training

From the Back of the Bus to the Front of the Prison

The day before Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Susan Burton’s memoir “Becoming Ms. Burton” received the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the category of Biography/Autobiography. “I’m honored to be recognized for my life story,” said Burton in acceptance of the award. “I think about Rosa Parks. She took us from the back of the bus. And now, Black women are at the front of the prison. I wonder… how we will get them out of the front of that prison? That’s my work.”

Burton’s words demonstrate the need for a movement to reduce the growing number of incarcerated women. According to a Vera Institute of Justice 2016 study, “since 1970, the number of women in jail nationwide has increased 14-fold – from under 8,000 to nearly 11,000 – and now accounts for approximately half of all women behind bars in the United States.” These numbers do not include the number of women in prisons which The Sentencing Project reports has been increasing at a rate 50% higher than men since 1980.

The study also reports that the population of incarcerated women is “disproportionately people of color, overwhelmingly poor and low-income, survivors of violence and trauma, and have high rates of physical and mental illness and substance use.”

Policies that allow such disparities to take place have caused the population of women of color in jails and prisons to rise. Scarce resources in low income communities such as job opportunities and lack of access to quality health care are also among the numerous factors that contribute to exploding rates of over-incarcerating women. Now instead of being relegated to the back of the bus, women are tagged “criminal” – rising to the front of the prison. According to Wendy Sawyer with the Prison Policy Initiative, the Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016 annual update on prison populations is largely consistent with her findings that women’s prison populations remain near record highs while men’s populations are falling.

Ms. Burton’s life experience, chronicled in her award-winning memoir, connects flashpoints of trauma, pain experienced without options or opportunities to access horizons of healing. Instead, she was dragged into chains and thrown to the horror of incarceration. According to Burton, her story is not unique. Having served over 1,000 women through her non-profit organization, A New Way of Life, she knows their suffering echoes hers. “Although we might want to say Black people have moved forward, reality is that we have not,” said Burton.

Even after being released, formerly incarcerated women (and men) are faced with 48,000 collateral consequences. These systematic and often life-long obstacles can serve as barriers to successful re-entry. Collateral consequences are defined by both The Council of State Governments Justice Center & the National Institute of Corrections as legal and regulatory sanctions and restrictions that limit or prohibit people with criminal records from accessing employment, occupational licensing, housing, voting, education, and other opportunities.

To demonstrate that all rights have not been restored, Burton and All of Us or None (AOUON) members participated in the 50^th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. The group decided to start the march on the reverse side, in Montgomery facing Selma, to represent how they recognize that there are some issues that they need to go back and fix.

Susan Burton and AOUON members marching in the 50th anniversary of the Selma Montgomery marches of 1965.

Susan Burton offers hope, which fuels her advocacy on behalf of women in chains. She leads an ambitious project to place 11,000 copies of her memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, in prisons throughout all 50 states. She is also lifting the voices of other women, to create more compassionate policies and opportunities for women with histories that mirror hers. Burton says, “We need to transform the violent nature of this country with love and respect for all human life. That’s the only thing that’s going to make this right.”

Another Election Year

“We used to say that ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.”

-John Lewis, “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America”

Congressman John Lewis is one of the young men that led the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, contributing to the passage of the Voting Rights Act which would enable African American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote without discrimination.

The series of marches consisted of thousands of civil rights activists and religious leaders who were fighting the discrimination and voter suppression tactics taking place in the segregated South. These brave men and women mobilized to reach their goal of ensuring that we all would be able to make our voices heard in elections.

Unfortunately, the U.S. system of mass incarceration has significantly undermined those very same voting rights.

Today, the population of incarcerated African Americans is grossly disproportionate to their overall population in the country. Because of the removal of most civil rights, including voting rights in many states, there are about 6.1 million people who cannot vote, with 1 in every 13 adult African Americans permanently banned from voting. This fact has made room for the dominant group in society to once again cripple African American voices and political input in this country.

This year A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL) is expanding their voter registration efforts to include those who are newly eligible to vote. The passage of Assembly Bill 2466 in 2016 has made it possible for men and women serving time for a felony conviction in county jails to now make their voices heard through voting.

The passage of this bill comes decades after men and women serving time in jail were denied the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and it’s a great start at tackling the laws that disenfranchise far too many citizens of this country.

With impending elections in June and November, the Voter In-Reach project of ANWOL will begin soon where we will visit county jails to conduct voter registration for those who are eligible.

ANWOL staff and All of Us or None (AOUON) members have submitted applications to the Sheriff’s Department to go inside of the jails for the purpose of registering voters. Once clearance is obtained, we will begin sending staff and volunteers inside to register people to vote and to conduct voter education.

Ingrid Archie with Prop. 64 canvassers. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Staff members of ANWOL are looking forward to spreading awareness to the men and women in jails about their right to vote.

“It’s very important. There are tens of thousands of people in the state of California who are disenfranchised simply because they do not know that they have the right to vote even when they are incarcerated,” explains Rev. Larry Foy, ANWOL Policy & Advocacy Director. “The only thing that should legally prevent people with convictions from voting in California is if they are on parole or serving time in state or federal prison.”

The goal of the project is not only to let incarcerated individuals understand that they can vote, but to also let them know that their vote is important. The volunteers will educate the men and women on the policies and politicians on the ballots so that people serving time in jail or awaiting trial will have a deeper understanding on the key issues that may affect their lives.

“Politicians travel to areas where people have a higher propensity to vote. They go to those areas and speak to their needs. There’s a whole constituency of people who are incarcerated that are eligible to vote,” said Ingrid Archie, ANWOL Civic Engagement Coordinator. “We want to maximize the number of incarcerated people who are voting so people will recognize that

incarcerated men and women do vote. Their votes have the potential to turn a whole vote or even flip a seat and once people see the power of the votes of incarcerated men and women they will realize that they need to visit jails to solicit those votes as well.”

Some people of color do not feel that their votes matter in elections or that the outcome of policies will affect them directly. That was the case for Ed Garrett, ANWOL’s technology consultant. “I didn’t think about my vote being important because my life was in the streets,” said Ed. “But you find out when you get into an institutional environment that all of the things that happen, happen because somebody voted and made a decision.”

Community organizations working on civil rights must continue the movement to mobilize for changes to voting laws that have continuously chipped away at that great victory in 1965.

Susan Burton & AOUON members marching in the 50th anniversary of the Selma Montgomery marches of 1965.

Throughout the next few months, voter registration training will take place for the specific purpose of training those who will be registering men and women in jails. If you are interested in participating please contact Ingrid Archie at 323.563.3575.

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