Interview: Denise Banister, No More Tears
San Quentin News: What is No More Tears, and what role do you play in it?
Denise Banister: NMT is a violence and crime prevention program conceived of by SQ prisoners. It was developed through collaboration between NMT founders Lonnie Morris, Jerry Elster, Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., and Lafayette Nelson, community and staff volunteers Vernell Crittendon, Mick Gardner, Cat Aboudara and Yolanda Najera, of Centerforce. Centerforce is the umbrella organization over NMT. The Muslim Chaplain, R.S. Hassan, is the chief-sponsor of NMT, as well as a founding member. I am a co-sponsor of NMT, serve on the steering committee, perform administrative duties for the program, coordinate volunteer efforts and help implement workshops and events.
SQN : What inspired you to work with NMT? And how long has the organization been in existence?
D.B.: NMT was “born” in 2001. I came on board in 2004. What inspired me to work with NMT was the hope I experienced when I first came to San Quentin to observe the program. Let me say that again; I found HOPE at San Quentin. I almost didn’t come that first day; I was skeptical and expected to find just another group of people who sit around talking about issues of violence in our communities; I was so tried of talk. I grew up in Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond, and was disheartened by the deterioration of those communities due to disenfranchisement, economic disparities, and the infusion of drugs and dwindling of economic opportunities. What I found at NMT was a group of dedicated people working to proactively address all the issues underlying the growing violence in our communities; particularly the youth-on-youth violence. I felt the genius of the program was that men who had once been the offenders were now the mentors for positive change and healing. They reminded me of some very special individuals who took time to mentor me in my youth and turned me from the path of self-destruction. NMT allows me to give back, to thank those who helped me, to serve my community; and as I said, it gives me hope.
SQN: What is the Mission Statement of NMT?
D.B.: NMT Mission Statement: To curb violence and detrimental behaviors within targeted communities by utilizing the specialized knowledge and experience of former perpetrators of violence and crime. These former perpetrators hold themselves accountable to bring solutions to the communities where once they had contributed to the problems.
SQN : And where do you see the group going in the future?
D.B.: I see NMT reaching out into the community, providing mentors who have successfully overcome the negative to model positive change and offer guidance and hope to our youth. Our communities are suffering from a terrible disunity at the core; the result of racism, classism, social injustice, economic imbalance and the systematic destruction of hope. I believe NMT’s greatest value will be in collaboration with groups such as the Healing Circle, partnering our efforts to provide forums for healing, growth and positive change. For any of our programs and efforts to have a lasting effect, we must learn to value each other and work together across all lines, to create a strong, unified, diverse community that fosters and sustains the well-being of all our children and all of our people.
SQN: Who/ How many people are in NMT?
D.B.: Who: Inside: Incarcerated men who, through word of mouth, have been intrigued to investigate NMT and been inspired to work with us. Outside: Various community volunteers from all walks of life. How many: NMT has maintained an average of 55 inside and 15 outside participants over the last four years.
SQN: If someone were interested in becoming a part of your group, how would they go about doing this?
D.B.: Those interested in joined NMT should speak to one of the Steering Committee members. We try to keep a balance of long-termers and short-termers (sentence), so that we know a good percentage of our members will be going home in the next few years to bring what they’ve learned from NMT into their communities.
SQN: What is the Healing Circle and how does it relate to your group?
D.B.: The Healing Circle for the Soul Support (HCSS) is a group of individuals who have lost loved ones to murder; many of them have lost one or more children. The founders of the HCSS, and the chief sponsor – George Jurand, formed the group to provide culturally appropriate and sensitive support to communities of color who traditionally have not had their needs considered by existing services. The format and the methods are so effective that persons across all cultures participate and find solace in the HCSS.
NMT began collaborating with the HCSS in 2007, in a series of dialogs that examine all aspects of violence and its impact. Side by side “victim” and “offender” have found empathy and common ground. We have learned to cross the lines we imagine divide us to create a forum for support, healing, and empowerment. From our initial collaboration we also developed additional workshops such as “Reconnecting the community through Communication” where young incarcerated adults and community members rediscover the value in each other, and explore breaking down barriers and creating solutions in an effort to rewrite the community.
SQN: What do you expect out of a relationship between the two groups?
D.B.: NMT and HCSS are currently working to broaden the scope of our collaboration and develop a solid curriculum, to make this powerful forum available to other communities and venues.
SQN: What are some of the things you would like our readers to know?
D.B.: I would like your readers to know that every one of you is valuable and necessary. No matter what previous experience you have had, what wrong you have done ( and we all have done wrong, sometime), you have talents and abilities that you can develop and use to make your life a good life, to help yourself, your family and your community.
SQN: Are others in training for Leadership positions?
D.B.: Yes, we have other co-facilitators that are connecting with the groups, each in his own, unique way: Marvin Mitchell, Marcus Williams, Eugene “MC” Montgomery and Michael Lewis.
SQN contacted NMT’s co-founder Jerry Elster for comment.
Jerry Elster: “Our original intent at NMT was to expose perpetrators to victims, and victims to perpetrators. And in that way to put a face on crime. It’s a lot harder to commit crime when you put a face on the victim. Our goal is to make everybody accountable for public safety.”
SQN: Could you comment on Denise Bannister’s role at NMT.
JE: She puts in a tireless effort to keep NMT together, no doubt. Denise is the glue that holds it all together. And I’d like to mention Lonnie (Morris), because NMT is his idea. Without Lonnie, there is no NMT. Everybody puts in a good effort to make this all happen, to all come together.
Archives for November 2008
Prisoners Conduct Mock Election
In a well organized peaceful civil-dissent to state law that prohibits state prisoners and parolees from voting in local municipalities and national elections, San Quentin inmates conducted a mock election on Sat.,Oct. 25 which marked the beginning of absentee voting in California.
The ballot contained the presidential candidates, Obama-Biden (Democrat), McCain-Palin (Republican), Nader-Gonzales (Independent) and McKinney-Clemente (Green Party). It also included five state propositions from the Nov. 4 election, Prop. 5—The Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (Nora), Prop. 6—The Safe Neighborhood Act, Prop. 7—Renewable Fuel Sources. Prop. 8—Protect Marriage Act, and Prop. 9—Victim’s Rights and Protection Act.
Classrooms became voting stations and community volunteers became poll-workers and election monitors. Inmates lined-up for voting, each presenting his prison I.D. with picture identification at the check-in table where a volunteer and an inmate marks his name in the official print-out provided by the administration.
“Just to make sure nobody votes twice,” says Red, 57, an inmate with a big smile. “I voted against Prop—8, because I don’t think they should amend the constitution. I voted against Prop— 9, because It’s a vengeful bill,” says Red.
Scott, 47, an inmate standing by the voting classroom conducting an exit-poll said, “I’m doing this to see how close our thinking process aligns with the outside community. It shows, even though we are not allowed to vote, that we are still involved and pay attention to the issues affecting our community.”
Mike Dunne, a community volunteer in S.Q. Film Makers Project, followed by a handful of inmates with expensive TV cameras, believes in rehabilitation instead of incarceration. “This idea of conducting voting here at S. Q. at the start of the absentee voting in California is an idea and a project by the inmates themselves. It has historic implications. It’s voting of the un-counted. It’s training for the inmates to follow the issues and to form independent decisions based upon what is real, and objectively caring rather than subjective interests,” says Dunne.
According to Dunne, the ballots will be tabulated and sealed until Nov. 4. Similar voting will take place for inmates in H-Unit. Today’s designated for the 743 inmates of North Block. The check-in records reflect that 66 percent of the population voted in this mock election.
“In Europe over 75 percent of eligible voters do vote. I know how it feels to be disenfranchised. I’m one of the disenfranchised. I can’t vote because I’m not a citizen. This election is about the men here. There are too many issues at stake in this election. I would like them to have hope by connecting to common issues,” says Doris, a German citizen and a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in psychology. Doris, who refers to S.Q. inmates as “the men,” believes that Prop. 9 is catastrophic. “We ought to direct our social education toward building society of citizens rather than of consumers,” said Doris, before paying full attention to the entire baseball team, arriving in their team uniforms to vote. Someone said, “They may run-out of ballots.” Another inmate shouted “Florida, Florida!” Laughter and comments before Doris responded, “We have the ballot template, and if we need more we will get copies.”
Kathleen, a seventh-grade teacher who teaches English to S.Q. inmates participating in Patten University, believes that a great number of the inmates are more aware of the socio-economic issues than many people on the outside. She finds most of the inmates knowledgeable, engaging and seeking redemption by trying to learn more. “This election gives them a sense of hope that someone really cares,” says Kathleen, who is not a democrat but does intend to vote for Obama, “because he gives hope to many.”
When asked if this mock election would make any difference, she responded with deep earnestness, “There is a man who came and voted, and after he was done he said, ’I don’t feel like a criminal right now.’ The fact (that) people don’t understand that people can change is a crime,” says Kathleen.
In Switzerland, the government faces pandemic drug addictions. They don’t consider it a criminal problem, but they consider it a health problem that requires a health solution.
The advocates of the Swiss solution say that decriminalizing similar problems in the U.S. would enlarge the problem, that sending adolescents and adults to prison for drug use would expand the power of a corporate vigil-justice driven by a rich lobby. Others advocate Prop—5 as a solution.
A Victory For America
In an election that is truly one for the history books, Barack Obama won his bid for the White House in a sweeping victory, capturing an overwhelming number of the nation’s electoral college votes in a fashion which the nation has rarely seen.
By 7:30 pacific time, Fox News had announced Obama the victor and president-elect. The other major networks followed suit of the announcement, forecasting Barack Obama as the next President. Over the next few hours, as the vote counts were broadcast on television, it was evident that Obama had overwhelmingly won the electorates.
Obama made his victory speech to a quarter of a million supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park shortly after the networks announced him the victor. The speech moved many in the crowd to tears of joy, including celebrities such as Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey, who were both in attendance. Obama’s message of Change was clear in his speech, along with a direct appeal for help from the American people.
“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there,” said Obama.
Obama used the story of 106-year old Ann Nixon Cooper as a symbol of the African-American struggle.
“Born just a generation past slavery, but for many years could not vote for two reasons, because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. She was there for the busses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma and a preacher from Atlanta who told people that we shall overcome. Yes we can,” said Obama to an exuberant crowd.
John McCain watched the voter results from his campaign headquarters in Arizona, where he graciously conceded the election. “I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president,” said McCain to a sympathetic crowd.
McCain’s speech was the defining point which ended his decade long quest for the White House. He praised his supporters and his running mate, Sarah Palin, calling her, “One of the best campaigners I have ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party for reform.”
Pundits are crediting Obama’s defeat of McCain to what is being called the best run political campaign in modern history. By early Wednesday morning Obama had an astonishing 338 electoral votes with McCain’s tally at a diminutive 156, with Obama winning the popular vote by over 7 million.
Countries across the globe celebrated Obama’s victory with Americans. In Kenya, his father’s home country, President Mwai Kibaki proclaimed that Thursday would be a public holiday. Desmond Tutu of South Africa praised Obama’s victory. The Iraqi foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the press that he thinks Obama “…will not have the same enthusiasm and momentum for this situation,” speaking of the on-going war in Iraq.
George W. Bush commented that Obama’s win is “…especially uplifting for a generation of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes and four decades later see a dream fulfilled. He also invited the president-elect to visit the White House, while vowing to keep him informed during the transition of power.
“At this defining moment change has come to America,..” Barack Obama, president-elect.
California Officials Openly Defy Federal Judge
California officials face fines of up to $2 million per day for refusing a federal judge’s order to turn over $250 million in state funds needed to jump-start construction on over $8 billion in improvements ordered to bring the medical facilities in its state prisons up to constitutional standards.
The state’s long-running battle with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson heated up Monday when lawyers for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Controller John Chiang questioned the judge’s authority to force the state to hand over the funds, or even to order the changes in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s medical facilities.
Henderson, who in 2006 appointed a federal overseer to manage the state’s beleaguered prison health system, responded to the attack on his authority at the hearing with an order that the funds be transferred by Nov. 5. Failure to comply with his directive, says Henderson, will result in both Schwarzenegger and Chiang facing a hearing for contempt the following week, and the potential for as much as $2 million per day in fines.
Deputy Attorney General Daniel Powell told Henderson that although the state has the funds, it is the state’s position that Henderson has failed to provide sufficient information regarding his plans for the money. He said that any plans that Henderson has for state prison construction must be approved by the Legislature before the state will release any funds.
Plans submitted by the federal manager, law professor Clark Kelso, call for the building of seven prison health centers, a dental center and improving some existing facilities.
The state faces a trial in federal court Nov. 17 before a three-judge panel that will include Henderson. Among the issues to be decided during the trial claims that chronic overcrowding has led to unconstitutionally sub-standard medical care.
Centerforce Holds 2008 Prison Reform Summit
Centerforce, whose mission is to support, educate and advocate for individuals, families and communities impacted by incarceration, hosted its 9th Annual “Inside/Out Summit” on Oct. 6-7 at the Double Tree Sonoma Wine Country in Rohnert Part, California. The theme, More Than One in One Hundred: the Crisis, the Issues, the Solutions, was in response to the report that came out in February from the The Pew Center on the States, which stated that there are now more than one in 100 adults incarcerated in the United States – more than any other nation.
The successful two-day event included 15 workshops on a variety of subjects: Reentry, Employment and Mental Health, Employment for Veterans, Substance Abuse Treatment, Eliminating the Death Penalty, California Prop. 5 (NORA), Props. 6&9, Inside Arts Programs, Visitation Programs, Restorative Justice, HIV Programming, Supporting Children and Families, Making, Mending and Maintaining Relationships, and Advocacy.
Special panelists and speakers included, Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Matthew Cate, actor of M*A*S*H fame, Mike Farrell, Chief Medical Officer Receiver Clark Kelso, Dr. Terry Hill, and Centerforce Executive Director Carol F. Burton. The keynote speech was delivered by Superior Court Judge and author Norbert Ehrenfreund who was a journalist at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945. His powerful and emotional message resonated through the hall as he spoke passionately about the legacy of Nuremberg and its effects on due process and fair trial. He also addressed the audience as an influential force – a large group of people who understand 3 words: “people can change.”
Special plenary sessions included: The 2nd Annual Socratic Dialogue, Incarcerated Medicine Session, Sentencing Reform Caucus, and Ask-a-Funder. Phillip Jay Seiler, a formerly incarcerated Lifer at San Quentin Prison participated on the Socratic Dialogue panel along with representatives from 10 organizations; California Inspector General, David Shaw; CCPOA, Pam Douglas; Stanford Criminal Justice Center, Kara Dansky; Prison Law Office, Don Specter; Prison Legal News, Paul Wright; Crime Victims United of California, Nina Salarno-Ashford; Probation-Parole and former Warden of San Quentin, Jeanne Woodford; author of 3 books on incarceration, Sasha Abramsky; Vacaville Police Chief, Rich Word, and Taxpayers for Improving public Safety, David Warren. The moderator was Ron Clement, formerly of the Haigh-Scatena Foundation. The format of the Socratic Dialog involves revealing a hypothetical scenario in which the panelists must discuss outcomes in order to foster positive solutions.
The Incarceration Medicine Session was moderated by Dr. Jacqueline Tulsky and featured an update on the Receivership by Dr. Terry Hill, Chief Medical Officer under Receiver Clark Kelso. Panelists who posed questions to Dr. Hill were doctors Lisa Pratt, MD of San Quentin and Denise Taylor, MD of California Men’s Colony. The session was extremely informative and was followed by an enthusiastic audience question and answer period.
The Sentencing Reform Caucus was moderated by Carol F. Burton and included panelists Mike Farrel of Death Penalty Focus, Dan Abrahamson of Drug Policy Alliance and Elizabeth Gaynes of Osborne Association. This session was unique because it included questions for the panel that were blogged into the Centerforce website prior to the Summit.
This year, the “Jeanne Woodford Award,” in Recognition of Outstanding Leadership in Proactive Correctional Community Collaboration went to San Quentin Warden Robert Ayers, Jr.
The Socratic Dialogue, Keynote speech, Opening speech by Secretary Cate, Incarceration Medicine, and the Sentencing Reform Caucus will air on SQTV sometime in November or December. Look for your weekly programming updates!