The Real Cost Of Freedom

Janis Joplin many times sang the mournful lyrics “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose” back in the ‘60s, and well she knew the cost of freedom. It was in the price of what she gave up…not what anyone took. She never really had freedom, despite her fame and convoluted fortune, and that’s what she was saying. I know this because my business partner at the time was her best friend, and she was with her until the end.

The Cost Of Freedom Blog is about how we’ve all lost our freedom by our collective choice of attitude. We might be free to drive around and do a lot of things freely, but few people seem to know how much we’ve given up to be “free,” and what that’s costing them…and us as a society. Our prisons and jails are full of people who know the pain of that lost freedom, but the fact is few of them had it to begin with. The same is true to a less dramatic but no less impactful way about many of the rest of us who live in prisons of a different kind.

But it’s not just that, by any means. It’s much more positive than that. It’s about how we take steps to get that freedom back…again by our choice of attitude, and by our willingness to tell the truth and be accountable for our thoughts, words and actions––how we learn to respect one another, and our individual cultures, gender and personal circumstances.

The photo above depicts freedom to me, both in an energetic, visual sense, and in a more personal sense. I twice flew a light plane over that bridge, once when it was enshrouded in thick fog and only a few skyscrapers (literally) poked through the layers of Walt Disney clouds, and again later on in her famous “golden glow” at sunset. Many years later, I stood under her with a group of my closest friends celebrating a breakthrough moment in my life. I had just addressed a luncheon of the members of the San Francisco Yacht Club on the subject of the meaning and true value of personal freedom, as one who served 2 1/2 years in federal prison, and whose federal prosecutor later wrote the Foreword to a book I authored. Behind me in the distance as I spoke to this esteemed body of accomplished people…was Alcatraz.

This Blog Site is about Personal Freedom, and I’d like to focus on those who have done time on either side of the fences and walls. It is my desire to explore ways and exchange ideas and principles of understanding how we create a better, more effective and truly correctional system of criminal justice. If we can make even a 15% positive change, the impact on society overall will be huge. Imagine what it could be like if we could make that 50%. We can. We just have to think…and act…differently. I know, “easier said than done”…but we have to start somewhere. Why not start with ourselves?

Don Kirchner ReturnToHonor.org

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Obama Supports Prisoner Re-entry Summit

Barack Obama Issues Statement Supporting Prisoner Reentry Summit

September 22, 2008.

San Francisco, CA – In a welcome statement for the Third Annual Prisoner Reentry Summit, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) commended San Francisco city leaders for their “innovative work to reduce recidivism” and pledged to create opportunities for former prisoners if elected president.

In his letter, Senator Obama recognized that American urban communities are facing an “incarceration and post-incarceration crisis.” Senator Obama vowed to “create a prison-to-work incentive program, modeled on the successful Welfare-to-Work Partnership, to create ties between employers and third-party agencies that provide training and support services to ex-offenders and to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.” Senator Obama also pledged that he would “work to reform correctional systems that prevent former inmates from finding and maintaining employment.”

The Third Annual Summit is being organized by the Safe Communities Reentry Council (SCRC). The SCRC was established in 2005 to promote the safe and successful return of formerly incarcerated San Franciscans by developing a comprehensive support system that reduces violence and recidivism, and promotes public safety.

According to SCRC spokesperson and Public Defender Jeff Adachi, “We are very pleased that Senator Obama has issued a statement in support of re-envisioning federal reentry policies. With one out of every 100 Americans in jail or prison, we need to provide greater support to former prisoners who want to turn their lives around.”

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