Lives in Focus: Family Life Behind Bars » Audio

Maya Pope-Chappell Bids Farewell

Maya Pope-Chappell — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:45:21 +0000

Because of another journalistic opportunity, I will no longer be contributing to the Family Life Behind Bars website. However, as I bid farewell, I’ve gained experiences that will I’ll carry with me into my next endeavor.

Besides assisting Sandeep with maintaining the website, the experience that stands out the most is my position as the web radio host. In this role, I was able to interview those that have been directly affected by incarceration: from a father sentenced to 15 years under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, to a grandmother who was paying hundreds of dollars in collect call fees. As someone who has also had both family members and friends behind bars, their stories not only resonated with the listeners who tuned in, but with me personally.

I wish the website much success in it’s mission and continued commitment to bringing these stories to the forefront.

Listen Now: Losing your paycheck to collect call fees?

Listen Now: Documentary filmmaker- Children of incarcerated parents speak

Listen Now: Financial advice for families and the formerly incarcerated

Phone-in question: How to help someone dying of cancer in prison?

Sandeep Junnarkar — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:36:30 +0000

We just received a question by telephone that needs your attention.

The question comes in response to a recent post about struggling to care for a loved one in prison who is very ill.

Does anyone have advice for Elizabeth, whose husband is dying of cancer in a prison in Jacksonville, Florida? Please listen to the audio and post your comments below. I will call her and pass on all your advice. Thank you! [UPDATE: Our community columnist, Makeba Lavan, provides advice about dealing with a relative who is sick in prison in her video piece.]

(The caller’s personal identity and phone number were edited out of the message. Leave advice in the comments section and I will make sure they receive it–thanks!)

Link to mp3 (Right-click to download)

Listen Now: Losing your paycheck to collect call fees?

Maya Pope-Chappell — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:27:05 +0000

Last night, I hosted a dynamic show about the high cost of collect calls from prison and the burden they impose on families. Sherry Murray and Edna Ford not only talked about the affect that the high cost has had on them personally, but the affect it’s had on their pockets. Kiana Booker, Ford’s granddaughter, also joined us to talk openly and candidly about the complicated task of sustaining a relationship with the father who murdered her mother.

You can also see how much money people spent receiving these collect calls and what they sacrificed in the results of our survey here.

Web radio: Losing your paycheck to collect calls fees?

Maya Pope-Chappell — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:33:01 +0000

Edna Ford is a grandmother of six who says she’s struggled to pay the high cost of collect phone calls ever since her son was incarcerated 13 years ago. After racking up bills as high as $200 a month, Ford says the calls have gotten less frequent over the years.

On Wed. Jan 27 at 9 p.m. EST, I’ll be hosting Family Life Behind Bars radio, talking to Ford about the burden of collect calls and the complicated task of sustaining a relationship between her granddaughters and their father. Ford will also talk about the difficulty of coming to terms with her son’s conviction for killing the mother of her granddaughters and the ripple effect it had on their entire family.

I’ll also be joined by Sherry Murray, president of the Coalition to Reduce Recidivism, which aims to help ex-offenders become productive members of the community. As the mother of a son who was formerly incarcerated, Murray has also been directly affected by the high cost of collect phone calls from correctional facilities.

Listen live by calling (347) 326-9981 at showtime or listen in online at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/familylifebehindbars. You can also ask questions or speak your mind during the show by dialing (347) 326-9981 and pressing 1.

If you’ve been affected by the high costs of collect calls, take this survey. Also, tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Listen Now: The job search after incarceration

Maya Pope-Chappell — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:44:28 +0000

Interested in hearing how to tackle the job market fresh out of prison? Check out the show to hear tips and advice on finding work after incarceration from David Koch, who was released from prison in 1980 and went on to become a pilot and CEO of his own internet company. Hear also from Aric Coleman, who was just released from prison last month, about his experience finding a job and his advice for others in the same position.

Web radio: The job search after incarceration

Maya Pope-Chappell — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:34:33 +0000

[UPDATE: article today: Out of prison, out of a job, out of luck--check out the comment section, some people have no belief in rehabilitation.]

If you’re not sure which box to check when asked “have you ever been convicted of a felony?” be sure to tune in on Wed. Nov. 11 at 9 p.m. EST.

Makeba and I will be talking to David Koch who will offer advice to recently released or formerly incarcerated people on ways to find jobs.

Following his release in 1980 after serving two years in state and federal prison, Koch took a job cleaning planes and mowing the lawn. Little did he know that the man who gave him the job was the president and CEO of a airline company. After working his way up from cleaner to pilot, Koch went on to have a successful career.

Koch will talk about his experience navigating the job search and offer advice ranging from how to deal with the job application to handling the societal stigmas of incarceration.

We’ll also be talking to Aric Coleman and his wife Laianda. Aric, a Detroit native who was just released in October after serving nine years in prison, will talk about his experience trying to find employment and some of the struggles he’s had in securing a position. Laianda, Aric’s wife of almost 13 years, will discuss the effect that his job search had on her and why she has continued to support him.

Listen live by calling (347) 326-9981 at showtime or listen live online at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/familylifebehindbars.

If you have a question about finding employment following a felony conviction that you would like to be addressed during the show, please leave a comment below and we’ll be sure to ask it during the show.

Growing up in the criminal justice system

Michael Cohen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:02:21 +0000

Leon Hymes

While serving his fifth year of a nine-to-life sentence for murder, Leon Hymes was transferred from Division For Youth to the Department of Corrections.

The move from one location to another was a cold dose of reality of growing up from childhood to adulthood within the criminal justice system. It also marked the beginning of a six and a half year stretch in which Hymes wouldn’t see his mother. The time apart from his family—seventeen years behind bars–shaped how he connected to his family and forged his relationship to the world.

In December 1990, 15-year-old Hymes was arrested for shooting and killing a man at a party at his girlfriend’s house in the Bronx. He was convicted and sentenced in 1992 having already spent almost two years in Spofford Detention Center in the Bronx. But as an older juvenile inmate Hymes enrolled in a mentorship program to help younger inmates.

Though not a model prisoner–he was denied parole four times–he says that trying to provide younger inmates with the guidance that he didn’t get gave him purpose and kept him going.

Now home for almost two years he’s reconciled family relationships and helps run Choices, an alternative-to-detention program for at-risk youth. When the U.S. Department of Justice released a scathing report last summer exposing horrid conditions inside NY’s youth detention facilities, from excessive restraining measures to overmedication and misdiagnoses, Hymes could relate.

I spoke with Leon about his own experiences in the juvenile justice system and the issues that today’s kids face:

1. Relationships with his family:

Link to mp3

2. Discomfort with mother:

Link to mp3

3. Missing father figure:

Link to mp3

4. Repairing the relationship with his sister:

Link to mp3

5. Advice on raising children:

Link to mp3

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: How have you tried to help an adolescent family member adjust to live outside of a juvenile detention center?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646)-867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Michael Cohen is a student at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, graduating in December 2010.

Tips for handling separation during the holiday season

tiffanigarlic — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:01:13 +0000

Dr. Harland Kessaris

The holidays are traditionally a time for families to be together. That message is in the songs, the movies, and even displayed in storefront windows. What happens when your family is separated by more than distance but by the physical and psychological barriers imposed by incarceration? How then do you cope with the holidays?

We recently sat down with Dr. Harland Kessaris to talk about how to cope with the absence of a loved one during the holiday season and other questions asked by you. As a psychologist who specializes in re-entry of incarcerated individuals back into family and society, he was able to provide some insight into handling this potentially alienating time of year.

Dr. Kessaris stressed the importance of open communication between children, the incarcerated, and those caring for the children, “As much as you can you should include them [the incarcerated],” said Kessaris. “I think people need to be reminded, encouraged, and assisted in doing that.” For Kessari, the key is to make a sincere effort to connect personally.

Here are some tips from Dr. Kessaris:

1. The best time to talk to children of the incarcerated about the holidays:

Link to mp3

2. How families of the incarcerated can include their loved ones during the holidays:

Link to mp3

3. How caregivers can help children of the incarcerated cope during the holidays:

Link to mp3

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: What tips do you have for coping with this period?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646)-867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Tiffani N. Garlic attends the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. She is a print student with a concentration on urban reporting. She graduates December 2008. Her work can be viewed on sheilaj.wordpress.com.

Healthcare: Ill and dying in prison

Sandeep Junnarkar — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:56:52 +0000

click for audio slideshow

Family Life Behind Bars has been working very slowly on a project that looks at the healthcare that is provided to inmates and the role families play in caring for someone in prison. The site had a great personal audio piece about one daughter’s attempts to care for her sick father in prison. We’ll keep plugging away at this angle.

In the meantime, the New York Times has an interesting piece about how more prisons are starting hospice programs as the prison population ages with many of them using inmate volunteers to ease the pain of dying in prison. Without family to help deal with the illness, the last days or months of life can be difficult. Fellow inmates can help deal that remaining time.

One prison healthcare official says that “inmate volunteers bond with the patients in a way that staff members cannot, taking on “the touchy-feely thing” that may be inappropriate between inmates and prison workers.”

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: How do you try to care for a family member who is in prison and ill?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Listen now: Documentary filmmaker- Children of incarcerated parents speak

Maya Pope-Chappell — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:41:49 +0000

Wednesday night’s show featured Marika Turano, the documentary filmmaker of The Word Is Love, and Ms. Lorraine Watson Sr. who became the caretaker of her nine grandchildren after their mother was incarcerated. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get Kareem “Chuckie” Watson, one of the children featured in the film on the show due to technical difficulties, but we hope to feature him in an upcoming program.

Listen to the show to hear Turano talk about the film, what she learned while making it and the advice she has for children of incarcerated parents. Hear Ms. Lorraine Sr. talk about the sacrifices she had to make to raise her grandchildren, the pain they endured as a result of their mothers incarceration and thoughts about her grandson currently awaiting trail at Rikers Island for 1st degree murder.