Potcast 143: Life Beyond Bars
Lorenzo Mora spent over thirty years incarcerated in the State of California. On today's potcast, Lorenzo shares his firsthand account of life in the prison system giving us a glimpse at the effects of the decades of pocket-lining legislation that enables the prison industrial complex. We’re celebrating Lorenzo's first anniversary of freedom and the unique yet universal life lessons we face as human beings.
‘After the Show’ Notes
The system is operating exactly as it was designed. And it isn’t a republican vs democrat problem.
It’s a system that’s been embraced by bad apples on both sides of the aisle and it’s working exactly as it was intended - the control of and monetization of humans. It’s gone on my entire life - in every administration.
Nixon’s declaration of a war on drugs set the wheels of the prison industrial complex in motion, the Reagan Era made the war a reality, and the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill was gasoline on the fire.
Lorenzo Mora is a drug and alcohol counselor at Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco. I hope his story inspires you to disrupt those old narratives and drop preconceived notions of the people who serve(d) time in our federal prisons. Celebrate our ability as humans to grow and change and do beautiful things with our lives. You really can go anywhere from here. You choose!
Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services has given more than 75,000 young people a safe place to rebuild their lives. We provide housing, education and employment training, and health and wellness supports to help these young people get off the street for good.
One way to support young people experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area is to DONATE to Larkin Street Youth Services.
Three out of four youth who complete Larkin Street’s programs exit street life.
More than 80% of funds raised go directly to support our programming.
For every dollar that Larkin Street invests in changing the trajectory of a young person's life, society yields eight times that amount in saved costs or social benefits (Bain & Co., 2009).
The United States is the third-largest nation with 4.25 percent of the global population - yet we house 25 percent of the world’s prison population.
There are currently about 2.2 million human beings in this country living in the conditions that Lorenzo described. And as we’ll discuss on a future episode of the potcast, many of them are there for non-violent, cannabis-related crimes. Let that sink in as you consider the mountains of money the legal cannabis industry is generating in tax revenue for the very states still denying freedom to so many of these “cannabis criminals.”
Someone recently posted on one of my social feeds that now is not the time/place to question authority/conventional wisdom. I was told it isn't a time to do digging of my own. And that instead, it is a time to listen to the people who are *experts* in their field and follow their advice. I read this message over and over for a few minutes. And I thought back to junior high and high school… when school was my most favorite thing in the whole wide world. And I remember my amazing teachers who challenged me to question everything. To never forget my history and to be assured that when I do I will be doomed to repeat it. And I have. But mostly in my dating life. 😂😂😂
I instead encourage you to stay curious, be mindful and forever kind, my friend.
And if you’re picking up what I’m putting down, please rate and review casually baked the potcast on iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Your voice helps amplify this highly responsible content. Please puff puff pass it on.
13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States