells, also known as “The Hole” would hold wards for 23 hours a day at YTS.

They sent me to a lockdown program. In this program, you’re in a cell all by yourself. They let you out for an hour or two every day. The windows have cages on them. Everyone was yelling. When they fed us, they’d tell us to get up, turn around, and face the window. Then they’d put my food tray down, use a stick to slide it across the floor, then close the door.

I was in the lockdown program writing letters to one of my homegirls. I asked her to hook me up with her female cousin, who was very beautiful. She wrote to me for a few months and we started falling in love. She came and visited me for a whole year. We were allowed to get visits in the O and R day room. We touched, kissed. That made my time go by so quickly.

The councilors were great. I did carpentry and auto mechanics classes at YTS. I was doing good in the program, so they made me a porter, cleaning up the hallways, which were always filled with trash.
#2: Mass Incarceration and the Literature of Confinement
By: Sanna Sharp
Tags: Edtech, Higher Education, Tufts University, Prison Reform, Incarceration

Ask the Instructor: Dr. Hilary Binda

Dr. Hilary Binda, courtesy of Tufts University

Why did you elect to offer this course at Tufts?

I have run this class for the past 4 years in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Correction as what is called an “Inside-Out” class. I have established a separate admissions process for this class in order to admit 10 Tufts students and 10 people incarcerated at the prison where the class meets weekly.

The class is designed to foster co-learning between incarcerated and non-incarcerated students in relation to literary studies and the many issues raised by the texts I have included as “literature of confinement.” These include work by Frederick Douglass, James Joyce, Herman Melville, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Lorraine Hansberry, Suzan-Lori Parks and chapters from Nancy Heitzeg’s School to Prison Pipeline.

All students receive credit from Tufts and no one is serving in a tutorial role.

Is Mass Incarceration and the Literature of Confinement offered within the department in which you usually teach?

It has been run through Visual and Critical Studies, my current department, and also runs or cross-lists through American Studies and Civic Studies and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. I generally teach classes across these departments.

What do you ultimately hope that your students take away from participating in Mass Incarceration?

This course works powerfully to break down stereotypes in both groups, the incarcerated and non-incarcerated. The course facilitates relationship-building through small group work and shared writing and thus enables each group to see the other beyond the images they receive through the media of uppity rich college students, predominantly white, and “criminals,” predominantly people of color. The college students do readings in advance to educate themselves about the prison industrial complex and the structural racism that supports it.

It is my hope that all students have their futures impacted as well as, particularly in the case of Tufts students, their sense of responsibility to working for social justice specifically with respect to the prison system.

It is also my hope that people serving time end up feeling more in community with people on the outside and that all students’ sense of their own ability to make a difference in the world by making a difference in peoples’ lives increases. That’s all.

If you could teach a course on any topic at all, what would it be?

This is the most significant course for me that I have taught in 30 years of teaching. I am in the process of designing another course in order to make it possible for students to take it again reading different literary texts.
COVID-19 and Prison
By: Danielle Quarless
Tags: Prison Reform, Prison, Covid 19

It is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has completely shaken today’s society. With over 2.7 million worldwide deaths, an intense economic distress, and a seemingly unanimous feeling of hopelessness, I began to wonder what the impact of COVID-19 has been on the prison system.

As a result of mass incarceration, overcrowding of prisons and jails is a large problem that we face in this country. According to “Overcrowded”, the article by Penal Reform International; in overcrowded prisons all across the country, we see:

Poor health care

Increased gang activity within the prisons

Increase in individual mental health issues

Violence/Racism

Spread of disease

Staff stress

So if these are the normal conditions of an overcrowded prison, I can only imagine that the coronavirus pandemic has extremely intensified each of these issues, especially the spread of disease.

Prisons are not exactly ideal for following social distancing protocols. Prisons are full of communal spaces which can easily be deemed unsanitary and also breeding grounds for disease. In the article, “Since you asked: Just how overcrowded were prisons before the pandemic, and at this time of social distancing, how overcrowded are they now?”, author Emily Widra of the Prison Policy Initiative explores how overcrowding is now more deadly than ever with this pandemic. She added findings from a University of Miami study that studied a correlation between COVID-19 cases and prison population reductions in her article. It was found that, “prisons holding between 94 and 102% of their capacity had higher infection rates and more deaths than prisons operating at 85% of their total capacity”. (2020) This shows that there is a correlation between crowded facilities and increased spread and rate of spread of this disease. Toward the end of the article, Widra shares this shocking statistic: “As a result, our crowded state and federal prisons have a COVID-19 case rate four times higher, and a death rate twice as high as in the general population.”

It is undeniable that society treats prisoners as second class citizens. But even if they are considered to be, are any citizens deserving to be in conditions that make them more susceptible to death and disease?

Sources:

Widra, E (2020, December) Since you asked: Just how overcrowded were prisons before the pandemic, and at this time of social distancing, how overcrowded are they now?. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/21/overcrowding/

Penal Reform International Writers. “Overcrowding”. Penal Reform International. https://www.penalreform.org/issues/prison-conditions/key-facts/overcrowding/
“The Vanishing Trial” is Now Streaming on Kanopy!
By: Famm Foundation
Tags: Famm, Prison Reform, Documentary, Free, Kanopy

Visit famm.org/vanishingtrial for more information

By Rabiah Burks

I’m happy to announce that the award-winning documentary “The Vanishing Trial,” a co-production between FAMM & the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is now on Kanopy.

For me, this is the culmination of years of building and growing video production services at FAMM. When we invested in video, we knew that we wanted to go beyond creating content solely for our social media platforms. We wanted to include documentary filmmaking so that we can teach people about our issues in an engaging way.

“The Vanishing Trial” is FAMM’s first-ever documentary. It focuses on four individuals who were forced to make the excruciating choice between pleading guilty or exercising their constitutional right to trial and risking a “trial penalty” — a substantially longer prison sentence if found guilty. The documentary reveals how fear of the trial penalty has led to both the shocking disappearance of one of our most fundamental rights and the explosion in America’s prison population.

Since the film’s release last summer, it’s received two awards and has been seen by thousands of people. We partnered with Collective Eye, a distribution company that saw our vision and wanted to help get this film to broader audiences.

By releasing the film through Kanopy, we have made the film easily accessible to anyone who wants to learn more about the trial penalty. Kanopy is a free on-demand video streaming service accessible through online public libraries and universities — a perfect fit for the film.

I am extremely proud to see this come together. Many of you have reached out and asked how you can help to make this film more mainstream. If you have time, share this blog post and help us spread the word.

Once you sign up for Kanopy through your public library, you will be able to watch the film on demand. Help us spread the word, and watch the film this week!

Rabiah Burks is FAMM’s Vice President of Communications.
Looking Out the Prison Window
By: Andréa Maria Cecil
Tags: Driving, Prison, Prison Reform, True Crime, Murder

The window inside Damian’s cell is about 7 inches wide.

Prisoners in his unit are permitted to cover them. But he doesn’t cover his.

“I don’t sleep with the window covers on,” Damian said. “I want to look out into the world.”

Photo by Inked Pixels

Damian’s cell faces north. From his window, he sees the rest of Limon Correctional Facility. The mixed-custody prison sits more than 90 miles southeast of Denver on lonely, flat land subject to wind gusts intense enough to knock over a grown man.

Needless to say, Damian’s view leaves much to be desired.

He doesn’t care.

If he covers his window, it’s yet another reminder of how he’s stuck inside those cinder-block walls.

“I wanna be in the world.”

But what might be worse, he noted, is having the view his friend George Woldt enjoys just five cells down. From that cell, there’s an unobstructed view of Interstate 70. At night, the cars are just lights skating across the black horizon. That’s where Damian gets lost in his own imagination.

He stares at the cars and wonders who’s driving them: “Where are you going? What are you thinking about right now?”

“It would be way bad if I was in George’s cell and I could see the road,” Damian said.

Being in a car was one of his favorite pastimes before he murdered his wife and toddler.

“I used to love to drive. I used to love it.”

Often, when one of his fellow prisoners says, “I wish I was at recreation right now,” Damian is quick to respond with, “I wish I was driving a car.”

“Why waste a wish on dumb prison stuff? (I don’t want my) mind being stuck in here.”

Still, he added: “I want to be able to see outside, but seeing what George sees would be a little too much right now.”

About the Author

Andréa Maria Cecil is a career editor and writer whose experience includes six years as Assistant Managing Editor and Head Writer at CrossFit Inc. headquarters. She spent the first 12 years of her professional life as a journalist — starting with The Associated Press in Detroit and Baltimore — before transitioning to content marketing with an emphasis on authentic storytelling. She is the editor of “Speal: A David and Goliath Story” by Chris Spealler that sold 10,000 copies worldwide.
A prison diary — part two. I never felt clean.
By: Jen Mcpherson
Tags: Mental Health, Criminal Justice, Prison, Prison Reform, Incarceration

I never felt clean.

It didn’t matter how many showers I had, how many times I washed my clothes or cleaned my prison cell — dirt was ubiquitous.

There were small mercies. Mel, who was serving a life sentence (we were on strict orders not to discuss each other’s crimes), came to do our nails, hair, and eyebrows once a week. She always looked immaculate; full makeup, blow-dried hair and a toned figure. I could not imagine how hard it must be to live your entire life in prison. She had — at least on the surface of things — clearly found a way.

I heard she had killed her husband.

The Avon catalogue arrived once a month. We could indulge in toiletries, makeup and hair products. I never did, though. I felt like hell, so why would I want to pretend any different?

I soon learned the secret to getting out of your cell during the day. Get a job.

I worked in the prison library. The librarian Oona came from outside the prison. She was a comforting presence in a troubling world.

I worked with Leanne. Leanne was bubbly and took a maternal role over me. One day she told me she was in for life; she had murdered someone. We carried on rearranging the bookshelves and never spoke of it again.

When someone new arrived, they always looked terrified. I made them a cup of tea and a slice of toast. They always thought I was a social worker in my chunky knit cardigan and ugg boots.

One day, there was a terrible stench. One of the prisoners, Sally — who was deeply unwell — had smeared faeces all over her cell.

I went down three dress sizes in prison. Partly because the food was awful but also because I had no appetite whatsoever.

Once a week, you can order snacks, toiletries and drinks from the canteen, which was the highlight of everyone’s week. I always ordered green tea, sparkling water and stamps.

I would write long letters to my father and friends from my prison cell. Cut off from email and text messages; letters were my lifeline to the outside world. I would tell my father how the music of Radio 3 was bringing me great comfort, as well as all the books I was reading. I would urge him not to give up hope that I would be out of here soon.

Prison is a hopeless place.

It took a while for me to feel clean again. I’m not sure I ever will.

I now feel deserving enough to wear makeup and take care of myself again.

I think of the ladies I met in prison with their Avon catalogues and understood why they ordered perfume, makeup and hair products.

To feel worthy in a worthless place.

To feel less dirty.

To feel human.
A prison diary — part three. Everyone had a sad story.
By: Jen Mcpherson
Tags: Mental Health, Prisoners, Prison, Prison Reform, Incarceration

Everyone had a sad story.

Domestic abuse, childhood trauma, homelessness.

I felt like the odd one out. I had a wonderful childhood. I hadn’t experienced anything traumatic and had never been homeless.

I felt like a fraud.

Nonetheless, a weird alchemy of events had brought us all together.

Kirsty never wanted to leave prison. She got out and then would commit a minor crime to come back. I thought she was insane. Why on earth would you want to stay here? I thought to myself.

It turns out she had no one on the outside. No relatives, few friends and prison provided the support and company she craved. I could not think of anything more tragic than Kirsty’s story.

Anita was pregnant. She told me one evening that she would pretend to give birth to leave prison for the night. When I heard an almighty scream from her cell that night, I knew it was the test run.

She gave birth a few weeks later but couldn’t keep the baby due to her mental illness history. She begged me to help her write a letter to the judge. It didn’t help. She and her baby were separated, and that was that.

There were prison romances. One night, as I was trying to get to sleep, I heard the prisoners on either side of my cell shout sweet nothings to each other. I was literally stuck in the middle of an intimate, extremely graphic conversation. It was agony.

One of the saddest stories was of Katya. Katya had a scar across her throat from where she had tried to slit it. She had killed her baby after suffering months of emotional abuse at the hands of her partner. She was very well-read and upbeat. I kept thinking to myself, how could she live with herself having killed her baby? Then I realised it was not my place to judge.

In fact, it was not my place to judge any of these prisoners. Some of their stories were truly harrowing. Sarah set herself on fire, having lost her son, which was classed as arson. Julie, who, while having a psychotic episode, lit a BBQ in her house. Again, arson. Laura had jumped off a bridge with her child, only to survive the fall.

It was not my place to judge. It was a place of broken minds and traumatised bodies. It was a place of rehabilitation as well as punishment. Of lives cut short, dreams shattered.

It was a place I will never forget.

A place called prison.
A prison diary
By: Jen Mcpherson
Tags: Mental Health, Prison, Diary, Prison Reform, Incarceration

I arrived the same day as Maria.

Maria was shy, withdrawn and looked petrified. She was fragile and covered in bruises.

We would talk in the garden — a rare corner of zen — which one of the officers had created.

Often, we would fantasize about eating lasagne and drinking red wine.

‘Lock-up’, an office bellowed.

We all rushed to our cells.

It is difficult to capture just how claustrophobic a prison cell is. It is just you, your thoughts and those four grimy walls.

At least I had books.

I would read and re-read ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ by Viktor Frankl, highlighting the passage ‘he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how’.

My father was my why. I had to carry on living for his sake.

He would visit me, and a little piece of my heart would break with every visit. I pretended I was in dormitories on a mental health unit; I didn’t even tell him about the cell.

I was on a mental health unit, though. They said I wouldn’t have survived the wing (the main prison). I was still delusional.

One day I got into a fight with another prisoner. She grabbed my hair and started to bang it against the floor. Staff rushed in to stop her. We both ended up going to see the Governor.

On association, which is when you have leave on the grounds, I would be offered drugs. I always said no. My mental health was bad enough.

Other prisoners didn’t like the way I spoke. I was too posh. I had a complete set of teeth.

One of the officers — Mr P -would bring me books. We would chat for hours when I was feeling down. When he was on shift, my mood lifted. He was like sunshine on a dark November day.

On New Year’s Eve, we all banged our cell doors when the clock struck midnight. I remember thinking no New Year’s Eve could ever be as bad as this one.

Sometimes, we were banged up in our cells for nearly 24 hours due to a lack of staff. It was hard not to fall into despair. I did a lot of thinking.

My main thought was that if I ever got out of prison, I would always go outdoors. Being locked in your cell with a tiny window makes you long to be outside. I would walk through parks, cities, and mountains in my mind. When you are denied your freedom, you never take it for granted ever again.

Maria and I are both out now. I am in hospital; she is in the community.

I hope she is soaring, free like a bird.

I hope she is eating lasagne and drinking red wine.

I hope.
rules of singularity
By: Plod - Poetry Life Or Death
Tags: Machine Learning, AI, Universe, Prison Reform, Singularity

by brian knippers

an artificial feeling

singularity scares me

you are the apex of bio-computing

knowledge and reasoning

respectively

we take this gift

for granted

only a click away

from reality

deep learning neural nets

networks you

and a few billion others

you don’t mind a little company

right?

scraps of data

QED a lot lot lot

wikked smaht

possibly a

catch twenty-two

hal forty four thousand

an the inestimably difficult

age old question

what’s

common sense?

how do you teach

something basic

uncommonly common

to a machine

human nature

a wink

extraordinary

a gesture

extra-ordinary

or

facial expressions

each one a variant

a thousand different meanings

after all

we’ll never want to become

indistinguishable

will we?

the ultimate socialistic ‘X’ value

x = a universally shared mind

you are raw data

intent

meaning

nuance

emotion

vernacular differentiation

we went shopping

gratification from our purchases

shiny little baubles

how do we

coax out

weirdly invisible implied knowledge

which

after all

we all possess

yes?

not higher learning

more

fathoming as a function

less awareness’s of data

more awareness’s of interpretation of data

affect the participants

gleaning endless results

a singular emotion

a thin layer of human insight

we slice prosciutto

very thin

minuscule portions of emo

little itty bitty servings of love

the light tapas menu

of emotional problem solving

but

how do we account for human error

overcoming obstacles

constructive criticism

how would a superior intellect

handle

being scolded

by a child

dnc error

dnc error

pbsod (pretty blue screen of death)

deep garbage

trash learning

trash in

(tp&tc)

trash out

(fbcr)

trailer parks & tent cities

full blown cop raids

net tons of terror-bytes

a cambridge analytic data dump

and even then

once calculated, qualified and quantified

life

wouldn’t be enough

we’re not them

just like

your not you

reason out

basic problems

spit out a liturgy

everything you know

expand an approach

shift subjects

comprehensively compare

comprehend all angles

to achieve best probable result

now

shape a snowball

draw a perfect circle

dance

what task would prove

exceedingly difficult

more importantly

what task

might prove

surprisingly easy

frighten my common senses

excite my hidden heart

does the future hold

extinction

or

elevation

input the data

let’s find out
out my window
By: Plod - Poetry Life Or Death
Tags: Poverty, Hip Hop, Poetry, BlackLivesMatter, Prison Reform

by brian knippers

I live on top of globe

our project

globe horizon projects

or gh bang

as we say round’ here

chicago

south side

globe

fo-sho

gh bang nigga

where you live

so-side globe

that’s how you say it

draw out the “o”

so it sound like

gloooow-ba

gh-baanngg-aahhh

there’s a north side globe horizon projects too

that’s why you have to differentiate

anyway, it nice

hot summer

cold winter

elevator broke

stairwell smells like piss

graffiti outside inside everywheres

but it home

and momma and me

we don’t know no different

she work in a hospital

went to night school

all that

now she make money

gettin’ that ched-dar

live right

dress nice

eat good

momma’ says

we move out da’ globe soon

but nobody make it out

it free to live here

what better than free?

momma’ have to pay some now

but not much

it ain’t nothin’

we live on top

floor twenty four gh-bang nigga’

I seen it all out this winnow man

I open it up

so it don’ smell so foul up here

like all that piss, shit & blood

broken elevator

can’t reach up hee-ar

nice breeze in da’ sumtime too

unless dem bricks be 1,000 degrees

then the a/c be pumpin’

I be layin’ up here

PS4 clickin’

blowin’ it down

a/c on high

all chill

you chips nigga’

broke ground dee other day

workers come

big truck’s pushin’ eve-thin’ up

cleared out a vacant lot

we use play in when we was kids

guy out there looking through some thang

stickin’ poles all the where

so I aks momma’

why they buildin’ round der way?

she said

prison boy, they buildin’ nother prison

so that’s what they doin’

man

they locked awmost e’body I know

in globe anyway

gh-bang nigga’

it just gonna’ be easier

visit my homies

an I watch em’

sell my weed in da’ affer-noon

in dat prison yawd

an

watch em’

they dig out da’ foundation

pour in da’ cement

an den, dey scurry like ants all day

and that buildin’ rise up

towards me

like a giant han comin’ out da’ gron

reachin’ for me man

and it hits

dey buildin’ this for us

dey buildin’ this lock me

we right here

dey buildin’ this for me nigga’

I aw-ready been DYS twice

next time

they gonna’ send me up

fo-sho

but

they doe-n send me up no more

they sen me across now

from up here

to up there

cross da’ way

someday

I’ll be lookin’ out that winnow

ova’ here

thinkin’ how nice

to be up ere’ coolin’

to be up in globe

on top o’ dat world

cuz all dey really wanna’ do

is leave a black man behin’
When Mercy is Their Only Chance
By: Famm Foundation
Tags: Clemency, Sentencing, Famm, Prison Reform, Pardon

By Rabiah Burks

When a person goes to prison, it is difficult to get their sentence reduced or changed. For most people in prison, unless a law that applies to them changes, it is almost impossible to gain their freedom. Unfortunately, because our judicial system regularly sentences people to long and harsh sentences, sometimes their only chance for relief is through the mercy of the president or governor.

It is important that the clemency process be reformed on all levels. It needs to be used more, and the process should not be one in which people need the help of well-connected organizations and people to be considered. We know so many people behind bars who deserve a second chance, and it is disheartening when the process seems unfair or biased. It is FAMM’s hope that the Biden administration will do the work of reforming the clemency process.

But on this day, I’d like to highlight the stories of a few individuals profiled by FAMM who received relief by President Trump in the last few hours of his administration. We’re excited and happy, because we know a commutation was the only recourse for many of them. It was an act of mercy, one that we encourage all presidents and governors to use and administer more frequently.

Chris Young — The judge at Chris Young’s trial described his life sentence as “way out of whack.” Chris’ story is captured in the FAMM/NACDL’s documentary, “The Vanishing Trial.” He received a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Chris refused to plea, and as a result the federal prosecutors sought a mandatory life sentence. The judge at his trial retired in part because of this case.

Jodi Richter — Jodi Richter was sentenced to 15 years for her minor part in a drug conspiracy that involved more than 500 grams of methamphetamine distributed in North Dakota, Minnesota, and elsewhere. Her story — with its myriad threads of addiction and mental illness and the lengthy sentence that came at its end — is at once complicated yet all too common. Addicted and mentally ill, she committed a low-level crime in the process of feeding addiction and quieting demons. Yet in the end, she was locked away under a one-size-fits-all sentence that doesn’t allow sufficiently for treatment and rehabilitation.

John Knock — John was in prison for marijuana charges for a term of two life sentences plus 20 years. From day one, his sister Beth has been John’s strongest supporter. She never stopped telling his story and has worked every day to change the unfair laws that keep him and others behind bars.

We celebrate with all the folks coming home. We congratulate them and their families. And we will continue to fight to so that people are not languishing in prison under outdated and bad sentencing policies, and part of our work focuses on how clemency can help.

Rabiah Burks is FAMM’s vice president of communications.
The Face of Mass Incarceration Today
By: Dr. Dwaun Warmack
Tags: Immigration, Politics, Prison, Mass Incarceration, Prison Reform

The U.S. prison population began to rise in the 1970s as part of Richard Nixon’s “law and order” campaign and the “War on Drugs.” For over forty years, the prison population increased, reaching 2.23 million in 2012 . Then came a decline brought on by policy changes. Bi-partisan groups called for an end to the “prison industrial complex” because of its high cost, both in terms of money and societal damages.

Despite community advocacy, policy change and bi-partisan support, U.S. jails are still full. An analysis by watchdog organizations and the Southern Poverty Law Center indicates that the prison population has been maintained because of a shift in demographics.

As incarceration rates brought on by the War on Drugs began to decrease, the Federal Bureau of Prison’s contract with private prison corporations was slated to end. As a result, stock in private prison corporations fell. However, private prison contracts with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency were not on the chopping block. Demographic data shows that immigrants and refugees are the new faces of mass incarceration. Private prisons now hold 73% of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s detainees.

ICE detainees in the southern U.S. work for as little as $1 per day and must use their earnings to purchase necessities from private prison commissaries. Companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic run the majority of for-profit prisons. For-profit prisons place a high value on profit which results in abuses and neglect of detained people. In response to abuses, the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative is representing the interests of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated immigrants. The Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative is part of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an institution that has experience in federal courts. The Initiative is suing the current administration for abuses.

As the suit moves through the legal system, for-profit prisons continue to take in profits from federal contracts. The Trump administration is pushing for longer detention times and ICE is currently detaining 50,000 people per day. GEO Group and CoreCivic, contributors to the Trump inauguration fund, continue to benefit from the administration’s immigrant detention policies.

Bi-partisan efforts to address a growing prison population have resulted in some success, but proponents of for-profit prisons have found new pipelines and policies that keep the beds of inmates full.