February 9, 2024
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION African-American News&Issues
Vol. 29, Issue 04
FREE
History is His Story, not the Truth or Our Story - Roy Douglas Malonson
“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”
L-R: Kendrick “Kay B” Brown (Lymon), Lakeisha Randall (Berniece), Timothy Eric (Wining Boy), Alex Morris (Doaker), Kendall Goode (Maretha), Krystal Uchem (Grace), Curtis Von (Avery) and Jason Dirden (Boy Willie)
“THE PIANO LESSON”
Camp Logan, circa 1917, was a World War I Army training facility located where Memorial Park is now.
DEAD IS DEAD By: Rachel Thompson
The Houston Riot of 1917, which occurred on August 23rd has maintained lasting repercussions on race relations between the Houston Police Department and Black Houstonians for over 100 year. Depending on who tells the story, the heroes and villains change. In 1917, the heroes were the five White Houston police offers who died in the line of duty that day. The riot was sparked by the arrest of a Black soldier for interfering with the arrest of a Black woman in the Forth Ward. Recently the US Army set aside the court-martial convictions from over a century ago of 110 African
American soldiers, including 19 who were executed, saying they were denied fair trials in a landmark acknowledgement of official racism in America. The Army Board for Correction of Military Records overturned the convictions, restoring their service records as having concluded honorably and making their descendants eligible for military benefits. The historic change comes after the Army received petitions from retired general officers and the South Texas College of Law, requesting a review of the court’s decision and
Camp on pg. 3
PROVOKES THE POWER OF LEGACY, The Ensemble Theatre proudly presents “The Piano Lesson,” as the third production of its 47th Season, “Legacy Alive: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future.” “The Piano Lesson,” winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is the fourth play in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle/ Century Cycle. Set in 1936 Pittsburgh, “The Piano Lesson” is centered on a 137-year-old heirloom, a piano, with carvings that incarnate the Charles family’s ancestral lineage and spirit. Celebrity artist Jason Dirden, known for ‘Greenleaf and ‘American Soul,’ returns home to Houston and The Ensemble Theatre as Boy Willie Charles. Along with Dirden, the stellar cast includes Lakeisha Randle (Berniece Charles), Alex Morris (Doaker Charles), Kendrick “Kay B” Brown (Lymon), Timothy Eric (Wining Boy Charles), Curtis Von (Avery), Kendall Goode (Maretha Charles) and Krystal Uchem (Grace). I recently sat down with the “Charles” men to discuss “The Piano Lesson,” legacy and August Wilson’s impact on theatre. (Interview edited for length and clarity.) “The Piano Lesson” embodies themes like family/ legacy/historical relevancy. How does your character respond to the overarching question, “What do you do with legacy?” ALEX: I think Doaker is the historian. He is now the real patriarch of the family. Everybody ends up at Doaker’s place because he’s the one who has always maintained a sense of consistency. He also is protective of his family … that father figure, that rock, which is an
Piano Lesson on pg. 5
2 AFRAMNEWS.COM
President/Chief Editor Contributing Writers Dr. Bobby Mills Travis McGee Rachel Thompson Jazz Pazz Asia Williams William Monroe Trotter Jr. Dr. Shelley McKinley
February 9, 2024
EDITORIAL
A Revival of God Consciousness Bobby Mills, Phd
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God’s plan is eternal, and his intentions do not change. This is why: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” (Psalm 33: 12). God is completely spiritually and morally consistent in both his intentions and actions. On the other hand, most individuals tend to be inconsistent in almost everything; especially politics, and The GOP is the classic immoral 21st century example. Yet, despite our tendency to be spiritually and morally inconsistent the Bible tells us that good and perfect gifts come to us from God. America, our hope for everlasting endurance must be in Almighty God, not our military strengthen. As a result, all governmental officials take an Oath of Office of allegiance: “To support and defend the U. S. Constitution and to execute faithfully the duties of the office against all enemies both domestic and foreign”. This is very important, because most nation- states fall from within, not because of external enemies. The spiritual purpose of this editorial is to remind the US of how close we are to internal collapse and losing our multi-cultural democracy from within. America has the strongest military system in the world
community, and the most secure financial system in the world. Praise be to God! America, just like many other nations, has been in a steady spiritual and moral decline, because of institutionalized greed, lies, and skintone. Spiritual and moral dysfunctions in our families, churches, educational institutions, and our body politics is fueling America’s spiritual and moral decline. Christian Right Evangelicals, The GOP, White Nationalists Insurrectionists, Fox “FAKE” News, and some misguided Blacks and other minorities are fueling America’s moral decline, and death march toward self-annihilation. America, the only solution to the horrible spiritual predicament we find ourselves in is at the ballot box, on November 8th, 2024. Insurrection is not an answer, and never shall be. The Governor of the great State of Texas was told by the Supreme Court that the Federal government has absolute jurisdiction over America’s borders, without interference from state governments. Yet, the state of Texas has doubled down on its defiance of a Supreme Court Ruling. What a shame, because when individuals do not know The Divine Lawgiver, they invariably will not obey man-made secular laws. Playing God is a dangerous proposition, because you are already in hell. God is a jealous God, and gambling is a no-win situation, because: “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalm For more visit 7:11). Let’s not aframnews.com
And all that Jazz By Berthony Napoleon and Rey Robinson
EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS We like to say everything is bigger in Texas. Bigger skies. Bigger stories. Bigger business. Bigger prison systems. Especially our prison systems. Texas is so legendary that the word itself has become slang in Norway. To Norwegians, “Texas” is a word that is included in everyday conversation. Their phrase “Der var helt texas!” (That was very, totally Texas!) describes any situation that is irrational, outrageous, and unmanageable, with anarchy in charge. Norway delights in cowboy movies, especially those filmed in or depicting Texas so much that the name of the state has become a symbol of uncontrolled lawlessness, without restraint, according to Daniel Gusfre Ims, the head of the advisory service at the Language Council of Norway. If they could watch movies based on the Texas prison complex there would be many more vocabularies involving the state. The first Texas prison opened with three reprobates detained in 1849. In 2021, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was supervising 133,772 incarcerated convicts. That year there were 104 facilities, including 11 privately operated sites, located across
the state. Texas has an allinclusive lock up rate of 840 per 100,000 people, meaning that it restrains a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Norwegians know how hot and dusty our state is from the Western films they love. In 2022 the American Housing Survey found Houston to be the most air-conditioned city in the world, but in the Houston area alone there are 13 prison units holding 21,690 incarcerated people without adequate air conditioning. Texas jail standards require temperature control between 65 and 85 degrees, but during recent summers, temperatures have reached 150 degrees in some prisons. Texas enforces laws to protect animals from extreme heat; the Texas Department of Correction’s pig barns are air conditioned, but 70% of its Incarcerated citizens are not. About half of interned Texans live with chronic illnesses. Many imprisoned diabetics are dependent on prescribed life-saving insulin, a heat-sensitive medication that must be stored chilled. More are prescribed psychotropic medications which prevent the body from cooling by sweating, making those individuals more susceptible to the consequences of extreme heat. Their daily choice becomes taking their medication or risking heat-related death due to the side effects. To survive the prisoners flood their toilets and lay down in the water to try to regulate their core body temperature. Their metal beds burn flesh and the privilege of renting a statesupplied fan is Texas on pg. 7
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION Camp Cont.
clemency for the 110 soldiers. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth directed a board in charge of military record corrections to review each of the cases. The board determined the court proceedings to be “fundamentally unfair,” and unanimously recommended that all convictions be set aside and that the soldiers’ military service be re-characterized as honorable. “After a thorough review, the Board found that these soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials. By setting aside their convictions and granting honorable discharges, the Army is acknowledging past mistakes and setting the record straight,” Army Secretary Wormuth said in a statement. According to the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), in the spring of 1917 the War Department ordered two military installations to be built in Harris County—Camp Logan, which later became Memorial Park, and Ellington Field. The Illinois National Guard was to train at Camp Logan, located on the northwest outskirts of the city. To guard the construction site, on July 27, 1917, the army ordered the Third Battalion of the Black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry to travel by train with seven White officers from the regimental encampment at Columbus, New Mexico, to Houston. The 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment was one of four regiments of all Black servicemen also known as “Buffalo Soldiers”, a nickname dating back to the 1860s. From the outset, the Black contingent faced racial discrimination when they received passes to go into the city. A majority of the men had been raised in the South and were familiar with segregation, but as army servicemen they expected equal treatment. Those individuals responsible for keeping order, especially White police, viewed the presence of Black soldiers as a threat to racial harmony. Black soldiers were willing to abide by the legal restrictions imposed by segregated practices, but they resented the manner in which the laws were enforced. They still had to stand in the rear of streetcars when vacant seats were available in the White section and endure racial slurs hurled at them by White laborers at Camp Logan. Some
February 9, 2024 police officers regularly harassed African Americans, both soldiers and civilians. TSHA further reported that early in the afternoon, when Cpl. Charles Baltimore, one of the twelve Black military policemen with the battalion, inquired about the soldier’s arrest, words were exchanged and the policeman hit Baltimore over the head. The police fired at Baltimore three times, chased him into an unoccupied house, and took him to police headquarters. Though he was soon released, a rumor quickly reached Camp Logan that he had been shot and killed. A group of soldiers decided to march on the police station in the Fourth Ward and secure his release. Nearly 8pm that evening a Black soldier suddenly screamed that a White mob was approaching the camp. Over 100 armed Black soldiers rushed into the supply tents, grabbed rifles, and started toward downtown Houston by
guilty. Of those found guilty, 19 Black soldiers were hanged and 63 received life sentences in federal prison. One was judged incompetent to stand trial. Two White officers faced court-martial, but they were released. No White civilians were brought to trial. The mass execution of 19 soldiers was the largest carried out by the Army of American soldiers in history, the Army said. The first set of executions took place in secrecy the day following the sentencing hearing. Ultimately, this led to a regulatory change that prohibited future executions without review by the War Department and the president. The Houston Riot of 1917 vividly illustrated the problems that the nation struggled with on the home front, and continues to struggle with today over 100 years later. As Chief Troy Finner stated at the annual Police Week Memorial Ceremony of 2021 and featured
way of Brunner Avenue and San Felipe Street and into the Fourth Ward in their two-hour march on the city. The White officers found it impossible to restore order. The Black soldiers killed fifteen Whites, including four policemen, and seriously wounded twelve others, one of whom, a policeman, subsequently died later. Four Black soldiers also died. Early the next morning, August 24th, civil authorities imposed a curfew in Houston. On August 25th, the Army hustled the Third Battalion aboard a train to Columbus, New Mexico. There, seven Black mutineers agreed to testify against the others in exchange for clemency. Between November 1, 1917, and March 26, 1918, the army held three separate courts-martial in the chapel at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The military tribunals indicted 118 enlisted men of I Company for participating in the mutiny and riot, and found 110
on the HPD website, “We honor today everything about our culture, our hearts, our training and our tactics. We will never let you down.” The culture, heart, training, and tactics prevalent then in 1917 and now in 2024 is that ‘white is right’ and that Black people are ‘guilty until proven innocent.’ The five Houston police officers killed on August 23, 1917, are listed on the Houston Police Department’s Fallen Officers online roll, and have their names etched on the Houston Police Officers Memorial that was installed in 1991 to honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty. The memorial, located at 1400 Memorial Drive, is continuously guarded by police officers. These five officers have been commemorated annually and memorialized in stone. Now that the 110 Black soldiers have overturned convictions, and their service records are restored
AFRAMNEWS.COM 3 to have concluded honorably, will these five police officers continue to be honored? Will their names be removed from the piece of public art erected in their honor? The 24th Infantry Regiment will soon be honored in an official headstones unveiling ceremony. In light of the changes, Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery located in San Antonio, where 17 of the soldiers are interred, will provide new headstones with the “same amount of information that every veteran is entitled to,” said Matthew Quinn, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. The Army also announced 17 personal soldier pages featured on the Veterans Legacy Memorial. “While we cannot go back in time to change the past from today on, we have an obligation to correct the record. Not only should we recognize the dedicated service of these Buffalo Soldiers, we must restore and preserve their legacies in perpetuity,” Quinn said. In terms of culture, training, and tactics, what will Mayor Whitmore and Chief Finner do to change the belief system and entrenched biases toward Black people, especially Black men, found among the rank and file of the Houston Police Department? Changes that preserve the lives of Black men, along with their physical and mental health, are imperative and deserves more than lip service. Symbolic change is not enough. The Army will correct the military records of Black soldiers hanged by the U.S. military following the 1917 Houston race riots and deliver veteran benefits to their descendants in a display of historical reckoning. The Army is setting aside the soldiers’ convictions, correcting records to note honorable discharges for 95 soldiers, and setting up a mechanism to deliver survivor benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo announced Monday the service’s steps to right the wrongs of the U.S. military justice system which resulted in the largest mass execution of American soldiers by the U.S. Army. “Today, the legacy of the soldiers, their patriotism and service to our nation — protecting freedoms that they themselves Camp. on pg. 4
4 AFRAMNEWS.COM Camp Cont. could not enjoy — is
being respected, and uplifted,” said Jason Holt, an attorney and descendent of Pfc. Thomas Hawkins, at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston, Texas. “I pray with all my heart that their souls witnessed these moments of reckoning and are set free.” The historic change comes after the Army received petitions from retired general officers and the South Texas College of Law, requesting a review of the court’s decision and clemency for the 110 soldiers. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth directed a board in charge of military record corrections to review each of the cases. The board determined the court proceedings to be “fundamentally unfair,” and unanimously recommended that all convictions be set aside and that the soldiers’ military service be re-characterized as honorable. In light of the changes, Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, where 17 of the soldiers are interred, will provide
February 9, 2024 new headstones with the “same amount of information that every veteran is entitled to,” said Matthew Quinn, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. The Army also announced 17 personal soldier pages featured on the Veterans Legacy Memorial. “While we cannot go back in time to change the past from today on, we have an obligation to correct the record. Not only should we recognize the dedicated service of these Buffalo Soldiers, we must restore and preserve their legacies in perpetuity,” Quinn said. In the summer of 1917, the 3rd Battalion was sent to Houston to guard a construction site that would later become Camp Logan. As racial tensions boiled up in Houston that summer, rumors and threats spurred a group of more than 100 Black soldiers to seize weapons and leave camp “thinking that they were marching in their own self defense,” Camarillo said. The 19 Black soldiers were charged with mutiny and murder and sentenced
Soldiers marching near Camp Logan, the area now occupied by Memorial Park, in 1917.
Camp Logan Soldiers
to hanging. The first set of executions took place in secrecy the day following the sentencing hearing. Ultimately, this led to a regulatory change that prohibited future executions without review by the War Department and the president. “While we commemorate this momentous occasion, wherein we have literally been the arc of the moral universe toward justice, we cannot rest on our laurels,” said Rep. Al Green (D-Texas). “The pain for the 10 Black soldiers is a stark reminder of the racial prejudices that men and women of color continue to face.” The soldiers who received clemency served in the 3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment and were nicknamed “Buffalo Soldiers,” a term for service members of color who were assigned to segregated, all-Black Army units after the end of the Civil War. The 24th regiment served in Cuba, Mexico, and the Philippines and “with their own hands, helped build the American West,” Camarillo said. Congress established six all-Black regiments in 1866 to help with postCivil War rebuilding efforts and to fight on the Western frontier during the American Indian Wars. Native Americans who fought against these troops referred to the Black cavalry as “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their dark, curly hair which resembled a buffalo’s coat, according to popular lore. While the origins have not been confirmed, Black soldiers embraced the nickname by World War I and the 92nd Infantry Division adopted the buffalo as
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION the symbol for its unit patch, according to the National Museum for African American History and Culture. All-black regiments were disbanded during the Korean War under a 1948 executive order from President Harry Truman which desegregated the military. “Most people had moved on over the years. The Houston incident had become a historical footnote for niche academics, but the story was very much alive for the descendants of the wrongfully executed and the wrongfully convicted,” said Brig. Gen. Ronald D. Sullivan. He now serves as the chief judge of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals created in the wake of the Houston incident. The Fort Sam Houston National Cemetary’s plaque will feature the historic reckoning of the Army’s role in hanging its troops and the “widespread racism and the tensions” that “pervaded the trial process for the soldiers making their trials unfair,” Sullivan said. It will also reflect the soldiers’ honorable discharges. “I cannot even tell you that when the Under Secretary Camarillo made his announcement about the honorable discharges being restored or granted and that the descendants would get benefits, I don’t know about you, but I had tears in my eyes knowing that long though it may be, the arc of the moral universe still bends towards justice,” Green said.
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
February 9, 2024
important theme in
Piano Lesson Cont. all of Wilson’s plays.
JASON: In terms of legacy and what to do with it, I think Boy Willie’s mindset is that if it’s not propelling us forward then what good is it doing? If we aren’t using it to build and to move forward as a family and to grow and to lift ourselves out of the bottom of life, then what are we doing? Would Boy Willie feel the same way about legacy today? JASON: Absolutely. Boy Willie would be: “Let’s go buy up some shopping centers, this field over here to grow our wealth and to continue to raise ourselves socially and economically as a family, as a people.” ALEX: When I moved to L.A., the first thing I did when I made money was buy property. During those times when we weren’t making money, the property sustained us. Boy Willie understood that concept. And it was that sense of freedom that Doaker clearly understood as well. TIM: I think Wining Boy learned a little too late about the legacy of family, particularly marriage. He was married to Cleotha. At one time, they had a beautiful marriage. It had its problems, but they loved each other even though they split up. After she passes, he realizes that she was the most important thing in his life that was beautiful. For Wining Boy, the legacy of family and marriage is the most significant thing. You love and treat good women right. That is the legacy. What is your favorite August Wilson play? (Alex has appeared in all 10 of the Century Cycle plays, while Jason and Timothy have done seven.) ALEX: It’s Fences, by far. Troy was a lot like my father. TIM: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is probably up there and edges out the rest of them.
Jason Dirden (Boy Willie)
LR: Timothy Eric (Wining Boy), Jason Dirden (Boy Willie) and Alex Morris (Doaker)
JASON: Every (Wilson) play has so much depth. They are stories about your own life. So whatever play I’m working on at the moment is my favorite. What is your most favorite thing about acting? TIM: August painted such beautifully rich black men — varied in occupation, age, politics … They’re husbands, fathers, jokesters, musicians. They love; they hate; they’re vengeful; they’re hopeful. As actors, we get to teach about the complexities of black manhood. We show these sides and facets
of black men in an intimate way, in a powerful way, through the vehicle of theatre. We don’t produce plays, we produce people. JASON: In a good, honest play, there will always be a character that will prompt an audience member to say, “That’s exactly what I’m feeling and what I’m going through.” This has saved a lot of lives — the power of storytelling and the power of honesty and truth. That privilege, that responsibility as an actor to be a representation of an audience member is really fulfilling to the
AFRAMNEWS.COM 5 soul. It’s something that you can’t put in your bank account. ALEX: I love every bit of it. I love the fact that we tell stories. I love coming to work every day. I’m not a doctor, I won’t cure diseases or anything like that, but I do have the responsibility of easing people’s pain in some kind of way. And that’s a privilege. I get to live that kind of life. How blessed am I to get to do that! Name one lesson learned when it comes to your character? ALEX: Doaker learns that family is the most important seed that you can plant. TIM: Wining Boy reconciles that we got to be really honest, look life square in the face and get on with it. JASON: I don’t know if Boy Willie learned anything new, but there was definitely confirmation of the way he tries to live. There’s a lot that we can control, but there is so much more that we cannot. If we lean on the greater power that we know exists, though we cannot see, touch or hear it, we’ll be far more successful than trying to fight the ghosts ourselves. Award-winning Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris is the director of “The Piano Lesson.” She holds the distinction of being the only woman in the world to direct nine of the 10 August Wilson Century Cycle plays. In 2018, The Ensemble Theatre received the August Wilson American Century Cycle Award for producing all 10 plays. “The Piano Lesson” runs through February 25, 2024, at The Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main Street. For tickets, call 713-520-0055 or visit Ensemblehouston.com. Photos by Eisani Apedemak-Saba/ Courtesy of The Ensemble Theatre
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PUBLIC NOTICE Notice to Proposers Request for Proposal will be received by Lone Star College for: • RFP #940 – Auction Services. Electronic submittals due by 2:00PM, Wednesday, February 28, 2024. • WebEx pre-proposal meeting: Monday, February 19, 3:00PM; call-in number 1-408-792-6300, Meeting #2630 378 2920 • Contact: janet.bradley@lonestar.edu or (832)813-6299. • Must Register to Bid: http:// wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/istar/supplier.htm . If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact MC-vendors@lonestar.edu.
This notice is to provide notification of intent to award a sole source contract to Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. dba Movie Licensing USA during our regularly scheduled HISD board meeting on April 11, 2024. Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. dba Move Licensing USA provides licensing options to satisfy federal copyright requirements of public performance licensing to legally show movies in public libraries and K-12 schools. In accordance with Chapter 44 of the Texas Education Code (TEC) and district purchasing and acquisition policies CH(LOCAL) and CH(LEGAL).
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION exorbitantly costly. In a move that is costfoolish the state pays millions of dollars each year in heat-related death lawsuits. Texas has the reputation of having the worst prisons in the United States of America. The Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County (“the tank” to the prisoners) is known as the worst one in Texas. Prison gang wars and sexual abuse are even more common here than in other divisions. Two hundred death row inmates are housed among the overcrowded and understaffed 3,000 inmate population in the most severely restricted solitary environment. Seventy-five have endured these circumstances for more than twenty years. Some do not wait; at least eight death row prisoners have committed suicide in the last 20 years, according to the prison accounts. Norway may not realize it, but we can’t avoid realizing that people of color and Black people in particular are reliably incarcerated at remarkably disproportionate rates than white people in jails and prisons across the
Texas Cont.
February 9, 2024 state and country. In Texas Black people comprise about 12% of citizens but account for 33% of our caged and stacked prison residents and 28% of those in jail. In Norwegian prisons, singleperson cells are common. Dr. Synøve Andersen, a postdoctoral research criminologist at the University of Oslo explains that “There is a goal to provide people living in a unit together with a shared common space with a kitchen, washer and dryer, and lounging space.” Incarcerated people there wear their own clothes, cook their own meals, and work in jobs that prepare them for employment. It is a more humane environment, both for people serving time and for prison staff, with the goal of more successfully helping incarcerated people reintegrate into society. “If you actually want to change the prison environment, invest in staff,” says Dr. Andersen. “They’re there all the time. They’re doing the work.” Texas previously required some security experience of guard
AFRAMNEWS.COM 7
candidates but now recruit newly graduated high school students or GED holders with no work experience at all, and expose one hundred percent of them to at least one VID (violence, injury or death) event during their career, according to a 2011 survey by the Department of Justice. Correctional employees suffer some of the highest rates of mental illness, sleep disorders, and physical health issues of all U.S. workers, according to a 2018 Lexipol report. No wonder Texas prison employees report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at a rate six times higher than that found in the general population. Texas prisons had an inadequate staff of 26,688 employees and a budget of $3,485,674,914 in 2021. That year the churn rate of correctional officer positions exceeded 40%. Michele Deitch, criminal justice professor at the University of Texas at Austin Law School, explained why. “It’s a position that is underpaid. These are not pleasant working conditions, and it’s often an unsafe environment,” she said.
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“These are facilities that tend to be located in the middle of nowhere, so it’s often hard to find people who want to work in those places.” Especially for about $21/hour. Being out “in the middle of nowhere” is not only an inconvenience for the workforce, but it also contributes to recidivism. When families are geographically removed from their captive members relationships are interrupted making it more difficult to reconnect after sentences are served. This inhibits many opportunities for newly released individuals to find community or secure a job. Some states are noticing the improved outcomes of Norway’s system. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced changes in the San Quentin State Penitentiary, centered on rehabilitation and job training. South Dakota, Oregon, and Washington are also in partnering with Amend, a nonprofit from the University of For more visit California, San Francisco, aframnews.com
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