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

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Out of Jail -- Nobody is Hiring


Ex-Felons Can't Get Jobs After Convictions Years Ago.

Today I came across a very disturbing article related to prisoner re-entry programs and the hurdles they face in returning former prisoners to the job market.

"It took Vikki Hankins 18 years to get out of prison. It's her bad luck she got out during a recession. For an ex-felon in Florida to find a job these days is tough — nearly impossible.

"Basically, nobody will hire you," said Stephanie Porta, spokeswoman for Orlando ACORN, a community-based advocacy organization that works with ex-felons looking for employment. "Even people with little felonies are not finding jobs."

Hankins, 40, released eight months ago from a federal prison in Florida, is living in an International Drive motel paid for by Advocate4Justice, a group that promotes prison reform. She has been turned down for jobs at Denny's, McDonald's, Golden Corral, Walmart, Home Depot, Ramada Inn, Hess and 7-Eleven.

Hankins was sentenced to 23 years for possession of 22 grams of cocaine, but the mark of her conviction is something she will carry the rest of her life.

"There are people who paid the penalty for their mistakes. Inside the soul and the heart, they have changed completely," said Hankins, who was convicted under the alias Vanessa Wade. "For those people, do you continue to punish them by holding them to the fire for the rest of their lives?"

"Florida, home to more than 600,000 released felons, should follow the lead of other states that offer employers tax incentives to hire them", said state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. "And it needs to revisit a bill that stalled in the Florida Senate", he said. "That legislation would have made it easier for released felons to have their criminal records expunged", Siplin said. "Such a move would allow them to legally say on an application form that they have not been convicted of a felony".

"A person who hasn't committed a crime in 10 or 15 years, they should be able to resume their lives," Siplin said.

The bill to make it easier for records to be expunged died after opposition from employers who said they need to know the criminal backgrounds of job applicants. Others say criminal records might continue to exist in various databases, even after their official removal.

source: SunSentine.com
CLICK TO READ COMPLETE ARTICLE.


Posted By: The Candid Blogger
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