Previously Incarcerated Persons program

lets ex-offenders give back to community

    Malik Aziz used to walk the halls of some of Pennsylvania's state prisons. More recently, Aziz has been walking the corridors of political power as a leader of the Philadelphia Mayor's task force devoted to making the city safer.

    Annette Bellamy was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for drug trafficking and served 32 months in 1997. Now, Bellamy is Program Director of A Rare View Inc., a Georgia non-profit organization devoted to helping ex-offenders transition to life outside of prison.

    Kerry Cook served more than 20 years in Texas' notorious death house for a brutal 1977 rape and murder -- and was later proven innocent. Cook is now a voice for those voiceless and powerless human beings languishing away in an American death-row prison.

    Aziz, Bellamy, Cook, and the two dozen other trailblazers were among the participants at the first National Planning Summit of Previously Incarcerated Persons in San Francisco. The three-day forum wrapped up last Wednesday.

    "They know firsthand the hurdles ex-offenders face from dealing with substance abuse to simply finding a job," said a spokesperson for the conference. "And their message is simple, with 600,000 Americans returning home from prison annually, the nation must identify and lower the many barriers facing returning ex-offenders."

    "Policymakers better address the problem because bringing ex-prisoners into the mainstream may prove more critical than the get-tough-on-crime policies like zero tolerance that swelled American prisons in the first place," said Alan Curtis, president of the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation, which sponsored the event with the Previously Incarcerated Persons of DC.

    The event was hosted by the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation and Delancey Street Foundation, widely considered to be the most innovative and successful institution in the world for ex-offenders and recovering addicts. More than 15,000 ex-offenders have graduated into successful and productive lives since it was founded more than 30 years ago.

    "The hope is to to come away having established a strong network of leaders, all of whom are already doing great things individually in their home communities," said Christopher Fay, Director for Delancey Street Replications at the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation.

    He said the planning summit is a chance to gather previously incarcerated people, all of whom have become leaders in their home communities including activists, advocates, program directors, attorneys, and senior professionals to create a national agenda around the issues of re-entry.

    The subject of re-entry isn't new. However, few such conferences are ever led by the people with the most knowledge on the topic: ex-offenders.

    "Who better to to describe the problem and advocate solutions than those who have been there," Fay said.

    Abubakr Muhammad Karim is a convicted armed robber. He left prison more than 34 years ago and never looked back, other than to devote his life to helping other ex-offenders transition to life beyond bars.

    As an advocate for justice reform, Karim has established relationships with local and federal agencies such as the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Parole Commission, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, the Washington, D.C. Mayor's Office, and many other organizations service the re-entry population.

    Karim said the key to helping ex-offenders is simply listening to what their individual needs are. "Cookie-cutter solutions don't work in the world of ex-prisoner relief," he said. "Overall, substance abuse is the number-one problem because you can't communicate with someone who has a doped mind," Karim said. "But not everyone who leaves prison is a substance abuser.

    "For some, the major problem will be how they find a place to stay, and everyone will have to deal with employment and how to get a job," Karim said.

    Attendees noted there are many hurdles that commonly trip up ex-offenders seeking a clean start. They can include the need to repay debts, reunifying the family and even medical problems.

Click here for the forum's agenda, here for a list of participants, and here to return to the summary page.