Oct. 28, 2018

Anatomy of a Theft
Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - One of the simplest crimes for police to analyze is the basic crime of theft. It’s always accompanied by the motive of profit or gain. In other words, someone else possesses something that would bring another person a benefit and the first person desires to take it from the second. This concept is so simple that most cannot, will not or do not reasonably apply it to the issue of voting rights.

I’ve long felt that the value of anything could be measured in the eagerness that someone else has to take it, control it or prevent one from using it. If we look realistically, these dynamics have impacted OUR votes for years. Some are too young to remember the poll tests that gave cover to racially discriminatory exclusion from the voting process. While objectionable, tests were far less physically damaging than the beatings and lynching that accompanied the challenge for the full right of citizenship. To the value of our current right to vote, we can add the value of the brothers and sisters who were brutalized and the lives that were lost in this struggle.

Although I honor the effort of OUR ancestors in their struggles for freedom, I acknowledge that a vote is "owned" by each citizen to be done with as she/he chooses. I cannot, however, accept the logic of not voting "because nothing will change" or "because the choice between the lesser of two evils is no choice." For those who hold those views, I can assure you that nothing will change without the influence of the vote, and can assert that history has shown that when we’ve been faced with overwhelming adversity, the lesser of two evils has proven more acceptable than not.

I encourage you to really listen to the "PLAN" that’s being outlined daily for each of us. While the current Republicans in control have given a Billion Dollars (plus) in tax relief to the wealthiest Americans and suggest plans for additional tax relief for this Affluent Welfare Package, the Senate Majority (Republican) leader has stated publicly that the only way to resolve the resulting and increasing budget deficit is to reduce the amounts disbursed in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits! This is the Reverse Robin hood Principle -- rob the poor and give to the rich.

Except for Divine Intervention, these same Republicans would’ve stripped the benefits of the ACA (Obamacare) from millions of Americans who would otherwise be under-insured or uninsured. Within the last week, there’s been quiet, but extensive media coverage of Republican efforts to disassembled insurance protections for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. Soon, under the Republican philosophy of governance, the only option for Americans afflicted with chronic or severe illness will be to die, and not from Sarah Palin’s mythical “Death Panels.”

Before we "truly" endeavor to protect and cherish our right to vote, we must consider it the precious commodity it is. We must guard and defend it with as much vigor and determination as we’d safeguard our automobiles, jewelry, big-screen TVs or any other valuable we can reach out and touch. While those tangible items allow us to measure our "creature comforts," our votes and who we cast them for will determine our quality of life and the quality of the lives of our children far into the future.

In 2016, the majority of American voters voted against #45. Unfortunately, they were not the right 3 million voters and too many others ignored their responsibility to vote. For those choosing to look critically, the last two years illuminate the value of the vote. We must not abuse or ignore our votes in 2018.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women—and is Host of WPFW-FM 89.3’s “Wake Up and Stay Woke” every Wednesday, 10 AM E.T.)

Oct. 21, 2018

Young Medical Worker Executed by Boko Haram Caliphate

(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) - "We urge you: spare and release these women,” begged Patricia Danzi, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Africa. .. “Like all those abducted, they are not part of any fight."

"They are daughters and sisters, one is a mother -- women with their futures ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to."

Nonetheless, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a self-declared caliphate of Boko Haram, rejected their entreaties and executed 24 year old Hauwa Liman, an aide worker. The insurgents further vowed to make another captive, schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, a slave for life.

In a video seen by some journalists, Hauwa was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab, and was then shot at a close range.

A midwife with ICRC, Saifura Ahmed, who had been abducted at the same time, was executed by Boko Haram in September.

ISWAP said the two women were killed because they were Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that abandoned their Islam when they chose to work with the Red Cross.

The 24-year-old nurse and student of Health Education at the University of Maiduguri was among the three aid workers abducted in an attack on a heavily-guarded military facility in the small town of Rann, Borno State on March 1, 2018.

The insurgents also abducted Alice Loksha Ngaddah, a nurse and mother of two, and Saifura Husseini Ahmed, a midwife. Four soldiers and four policemen were also killed.

“From today, Sharibu and Ngaddah are now our slaves," it said. “Based on our doctrines, it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want to do with them."

Regrets from Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed did not persuade some Nigerian citizens that the government had done all it could possibly do to free the women.

Dr Dípò (@OgbeniDipo), writing on The Nigerian Guardian, commented: “If she was a child of the elite, perhaps there would be more urgency and this wouldn’t happen.”

Dr Chima Matthew Amadi (@AMADICHIMA) wrote: Hauwa Leman executed by ISWAP according to reports. We had 10 days to save her life but we were busy. Busy with politics; busy with useless Executive Order; busy with nothing. Sorry Hauwa, Nigeria failed you, like we failed Anita yesterday and countless others.”

Meanwhile, a new entry into the political race for the presidency is Obiageli Ezekwesili. In 2014, Ms Ezekwesili, a graduate of Harvard and a founding director of Transparency International, captured the world’s attention with #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign to rescue 276 schoolgirls who had been kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria.

In announcing a presidential bid on Oct. 7, the former World Bank official now hopes to upend establishment politics in Africa’s most populous country.

Global Information Network creates and distributes news and feature articles on current affairs in Africa to media outlets, scholars, students and activists in the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to introduce important new voices on topics relevant to Americans, to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media.

Oct. 28, 2018

Part 1 of 2-part series

An Inmate Hopes This Prison Program Will Give Him the Tools for a New Life 
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Elvin Colton (Not his real name) is a 32-year-old ninth grade dropout and recovering drug addict in prison for the fourth time. But later this year when he goes home to his children and family, he believes he will have spent his final years behind bars. There’s a reason for his newfound hope.

Colton, whose real name is being withheld in order to protect his privacy, says the Continuum of Care Program (COC) at the Graceville Correctional Center - a privately-run facility operated by the GEO Group, Inc. in Jackson County Florida - is practically saving his life. Before leaving he will have earned his General Education Degree (GED). He also will have taken business and vocational courses offered at Graceville in preparation for his new life and career - a marked contrast to the way it was before - enduring a sentence and then being released from a public prison facility with little more than a bus fare home.

“It was, ‘I’m gone do my time and then go home.’ Get $50 and be kicked out,” he recalled with a chuckle. The memories of other inmates in COC are basically the same. Another recalls being released with no transportation as he pleaded that his home was more than a hundred miles away.

While not a magic cure for the ills of the criminal justice system, Colton’s experience under the COC program at Graceville has been much different as GEO Care and other companies are shedding light on ways that could help turn prisons from incubators of future crime to potential pathways for stability and security for former inmates.

Reducing recidivism has long eluded the experts. In 2005, the Bureau of Justice Statistics undertook a study of over 400,000 prisoners in 30 states to measure recidivism. The results were discouraging: 56 percent of former inmates were arrested within a year after release and more than two-thirds, or 67.8 percent, were back in the criminal justice system within three years.

In response to data like this, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and the U.S. Justice Department’s Crime Justice Institute (CJI) produced a report, Implementing Evidence-Based Practice in Community Corrections: The Principles of Effective Intervention, such as assessing risk, targeted skills training, reinforcement and getting feedback. GEO has long been developing ways to implement such principles and develop metrics to make sure they are effective.

“Being here and getting the education and the help I need, the tutoring and being in my substance abuse class,” Colton says. “And then my continued care like they help out a whole lot with being released back into society, like all the benefits they have as far as like you get help with your housing and somewhere to live, you get bus tickets if you don’t have transportation. They help with so much stuff…It’s like positive-in, positive-out, you know.”

A father of five children, yearning to succeed for himself and for them, Colton says his experiences in the public Department of Corrections have been no comparison.

“Being in the DOC is like you’re fending for yourself. You don’t have the help from the teachers. And you’ve got to study on your own and learn for yourself,” he said. “I prefer to be here and to do my time here - not to say that I love being in prison – but to be here, it’s a blessing to be here.”

His sentiments are echoed by dozens of others in GED programs, career skills classes, a tier specifically for faith-led inmates and drug rehab groups. Some, once hardened criminals, are nearly brought to tears while telling of their mothers and families witnessing their GED graduations.

GEO Care says any inmate who enrolls in the program is assigned a case manager upon their release. There is also a call center for released inmates that they have access to for 12 months.

Derrick D. Schofield, executive vice president of the COC program and Reentry Services for GEO, says GEO pours $2.9 million annually into the COC program at Graceville alone and $10 million annually into the 15 COC programs across the country. “When you do it dirt cheap, you get poor results,” he said.

Schofield said GEO would like to place even greater resources toward the post-release services such as clothing, housing, and transportation. “We want them to succeed,” Schofield said of the inmates.

Earlier this year, the GEO Group received the “Innovation in Corrections” Award from the American Correctional Association (ACA). Among the reasons was that the recidivism rate among released inmates who did not participate in GEO’s COC program was nearly twice the rate as those who did participate in the program, according to analysis included in nomination for the award submitted by the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University.

Prior to serving as assistant warden of programs at Graceville, Wilton Cloud had spent 10 years as an assistant warden in the state corrections system. He said he thought, more or less, that this was the only way to do things. “But this company is sewing so many resources into this COC program that not only do they give an inmate an education or a vocation, but they also try to change their thinking so maybe they can put that to use,” he said of his experience with Geo Care.

GEO Care says 90 percent of its inmates take advantage of the programs it offers and in some cases inmates have housing and even jobs awaiting them. The COC is only two years old and officials are just starting to gather statistics to determine the possible impact on recidivism. According to last year’s annual report, the target goal was “assisting individuals reenter society as productive and employable citizens.”

GEO’s recent annual report also outlines a glowing list of successes, which include 2,615 high school equivalency diplomas, 7,814 vocational certificates and 8,412 substance abuse program completions. It also boasts on its award-winning cognitive, behavioral and substance abuse treatment; high tech, enhanced academic programming; enhanced vocational training through nationally certified programs, and faith-character based services with an emphasis on mentoring and therapeutic community settings.

While the debate rages over whether companies such as GEO Care are part of the problem or the solution to the many challenges of the U.S. penal system, Colton is intensifying his preparation for his new life. He will spend less than two more months in Graceville before being released.

“He’ll continue to meet with me every other Monday. We’ll discuss any concerns or questions that come up, any kind of support needs,” says Katherine Grady, his COC caseworker. Colton will also be eligible for post-release services such as help getting his Social Security card, his birth certificate, a resume, and a Florida ID.

Colton traces some of his early troubles to abuses he suffered while growing up in foster homes. But he believes he is ready to make it on his own this time.

“At this moment I have no concerns. I believe I’m going to succeed and I’m going to be successful with the help I get from here, from Graceville,” he said. “I see my future now. At first I didn’t, but now I do…I have a whole different perspective on life now.”

GEO does not cast itself as the sole answer to the dysfunction in the nation’s prison system; nor does it compare itself to other prison systems or prison operators. For example, Schofield explained that the decrease in recidivism over the last three years is strictly one that GEO representatives have monitored among GEO’s own population. Nonetheless, he says, the company’s COC programs merit consideration in a wider effort at prison reform.

He concludes, “Don’t think of us as a private prison company. Think of us as a solutions provider.”