Justice Voices

In this update to Episode 1, host David Risley, a former career federal prosecutor, has a conversation with one of his former defendants, Lynard Joiner, founder and CEO of Shifting Into New Gear (SING). 

Mr. Joiner discusses what he sees as the five key factors involved in successful community reentry by returning citizens after prison: 

Mindset

Employment

Housing

Sobriety

Resource support. 

He points out that effective reentry programs are a win-win solution to the problem of recidivism (return to prison for new offenses).

Mr. Risley discusses the need for a shift in our criminal justice thinking from a punishment paradigm to a problem-solving paradigm. 

* Justice Voices website: https://justicevoices.org 

* SING website: https://ShiftingIntoNewGear.org

“Going to prison saved my life.”

That is what guest, Lynard Joiner, said during this conversation with host, David Risley. It is also the subtitle of an autobiographical book written by Lynard Joiner, titled, LJ’s Cocoon.

Mr. Joiner and Mr. Risley first met on opposite sides of a federal courtroom, on opposite sides of the law. Mr. Joiner was a defendant. Mr. Risley was the prosecutor. 

Mr. Joiner was convicted and served 17 years in prison. Now, he is founder and CEO of a reentry program named Shifting Into New Gear (SING) providing mentoring and resource navigation services to people returning to the Springfield, Illinois, area after release from prison. He has provided services to hundreds of returning citizens, including many who are former defendants in cases prosecuted by Mr. Risley.

Today, Mr. Risley and Mr. Joiner are friends and colleagues.

In this episode, recorded originally in 2019, Mr. Joiner describes what led him to end up in prison; his prison experience; the transformation while in prison that he describes as coming out of a cocoon; his experience after release, including being taught how to use a cell phone by a 4 year-old child; the mission of SING; and SING’s remarkable success in enabling returning citizens transition successfully to community and family life after release from prison.

When Mr. Risley shared the earlier YouTube video version of this episode with a friend who is a retired Illinois State Police Major, the friend called him the next day and said he had already watched it twice, describing it as “impactful,” something that should be watched by everyone, including police trainees.

Mr. Risley is a former career federal prosecutor and former Director of Public Safety Policy in the Illinois Governor’s Office. He founded Justice Voices after leaving the Governor’s office, convinced that the best way to change public policy regarding criminal justice issues is to change public opinion by sharing the stories of people with lived experience with crime and the criminal justice system.

Some future episodes will feature conversations with other people who served prison time in cases prosecuted by Mr. Risley. Others will feature conversations with people with subject matter expertise in criminal justice issues, including restorative justice.

Episode 2 will feature an more recent 2021 conversation with Mr. Joiner in which he shares what he sees as the five keys of successful reentry to community life after release from prison.

Stay tuned for that and many more “stories that need to be told, voices that need to be heard.”

* SING website: https://ShiftingIntoNewGear.org* Justice Voices website: https://justicevoices.org

That is the first of three doses of criminal justice reality described in this introductory episode by Justice Voices founder and host, David Risley, former career federal prosecutor and former Director of Public Safety Policy in the Illinois Governor’s office.Reality dose #2: Prisons do only one thing well — incapacitation of dangerous criminals. But, in FY 2018 half the Illinois prison population (for example) consisted of people in Department of Corrections custody for only 8 months or less, at a true cost of almost $70,000 per inmate per year. The huge cost of imprisoning low-level, non-dangerous offenders is taxpayer money that would be far better spent on more effective local solutions to local crime using local resources, supported when necessary by state funding. Reality dose #3: In Illinois, 43% of people released from prison return to prison within 3 years (lower than the national average) at a true cost of over $150,000 for each such event of recidivism. Recycling people back to prison is far more expensive than the cost of investing in proven in-prison programs and local support systems to enable returning citizens to successfully reenter the community after release from prison without returning to criminal activity.We need to shift from a punishment paradigm of criminal justice to a problem-solving paradigm.When Mr. Risley left the Illinois Governor’s Office as Director of Public Safety Policy, he had reached the conclusion that the best way to change public policy regarding criminal justice system reform is to change public opinion, and the best way to change public opinion is by sharing the stories of people with real-life experience with crime and the criminal justice system.Real-life stories have the power to illuminate reality far better than facts and figures – and to change hearts, as well as minds.That’s what Justice Voices is all about – to share stories that need to be told, voices that need to be heard regarding crime, criminal justice, and related issues.Justice Voices website:  https://justicevoices.orgDavid Risley’s background: https://david-risley.comFinal Report of the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform (Parts I & II) December 2016:  http://www.icjia.org/cjreform2015/index.htmlIllinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council:  https://spac.illinois.gov/

David E. RisleyDavid E. Risley–Making democracy workDavid E. Risley professional website. Expert in Egyptian judiciary, Egypt legal system, Egypt law, Iraqi High Tribunal, Marsh Arabs of Iraq, rule of law, judicial training, prosecutor training, national security law, international humanitarian law, and developing core institutions of democracy.

Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing ReformWelcome to the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Senten

That is the first of three doses of criminal justice reality described in this introductory episode by Justice Voices founder and host, David Risley, former career federal prosecutor and former Director of Public Safety Policy in the Illinois Governor's office.Reality dose #2: Prisons do only one thing well -- incapacitation of dangerous criminals.