Accountability

For half my life, I placed the blame for my failures outside my own control. I didn't realize the impact that our thinking patterns have on our behavior. I didn't know that if you change the way you think, you change the way you act. Not just on Sundays, but every day! This was a profound truth for me.

Discovering this truth was a significant emotional event in my life and caused me to have an epiphany - that I have the power to change my life. This was the single most empowering realization of my life, and was the catalyst for turning my life totally around. I had a vision of how I could make a difference in the world, and I never looked back after that day.

The whole idea of the impact of comfort zones was illuminating. I realized that prison had become a comfort zone for me. I felt God had left a component out of me, that I didn't fit in outside prison walls. While there are some people in prison from affluent neighborhoods, they really are the exception. The majority of men and women who fill our prisons come from environments that have few opportunities, where drugs are part of the culture; there are many single parents and a high rate of poverty.

Prison is a part of the expectation for young people in these environments. There are few, if any, decent-paying jobs and they feel locked out of the American dream. Dealing drugs and stealing become part of the culture; even an aspiration. A lot of young people succeed despite the culture, but when there's nothing to lose, there's not much at risk if they get busted. When they come out of prison back into the same old, same old, it's easy to fall back into the same old haunts, same old friends and the next thing they know, they're on the chain car back to SingSing. Some escape the life, and many give back to society and work to make a difference. That's the good news.

Unfortunately, the general public is fed the bad news. Only the heinous crimes get front page. These visuals play over and over in people's living rooms from New York to Seattle. It gradually creates an illusion that everyone locked up is a public safety threat. There are tons of men and women doing good things, but they never, or rarely, make the news.

I recently visited our women's prison in Washington. The cost to the taxpayer is $42,000 per year per inmate. The prison is a better environment than many of these women have on the streets. If we invested half of that amount of money on assistance, childcare, etc., most of those women would never be in prison, or could make it on the outside. Only a small percentage of these women are an actual public safety threat.

Our approach to public safety needs a major overhaul, however when we are talking about threatening people's jobs, change becomes a challenging endeavor.

We have created a system where success is built on failure, a system where the product is people. What a paradox. Maybe someday... We can only hope.

Peace,

Gordon Graham
Change Agent