Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tracy's Story
How one of Baltimore's ex-offenders has managed to stay out of prison
Posted by Michael Corbin on Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 6:00 AM
(Ed.'s note: Michael Corbin is currently traveling in South America. He will return to blogging in December. This is a post from Urbanite's digital media editor.)
In his November feature, "On the Outside," which examined the effects of mass incarceration in and on Baltimore City, Michael Corbin tells us the story of Tracy, an ex-offender who had served twelve years on a mandatory, fifteen-year sentence for drug possession and distribution. We also learn that, according to current trends, one in every three black men who have never gone to college can expect to spend time in prison.
One of the central questions "On the Outside" set out to address was a question we posed on the cover of that issue: How can we help [ex-offenders] stay out of prison? Michael points to one answer—justice reinvestment—in the story. But as he has written so often in this blog, the real way to help ex-offenders stay out of prison and truly reintegrate themselves with society will require a vast and dramatic, paradigm-level shift in how we think about—and carry out—our policies of incarceration, punishment, and justice. In many respects, asking how we can help keep ex-offenders out of prison is like asking us what, as a society, we believe our definition of justice to be. It is then, and only then, when we will be able to enact comprehensive reforms and policies that are not divorced from a sense of true justice based upon reformation and not incapacitation.
In the video below, Tracy recounts his life story, from corner boy to ex-offender. You'll hear of things (his job, his religion, and others) that Tracy points to as being monumental enough to transform him from a recalcitrant youth to a member of society not beholden to drug culture as a means of getting by. He has been out of prison for quite some time. How can we help others stay out?
Video by Lindsay Bottos-Sewell
Interview by Michael Corbin
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