Fighting Racial Injustice Behind Bars
Fighting Racial Injustice Behind Bars
SOLEDAD: WELCOME BACK TO "MATTER OF FACT." RE-EXAMINING OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM INCLUDES GOING INSIDE PRISON WALLS TO TALK TO THE INCARCERATED. AND JUST LIKE MANY PARTS OF OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM, THE RACIAL BREAKDOWN SHOWS A DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER. WHILE BLACK PEOPLE MAKE UP 12% OF THE U.S. POPULATION, THEY MAKE UP 33% OF THE PRISON POPULATION. BLACK WOMEN ARE 1.7 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE INCARCERATED THAN WHITE WOMEN, MANY SERVING DECADES-LONG SENTENCES FOR DRUG-RELATED CRIMES. ANDREA JAMES IS THE FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR INCARCERATED AND FORMERL INCARCERATED WOMEN AND GIRLS. HER ORGANIZATION IS CALLING PRESIDENT BIDEN TO GRANT CLEMENCY TO 100 WOMEN IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE. SOLEDAD: ANDREA JAMES, SO NICE TO HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO YOU. YOU WERE WORKING IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR A LONG WHILE BEFORE YOU YOURSELF WENT TO PRISON. TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR BACK STORY, THE WORK YOU WERE DOING, AND THEN WHAT EVENTUALLY BROUGHT YOU INTO PRISON. ANDREA JAMES: I STARTED OUT AS LAWYER HERE IN ROXBURY, IN BOSTON, IN THE COURTS HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS, IN DEFENDING PEOPLE WITH CRIMINAL MATTERS AS A CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AN THEN SLOWLY WAS BROUGHT INTO THE REAL ESTATE CONVEYANCE PRACTICE. AND I REPRESENTED BANKS, AND GOT IN TROUBLE DOING THAT WORK AND THROUGH A REAL ESTATE CONVEYANCE TRANSGRESSION THAT I WAS AFRAID TO TELL ANYBODY. I WAS A BLACK WOMAN LAWYER WHO WAS DOING A LOT OF WORK IN THE COMMUNITY. AND I REALLY BECAME FRIGHTENED TO TELL ANYBODY THAT I’D MADE A MISTAKE. AND THEN, I MADE IT WORSE BY TRYING TO IX THE MISTAKE MYSELF. AND SO, I ENDED UP SERVING A TWO-YEAR FEDERAL PRISON SENTENCE FOR WIRE FRAUD. SOLEDAD: SO, TALK TO ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND WHEN YOU WENT OFF TO PRISON. AND I ASKED BECAUSE I THINK IT’S RELEVANT TO THE WORK THAT YOU’RE DOING NOW. ANDREA JAMES: 85% OF CURRENTLY INCARCERATED WOMEN, WHETHER IT’S COUNTY JAILS, STATE PRISON, OR FEDERAL PRISON AND IMMIGRATION DETENTION PRISONS, ARE MOTHERS. THEY HAVE CHILDREN. AND SO, I LEFT BEHIND TWO YOUNG ADULT DAUGHTERS, ONE WHO WAS OUT OF COLLEGE AT THE TIME, THE OTHER WHO WAS IN COLLEGE. AND THEN, I HAD A 12-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. AND I JUST HAD MY LAST CHILD, SON, WHO AT THE TIME WAS FIVE, GOING ON SIX MONTHS OLD. AND WHEN YOU LEAVE WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE YOUNG, PARTICULARLY NEWBORNS, YOU REALLY BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE FURTHER HARM TH SEPARATION OF MOTHERS FROM THEIR CHILDREN, UNNECESSARY SEPARATION OF MOTHERS FROM THEIR CHILDREN DUE TO INCARCERATION, CAUSES. SOLEDAD: I THINK THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD SAY, ' ’WELL, IF YOU’VE COMMITTED A CRIME, THEN TOO BAD, YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR KIDS. YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE LEAVING BEHIND.’ ANDREA JAMES: MOST OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS THAT WOMEN ARE CONVICTED OF ARE TRANSGRESSIONS THAT ARE SITUATIONAL THEY ARE EITHER IN RELATION TO POVERTY, TO ACCESS TO FOOD, HOUSING, AN OPPORTUNITY TO CARE FOR THEIR CHILDREN. WE SEE THAT IN A NUMBER OF THE DRUG CONVICTIONS THAT WOMEN ARE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO EARN INCOME SO THAT THEY CAN JUST SIMPLY BUY PAMPERS, THEY CAN JUST SIMPLY CARE FOR THEIR CHILDRE MANY PEOPLE, NOT JUST WOMEN, B MANY PEOPLE WHO CAUSED HARM TO OTHER PEOPLE, IT’S A SITUATION THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED H WE MADE MORE INVESTMENT IN TREATMENT, IN DRUG AND ALCOHOL TREATMENT, IN MENTAL HEALTH, IN FINDING WAYS TO GET TO THE ROOT CAUSES OF PEOPLE AND THE TRANSGRESSIONS THAT THEY CAUSE WITHOUT USING AND PUTTING PRISONS ON THE TABLE. SOLEDAD: FINAL QUESTION FOR YOU. HOW LIKELY IS IT, DO YOU THINK, IN FACT, THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN, IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS WILL DO WHAT YOU’RE ASKING HIM IN TERMS OF CLEMENCY FOR WOME ANDREA JAMES: THIS IS NOT A HUGE ASK, AND IT’S A NECESSARY ASK. IT’S WHAT WE NEED IN THIS COUNTRY. HE HAS BEEN LIFTING UP RACIAL JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY WHILE THERE’S BEEN A SIGNIFICANT RACIAL INJUSTICE WHEN IT COMES TO THE INCARCERATION OF PREDOMINANTLY BLACK ANDBRO WOMEN IN THIS COUNTRY, IN THE FEDERAL SYSTEM. AND CLEMENCY FOR US IS RACIAL JUSTICE. SOLEDAD: ANDREA JAMES, SO NICE TO TALK TO YOU. THANK
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Fighting Racial Injustice Behind Bars
President Joe Biden declared April 2021 as Second Chances month, calling for a deeper look at racial disparities and better treatment for the incarcerated. It’s a call for reexamining our justice system. Black people make up 12% of the U.S. adult population but they make 33% of the people in prison. Black women specifically are 1.7 times more likely to be incarcerated than white woman. Andrea James is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Her organization is calling on President Biden to grant clemency to 100 women during his first 100 days in office.
President Joe Biden declared April 2021 as Second Chances month, calling for a deeper look at racial disparities and better treatment for the incarcerated. It’s a call for reexamining our justice system. Black people make up 12% of the U.S. adult population but they make 33% of the people in prison. Black women specifically are 1.7 times more likely to be incarcerated than white woman. Andrea James is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Her organization is calling on President Biden to grant clemency to 100 women during his first 100 days in office.
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