Ex-convicts join ranks of lobbyists in Albany

Nearly 100 ex-convicts threaded their way among hordes of noisy schoolchildren clogging halls around the Capitol Tuesday, advocating legislation to protect their employment and voting rights, close underused ...

[Albany finest]

Great story, and shows how alike the lobbist ex cons are to the Albany power base of politics. No sense sending choir girl lobbists to Albany, but ex cons will fit right in.
Any open positions for enforcers for hire with the State Politicians and Albany local Pols?
The right in your face attitude, I'm the man swager, a concealed illegal handgun, and of course keeping contact with the hood, jail cell mates, AND New Yorks finest echelon of Politicians, and you MR. Criminal Ex can be anything you want to be. Forget school, education, and working the middle class way. Hooking up with the Politicians can make good things happen.

[Mansfield]

Taken from

The Reentry Advocate Newsletter Oct. 2007

Changing the language will help re-entry

By Charles See
Executive Director
Cleveland Community Re-entry

At the numerous seminars, discussions and panels I attend in the United States concerning prisoner reentry I encounter more and more well-meaning people who sincerely want to help individuals returning home from a period of incarceration. However, many of these people are using language that is hurtful and counterproductive to the re-entry cause. I realize their pejorative words are not intended to set the movement back, but they are — out of ignorance — perpetuating stereotypes with their words nonetheless.

Negative terms like “ex-cons” and “ex-felons” are buzzwords the media uses to conjure up images of persons who are still a danger to society and therefore should be closely watched and/or are not worthy of our trust. It is much easier to treat someone unfairly, deny them employment, and make their return from a period of incarceration all the more difficult if, in the public mind, these individuals deserve such treatment.

Years ago the homeless used to be called “bums,”“hobos” and “vagrants,” but these terms are no longer acceptable when referring to this population. In a similar fashion individuals suffering from mental illnesses were once called “lunatics,” but when society came to the conclusion that we should treat these individuals with respect, the first step in the process was to change the language.

A similar change must occur in this field if we are serious about instituting real solutions to a growing national problem. The accepted term in prisoner re-entry today is “formerly incarcerated persons,” and the faster we can make the linguistic shift, the faster this pressing problem will be solved.

Charles See has been the executive director of Lutheran Metro Ministry’s Cleveland Community Re-entry program for 31 years, which makes it the oldest re-entry program in the United States.