Welcome to Prison Pipeline, a podcast dedicated to exposing and dismantling the systems that funnel young people—especially those from marginalized communities—out of schools and into prisons. Hosted by Dwayne, who brings firsthand experience navigating the prison system, and Dr. Sissy- a surgeon, psychiatrist and passionate advocate for equity and justice, this show dives deep into America’s school-to-prison pipeline.
Each episode, Dwayne & Dr. Sissy tackle tough questions: Why are so many students being pushed out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system? How do race, disability, and poverty play a role? Who benefits from these patterns, and what can we do to disrupt them?They also shine a spotlight on grassroots organizations and solutions making real change—from restorative justice programs to policy reforms.Whether you’re an educator, a parent, a policy maker, or someone eager to learn, Prison Pipeline arms you with the knowledge, tools, and hope you need to join the fight for justice.Tune in and be part of the movement to break the pipeline, find hope, and build a future where every young person gets to thrive.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/da-crew-podcast--5763835/support.
Each episode, Dwayne & Dr. Sissy tackle tough questions: Why are so many students being pushed out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system? How do race, disability, and poverty play a role? Who benefits from these patterns, and what can we do to disrupt them?They also shine a spotlight on grassroots organizations and solutions making real change—from restorative justice programs to policy reforms.Whether you’re an educator, a parent, a policy maker, or someone eager to learn, Prison Pipeline arms you with the knowledge, tools, and hope you need to join the fight for justice.Tune in and be part of the movement to break the pipeline, find hope, and build a future where every young person gets to thrive.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/da-crew-podcast--5763835/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
K legs and gentlemen, May I have your attention please,
(01:47):
and the show starts in seven line eight seven six
five shoot fun cool Well.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hello, Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Welcome to tonight's episode of The Crew Podcast. We have
two special hosts that's joining us tonight. They're gonna be
sharing about the prison pipeline, something that's very needy. So
I want you, guys to make sure that you share
this episode with somebody. Invite somebody to tune in with
you tonight, because I guarantee you you will be educated,
(02:33):
empowered and encouraged to get involved and to share this
with someone. So I want you to grab your favorite
beverlechrap you a pin, get comfortable, and get ready for
tonight's episode. I'm super super excited to have these two
amazing co hosts to share tonight. We have Duwayne and
(02:55):
doctor Sisi. I'm gonna go ahead and bring them up.
I'm gonna go ahead and bring.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Them up, and yeah, go ahead and share this out
with somebody.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Hey, welcome.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
We're gonna be talking about the prison pipeline from reform
to recivitism. We got the ours going on. Dwayne, how
are you?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
I'm fine to see how good.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Good. Are you showing that your screen is frozen on
your end?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
My screen is just okay, there we go, little glitching.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I am in California, and I know we have a governor,
Governor Newsom, who has done so much for the prison system.
In sixteen, Proposition fifty seven was passed and so it
reforms a couple of things. It reduces sentences from felonies
(04:09):
down to misdemeanors, and of course what that does is
it affects the time, so it'll cut down on the
population within the prison system. So that's that was a
very helpful thing. He's also working on some legislation currently
for lifers, so I'm really excited to see that. I
think it's.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
It's about time, most definitely, most definitely in this country,
we've we've had an epidemic for decades of what everyone
here's that term prison pipeline or the prison the school,
the prison pipeline or this prip to prison pipeline, and
we really never get in debt to what that really means.
(04:54):
And in this instance today we want to kind of
deal with the overall act effects of what the prison
pipeline really is and how it affects our daily life
and how it affects the things that we do, how
we do it, and how we can do what Governor
Newsom and a few other governors across this nation have
(05:15):
been doing over the past few years to cartel people
going to prison, giving them alternative programs to where they
can get their lives back in order and everything else.
When we look at what we call a pipeline, meaning
that something is giving us a straight path to another
end from a start point where we begin, we can
(05:40):
see even in our school systems from grade school to intermediate,
middle school to high school, there's a lot of the
things that they do and how they teach our kids,
and all the way down to the tables and chairs
that they sit in in the lunch rooms and how
they've actually changed that, and a lot of that seating
is the same seating that you see when you go
(06:02):
into the prison systems, whether that's in the state of
Texas where I am, or in the in the state
of California where Sissy is, you see a lot of
these things that mimic what we see in the prison system,
and it's almost like it's grooming our children to be
able to be comfortable to the aspects of prison. Remember
(06:23):
back in the day when we were growing up, you
will always hear your parents say, don't do this, don't
do that, and we will be so fearful of doing
it because of them giving us those, uh, those warnings.
These days, we're our society has been so conditioned to
be used to those things that prison brings. So you
(06:44):
hear kids saying things like, I don't fear prison, I'm
not scared of jail because they've already been there in
their local elementary school, in their their local middle school.
The buses that they ride are the same bluebird buses
that the prison are taken in when they go to prison.
So it's a lot of familiar, familiar moments that we
(07:07):
have conditioned our kids and even ourselves to when it
comes to prison. And so those are the pipeline issues
that we don't really touch and we don't discuss. More So,
we discuss the disparities of prison, the disparities of charging,
the disparities of sentences, and all of that different things,
(07:28):
but we don't talk about the root cause of getting
to that disparity, the root cause of making our kids
so desensitized to where they're willing to go with their
friends and Robert Store are willing to go with their
friends and commit a crime because they don't fear the
consequences because they have been conditioned to understand and know
(07:50):
what that feels like. Because they're in a classroom all
day long. That is telling them they can't use their
cell phones. You can't talk in class, you can't eat
in class, you can't do this, you can't do that.
And that's the same thing you get in prison. You
can't take your cell phone with you, you can't do
any of those things. And so that's the conditioning part
of the prison. The pipeline, Sissy, could you speak to
(08:11):
that for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, you know, from the time before I was even born,
you had magazines with pin ups and all it was
was a gal with a bathing suit. Well take a
look at what you see on beaches these days, Oh
my goodness. So you know, over the years, what they
would be considered desensitization compared to now is nothing. And
(08:36):
you know subliminally too, you have a lot of things
fed and to children as they grow up, and so
it becomes second nature to them. And also peer pressure.
Well there's something to be said about that wanting to
be accepted, you don't something you wouldn't normally do, or
(08:59):
you're taught not to do you would do anyhow, and
then all of a sudden you're faced with something and
you're like, oh, I guess I really should have thought
this out. So I think a lot of that has
to do with it as well, besides the desensitization aspect
of it. But there are a lot of juvenile programs
that actually work hand in hand with different counties if
(09:23):
there are infractions, if things move forward where a child
gets into the system, and they have to do that
to give them those aha moments otherwise that they wouldn't
have had.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Yes, And that's another element as well. Some states, in
some counties and cities do an excellent job at diversion
programs to keep our youth out of the system. You
do have some that don't. I know here in Texas
we have a lot of instances where parents are dragged
(09:56):
down to the actual jail to the county to have
to give answer for truancy for things that would normally
be something that would handle at the principal's office. Now
they're making it a criminal offense. Misdemeanor, mind you, but
it's still a criminal offense that if something doesn't happen.
The first thing the kid sees at five to six
(10:18):
years old is the SRO officer, the police officer assigned
to the school. And so this officer that has a
gun and has handcuffs and it has a police car outside,
this kid is now seeing that for the first time
instead of seeing their counselor or seeing their teacher or
coach or the principal to discipline. So we've already started
(10:38):
taking the discipline out the hands of the parent. We
took the discipline out of the hand of the administration,
and now we put discipline right onto the doorstep of
the law enforcement officer who introduces you to the court system,
who introduced you to prison. And so those are the
beginning fruits of the prison of the prison pipeline. And
(10:59):
that really started in the late nineties going into the
early two thousands to where we start making that condition
of grooming our kids to be familiar with law enforcement.
On the tail end of this may sing you the
jail rather than law enforcement. When I was growing up,
we saw him driving down the street, we were flagging
(11:19):
him down. So we can get a football card or
a basketball car, or we could just talk to him
and say, hey, run your lights so we can hear.
Those were the interactions of law enforcement in the late
seventies in the early eighties. But now we have to
where a kid wouldn't even the stop an officer. I
spoke to an officer the other day and he actually
(11:40):
jumped because I actually was speaking to him and said hi,
and it made me laugh. And after he got through jumping,
I was like, oh man, you conditioned, are chie? He
just busted out laughing because he thought about it. But
it's a moment to where even they have been conditioned
to have the mentality of the prison pipeline because they
have to look for certain people, they have to be
(12:01):
aware of certain things. They're looking at our youth and
not even innocent anymore that they need any moment harm
them as officers. So everyone on every side is starting
to be conditioned for this thing in this moment that's
called prison, the prison pipeline. And so we as a society,
and what we're hoping to start the discussion of tonight
(12:24):
is acknowledging that, but also looking at what we can
do from our standpoint, because everyone can go through their
legislature and get changed. We can maybe write them on
all of that stuff. But this stuff that's so much
of a loan process. But we all can start in
our own homes. We can start in our local communities
with our own schools, and we can begin to have
(12:46):
them with our school boards change some of those programs.
And as Sissy was talking about, where some of these
cities have made steps in strides to give our kids alternative,
alternative discipline. Rather than having them the first time they
get in trouble they're looking at the officer in the
back of the car. At five six years old, they
would actually have someone mentoring them, getting with their parents
(13:09):
and helping them divert from that bad behavior. And I
think that's what we need to start working on identifying
the things that look like in that minute prison and
start getting those things out of our school. Let's go
back to regular chairs for the luntro go ahead, Sisty.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
There are a lot of programs, not as many as
there should be, but many towns, many cities have like
a Boys and Girls club, a center, if you will,
which is so helpful. It helps the kids with homework,
they play sports with one another, they have that camaraderie,
(13:48):
They feel wanted. When you have they say idle hands,
You know the same from idle hands. You don't want
a child to have idle hands when they have idle
hands easily influenced into doing things that perhaps are a
no no. And so between the time school lets out
and parents get off of work, this is a really
(14:10):
good in between. They have teachers or volunteers even there
that help the kids with their homework. And also they
just they provide a sense of belonging. And I truly believe,
at the heart of hearts with anybody, a sense of
(14:33):
belonging really has to do a lot with that. If
we can instill in our child the foundation of a
sense of belonging, I'll bet you that would take down
the percentage quite a bit of youth.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Offenders, most definitely. And that is the first action that
we can take as a community. Let's start funding and
start supporting our local boys, but our local wife, our
local organizations through our churches, and youth programs through various
organizations in our neighborhoods. Let's start getting with them. Let's
(15:10):
start getting with our baseball, football, basketball programs, and strengthening
them so they can be an outlet for our kids.
So when they are struggling, when they are having problems
at home, when they are having behavioral issues, our bullying issues,
are being bullied. We can stop the progress of crime
and criminal behavior in our youth at the bottom of
(15:33):
the forefront. And that's before it happens. If we just
concentrate more on our local organizations and not rely so
much on the police department and our county institutions to
keep the youth that we think are problem Sometimes we
can just reach out to our neighbor, and our neighbor
(15:54):
can spend time with that young person and get them
to go where they need to be and get them
to the organizations where they need to be. We have
to come together as a community and start teaching you
the things and the behavior principles and also the discipline,
not in the positions to where they need someone to
(16:16):
take the jail or introduce them to ours system or
the U system or even the prison. And so that's
an important moment that we need to lean more on.
The Boy's Club. I was actually in the Boy Scouts
in the Club Scouts, and I also went to the
Boys Club and the Boys Club was where I saw
(16:38):
a lot of my first concerts, where we were able
to go to all kinds of different venues all over
the country because the Boy's Club, it may have cost
my mama fifteen twenty dollars a week, but it was
worth it because it kept us out of trouble, It
kept us focused, It kept us in a place to
where we had a sense of well being as young
(16:58):
men and young women. Or with the Girls Club, and
those are things that's really missing these days because people
have been taught to share those organizations because of what
our society norms have been. We're scared someone's going to
harm our kids. We're scared of all these different things.
While the people that have the help force are at
(17:18):
the Boys Club, are at the Girls Club, they are
at the Salvation Army, they are at the YMCA, And
so we have to start or the YWCA, we start
leaning in on those organizations being apart volunteering, doing the
things we have to do, because we have to start
giving our youth that other alternative to a prison pipeline,
(17:40):
and that's actually a pipeline to success in their lives.
And it starts with that.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, I mean you touched on something too. A lot
of parents have their kids have different sports from any
type of martial arts, baseball, football, basketball, you know, just
different things like that. A lot of a lot of
them play on the tennis teams too. They learn that
at a very young age. So it's not just they're
(18:09):
the count a lot of counties and towns they offer
the different teams and different aspects like that. It's very
difficult for parents to transport their children back and forth
to these events. I know it is, so it really
does take a village. You know, they have a lot
of parents that are available, so you take turns maybe
(18:30):
if you're available on a weekend and they're not, or
whatever the case may be. You work together in unity
for the greater purpose of your child. And that's really
really what it boils down to. From a child, you know,
from knee high to a grasshopper on. It really does
take a village because besides, you know, parental in home
(18:51):
care that's given the outside is even a greater influence
on that child. So we have to work on that
aspect of rearing our children when we're doing so. I
wish it came with a manual.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
I know right, if life came with a manually, all
would be better. Uh, And that's the I guess the
next step after that because we have local and community organizations,
our own actions of being in those organizations, relying on
the village to help us out when we're a busy
parents or even if there's some single parents out there,
(19:26):
that's a single mom, a single dad, or a grandparent
that's raising their grandkids, or uncles and amies that's raising
their nieces and nephews. We lean on your community to
help you out. The second phase outside of that is
everyone in the community helping your local city government be
better for you. And that means showing up to the
(19:48):
city council meetings. That means being a part of the budget.
That means being part of those meetings and letting them know, hey,
we need this because we have kids that need this,
helping them to start putting money toward these kids, because
right now, the money is going to the schools not
to do education or provide education. It's going to the
(20:10):
schools to actually secure the schools. And that means that
if they're securing the schools, that means they're going to
get your child out. If your child has a behavior issue.
If your child seems like they're going to have a
behavior issue, they're going to get them out to school
because they're looking for security and not education right now.
And so we have to reverse that trend. We have
(20:32):
to start getting more involved and making them and forcing
them to start funding education again and teaching our kids
abcs instead of prisons one, two threes, And that's kind
of what we need to concentrate on on the next step.
And so that means some of us taking a few
moments out of our time once a month and maybe rotating.
(20:52):
You know, hey, my neighbor on the other side, you
go this week and let everybody know what happens. Next month,
I'll go, and then I'll did everybody know what happened
the next month, and next person go and everybody working
together because we're protecting our kids because we're already grown.
We're grown. I got grand kids, since he got grant kids,
and so at the end of the day, we've already
(21:13):
participated in whatever form and fashion that we're going to
do with society. Now we're trying to protect our grandkids
to be able to go and not worry about the
prison pipeline. We did have some of our presidents that
stepped up and did a great job of cortelion different
things that have to do with disparities and prison sentences
(21:34):
and charges, and with that, our populations have gone down.
I know, here in the state of Texas in the
month of March, we were only like maybe one hundred
and thirty some thousand people that were actually locked up
in this state. And that's a good thing, even though
it's a lot of folks, but that's still a good
thing because that's down a whole lot from what we
(21:54):
normally would have in our prison system. So that means
that a lot of the things that they did it worked.
A lot of the programs that they did so people
would repeat as offenders, it worked. And so those are
the things that we have to make sure. If you
know your neighbor across the street as a fellaing and
they're having a hard time find a job, reach out
(22:15):
as a neighbor and say, hey, I know a place
that's hiring up the street, or my job is hiring.
Once you come over there and apply, be a friendly person.
You know. Sometimes we just have to do the small
things in order to help out the masses. And then
that we'll keep that individual employ and moving forward and
help them and that way they won't have to worry
(22:36):
about having to be put in a position to where
they have to make a choice of doing good or bad.
And so some of those steps are things that we
can start taking of just really paying attention. I know,
sometimes we can get in our own feelings and our
own beliefs and we see someone with a fellony or
we know they've been to prison, and we can clutch
our purse and lock our doors and all the things
(22:56):
that we do, but sometimes give them grace. Let you
be in the same position, and let's start reaching out
to them and helping them, help support them so that
way they can find their way, because once they find
their way, they'll be the main person to help you
and to help someone else. And that's the second step
of the prison pipeline. How to destroy that pipeline is
(23:20):
to start acknowledging that we have a society that probably
over half of the people have been in the judicial
system some way, shape form or fashion. Let's support those
people and let's be able to get them to move
forward in life so they won't have to go backwards.
And that'll keep those numbers going down and give youth
an example of what it looks like to not even
(23:42):
have to worry about that moment. But if they do
find themselves there, there is help to be able to
avoid that or get out of it and do better.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh for sure, there are programs right now I know,
and not the county that I'm in, but the county
that's just right next to me too. They have if
you take different classes almost like continuing education, which is
really helpful. They teach a lot of de escalation courses.
(24:14):
They teach communication courses, and it's really helpful. You know,
a lot of times people won't talk if they're around
an authority figure. So if you have a young adult
in their twenties that is willing to take these courses,
(24:35):
that wants to learn and become, if you will, a facilitator,
they have these courses where that they come together almost
very like an AA meeting, if you will. You know,
whether it's a substance abuse or you or you have
people who have been in je Jay we call JIV
here juvenile Hall. They've been in some sort of have
(24:58):
some sort of infraction or whatever, or family issues just
really anything and they come together and they have these
group meetings and they're able to talk about their concerns
and and it's really difficult when they're in the same
environment and their home and their friends and the family
(25:19):
and the town and everything to not repeat the same thing.
And it just it's it recycles. And so dealing with
the youth with these programs, it doesn't always have to
be a mediator or a psychologist that actually facilitates these
They have the group, the group classes that they that
they have and it's really awesome to see that these
(25:42):
kids get into it. I work with them, so it's
just kind of great to see their them bloom. They're
so happy to do so, you know why because they
have a sense of belonging. Yeah, you know. And and
the thing is is that if you can catch them
young and I hate, I hate to say that, that
(26:03):
just sounds so horrible, catch a young adult young, but
if you if you nip it off before it becomes
a consistent thing, so you eliminate that receivitism of them
going back as an adult. Uh, they won't be part
of the statistics on that. So his his his WiFi,
(26:29):
Are you back there?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
We go? Yeah, that's the key the uh we have
to uh work hard to start young with our kids
of teaching me and those values, uh helping them out
and when they get into a moment to where they're
they're like, oh wow, life is hard. It's this this
(26:50):
that to be able to guide them through. At young agents,
I'm not talking about teenage agents. I'm talking about young
elementary agents. Catching them young just like you said, so
we can move forward and help them out so they
can make good decisions when they get a little older.
And it starts, and that leads us to the third
(27:11):
part of this moment is leaning out toward our faith
based organizations and our faith based community. I would speak
to them directly and say, I need you guys to
do better. I need you to do better at establishing
programs to reach out back to those individuals that happen
(27:32):
to find themselves in trouble, and not only those people,
but also creating the programs again that our youth can
actually go to the churches. You know, they used to
have vacation Bible schools that any kid could come to,
and they used to have summer camps. They used to
have all kinds of things that kids in the neighborhood
can just go to these faith based organizations in regardless
(27:54):
of your faith, you can go in and have a
safe place to learn and to play and to do
all the things you need to do while your idle
mind is just out there in life. And so we
need to get back to that moment. I know that
there's been a contentious moment because of all of the
things that we face in this society, but we need
(28:15):
to those of good will to take need to start
correcting those things first and then providing those safe places
through our faith based organizations to be able to help
our youth and to help guide them. To help finance
some of these things that these counties and cities that
can't really afford it. Our faith they organizations can. They
(28:35):
have plenty of money, and so they could get together
and start giving grants out to the local municipality to
help them with after school programs, to help them with
different things to help with youth. And for those families
that are struggling with an adolescent that maybe you have
some type of issues, they can then step in and
(28:56):
help them and keep them out of the system and
help them with a diversion program instead. And those are
things that we need to really concentrate on. Go ahead system.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
No, just really along the same lines. I know in
my in where I live, we have doctors for detriment,
and so you have some of those kids who don't
want to move forward and actually be they just stay
billy badass. You know, they've been programmed to just not
give into anything because it's a it's a defense mechanism.
(29:26):
So you have doctors that are belong to this, and
so we go in there and counsel and we have
to actually deconstruct that behavior. That's a that's a definite thing.
But you know the thing is those are specialists that
do that. So I mean, if there's any doctors that
are listening, please look into it into your you know,
(29:47):
into your own area and see if you can help
out that way as well. So I just wanted to
kind of throw that out there that it's not just
it's not just the counties. If you actually specialize and
you've gone to school and you want to help out,
really all help is great help. So please don't think
that you're not going to matter.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
You're definitely right about it. And just to top off
this topic today, because we don't want to be labor
too long. Today, we are really stating today that the
prison pipeline is a problem in our society. We all
know it, we've all seen it, we've understand it. Some
(30:25):
of us have been through it and it worked in
it have family members been through it, the system itself.
But we understand now that we need to start doing
things different for our next generation. And so we have
to start paying attention to these things that we're talking
about today, just small things of being able to just
change our own local communities so it can spread forward
(30:48):
throughout this country and we can leave our youth better
off than what we were not seeing the things that
we've had to see. They can actually go out and
really be successful, and the ones that need help, they
can get the help and then they can turn around
and be successful. So that's the reason for this today
is to really speak to that without getting to all
(31:12):
the technical moments of it today, and we just really
encourage everyone to reach out to those in your community,
your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, your pastors, your elders,
and sometimes your local city municipality. Reach out to them
and let them know that, hey, we want to find
(31:34):
something that we can do to continue to build our community,
but let's do it in a different way. So we
won't let you see the judge, we won't let them
see the police officer, we won't let them see the
local prison system. And then we can then turn the
tide for our officers as well, to have a comfortability
(31:54):
knowing that our kids are going to not treat them
a certain way, and then everybody can live better society,
uh than what we have right there.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, true that there. The children are are our future, guys,
And I know that you hear that all the time,
but I really just kind of want to encourage you
to just you know, ponder that for a minute. You know,
take take that and if you will sit with it.
(32:28):
The children are our future. We need to invest in
our children. This whether they're adults or even you know,
juvenile offenders. That just continues on it. It's too wide
and spread and it really just needs to stop. It's
difficult this day and age. I get it. There's you know,
(32:48):
two income families that have to work. Sometimes people work
multiple jobs just to just to survive, you know, just
to pay the bare minimum bills. So I know it's hard,
and I know a lot of children end up raising
themselves a lot because you know you have no choice.
So that's even more reason to reach out to your neighbors,
(33:12):
reach out to those those centers that are available, any
and all resources out there available to give you different
avenues to provide that support for your child because you're
not there. And here's the thing is is when you
are able to be there, guess what they're going to
rally around you as well. So it's a camaraderie not
(33:34):
only for adults, but for your children in participation of that.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
You're definitely right. And with that, Doctor Sissy, I think
we're going to end this session today. It was a
great discussion being able to talk about the prison pipeline,
being able to introduce this topic to the masses and
hopefully we help someone to understand a little bit about
the prison the pipeline, but also some actions that you
(34:03):
can take to start to cultail that prison pipeline. This
was fun and I definitely thank you, doctor Cissy. We
thank the crew, Angela fortor Miss Angela, doctor Angela, all
of that because she's all of that moment. We definitely
appreciate her for this moment. And there's anything you want
to say before we leave, Doctor Cissy.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Guys most definitely have a blessed Thanksgiving. And from myself,
Dwayne and my family and doctor Sissy, we thank you
for listening in and you guys have a blessed day.
Bye bye
K legs and gentlemen, May I have your attention please,
(01:47):
and the show starts in seven line eight seven six
five shoot fun cool Well.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hello, Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Welcome to tonight's episode of The Crew Podcast. We have
two special hosts that's joining us tonight. They're gonna be
sharing about the prison pipeline, something that's very needy. So
I want you, guys to make sure that you share
this episode with somebody. Invite somebody to tune in with
you tonight, because I guarantee you you will be educated,
(02:33):
empowered and encouraged to get involved and to share this
with someone. So I want you to grab your favorite
beverlechrap you a pin, get comfortable, and get ready for
tonight's episode. I'm super super excited to have these two
amazing co hosts to share tonight. We have Duwayne and
(02:55):
doctor Sisi. I'm gonna go ahead and bring them up.
I'm gonna go ahead and bring.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Them up, and yeah, go ahead and share this out
with somebody.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Hey, welcome.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
We're gonna be talking about the prison pipeline from reform
to recivitism. We got the ours going on. Dwayne, how
are you?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
I'm fine to see how good.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Good. Are you showing that your screen is frozen on
your end?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
My screen is just okay, there we go, little glitching.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I am in California, and I know we have a governor,
Governor Newsom, who has done so much for the prison system.
In sixteen, Proposition fifty seven was passed and so it
reforms a couple of things. It reduces sentences from felonies
(04:09):
down to misdemeanors, and of course what that does is
it affects the time, so it'll cut down on the
population within the prison system. So that's that was a
very helpful thing. He's also working on some legislation currently
for lifers, so I'm really excited to see that. I
think it's.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
It's about time, most definitely, most definitely in this country,
we've we've had an epidemic for decades of what everyone
here's that term prison pipeline or the prison the school,
the prison pipeline or this prip to prison pipeline, and
we really never get in debt to what that really means.
(04:54):
And in this instance today we want to kind of
deal with the overall act effects of what the prison
pipeline really is and how it affects our daily life
and how it affects the things that we do, how
we do it, and how we can do what Governor
Newsom and a few other governors across this nation have
(05:15):
been doing over the past few years to cartel people
going to prison, giving them alternative programs to where they
can get their lives back in order and everything else.
When we look at what we call a pipeline, meaning
that something is giving us a straight path to another
end from a start point where we begin, we can
(05:40):
see even in our school systems from grade school to intermediate,
middle school to high school, there's a lot of the
things that they do and how they teach our kids,
and all the way down to the tables and chairs
that they sit in in the lunch rooms and how
they've actually changed that, and a lot of that seating
is the same seating that you see when you go
(06:02):
into the prison systems, whether that's in the state of
Texas where I am, or in the in the state
of California where Sissy is, you see a lot of
these things that mimic what we see in the prison system,
and it's almost like it's grooming our children to be
able to be comfortable to the aspects of prison. Remember
(06:23):
back in the day when we were growing up, you
will always hear your parents say, don't do this, don't
do that, and we will be so fearful of doing
it because of them giving us those, uh, those warnings.
These days, we're our society has been so conditioned to
be used to those things that prison brings. So you
(06:44):
hear kids saying things like, I don't fear prison, I'm
not scared of jail because they've already been there in
their local elementary school, in their their local middle school.
The buses that they ride are the same bluebird buses
that the prison are taken in when they go to prison.
So it's a lot of familiar, familiar moments that we
(07:07):
have conditioned our kids and even ourselves to when it
comes to prison. And so those are the pipeline issues
that we don't really touch and we don't discuss. More So,
we discuss the disparities of prison, the disparities of charging,
the disparities of sentences, and all of that different things,
(07:28):
but we don't talk about the root cause of getting
to that disparity, the root cause of making our kids
so desensitized to where they're willing to go with their
friends and Robert Store are willing to go with their
friends and commit a crime because they don't fear the
consequences because they have been conditioned to understand and know
(07:50):
what that feels like. Because they're in a classroom all
day long. That is telling them they can't use their
cell phones. You can't talk in class, you can't eat
in class, you can't do this, you can't do that.
And that's the same thing you get in prison. You
can't take your cell phone with you, you can't do
any of those things. And so that's the conditioning part
of the prison. The pipeline, Sissy, could you speak to
(08:11):
that for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, you know, from the time before I was even born,
you had magazines with pin ups and all it was
was a gal with a bathing suit. Well take a
look at what you see on beaches these days, Oh
my goodness. So you know, over the years, what they
would be considered desensitization compared to now is nothing. And
(08:36):
you know subliminally too, you have a lot of things
fed and to children as they grow up, and so
it becomes second nature to them. And also peer pressure.
Well there's something to be said about that wanting to
be accepted, you don't something you wouldn't normally do, or
(08:59):
you're taught not to do you would do anyhow, and
then all of a sudden you're faced with something and
you're like, oh, I guess I really should have thought
this out. So I think a lot of that has
to do with it as well, besides the desensitization aspect
of it. But there are a lot of juvenile programs
that actually work hand in hand with different counties if
(09:23):
there are infractions, if things move forward where a child
gets into the system, and they have to do that
to give them those aha moments otherwise that they wouldn't
have had.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Yes, And that's another element as well. Some states, in
some counties and cities do an excellent job at diversion
programs to keep our youth out of the system. You
do have some that don't. I know here in Texas
we have a lot of instances where parents are dragged
(09:56):
down to the actual jail to the county to have
to give answer for truancy for things that would normally
be something that would handle at the principal's office. Now
they're making it a criminal offense. Misdemeanor, mind you, but
it's still a criminal offense that if something doesn't happen.
The first thing the kid sees at five to six
(10:18):
years old is the SRO officer, the police officer assigned
to the school. And so this officer that has a
gun and has handcuffs and it has a police car outside,
this kid is now seeing that for the first time
instead of seeing their counselor or seeing their teacher or
coach or the principal to discipline. So we've already started
(10:38):
taking the discipline out the hands of the parent. We
took the discipline out of the hand of the administration,
and now we put discipline right onto the doorstep of
the law enforcement officer who introduces you to the court system,
who introduced you to prison. And so those are the
beginning fruits of the prison of the prison pipeline. And
(10:59):
that really started in the late nineties going into the
early two thousands to where we start making that condition
of grooming our kids to be familiar with law enforcement.
On the tail end of this may sing you the
jail rather than law enforcement. When I was growing up,
we saw him driving down the street, we were flagging
(11:19):
him down. So we can get a football card or
a basketball car, or we could just talk to him
and say, hey, run your lights so we can hear.
Those were the interactions of law enforcement in the late
seventies in the early eighties. But now we have to
where a kid wouldn't even the stop an officer. I
spoke to an officer the other day and he actually
(11:40):
jumped because I actually was speaking to him and said hi,
and it made me laugh. And after he got through jumping,
I was like, oh man, you conditioned, are chie? He
just busted out laughing because he thought about it. But
it's a moment to where even they have been conditioned
to have the mentality of the prison pipeline because they
have to look for certain people, they have to be
(12:01):
aware of certain things. They're looking at our youth and
not even innocent anymore that they need any moment harm
them as officers. So everyone on every side is starting
to be conditioned for this thing in this moment that's
called prison, the prison pipeline. And so we as a society,
and what we're hoping to start the discussion of tonight
(12:24):
is acknowledging that, but also looking at what we can
do from our standpoint, because everyone can go through their
legislature and get changed. We can maybe write them on
all of that stuff. But this stuff that's so much
of a loan process. But we all can start in
our own homes. We can start in our local communities
with our own schools, and we can begin to have
(12:46):
them with our school boards change some of those programs.
And as Sissy was talking about, where some of these
cities have made steps in strides to give our kids alternative,
alternative discipline. Rather than having them the first time they
get in trouble they're looking at the officer in the
back of the car. At five six years old, they
would actually have someone mentoring them, getting with their parents
(13:09):
and helping them divert from that bad behavior. And I
think that's what we need to start working on identifying
the things that look like in that minute prison and
start getting those things out of our school. Let's go
back to regular chairs for the luntro go ahead, Sisty.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
There are a lot of programs, not as many as
there should be, but many towns, many cities have like
a Boys and Girls club, a center, if you will,
which is so helpful. It helps the kids with homework,
they play sports with one another, they have that camaraderie,
(13:48):
They feel wanted. When you have they say idle hands,
You know the same from idle hands. You don't want
a child to have idle hands when they have idle
hands easily influenced into doing things that perhaps are a
no no. And so between the time school lets out
and parents get off of work, this is a really
(14:10):
good in between. They have teachers or volunteers even there
that help the kids with their homework. And also they
just they provide a sense of belonging. And I truly believe,
at the heart of hearts with anybody, a sense of
(14:33):
belonging really has to do a lot with that. If
we can instill in our child the foundation of a
sense of belonging, I'll bet you that would take down
the percentage quite a bit of youth.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Offenders, most definitely. And that is the first action that
we can take as a community. Let's start funding and
start supporting our local boys, but our local wife, our
local organizations through our churches, and youth programs through various
organizations in our neighborhoods. Let's start getting with them. Let's
(15:10):
start getting with our baseball, football, basketball programs, and strengthening
them so they can be an outlet for our kids.
So when they are struggling, when they are having problems
at home, when they are having behavioral issues, our bullying issues,
are being bullied. We can stop the progress of crime
and criminal behavior in our youth at the bottom of
(15:33):
the forefront. And that's before it happens. If we just
concentrate more on our local organizations and not rely so
much on the police department and our county institutions to
keep the youth that we think are problem Sometimes we
can just reach out to our neighbor, and our neighbor
(15:54):
can spend time with that young person and get them
to go where they need to be and get them
to the organizations where they need to be. We have
to come together as a community and start teaching you
the things and the behavior principles and also the discipline,
not in the positions to where they need someone to
(16:16):
take the jail or introduce them to ours system or
the U system or even the prison. And so that's
an important moment that we need to lean more on.
The Boy's Club. I was actually in the Boy Scouts
in the Club Scouts, and I also went to the
Boys Club and the Boys Club was where I saw
(16:38):
a lot of my first concerts, where we were able
to go to all kinds of different venues all over
the country because the Boy's Club, it may have cost
my mama fifteen twenty dollars a week, but it was
worth it because it kept us out of trouble, It
kept us focused, It kept us in a place to
where we had a sense of well being as young
(16:58):
men and young women. Or with the Girls Club, and
those are things that's really missing these days because people
have been taught to share those organizations because of what
our society norms have been. We're scared someone's going to
harm our kids. We're scared of all these different things.
While the people that have the help force are at
(17:18):
the Boys Club, are at the Girls Club, they are
at the Salvation Army, they are at the YMCA, And
so we have to start or the YWCA, we start
leaning in on those organizations being apart volunteering, doing the
things we have to do, because we have to start
giving our youth that other alternative to a prison pipeline,
(17:40):
and that's actually a pipeline to success in their lives.
And it starts with that.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, I mean you touched on something too. A lot
of parents have their kids have different sports from any
type of martial arts, baseball, football, basketball, you know, just
different things like that. A lot of a lot of
them play on the tennis teams too. They learn that
at a very young age. So it's not just they're
(18:09):
the count a lot of counties and towns they offer
the different teams and different aspects like that. It's very
difficult for parents to transport their children back and forth
to these events. I know it is, so it really
does take a village. You know, they have a lot
of parents that are available, so you take turns maybe
(18:30):
if you're available on a weekend and they're not, or
whatever the case may be. You work together in unity
for the greater purpose of your child. And that's really
really what it boils down to. From a child, you know,
from knee high to a grasshopper on. It really does
take a village because besides, you know, parental in home
(18:51):
care that's given the outside is even a greater influence
on that child. So we have to work on that
aspect of rearing our children when we're doing so. I
wish it came with a manual.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
I know right, if life came with a manually, all
would be better. Uh, And that's the I guess the
next step after that because we have local and community organizations,
our own actions of being in those organizations, relying on
the village to help us out when we're a busy
parents or even if there's some single parents out there,
(19:26):
that's a single mom, a single dad, or a grandparent
that's raising their grandkids, or uncles and amies that's raising
their nieces and nephews. We lean on your community to
help you out. The second phase outside of that is
everyone in the community helping your local city government be
better for you. And that means showing up to the
(19:48):
city council meetings. That means being a part of the budget.
That means being part of those meetings and letting them know, hey,
we need this because we have kids that need this,
helping them to start putting money toward these kids, because
right now, the money is going to the schools not
to do education or provide education. It's going to the
(20:10):
schools to actually secure the schools. And that means that
if they're securing the schools, that means they're going to
get your child out. If your child has a behavior issue.
If your child seems like they're going to have a
behavior issue, they're going to get them out to school
because they're looking for security and not education right now.
And so we have to reverse that trend. We have
(20:32):
to start getting more involved and making them and forcing
them to start funding education again and teaching our kids
abcs instead of prisons one, two threes, And that's kind
of what we need to concentrate on on the next step.
And so that means some of us taking a few
moments out of our time once a month and maybe rotating.
(20:52):
You know, hey, my neighbor on the other side, you
go this week and let everybody know what happens. Next month,
I'll go, and then I'll did everybody know what happened
the next month, and next person go and everybody working
together because we're protecting our kids because we're already grown.
We're grown. I got grand kids, since he got grant kids,
and so at the end of the day, we've already
(21:13):
participated in whatever form and fashion that we're going to
do with society. Now we're trying to protect our grandkids
to be able to go and not worry about the
prison pipeline. We did have some of our presidents that
stepped up and did a great job of cortelion different
things that have to do with disparities and prison sentences
(21:34):
and charges, and with that, our populations have gone down.
I know, here in the state of Texas in the
month of March, we were only like maybe one hundred
and thirty some thousand people that were actually locked up
in this state. And that's a good thing, even though
it's a lot of folks, but that's still a good
thing because that's down a whole lot from what we
(21:54):
normally would have in our prison system. So that means
that a lot of the things that they did it worked.
A lot of the programs that they did so people
would repeat as offenders, it worked. And so those are
the things that we have to make sure. If you
know your neighbor across the street as a fellaing and
they're having a hard time find a job, reach out
(22:15):
as a neighbor and say, hey, I know a place
that's hiring up the street, or my job is hiring.
Once you come over there and apply, be a friendly person.
You know. Sometimes we just have to do the small
things in order to help out the masses. And then
that we'll keep that individual employ and moving forward and
help them and that way they won't have to worry
(22:36):
about having to be put in a position to where
they have to make a choice of doing good or bad.
And so some of those steps are things that we
can start taking of just really paying attention. I know,
sometimes we can get in our own feelings and our
own beliefs and we see someone with a fellony or
we know they've been to prison, and we can clutch
our purse and lock our doors and all the things
(22:56):
that we do, but sometimes give them grace. Let you
be in the same position, and let's start reaching out
to them and helping them, help support them so that
way they can find their way, because once they find
their way, they'll be the main person to help you
and to help someone else. And that's the second step
of the prison pipeline. How to destroy that pipeline is
(23:20):
to start acknowledging that we have a society that probably
over half of the people have been in the judicial
system some way, shape form or fashion. Let's support those
people and let's be able to get them to move
forward in life so they won't have to go backwards.
And that'll keep those numbers going down and give youth
an example of what it looks like to not even
(23:42):
have to worry about that moment. But if they do
find themselves there, there is help to be able to
avoid that or get out of it and do better.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh for sure, there are programs right now I know,
and not the county that I'm in, but the county
that's just right next to me too. They have if
you take different classes almost like continuing education, which is
really helpful. They teach a lot of de escalation courses.
(24:14):
They teach communication courses, and it's really helpful. You know,
a lot of times people won't talk if they're around
an authority figure. So if you have a young adult
in their twenties that is willing to take these courses,
(24:35):
that wants to learn and become, if you will, a facilitator,
they have these courses where that they come together almost
very like an AA meeting, if you will. You know,
whether it's a substance abuse or you or you have
people who have been in je Jay we call JIV
here juvenile Hall. They've been in some sort of have
(24:58):
some sort of infraction or whatever, or family issues just
really anything and they come together and they have these
group meetings and they're able to talk about their concerns
and and it's really difficult when they're in the same
environment and their home and their friends and the family
(25:19):
and the town and everything to not repeat the same thing.
And it just it's it recycles. And so dealing with
the youth with these programs, it doesn't always have to
be a mediator or a psychologist that actually facilitates these
They have the group, the group classes that they that
they have and it's really awesome to see that these
(25:42):
kids get into it. I work with them, so it's
just kind of great to see their them bloom. They're
so happy to do so, you know why because they
have a sense of belonging. Yeah, you know. And and
the thing is is that if you can catch them
young and I hate, I hate to say that, that
(26:03):
just sounds so horrible, catch a young adult young, but
if you if you nip it off before it becomes
a consistent thing, so you eliminate that receivitism of them
going back as an adult. Uh, they won't be part
of the statistics on that. So his his his WiFi,
(26:29):
Are you back there?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
We go? Yeah, that's the key the uh we have
to uh work hard to start young with our kids
of teaching me and those values, uh helping them out
and when they get into a moment to where they're
they're like, oh wow, life is hard. It's this this
(26:50):
that to be able to guide them through. At young agents,
I'm not talking about teenage agents. I'm talking about young
elementary agents. Catching them young just like you said, so
we can move forward and help them out so they
can make good decisions when they get a little older.
And it starts, and that leads us to the third
(27:11):
part of this moment is leaning out toward our faith
based organizations and our faith based community. I would speak
to them directly and say, I need you guys to
do better. I need you to do better at establishing
programs to reach out back to those individuals that happen
(27:32):
to find themselves in trouble, and not only those people,
but also creating the programs again that our youth can
actually go to the churches. You know, they used to
have vacation Bible schools that any kid could come to,
and they used to have summer camps. They used to
have all kinds of things that kids in the neighborhood
can just go to these faith based organizations in regardless
(27:54):
of your faith, you can go in and have a
safe place to learn and to play and to do
all the things you need to do while your idle
mind is just out there in life. And so we
need to get back to that moment. I know that
there's been a contentious moment because of all of the
things that we face in this society, but we need
(28:15):
to those of good will to take need to start
correcting those things first and then providing those safe places
through our faith based organizations to be able to help
our youth and to help guide them. To help finance
some of these things that these counties and cities that
can't really afford it. Our faith they organizations can. They
(28:35):
have plenty of money, and so they could get together
and start giving grants out to the local municipality to
help them with after school programs, to help them with
different things to help with youth. And for those families
that are struggling with an adolescent that maybe you have
some type of issues, they can then step in and
(28:56):
help them and keep them out of the system and
help them with a diversion program instead. And those are
things that we need to really concentrate on. Go ahead system.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
No, just really along the same lines. I know in
my in where I live, we have doctors for detriment,
and so you have some of those kids who don't
want to move forward and actually be they just stay
billy badass. You know, they've been programmed to just not
give into anything because it's a it's a defense mechanism.
(29:26):
So you have doctors that are belong to this, and
so we go in there and counsel and we have
to actually deconstruct that behavior. That's a that's a definite thing.
But you know the thing is those are specialists that
do that. So I mean, if there's any doctors that
are listening, please look into it into your you know,
(29:47):
into your own area and see if you can help
out that way as well. So I just wanted to
kind of throw that out there that it's not just
it's not just the counties. If you actually specialize and
you've gone to school and you want to help out,
really all help is great help. So please don't think
that you're not going to matter.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
You're definitely right about it. And just to top off
this topic today, because we don't want to be labor
too long. Today, we are really stating today that the
prison pipeline is a problem in our society. We all
know it, we've all seen it, we've understand it. Some
(30:25):
of us have been through it and it worked in
it have family members been through it, the system itself.
But we understand now that we need to start doing
things different for our next generation. And so we have
to start paying attention to these things that we're talking
about today, just small things of being able to just
change our own local communities so it can spread forward
(30:48):
throughout this country and we can leave our youth better
off than what we were not seeing the things that
we've had to see. They can actually go out and
really be successful, and the ones that need help, they
can get the help and then they can turn around
and be successful. So that's the reason for this today
is to really speak to that without getting to all
(31:12):
the technical moments of it today, and we just really
encourage everyone to reach out to those in your community,
your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, your pastors, your elders,
and sometimes your local city municipality. Reach out to them
and let them know that, hey, we want to find
(31:34):
something that we can do to continue to build our community,
but let's do it in a different way. So we
won't let you see the judge, we won't let them
see the police officer, we won't let them see the
local prison system. And then we can then turn the
tide for our officers as well, to have a comfortability
(31:54):
knowing that our kids are going to not treat them
a certain way, and then everybody can live better society,
uh than what we have right there.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, true that there. The children are are our future, guys,
And I know that you hear that all the time,
but I really just kind of want to encourage you
to just you know, ponder that for a minute. You know,
take take that and if you will sit with it.
(32:28):
The children are our future. We need to invest in
our children. This whether they're adults or even you know,
juvenile offenders. That just continues on it. It's too wide
and spread and it really just needs to stop. It's
difficult this day and age. I get it. There's you know,
(32:48):
two income families that have to work. Sometimes people work
multiple jobs just to just to survive, you know, just
to pay the bare minimum bills. So I know it's hard,
and I know a lot of children end up raising
themselves a lot because you know you have no choice.
So that's even more reason to reach out to your neighbors,
(33:12):
reach out to those those centers that are available, any
and all resources out there available to give you different
avenues to provide that support for your child because you're
not there. And here's the thing is is when you
are able to be there, guess what they're going to
rally around you as well. So it's a camaraderie not
(33:34):
only for adults, but for your children in participation of that.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
You're definitely right. And with that, Doctor Sissy, I think
we're going to end this session today. It was a
great discussion being able to talk about the prison pipeline,
being able to introduce this topic to the masses and
hopefully we help someone to understand a little bit about
the prison the pipeline, but also some actions that you
(34:03):
can take to start to cultail that prison pipeline. This
was fun and I definitely thank you, doctor Cissy. We
thank the crew, Angela fortor Miss Angela, doctor Angela, all
of that because she's all of that moment. We definitely
appreciate her for this moment. And there's anything you want
to say before we leave, Doctor Cissy.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Guys most definitely have a blessed Thanksgiving. And from myself,
Dwayne and my family and doctor Sissy, we thank you
for listening in and you guys have a blessed day.
Bye bye
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