Ignite Justice is a voice. A lot of families are scared of retaliation. They don’t want to speak up because they’re scared of what would happen to their loved one inside. I feel like I get to speak for them. Then you have a lot of inmates who don’t have any family support, they don’t have nobody to fight for them.
Every day I’m writing emails to the governor’s office and to legislators. I’m emailing wardens trying to solve issues inside the prisons. It’s a 24-hour-per-day day job advocating.
A lot of times you don’t get a response back, but then I just send another email and widen it to the next person.
The one place I see something actually being done is the Oklahoma County Jail. With us being out there every month, doing news reports, and going to the media nonstop, people are responding. Now we have legislators wanting to get involved and are speaking out now about the deaths and the conditions and fighting to get the federal government involved. That’s a big step.
Eventually, my goal is to open a resource room where former inmates can come and we can teach them how to work with a computer, help them do resumes and even have a clothing closet so they can pick out an outfit to wear to an interview. I want Ignite Justice to be a support system for inmates. You might not have family anymore, you might not have loved ones here, but you will always have us to help you any way we can. That’s the legacy I want.
When my son gets out at 27 years old, he has no job experience. He’s on a ninth-grade reading level. What does the future actually hold for him? I worry about that. Making my son do classes while he’s locked up, it shouldn’t be an option. It should be mandatory. They should be helping them to prepare for society, not just letting them do whatever they want. And then they get out and they wonder why they re-offend. They’re not giving them the tools to survive in the real world.
One thing I’ve learned about and have tried to explain to people: You never know when it could be one of your family members. Unfortunately, until it happens, someone won’t look at inmates differently. They’re always going to be judged.
Keaton Ross is a Report for America corps member who covers prison conditions and criminal justice issues for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or Kross@Oklahomawatch. org. Follow him on Twitter at @_KeatonRoss.
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.