Planning Stage Clockwise from left, John Sullivan, Sheriff Leroy Baca, Rabbi Mark Borovitz, and Fanya Cohen hold court in the Sheriff’s office.
an education
A look at the growing partnership between Beit T’Shuvah and the LA County Sheriff’s Department by jason dean & fanya cohen When you are in a custody environment your role is not the role of an educator, it’s the role of someone providing security and discipline [for] people who we look at as convicts and inmates—and it is our job to try to maintain control of that. In order to change that [role] perception it requires that we also make a transformation. Just as the Chief has described, an inmate in jail who changes his life through the educational, spiritual process, we as deputy sheriffs can also experience a change in the way we view our role.” – Commander Gerald Cooper 12:35pm, Tuesday, December 6, 2011: Pitchess Detention Center’s North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) Castaic, California Returning to Supermax for the first time in three years, an eerie echo follows the sound of the heavy metal door locking shut behind John Sullivan, escorted by a commander and a lieutenant. It is a far cry from Sullivan’s previous visits: No heavy shackles hanging from his wrists, no chains linking him to a string of other inmates, and no waiting to be transferred into the state prison system to serve out the remainder his sentence. Sullivan was once an inmate sign shop worker of the Jail Enterprise Unit (JEU) - part of LA County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca’s Education Based Incarceration (EBI) initiative. Today, he is an 6 0 | B E I T T ’S H U VA H | w w w. b e i t t s h u v a h . o r g
honored guest, sharing his story with the currently incarcerated sign shop workers. He will impart a lesson he learned firsthand: Freedom begins within. It is not constrained by bars or criminal records. It is determined by what a man is able to contribute to this world. As he walks away, astonished, he reflects, “I was just talking to my former self.” 4:00pm, Thursday, September 26, 2008: Los Angeles County Correctional Facility, California Sitting on the wrong side of the thick plexi-glass when Beit T’Shuvah alternative sentencing staffer Phil Hamburger asks him what he is going to do differently this time, Sullivan responds, “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be sitting behind this glass.” The transparency of his answer must reveal a measure of willingness, because Beit T’Shuvah (BTS) decides to go to bat for a convicted felon who is not Jewish, has no money, and has a lengthy track record of missteps with the law. 6:30pm, Sunday, October 10, 2010: Social Innovation Fast-Pitch Competition. The University of Southern California A seed is planted for Sullivan’s ironic return to the JEU Sign Shop, A P R I L 2 012