How to be a better prosecutor | Cyrus Vance | TED Goes to Prison at Coxsackie Correctional Facility 2022
Cyrus Vance was the Manhattan District Attorney for three consecutive terms between 2010 and 2021. He is now in private practice and a partner at Baker & McKenzie in New York City, leading its global cyber security practice. As the Manhattan district attorney, Cy led many criminal justice reform efforts, including creating the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative which invested $250 million dollars in criminal forfeiture funds to support college programming in prison throughout New York State, families and youth at risk of criminal justice involvement, and re-entry initiatives for citizens returning home from prison. Last November, Cy’s office exonerated two men wrongfully convicted of killing Malcolm X in the 1960s.
Three ways to set people up for success after prison | Annelies Goger | TEDxSanQuentin 2022
Each year we release nearly 650,000 incarcerated people into our communities, but we don’t set them up for success. In this talk, Dr. Annelies Goger shares three key obstacles to successful reentry and a solution for each. She argues that we can choose to reinvent our justice system to break cycles of violence in our communities and build institutions that give people a fair chance at success. Annelies Goger is passionate about closing the opportunity gap and recalibrating our economy and society so that it works for more people. As a Fellow at Brookings Metro in the Brookings Institution, Dr. Goger works with policymakers at federal, state, and local levels to reimagine various elements of our education, talent development, safety net, and career information ecosystem because we are leaving too many people behind. She is working with Brookings Senior Fellow Dr. Rashawn Ray on a project to scale access to quality educational opportunities, job readiness, and experiential learning for people transitioning from prison to employment using virtual reality technologies. Dr. Goger has a Ph.D. in economic geography and has published broadly in the areas of workforce and economic development, global supply chains, human-centered design of programs and services, and the business role in cultivating talent.
Freestyling | Eddie Herena + Anouthinh Choy Pangthong | TEDxSanQuentin 2022
Two friends, formerly incarcerated at San Quentin, discuss their experiences re-entering society after their release from prison. A Bay Area native, Eddie Herena, got his start as a photographer for a prison newspaper in California, the San Quentin News. His work has been published in various publications including Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Athletic, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He was also featured in SF Camerawork: Cell Signals and the Thacher Gallery, A Matter of Liberation: Artwork From Prison Renaissance, two exhibitions aimed at providing a narrative uncommon to what we see on TV and in the movies. Anouthinh Choy Pangthong is a dope ass community servant, visual storyteller, freelance photographer, and social justice advocate. Choy graduated from General Assembly's User Experience Design Immersive in 2019, which led to an internship with Adobe. While incarcerated, Choy learned frontend and backend web development, however, he has found his passion in the visual arts. He believes that society can reframe how it perceives formerly incarcerated individuals when viewed through his captured lens. Choy lives in Stockton, CA, pursuing a degree in Multimedia.
The power of relationships to redefine the reentry experience | Michael Shane Hale | TEDxSingSing 2020
Michael Shane Hale is a peer facilitator at Sing Sing Correctional Facility working to help his fellow incarcerated men prepare for their reentry back into their communities. But it might surprise you to know that despite teaching these courses for many years, Michael is not going home any time soon. In reflecting on his experience in this field, Michael wants to talk about the importance and the value of interpersonal relationships even in the darkest places. Michael Shane Hale is a facilitator for the Corrections Transitional Services Programs, and spends thousands of hours assisting people in a group setting on re-entry into the community. Currently, Shane is pursuing a graduate degree in Professional Studies at Sing Sing’s New York Theological Seminary. He hopes to eventually pursue a Doctorate in Neuroscience and Computer Programming, to apply the insights he has gained from providing social work inside the prison.
How parolees are sentenced to fail | Troy Williams | TEDxSanQuentin 2016
Troy Williams spent 18 years paying his debt to society, but prison wouldn't be his biggest challenge. Hear his harrowing tale of re-entering society and struggling to stay legit. After serving 18 years of a life sentence for kidnap and robbery, Troy Williams was released from San Quentin prison in October, 2014. He is the founding Chairman and CEO of the San Quentin Prison Report, a radio collaboration with KALW. While incarcerated, Troy participated in over 50 self-help, mental health and therapeutic programs. Troy specializes in creating and producing projects designed to convert negative urban experiences into transformative tools for social change. His hard work and dedication were recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, and in November 2014, in collaboration with Nigel Poor and Holly Kernan, Troy received an Excellence in Journalism Award.
The bridge between an inmate and society | Earnest Sanford | TEDxSanQuentin
Starting on death row with the "worst of the worst," correctional officer Earnest Sanford has worked at San Quentin for 15 years. Listen to his story. Correctional Officer Earnest Sanford has worked at San Quentin for 14 years. During his career he has worked in a number of locations around the prison - from death row, to San Quentin’s reception center, and now for the past 4 years, in San Quentin’s education department. His view of offenders has shifted over the years, especially since being an education officer, and now he believes every human being is entitled to respect. With this shift, his ability to be an effective officer has greatly increased, as has his capacity to lead a full and productive life.
Coming to a neighborhood near you | Marriam Oliver | TEDxWashingtonCorrectionsCenterforWomen 2015
Marriam points us to the essential qualities of a good neighbor, and challenges communities to reevaluate their preconceived notions. Marriam had an active childhood playing basketball, volleyball, and taekwondo. One of Marriam’s greatest achievements is receiving two AmeriCorps scholarships, and she’s currently working on her associate degree through the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound. Marriam also uses her incarceration to speak with teens about making positive choices. Marriam believes our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
Education and re-integration | Renford Reese | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison 2014
Dr. Renford Reese has been a professor in the policitical science department at Cal Poly Pomona for 18 years. He is the author of five books including "Prison Race." Professor Reese is the Founder/Director of the Prison Education Project (PEP) and the Reintegration Academy for Parolees. With the assistance of 300 university volunteers, PEP provides academic programming to inmates in seven California state prisons.
I have a plan | Michael De Longis | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison 2014
Born in The Bronx in the dark ages before cell phones and the Internet, Michael De Longis graduated high school in New Jersey, moved to California and settled in Sonoma County at twenty. He became a carpenter and award-winning contractor. Since becoming travel impaired, Michael has graduated from Coastline Community College and also earned a paralegal degree. Certified in Literary Braille in 2011, Michael now focuses his efforts transcribing for the blind and is working toward Nemeth (math) certification, allowing him and his wife to better serve the blind community upon his release. Michael speaks on his personal growth and how Braille affected his life.
Armed or equipped? | Spencer O. | TEDxMonroeCorrectionalComplex 2014
Every prisoner who occupies a bunk in our prisons is being armed for failure or equipped for success. Our current paradigm of warehouse incarceration arms those reentering our communities with the equation for failure; higher education inside prison equips those same people with an equation for success. Spencer emphasizes the importance of education in prison by sharing some of his transformative journey. Caring, kind, driven and joyful: just a few of many words I identify with. I'm a lover and a fighter: I love people and enjoy creating positive social connections, and I'm not inclined to back down from a constructive challenge. I have a strong entrepreneurial spirit that I utilize every day to foster an atmosphere of enthusiasm and success for myself and everyone around me. I believe life is about learning, growth and prosperity in every area: spiritual, relational, physical and mental—I do my best to live each day accordingly. Life truly is beautiful!
The scarlet "F" | Honey Jo Herman | TEDxMonroeCorrectionalComplex 2014
Honey Jo Herman presents a talk that examines the reality of an offender's life beyond being released, and how the stigma of being a felon can seep into all aspects of life. Honey Jo is honored to have worked with The IF Project since 2010 and Pioneer Human Services since 2013. She is motivated to share the story of her successful transition from prison back to her community as a means of inspiring others who are going through transitional periods of their lives. As the mother of four children, she is empathetic to the painful difficulties that incarcerated parents face when separated from their children. She is at her happiest when she sees others take steps to improve their lives and realize their potential.
The face of reentry | Najmuddeen Salaam | TEDxMarionCorrrectional 2013
Najmuddeen "Naj" Salaam is the curator of H.O.P.E. (Helping Ourselves Pursue Excellence) a communal mentoring program. He designed and wrote this program while incarcerated at Marion Correctional Institution. H.O.P.E. has been helping to provide cognitive change and direction in the lives of young incarcerated men of M.C.I. since 2007. He is a communicator and self-taught speaker of Spanish and was successful in organizing Hispanic Heritage Month for Hispanic inmates while incarcerated at M.C.I. He is currently a Program Coordinator for WinWin, Inc's. Institute for Response-Able Reentry. Through this organization he became a certified mediator, facilitator and continues to help incarcerated and restored citizens. His story is one of resilience and helping others. He prides himself on helping people grow and especially on being a father. He is currently completing a bachelors of Science in Management and Leadership. After TEDxMarionCorrectional Naj's goal is to complete an autobiography of his life and reentry experiences.