In Episode 45, Attorney Ada Lin of Prisoners’ Legal Services in Boston, Massachusetts discussed the need for the pending House and Senate Bill that would allow for a more compassionate release of those incarcerated individuals who were terminally ill or permanently incapacitated and facing an end-of-life situation.  In this episode, Ada Lin returns with Dr. Alice Bukhman, an Emergency Department Medical Director, and Head of Medical Partnerships for Prisoners’ Legal Services to discuss the medical parole need in more detail.   Ada and Alice offer a voice for those in need of medical parole, and work with teams of hospital caretakers to improve management of agitated patients, and reduce bias, especially where it concerns a shackling of a patient who is already incapacitated.

The Medical Parole House and Senate Bill, in Massachusetts, is described as the following: To ensure that the medical parole works as the Legislature originally intended by providing a measure of public decency toward incarcerated people who are terminally ill or permanently incapacitated while ensuring public safety. This Massachusetts House Bill was written by local Massachusetts House Representative Mindy Domb with the support of Prisoners Legal Services, an organization that considers itself a champion that ‘carries the water’ for current and formerly incarcerated individuals, despite the lawyer ratio of over 3,000 to one.  This episode’s conversation may be centered on the State of Massachusetts, but the conversation of Medical Parole is one that is played out, State by State, across the U.S.  The key words to finding success for this bill, human decency, and public safety.  Where would you stand?

While Stephanie and Corey have vastly different backgrounds and stories, the common thread for both is not only their association with the AISS program at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, but their passion to use their past to help change other’s futures.  The paths they chose to lead after overcoming lifestyles that ran the gamut from false accusations and wrongful arrests to domestic violence will not only inspire but hopefully activate change for those who may be looking for their better path as they unlock their past and rewrite their future.

When a legendary lawyer and a legal scholar reveal the structural failures that undermine justice in our criminal courts, the result is an absolute MUST READ aptly named The Fear of Too Much Justice.  While this is not the first book for authors Stephen Bright and James Kwak, it is their first collaboration that offers a heart-wrenching overview of how the criminal legal system fails to live up to the values of equality and justice.  “- their goals are to protect the poor and innocent, expose the truth behind capital punishment and wrongful convictions, and call out corrupt prosecutors and incompetent judges, along with any other bad actors who have ruined our system”. – John Grisham

Massachusetts House Representative Lindsay Sabadosa’s path to politics probably started at the age of nine, when she held a protest march over the closing of her beloved town library.  Yet it took a few more decades of working in the private sector before she launched her political career.  While Representative Sabadosa takes up the flaming sword in a variety of arenas, she has a deep passion for criminal justice and prison reform, and in this episode speaks passionately about the House Bills she has launched, from changing the parole system for incarcerated elders to implementing an Act that will track how bail must be set, commensurate with a defendant’s economic means.

Justin Brooks will tell you that, as the Founder of the California Innocence Project, he was just following his passion as a criminal justice attorney to exonerate those who were falsely accused and spending decades in prison.  He may only have been in his twenties when he launched the California Innocence Project, but as of 2023, Justin has received exoneration for 40 such individuals and travels the world, helping launch Innocence Projects in other countries.  It was also Justin who took a chance with Brian Banks and was instrumental in having Brian exonerated!  If you think that heroes have gone the way of the dinosaur, you haven’t met Justin Brooks!

If you were hoping to hear how Brian Banks overcame the adversity and punishment that was thrown at him in Part 1 of our interview, then here it is!  You’ll hear how Brian stayed ‘sane’ despite his time behind the wall, his home life, that still felt like jail, while on parole, and the knowledge that he’d always live in a societal prison with a sex offender stamp on his record.  That was until criminal defense lawyer and the Founding Director of the California Innocence Project, Justin Brooks, agreed to take Brian’s case, despite the fact that he was already post parole, and you’ll NEVER believe the role his accuser played in Brian’s exoneration! 

Here, in part 1 of a 2-part episode, is the heartfelt and triumphant journey of Brian Banks. If you don’t know who Brian Banks is, he’s worth a google. Not only did Brian defy the odds, transitioning from wrongful conviction and 5 years imprisonment to NFL dreams and beyond, his story is one of relentless determination, resilience, and the pursuit of a vision.  In this first episode, Brian shares part of his story that has never been shared before, and while heart wrenching, Brian and his story are a source of grit and inspiration.

Joe LaFratta will tell you that he ‘fell into’ what became his specialty during his 30-year career as a United States Probation Officer. To hear his story, there is no doubt that he made a difference in many lives, while navigating a subject that for most, is difficult at best.  Although retired, Joe continues his work through his mentorship with the organization, Recovery Works, and consulting with those State and Federal courts and organizations who need his years of expertise. With 2.9 million people in the U.S. on overall probation, Joe’s career history and experience is highly regarded.  

Craig Stevens may be a Landscape Architect with a thriving business but he also stands outside his story and unashamedly admits to a 20-plus-year struggle to overcome drugs and alcohol.  One of the secrets to his success is that he only hires formerly incarcerated or those in recovery.  Having like-minded employees allows him to not only give back for all those people who lifted him up when he was down but also to help those who are in need of a livelihood and not afraid to get their hands dirty, literally!