"Seeking Justice and Equity through Study and Service" I am humbly and prayerfully seeking assistance in my efforts to revolutionize the way we do Criminal Justice in America. I am a bi-racial Black man (half Jamaican, half white), currently incarcerated for a crime I did commit (violent home invasion), doing a prison sentence that exceeds a reasonable punishment (90 years, all suspended but 50 years, plus 16 years probation). I was 18 years old at the time. Scared, desperate, stupid, and fresh out of foster care (for more of my personal story, please read, “The Awesome Power of Forgiveness”, on mainernews.com). I want to change that reality for the young people of tomorrow. Toward this end, I tutor and mentor my fellow prisoners, and teach a Restorative and Transformative Justice education-and-practicum course, helping men see the humanity within themselves and others. I also serve as Executive Secretary of the prison Branch of the NAACP, as a hospice volunteer (providing palliative and end-of-life care, ensuring that no one dies alone in prison), and as a K9 Corrections dog handler (caring for and training rescue dogs to help them be more adoptable). Further, I obtained both an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree while incarcerated—with a 3.95 GPA. With the reconvening of the Maine State Legislature, I am again working with Representatives, fellow NAACP Board officers, and other key stakeholders to introduce and further comprehensive legislation in search of creating humanity, equity, and compassion in public policy and practice. I recently completed my first semester at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution with a 4.0 GPA. However, that education comes with a hefty price tag ($23,595 estimate). As an incarcerated citizen, I am unable to incur debt, so cannot apply for school loans. By investing in my education, you will be enabling me to include my voice of painful life experience in the global conversation about Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, a conversation largely held by academics who have not seen, heard, and felt the injustices perpetrated by the American Criminal Justice System. With the skills and tools I develop through this Master’s program, I aim to complete a thesis that researches what social support systems/programs need to be developed in order to increase community safety, while decreasing prison populations (to be completed in 3 years). From that research, I will develop a comprehensive plan for policy change and implementation (within 1-2 years). Once the plan is complete, I will begin to walk out those changes with the aid of the support network I will be building along the way. Over the course of my first semester, I have already begun the building and expansion of my support network of potential change agents. Also, with each of my monthly Mainer columns, I beseech my readership to put forth positive action that reflects their values. I ask for people to think deeper at the state of our society and the ways we treat each other, encouraging them to shake loose of their silence and complacency with the status quo. This is the vocation to which I have dedicated the rest of my life. By investing in me, you will be investing in the coming infusion of true justice and equity in a System built upon generations of injustice and inequity. I know times are uncertain and very difficult, but I need your help to see my vision to its fruition.

Seeking Justice and Equity through Study and Service I am humbly and prayerfully seeking assistance in my efforts to revolutionize the way we do Criminal Justice in America. I am a bi-racial Black man (half Jamaican, half white), currently incarcerated for a crime I did commit (violent home invasion), doing a prison sentence that exceeds a reasonable punishment (90 years, all suspended but 50 years, plus 16 years probation). I was 18 years old at the time. Scared, desperate, stupid, and fresh out of foster care (for more of my personal story, please read, “The Awesome Power of Forgiveness”, on mainernews.com). I want to change that reality for the young people of tomorrow. Toward this end, I tutor and mentor my fellow prisoners, and teach a Restorative and Transformative Justice education-and-practicum course, helping men see the humanity within themselves and others. I also serve as Executive Secretary of the prison Branch of the NAACP, as a hospice volunteer (providing palliative and end-of-life care, ensuring that no one dies alone in prison), and as a K9 Corrections dog handler (caring for and training rescue dogs to help them be more adoptable). Further, I obtained both an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree while incarcerated—with a 3.95 GPA. With the reconvening of the Maine State Legislature, I am again working with Representatives, fellow NAACP Board officers, and other key stakeholders to introduce and further comprehensive legislation in search of creating humanity, equity, and compassion in public policy and practice. I recently completed my first semester at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution with a 4.0 GPA. However, that education comes with a hefty price tag ($23,595 estimate). As an incarcerated citizen, I am unable to incur debt, so cannot apply for school loans. By investing in my education, you will be enabling me to include my voice of painful life experience in the global conversation about Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, a conversation largely held by academics who have not seen, heard, and felt the injustices perpetrated by the American Criminal Justice System. With the skills and tools I develop through this Master’s program, I aim to complete a thesis that researches what social support systems/programs need to be developed in order to increase community safety, while decreasing prison populations (to be completed in 3 years). From that research, I will develop a comprehensive plan for policy change and implementation (within 1-2 years). Once the plan is complete, I will begin to walk out those changes with the aid of the support network I will be building along the way. Over the course of my first semester, I have already begun the building and expansion of my support network of potential change agents. Also, with each of my monthly Mainer columns, I beseech my readership to put forth positive action that reflects their values. I ask for people to think deeper at the state of our society and the ways we treat each other, encouraging them to shake loose of their silence and complacency with the status quo. This is the vocation to which I have dedicated the rest of my life. By investing in me, you will be investing in the coming infusion of true justice and equity in a System built upon generations of injustice and inequity. I know times are uncertain and very difficult, but I need your help to see my vision to its fruition.

Seeking Justice and Equity through Study and Service I am humbly and prayerfully seeking assistance in my efforts to revolutionize the way we do Criminal Justice in America. I am a bi-racial Black man (half Jamaican, half white), currently incarcerated for a crime I did commit (violent home invasion), doing a prison sentence that exceeds a reasonable punishment (90 years, all suspended but 50 years, plus 16 years probation). I was 18 years old at the time. Scared, desperate, stupid, and fresh out of foster care (for more of my personal story, please read, “The Awesome Power of Forgiveness”, on mainernews.com). I want to change that reality for the young people of tomorrow. Toward this end, I tutor and mentor my fellow prisoners, and teach a Restorative and Transformative Justice education-and-practicum course, helping men see the humanity within themselves and others. I also serve as Executive Secretary of the prison Branch of the NAACP, as a hospice volunteer (providing palliative and end-of-life care, ensuring that no one dies alone in prison), and as a K9 Corrections dog handler (caring for and training rescue dogs to help them be more adoptable). Further, I obtained both an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree while incarcerated—with a 3.95 GPA. With the reconvening of the Maine State Legislature, I am again working with Representatives, fellow NAACP Board officers, and other key stakeholders to introduce and further comprehensive legislation in search of creating humanity, equity, and compassion in public policy and practice. I recently completed my first semester at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution with a 4.0 GPA. However, that education comes with a hefty price tag ($23,595 estimate). As an incarcerated citizen, I am unable to incur debt, so cannot apply for school loans. By investing in my education, you will be enabling me to include my voice of painful life experience in the global conversation about Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, a conversation largely held by academics who have not seen, heard, and felt the injustices perpetrated by the American Criminal Justice System. With the skills and tools I develop through this Master’s program, I aim to complete a thesis that researches what social support systems/programs need to be developed in order to increase community safety, while decreasing prison populations (to be completed in 3 years). From that research, I will develop a comprehensive plan for policy change and implementation (within 1-2 years). Once the plan is complete, I will begin to walk out those changes with the aid of the support network I will be building along the way. Over the course of my first semester, I have already begun the building and expansion of my support network of potential change agents. Also, with each of my monthly Mainer columns, I beseech my readership to put forth positive action that reflects their values. I ask for people to think deeper at the state of our society and the ways we treat each other, encouraging them to shake loose of their silence and complacency with the status quo. This is the vocation to which I have dedicated the rest of my life. By investing in me, you will be investing in the coming infusion of true justice and equity in a System built upon generations of injustice and inequity. I know times are uncertain and very difficult, but I need your help to see my vision to its fruition.

Holistic Education: Creating a Foundation for Service I longed for death. In the depths of my despair, I spent hundreds of hours fantasizing about how my life might end. As I had multiple Life sentences dangling over my neck like the trembling blade of a guillotine, my life was over anyway. Or, so I thought. Life manifests education in at least three forms: scholastic, social, and spiritual. As a teenager, it was the first that held the most promise of a hopeful future. Having experienced prolonged abuse at the hands of my father, I left home at ten years of age in favor of becoming a foster child. However, before endangering my life enough to secure an avenue of escape, I received a scholastic foundation that would make feasible my later dreams of a Doctorate degree in Psychology. Then, as I was dreaming of how I might bring healing to children who had suffered a similar upbringing, a new level of grief entered my life. My foster mother died of a massive heart attack, losing consciousness while I was on the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher. Exactly one year later, my biological father succumbed to cancer and drew his last breath with me by his bedside. I was one month away from my eighteenth birthday. With all my intellectual prowess, I had never learned how to grieve, nor how to receive comfort and support. My social education had been severely hindered by the early abuse and my subsequent “out-group” status as a foster child. This inability to grieve and seek assistance in my suffering led to a period of substance abuse and other reckless behaviors that culminated in my becoming incarcerated five weeks after my eighteenth birthday. I was arrested on the same day I had scheduled to take my GED test to make up for dropping out of school to care for my ailing father. It is here that despair set in and I resigned any hope of life. Thankfully, God saw fit to use my suffering and spiritual ignorance as an opportunity to bring education to my spirit-man. Where once I allowed my heart to grow callous and my mind cloudy, I have since developed compassion and clarity that surpasses anything I could have dreamed was possible. Scripture is now the primary lens through which I view life, which enriches my days with a passion to serve and encourage the people around me. My spiritual education created synthesis and cohesion between my scholastic and social educations. Not only was I able to complete my GED while awaiting my sentencing hearing, I went on to obtain Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Studies. Having graduated with a cumulative 3.95 GPA, I am now pursuing a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, with a primary concentration in Social Justice Advocacy and Activism. My holistic education has created a foundation for my life’s vocation of enacting fundamental change in America’s Criminal Justice System—seeking true justice and equity for all.