AJCRADIO
Exposing Injustices Wherever Found
an Organization for Social Justice
Our hosts highlight ongoing struggles against "the system" and what happens when justice miscarries against our American citizens by the hands of United States' Politicians, like Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.
Our Special Guest for tonight's show is Charlie Griffin. Tonight's focus will be on exposing the abuse of power suffered by Mr. Griffin in the Colorado prison system.
Our hosts continue to talk about the IRP6 case. They speak on the betrayal of Gary Walker and the impact it had on his family and colleagues.
Our hosts take time to talk more about the IRP6 case. They look into and speak on the injustices that were given to these men. In addition, we learn more about how these injustices happen and the level of corruption involved with them.
Attorney - Michael Dolan
Michael Dolan, a former Army officer, was admitted to the State Bar of Connecticut in 1996 and has been a criminal defense and personal injury trial lawyer since that time. He has tried a wide variety of cases in state and federal courts, covering a full range of criminal cases including white collar crimes, drug offenses, and complex criminal cases. As a civil litigation attorney, he vigorously fights to protect the rights of people who are injured, whether in an accident, wrongful death, or worker’s compensation. He has represented boards of education in general litigation and policy development, and various municipalities in property tax appeals. In addition, he has represented clients in numerous appeals in both state and federal courts. He also represented Demetrius Anderson, a 43-year-old Philadelphia native who faced returning to prison to complete a sentence more than 12 years after he was mistakenly freed early.
Website: http://dolanlawfirmct.com
Journalist/Reporter - Laura Goldman
Laura Goldman was one of the first female stockbrokers at Merrill Lynch. She successfully fought to end mandatory arbitration for Wall Street employment discrimination suits. She then began a career in journalism where she contributed to media outlets such as Good Morning America /ABC News, the Huffington Post, Daily Mail etc. In recent years, she has devoted considerable effort to advocating criminal justice reform after her own experience with the justice system. She helped build the extraordinary coalition that passed Pennsylvania's Clean Slate Act. Some of the stories that she worked on included former President George W. Bush's reaction to the capture of Osama Bin Laden, the Snowden data breach, and the tangled finances of a congressional candidate who happened to be Chelsea Clinton's mother.
Deputy Director of Family Outreach & Storytelling - Debi Campbell
Debi Campbell researches and writes FAMM’s Success Stories — stories of people who have been impacted by harsh sentencing laws, and who are both inside and outside of prison. Debi has daily contact with prisoners and their families as she documents their stories. Before joining FAMM, Debi served 16 years in Federal Prison for her participation in a 1993 drug conspiracy. Since her release in 2010, she has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform. She is currently working on FAMM’s Compassionate Release Clearinghouse to obtain pro bono counsel for federal prisoners in need of compassionate release.
Website: https://famm.org
Mayor - Paul Heroux
Paul Heroux is an American politician, who is the current Mayor of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He previously served as State Representative from the Second Bristol District, elected in 2012 and is very knowledgeable about the need for Criminal Justice Reform and use of the Compassionate Release policy. Writing for the Huffington Post, Heroux is known for his knowledge of crime policy, government performance measurement, mental health advocacy, and Middle East affairs. Heroux is a regular guest on RT International discussing Iran and the Middle East. He earned a Master of Science degree in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and received the "Leadership in Criminology Award."
Website: https://www.paulheroux.org/
Wife of Jerry Stanley - Shelly Stanley
My name is Shelly Stanley, and I reside in Texas outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. My husband is currently an offender in the Texas Department of Corrections. He was sentenced to 30 years in February 2017 on a Possession of a Controlled Substance. He had priors, so the charges were enhanced. This is the reasoning behind the 30 years. He was given a Palliative Care Social worker who filed for a MRIS (Medical Release). She felt very good about Parole seeing how serious his condition was and letting him out on Medical Release. His health had improved. On November 26th, he was denied. Parole's answer was that he was a danger to society. This just touches the surface of all we have been through since this all began.
Mother of Alex Phillips - Ann Burke
Ann Burke is a registered nurse and worked in the field of Home Care and Hospice for over 25 years. She has Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. She is currently working for Fenway Health in the Violence Recovery Program with the LGBTQ community/ specializing in Domestic violence -Sexual Assault, Hate crimes, Police misconduct & asylum. The Massachusetts Department of Correction denied the medical parole request of her 31-year-old son, Alexander J. Phillips, diagnosed with terminal cancer, the first ruling under a law passed in April that allows the early release of dying inmates. Alex J. Phillips died on November 24, 2018, after a nine month journey through the harsh landscape of cancer.
Website: https://www.necir.org/2018/11/08/first-massachusetts-compassionate-release-prisoner-goes-home/
Attorney/Lecturer - Ruth Greenberg
Ruth represented Alex Phillips in his request for compassionate release. The first request was denied but on November 8, 2018 his petition was granted. Phillips was the first inmate to be released under the new program that allows the state (MA) to release inmates who can prove they are terminally ill or so incapacitated that they are no longer a safety risk. The program was part of a broad package of criminal justice reforms signed by the governor in April. In passing the bill, Massachusetts became one of the last states in the nation to create what is often called “compassionate release,” allowing prisoners to die beyond the prison walls and to save taxpayers the costs of caring for sick inmates.
Daughter of Joyce Ann Brown - Koquice Spencer
Koquice Spencer was 11 years old when her mother, Joyce Ann Brown was taken away to spend nine years, five months and 24 days in prison for a crime that she always said she didn’t commit. After a short trial that included testimony from a jailhouse informant, an obvious cover-up and an eyewitness account, Ms. Joyce was found guilty of robbery and murder and she was sentenced to spend at least 20 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. With the help of Centurion Ministries, the CBS News magazine Show 60 Minutes and several articles written by two Dallas Morning News reporters, Steve McGonigle and Steve Blow, Ms. Brown's case received international attention, and on November 3, 1989, she walked outside into the arms of her family, a free woman. On June 13, 2015, Koquice's mother Joyce Ann Brown passed away leaving her the family matriarch at age 46.
Vice Chair of IAHR - Kimberly Jenkins-Snodgrass
Kimberly Jenkins-Snodgrass is a tireless advocate for justice, civil and human rights. During her partnership with the late Justice Warrior, Joyce Ann Brown, she traveled the country fighting wrongful incarceration. When Ms. Jenkins-Snodgrass experienced the injustice of the system firsthand with her son’s wrongful incarceration, her faith in the system was lost. Kimberly is the Vice Chair for Interfaith Action for Human Rights (IAHR) represents people from a broad range of faith communities who have mobilized to change the culture, policies, and practices that permit or facilitate U.S. sponsored torture or otherwise violate human dignity.
Websites: https://www.facebook.com/interfaithactionhumanrights/ ; https://www.interfaithactionhr.org/
Journalist/Reporter - Laura Goldman
Laura Goldman was one of the first female stockbrokers at Merrill Lynch. She successfully fought to end mandatory arbitration for Wall Street employment discrimination suits. She then began a career in journalism where she contributed to media outlets such as Good Morning America /ABC News, the Huffington Post, Daily Mail etc. In recent years, she has devoted considerable effort to advocating criminal justice reform after her own experience with the justice system. She helped build the extraordinary coalition that passed Pennsylvania's Clean Slate Act. Some of the stories that she worked on included former President George W. Bush's reaction to the capture of Osama Bin Laden, the Snowden data breach, and the tangled finances of a congressional candidate who happened to be Chelsea Clinton's mother.
9/11 Survivor - Kelly Grace Price
Kelly Grace Price grew up on Altair Lane in the Skyway neighborhood of Colorado Springs and is a graduate of the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado. Price narrowly escaped death on 9/11/01 when she was working as a consulting project manager for JP Morgan Chase as a technology hired consultant. Her home office was on the 21st floor of the World Trade Center's Tower Two. The photographs she snapped fleeing the collapsing buildings have won awards, been widely published and hang in the 9/11 Memorial Museum's permanent collection. She now works to end the rape and sexual abuse crisis in our City jails and to close the Rose M. Singer Center: the all-female jail on the notorious island complex in the East River.
Website: https://www.closerosies.org/index
Advocate - Kathy Morse
Kathy Morse is a former detainee at Rikers Island. New York State oversight agency determined that Rikers is so dangerous, it can no longer be permitted to accept inmate transfers from outside New York City. Kathy is one of several people formerly incarcerated at the troubled complex who tells her story in "Rikers: An American Jail." Kathy missed a court date and was picked up and sent to Rikers. During her stay, she was sexually assaulted by 4 detainees while taking a shower to teach her a lesson. They heard Kathy was a snitch. Kathy never reported the assault because, in Rikers, correctional officers retaliate against you for reporting abuse or they just ignore your claims of abuse.
Websites: http://rikersfilm.org ; https://www.closerosies.org/index ; https://vimeo.com/212659765
Author - Mary Buser
Mary Buser, author of award-winning book, Lockdown on Rikers: Shocking stories of Abuse and Injustice at New York’s Notorious Jail, was a social worker in the Rikers Island Mental Health Department. She served as Assistant Chief of Mental Health in the island’s 500 cell Punitive Segregation Unit. Since leaving Rikers, she has been an outspoken advocate for the incarcerated, especially the mentally ill and those held in solitary confinement. Her Op-ed, “Solitary’s Mockery of Human Rights” was published in the The Washington Post, and other articles include publication in Politico, Salon, Vice, The Crime Report and America magazine. Prior to Rikers, she co-founded the Samaritans of New York suicide prevention hotline.
Website: https://www.marybuser.com/
Advocate - Kathy Morse
Kathy Morse is a former detainee at Rikers Island. New York State oversight agency determined that Rikers is so dangerous, it can no longer be permitted to accept inmate transfers from outside New York City. Kathy is one of several people formerly incarcerated at the troubled complex who tells her story in "Rikers: An American Jail." Kathy missed a court date and was picked up and sent to Rikers. During her stay, she was sexually assaulted by 4 detainees while taking a shower to teach her a lesson. They heard Kathy was a snitch. Kathy never reported the assault because, in Rikers, correctional officers retaliate against you for reporting abuse or they just ignore your claims of abuse.
Websites: http://rikersfilm.org ; https://www.closerosies.org/index ; https://vimeo.com/212659765
Congresswoman - Val Demings
Congresswoman Val Demings represents Florida's 10th Congressional District. Born in a two-room, wooden framed home in Jacksonville, Val Demings was the youngest of seven children. With her parents proudly at her side, she received a B.S. in Criminology from Florida State University. Despite seeing few women in the ranks of law enforcement in the early 1980’s, Val was inspired to move to Orlando to join the police force. In 2007, Val Demings made history when she was appointed to serve as Orlando’s first female Chief of Police. As Orlando’s Chief of Police, Val was widely praised for her dynamic leadership and a significant drop in crime. Val is eager to continue her record of public service as Congresswoman representing the people of the 10th District of Florida.
Website: https://demings.house.gov/
Our hosts take time to honor Lawanna Banks Clark. They discuss the damage inflicted on Lawanna's life through the means of injustice and how her life changed from experiencing it. A Just Cause and AJC Radio says goodbye to our sister, Lawanna Clark. We will miss you and keep your spirit alive as we fight for justice just as you did.