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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2004)
Continued from Page 25 lesbian, she Pequeño, who is a lesbian, says her won a Gloria political views were shaped by her Rights Amendment. She palled around with Award from brother’s murder in 1985. She sees Bruce Springsteen to raise money tor an or the Ms. Foun parallels between society’s response to ganization that favors abolishing the death dation earlier crime and to queers: “We don’t know penalty. She frequently speaks and writes about this year for her how to deal with it.” her experience as a crime survivor. leadership. David Dean, 36, also works at the Bird’s two-year advocacy fellowship from The project project and is queer. His involvement the Open Society Institute will tund her proj has helped pre in criminal justice reform comes from ect to establish groups of crime survivors in vent additional the inside. He spent nearly two years Washington and Nevada. These groups will he harsh mandato in prison for committing fraud and affiliated with a program of the Portland-based ry sentencing identity theft in order to fund his drug Western Prison Project and will he the basis of legislation and habit. a regional network. educated more “I saw a lot of people who were in “My vision for the groups is that they will than 15,000 prison for the third or fourth time,” ex-felons about mostly focus on advocacy toward policy says Dean. “I decided I didn’t want to changes that improve the system’s response to their voting be a lifer.” rights across survivor and community needs,’’ says Bird. Dean got clean and sober while in Open Society Institute program officer Kate seven Western jail. He kept a low profile and worked Black told Just Out: “As a crime survivor, states. Fcx:using in the prison library. At the sugges “ I decided I didn’t want to be a lifer” Arwen lends a powerful voice of dissent to on prisoners, tion of a friend, he contacted Sarabi — David Dean ‘tough on crime’ policies that, contrary to pop former prison when he got out to see about getting a ular belief, do not represent the views of all ers and their families, the organization works to job with the project. Now he helps register crime victims. OS1 is proud to support Arwen make prisons more humane and raises aware other ex-felons to vote and educates them and her work to advocate for a more humane ness about the overreliance on prisons in the about their voting rights. and effective system of justice.” United States. Bird will use the model of SA FES for her Not surprisingly, Bird calls Sarabi a mentor. work in Nevada and Washington. The crime “I was able to see very early in getting to survivors groups will focus on restitution know Brigette that she had many wonderful reform, improving crime victims’ compensii- skills and gifts,” she says. “She is able to orga nize diverse groups of people Queer Western Prison Project hoard member to come together around a Scot Nakagawa says he is sometimes asked, common goal.” “Given all the misery in the world, why would Though Sarabi is the sur you want to help people who inflict crime?” vivor of a violent assault, it Nakagawa, who worked for several years for was having a family member the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, says in jail that led to her voca the reason he is devoted to his field of work is tion. Her daughter spent because “when you kx)k at who is in prison, more than three years in jail you realize prisons are a way for society to man for robbery, and it was then age the poor." that Sarahi learned that the Bird adds: “If prisons and a punishment-ori criminal justice system was ented response to violence work so well, why failing to help perpetrators of isn’t the prison system shrinking instead of the crimes, their families or their tremendous growth that it’s had in the past victims. decade? 1 know that we can do better.” Bird does not think it is a According to the Prison Index, a joint ven Kathleen Pequeño got involved in criminal justice reform after coincidence that queer ture of the Western Prison Project and the her brother was murdered in 1985 women like Sarabi have been Prison Policy Initiative, incarceration grew her peers and role models. rapidly in the 1990s, with almost 2 million tion, sentencing reform and advocacy for better “I haven’t necessarily sought that out,” says adults in prison or jail by 2000. During that government spending. same decade, crime rates were falling; for Bird, “but it seems to be the reality o f who is While much of Bird’s work has been direct instance, murder rates dropped from 9 per drawn to this work, who stays involved for the ed at improving circumstances for crime sur long haul and who sees criminal justice reform 100,000 people in 1994 to 5.5 in 2000. in the broader context of social justice and vivors, the criminal justice reform movement However, public perception was that crime tackles a wide spectrum o f issues. From prison human rights.” was on the rise. In 2000, almost half of all U .S. ers’ rights to stopping the expansion of prisons, Kathleen Pequeño, membership director at citizens thought crime was increasing. Why? justice reform advocates work on many fronts. the Western Prison Project, says queers are well About 82 percent of the public say they base their opinions about crime on what they hear A s Brigette Sarabi says, “This is a big move represented in the movement because they understand the connection between the crimi on the news. And in the last half of the 1990s, ment, and there’s room for all perspectives.” Americans shelled out an extra $50 billion to Sarabi, 44, is the founder and executive nalization (T homosexuality and other forms of injustice. director of the Western Prison Project. An out spend on criminal justice. Oregon added more prisoners to its system in 2002 than any other state in the region. According to the Western Prison Project, the fxxnn in incarceration is directly because of the passage of Ballot Measure 11, Oregon’s “one- strike” mandatory sentencing law, in 43 per cent of cases. Nakagawa takes the stance that “crime is not a social problem or an issue of evil individ uals.” He notes that almost everyone in society has been affected by crime and that we all have a vested interest in helping offenders re-enter society successfully. “One in 37 people has been in prison or in jail,” says Nakagawa. “Almost everyone comes back to stKiety. How we treat them will affect how they treat us.” fh y they do vhat they do Not your parents mortgage company The world is a different place than when your parents bought a home The 30-year fixed loan they got might not be the best loan for you today. We offer the latest in interest only, deferred interest and $0 down loan programs We will help you find the one that will benefit your whole financial picture Let us show you how choosing one of these programs can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Rose Cit www.RoseCityMtq.tom !>()3.768.424# Mortqaqe Specialists eduardo mulero Scot Nakagawa says he is sometimes asked, “ Given all the misery in the world, why would you want to help people who inflict crime?” Bird concurs. She says she is trying to create a world in which “people are able to be them selves and live to their full potential...because of the inherent safety, adequate resources for everyone and recognition of the contribution that each person has to make.” All you need is one kxdc in Bird’s bright, compassionate eyes to knew that her convic tion is hard-won and deeply felt. Being a crime survivor, she says, has given her the power to touch hearts. Her goal in using that power is at once simple and daunting: “I am fundamentally driven,” she says, “by the desire to prevent what happened to me from happening to someone else.” JH1 Staff Writer M eg D aly am be reached at megdaly@justout. com. 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