Pubdate: Sun, 18 Sep 2005
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Vicki Lopez Lukis

FREEING OFFENDERS' VOICES

Five Questions

Q: What is the task force's mission?

A: The goal is to identify barriers to ex-offenders' reentry into the 
community. There are more than 30,000 people who will be returning to 
communities from prison this year. The governor has taken a national 
leadership role in this situation. If we can identify barriers, we can also 
make recommendations to eliminate them. It's the barriers that lead to 
recidivism. The task force represents a shift from the hard-on-crime 
concept to one that is smart on crime.

Q: What elements must be in place for ex-offenders to reintegrate into a 
community?

A: They need family support. Family ties are eliminated because of 
circumstance. You lose track of your children. Often offenders are too far 
away geographically to maintain a connection. Also, people who have found 
faith while in the system and were supported when they walked outside the 
door have an advantage.

The task force sees three top opportunities -- housing, employment and 
education. The reentry process starts when you first go to prison. One 
group is studying education and substance-abuse counseling. Another is 
focusing on community coalitions.

Q: You bring the perspective of an ex-offender. Why were you once imprisoned?

A: I surrendered to federal prison in 1999 and served 15 1/2 months for a 
mail-fraud conviction. It was an opportunity to see the inside the way 
others haven't. Now I'm speaking on behalf of the thousands of people in 
prison today. The ability to give voice is a very difficult process to 
them. People like myself, who are somewhat privileged and have the ability 
to do so, should.

Q: Who is in Florida prisons?

More men than women, predominantly African American and Hispanic, the 
populations most at risk. They are in the age range between 25-40; a lot of 
them are parents. People really don't know who is in prison. Would they be 
surprised that a woman with a drug addiction has been placed in prison for 
10 years and lost her children?

Not all prisoners are violent criminals. There are a lot of first- timers 
in the system who need support. The rising crisis in our state is that more 
and more women are going to prison. That's more indicative of the drug 
culture, affecting women and their families.

Often women will go to prison for having lived with someone in the drug 
trade. When the bust comes down, they bust everybody. She may not be a 
dealer, but she's going to prison.

Q. Ex-offenders are feared, shunned and marginalized. How do you make 
people care?

A: That's our biggest challenge. Every member of the task force is up 
against that perception. We have to give a human face to who we are talking 
about and the people we are working on behalf of. They are just like us. 
What separates us is economic circumstance, lack of education, lack of 
opportunity. We have to stop broad-brushing who they are.

We need to make sure that business leaders understand who they are. Most of 
the people exiting prison have a skill set of survival. They appreciate a 
second chance. We must engage the community and enhance support for them.

Once people start to talk to them, they see their human side is far more 
prevalent than the mistakes they made. We shouldn't be judged by the 
mistake, but by what we made out of the mistake.

Herald Editorial Board member Nancy Ancrum prepared this report.

Vicki Lopez Lukis, of Coral Gables, is a member of Gov. Bush's Ex- 
Offenders Task Force.
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