http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2012\/05\/an-interview-with-ex-offender-randy-kearse-dc-public-safety-radio\/<\/a><\/p>\n[Audio Begins]<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 From the nation\u2019s capital, this is DC Public Safety.\u00a0 I\u2019m your host Leonard Sipes.\u00a0 Ladies and gentlemen, today\u2019s program is an interview with ex offender Randy Kearse, his website www.Randy R-A-N-D-Y K-E-A-R-S-E.net.\u00a0 Randy is a five-time publisher, reentry advocate, speaker and entrepreneur, has several stories to tell.\u00a0 Once deemed a menace to society by a judge who sentenced him to 15 year in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, he served his lengthy sentence which in his show notes he has exactly down to 13 years, six months and two days and returned to society a changed man.\u00a0 Randy\u2019s been on a bit of tear ever since coming back.\u00a0 He\u2019s written a variety of books.\u00a0 He\u2019s been interviewed by the New York Times and the New York Daily News, The Amsterdam News, The Colbert Report, Wendy Williams Experience just to name a few, and to Randy Kearse, welcome to DC Public Safety.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Oh, thank you for having me on Leonard; it\u2019s a pleasure to be here.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Alright Randy, what we\u2019re going to do is we\u2019re going to talk about a variety of things, about your experience in the prison system and there are three things that I really want to focus on, this whole concept of prisoner reentry, how society views people who come out of the prison system and what the criminal justice system is doing or not doing to keep people out of prison.\u00a0 So let\u2019s start off with the things first in terms of your own experience, you served 13 years in federal prison, 13 years, six months and two days to be specific in federal prison for a crack cocaine conspiracy charge.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Yeah, I got caught up in the whole whirlwind of the crack explosion epidemic that swept through the urban communities, actually the nation during the late 80\u2019s, early 90\u2019s and you know I was sentenced under the harsh mandatory minimums of crack cocaine, 100 versus one,<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 The whole, you know, the whole thing.\u00a0 So, you know basically being that there\u2019s no parole in the federal system, I wound up spending 13 years, six months in federal prison.\u00a0 My experience with the federal system is it\u2019s a mixed bag of nuts for me.\u00a0 I went in 27 years old.\u00a0 I was very at the end of my, I guess you could say my criminal career and just basically figuring that I was going to be there for over a decade at the time.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a long kind of journey that I document in my books, especially Changing Your Game Plan.\u00a0 As far as speaking specifically about rehabilitation and reentry, we can just fast forward past the time that I spent and I\u2019m about to get out.\u00a0 During my experience of being in federal prison, what I was able to get out of the whole reentry thing and what the federal system provided for you was actually non-existent.\u00a0 I mean they had this so-called program that was supposed to prepare you for getting out that you attended maybe like six months to a year before getting out.\u00a0 But it was a joke to be honest with you.\u00a0 I mean whoever implemented that program, I don\u2019t know if they did it just for the sake of saying that they had a program, but there was no accountability to the people who were supposed to be giving the program, the staff.\u00a0 There was no accountability for anything.\u00a0 I mean you came in, you signed in and you went about your business.\u00a0 They gave you some papers and if you didn\u2019t show up there was no penalty.\u00a0 There was nothing.\u00a0 As long as you had your name on a piece of paper, I mean pretty much that was the extent of what you were, you know, looked for to do.\u00a0 So basically I mean I went to a couple of the classes and I sat in and just I mean it was a joke, to be honest with you, it was a joke because they kept telling you things about how to prepare for getting out in a way that I guess was textbook.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t from anybody\u2019s personal experience.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t from the reality, just say the unemployment numbers for ex-offenders.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t, you know, any of those things wasn\u2019t taken into consideration.\u00a0 And you could sit there and really guess like how many people would not make it when they got back out to society based on this program itself.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well, if you look at national statistics, most people go back to prison, most people are re-arrested, the national data at the moment and it\u2019s years old, it\u2019s fairly old data, but that\u2019s what most people quote is that most people are re-arrested.\u00a0 About two thirds are re-arrested and about 50 percent go back to prison.\u00a0 This is after three years.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 I mean the thing is I mean how do you prepare a person who\u2019s been away from society say five, ten, fifteen years and you start preparing them a year before they get out and then the program that you\u2019re providing them is only what, an hour, two hours?\u00a0 You talk about resumes, you might not go back for another week or two weeks and, you know, it\u2019s just a checklist of things that you have to say that you did in order to want to make in your exit to say that you fulfilled those requirements.\u00a0 But again, there\u2019s no real preparation, there\u2019s no skill based preparation.\u00a0 There\u2019s no academic based preparation.\u00a0 There\u2019s no real life housing preparations.\u00a0 I mean I know guys that got out and had to go to a shelter.\u00a0 There was nothing that really can prepare a person for actually getting out, to be honest with you man.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 What should the system do then Randy?\u00a0 I mean part of the problem, one of the things that we were talking about before the beginning of the program was the fact that 80 percent of people in the criminal justice system, who are caught up in the criminal justice system, have substance abuse histories and according to the latest data, about 10 percent receive drug treatment within the correctional setting.\u00a0 So obviously there\u2019s a disconnect.\u00a0 80 percent have histories of substance abuse, 10 percent get the treatment and nobody\u2019s talking about the quality of that treatment.\u00a0 It could have been just, you know, following some sort of a process like you\u2019re describing and we\u2019re not even talking about how good the treatment was.\u00a0 But the numbers involved are startling.\u00a0 80 percent need, 10 percent get, there\u2019s the disconnect.\u00a0 Why is there that disconnect?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Again, I mean I\u2019ve participated in a so-called drug program.\u00a0 I mean even though I wasn\u2019t there, it wasn\u2019t mandatory for that that I go, but I participated in what they call a 40 hour drug program.\u00a0 I mean you sat there and again it was some textbook stuff that you went through.\u00a0 They showed a couple of films.\u00a0 But there was no accountability to say whether this program would actually have an impact on whether or not a person, once they got out would return to that type of behavior.\u00a0 What should they be doing?\u00a0 To answer that question, you should be preparing a person pretty much as soon as they enter the system, whether state of federal or local.\u00a0 You should be preparing that person because it\u2019s a mindset that you have to recondition people to get away from thinking from a criminal aspect.\u00a0 So once you can kind of recondition a person\u2019s thinking and show them that there are possibilities, that there are opportunities in society for them, it makes a greater chance for them to make a positive reentry back into society.\u00a0 And when I say prepare them, I mean you got to give them hand\u2019s on skills that they can use when they get out, construction, maintenance, air condition, all of the things, computers, all of the things that would give them an opportunity to have a leg up on society when they get out.\u00a0 I mean just to let a person go through their sentence and not focus on what they\u2019re going to be doing when they get out is an injustice to be honest with you because if you\u2019re talking about corrections, corrections is supposed to be fixing the problem that brought a person into the system in the first place.\u00a0 So if the system doesn\u2019t provide any type of mechanisms that will allow a person to change their ways and change their thinking, that\u2019s when you\u2019re going to have this high percentage of recidivism because there\u2019s a bleak outlook for that person once they return to society.\u00a0 One of the things that I\u2019m really advocating now is bringing programs into the system that would teach people business and entrepreneurial skills.\u00a0 We have a lot of people who are in the federal and state systems that have managerial type of skills, business order type of skills but they don\u2019t know how to transfer those into real working settings.\u00a0 So if you allow a person like myself, I mean I\u2019m a self-published author, entrepreneur, I sell my books online; I sell my books hand to hand.\u00a0 I do a lot of different stuff and basically what I was able to do was transfer a lot of the things that I was doing illegally when I was selling drugs and transfer those skills into a legal setting where I just switched the product.\u00a0 So it was drugs at first, now it\u2019s the books, now it\u2019s workshops and skills that I already had the concept of but I was able to transfer it to a legal setting.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Randy, I want to talk a little bit about your personal background because the average person comes out of the prison system is a fairly powerless person.\u00a0 The average person coming out of the prison system, when I say the average, I\u2019m talking about 99.9 tenths percent don\u2019t talk to anybody.\u00a0 They don\u2019t talk, I mean you\u2019ve talked to The New York Times, you\u2019ve been on the Colbert Report, you\u2019ve talked to the New York Daily News, you\u2019ve written books, you\u2019ve done a lot of different things that talk about your experiences, but the average guy, the average woman getting out of the prison system doesn\u2019t talk to anybody about anything for any reason.\u00a0 Why did you have that experience?\u00a0 How did you manage to come out of the prison system and become so well known?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Well what I set out to do when I left prison was to show society that people do change number one, people do deserve chances number two and that not everybody is your stereotypical criminal.\u00a0 I mean let\u2019s not, some people need to be in prison, let\u2019s put it like that; you know what I\u2019m saying?\u00a0 There are some people who are just evil.\u00a0 They will never conform to society\u2019s constraints and things like that.\u00a0 And there are cases where people actually need to be incarcerated.\u00a0 I mean I know guys that I met in prison that I wouldn\u2019t even want to live next door to.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 So I mean I\u2019m not an advocate of saying that, you know, we need to not have prisons.\u00a0 But my thing was just put a human face on people who do come home.\u00a0 We always see the statistics about the high recidivism rates but what about the statistics of people who never go back, people who actually go on to start their own business, own homes, contribute to society, pay their taxes and never ever get in a situation where they\u2019re back in the criminal justice system.\u00a0 I think we need to put a face on that.\u00a0 We need to showcase those people in order to encourage those who might be wavering, who might not see any opportunities past incarceration that, you know, you can go on.\u00a0 There\u2019s life after prison.\u00a0 You know there\u2019s life after parole.\u00a0 There\u2019s life after probation.\u00a0 We have over two million people incarcerated now at this particular time.\u00a0 But imagine over the last just say 20 years, how many people have filtered through the criminal justice system.\u00a0 So you\u2019re talking maybe 10, over 10 million people who have a criminal<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well there are 700,000 people who come out of state and federal prisons every year, 700,000.\u00a0 And you can easily do the math times the last decade.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 And that\u2019s just it, I mean that\u2019s a staggering number.\u00a0 I mean [INDISCERNIBLE]<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 It is a staggering number.\u00a0 But you\u2019re still not helping me fill in this blank.\u00a0 You came out, how did you attract the attention of people?\u00a0 I mean if the average coming out of the prison system has a hard enough time finding a job and finding a place to live, let alone talking to The New York Times and ending up on the Colbert Report.\u00a0 How did you end up doing that?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 I think that people gravitated towards my story.\u00a0 I think they gravitated towards my optimism towards the future.\u00a0 I think that they gravitated to the fact that I didn\u2019t let prison define me that I defined who I am.\u00a0 I think that as a society even though we sometimes cast away people who have been through the criminal justice system, we champion sometimes those who have been able to pull their self up by the bootstraps and, you know, really actually show the American dream still does work even for those who have been incarcerated.\u00a0 And I think that people kind of especially under economical times, were impressed by the fact that I didn\u2019t allow anything to stop me from doing the things that I\u2019m doing.\u00a0 And I think that as human beings, we love to see people who have been able to rise above their situation.\u00a0 I think that the reason why a lot of people who have come from prison don\u2019t take that stance of, you know, how I have because they already feel in their mind that society won\u2019t accept them.\u00a0 So I came home I was like you know what, listen man, I\u2019m human, I made mistakes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody that never made a mistake before.\u00a0 And we all have made mistakes, some have been graver than others, some have been in different areas than others.\u00a0 But we\u2019ve all had a challenge.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all had some adversity.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all had something that we\u2019ve had to overcome.\u00a0 And I think that my story resonates to that, you know, so that\u2019s why I\u2019ve been able to get the recognition that I have.\u00a0 But again, it\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about the other two million people that are still fighting for a place.\u00a0 And hopefully through me I give them a voice to show society like, you know, it\u2019s better to rehabilitate and have someone make a positive re-entry into society overall because I mean it costs a lot to keep somebody incarcerated and taxpayers have to pay for that, you know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well your point a little while ago was important, 50 percent go back but 50 percent don\u2019t.\u00a0 And we in the criminal justice system very rarely ever tell the story of the 50 percent that don\u2019t and that\u2019s<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Exactly.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 One of the things that we\u2019re trying to do today, that there\u2019s a lot of people who choose to cross that bridge, but it\u2019s a hard bridge to cross.\u00a0 You\u2019re talking about society\u2019s perception of offenders.\u00a0 I mean it\u2019s not very good.\u00a0 If you look at all the cable shows that come out at night, if you take a look at Lock Up and Hard Time and all the rest of the shows, why would anybody after watching one of those shows give any attention or allegiance or favor programs for people coming out of the prison system if all you hear on the 6 o\u2019clock news is ex offender does this and ex offender does that and you see these cable shows.\u00a0 I mean how do you,you know, it\u2019s almost impossible to compete against that.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost impossible to say hey, 50 percent go to prison but 50 percent don\u2019t.\u00a0 Let\u2019s tell the stories of the 50 percent that don\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 I mean that\u2019s why it\u2019s important for shows like yours, it\u2019s important for people like me to get out there and even against the odds of being able to be heard, be able to highlight those stories and tell those stories and give encouragement to society that, you know, let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 I mean no matter how much you lock a certain amount of people up, a good majority of them are going to come back to society.\u00a0 I mean that\u2019s just a fact.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 The overwhelming majority are coming back.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Yeah, I mean that\u2019s what I\u2019m saying.\u00a0 So it\u2019s best to have those type of programs or mechanisms in place that they will come back and hopefully not do any damage to society.\u00a0 So it\u2019s in society\u2019s best interest to pay attention to what\u2019s working and not what\u2019s not working.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to look at what\u2019s not working but to look at what\u2019s working would be the challenge.\u00a0 I mean let\u2019s face it<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 We\u2019re more than halfway, let me reintroduce you Randy.\u00a0 We\u2019re more than halfway through the program.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing an interview with ex-offender Randy Kearse.\u00a0 He is at www.Randy R-A-N-D-Y K-E-A-R-S-E.net.\u00a0 The website will be in the show notes.\u00a0 And one of the reasons why I\u2019m interviewing Randy is because different people have said to me in the past, Leonard, when you\u2019re dealing with former offenders; they\u2019re all from the DC metropolitan area.\u00a0 Can\u2019t you get somebody from outside of the DC metropolitan area?\u00a0 Randy you\u2019re from what, New York City?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019m from New York.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, so<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 But I travel to DC, I travel all around again advocating reentry and putting more into the programs that would help ex-offenders make that successful transition.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And I really enjoy keeping up with your postings on Facebook.\u00a0 So you have a very interesting point of view.\u00a0 Alright Randy, so you didn\u2019t get the programs that you thought were necessary.\u00a0 Just answer this one question.\u00a0 If the programs that you felt were necessary to help people to do right when they come out of the prison system not to go back to the criminal justice system, if those programs were in place in prison, if those programs were in place when the person is released, what do you think that that would do to cut down the recidivism rate?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Oh, it would cut down the recidivism rate greatly because you give a person a sense of being able to have a sense of pride; you give them a sense of dignity back.\u00a0 You allow them to feel, you know, that they\u2019re part of the back in society and doing.\u00a0 But overall, I mean just look at it.\u00a0 It\u2019s better to have a larger number of people contributing to society, paying taxes, maybe starting their own business, helping because it helps the overall fabric of society especially when it comes to the economy.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I advocate teaching entrepreneurial programs in prison because I mean let\u2019s face it, a lot of these employers will not hire someone who\u2019s been formerly incarcerated.\u00a0 So why not teach those who are teachable how to start their own business so they don\u2019t get discouraged when they can\u2019t find a job and then the chance of them going back to the criminal behavior is greater.\u00a0 So teach them how to start a lawn mowing business.\u00a0 Teach them how to paint and start their own painting business.\u00a0 Teach them how to open up a barber shop.\u00a0 Teach them how to do these things so when they are in the position to, they\u2019re not only helped by not going back to prison, buy they also contribute to society as far as the services and needs of society as a whole.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 To take control over their own lives and not having their<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Exactly, exactly.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 lives in the hands of so many other people.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Exactly, exactly.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Alright.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 That\u2019s very important.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Let me get down to this point.\u00a0 Everybody I\u2019ve interviewed and all the times that I\u2019ve been in the criminal justice system where I\u2019ve talked to people who have done well after the prison system, and you\u2019ve just done it, you did it a little while ago.\u00a0 They all basically said to me it was me who made the decision.\u00a0 Is it that internal drive?\u00a0 It is that self-sufficiency?\u00a0 Is it that determination not to go back or is it programs or is it a combination of the two?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 It was self-determination Len.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 I mean for me failure was not an option.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a choice because I knew that I didn\u2019t want to come back to prison.\u00a0 I knew that I hated prison.\u00a0 I mean I hated people telling me what to do, where to go.\u00a0 I hated giving up my freedom.\u00a0 So I made a vow to never do that again.\u00a0 So it was my sheer determination not to go back.\u00a0 If I had relied on what was available to me in prison, oh man I would definitely be in a greater percentage, I\u2019d wind up being desperate and, you know, God forbid doing something can just put me back in prison.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 But help me with this Randy, everybody says when they leave prison they\u2019re not going back.\u00a0 Every single person said man, I\u2019m not going back.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going back.\u00a0 And 50 percent do in three years.\u00a0 So there\u2019s got to be a disconnect somewhere.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Maybe in a person\u2019s mind they\u2019re telling them that they\u2019re not going back, but they weren\u2019t properly prepared for leaving in the first place.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why a lot of times people wind up going back because preparing is a process.\u00a0 You can\u2019t figure out what you\u2019re going to do six months before you get out.\u00a0 You can\u2019t figure out what you\u2019re going to do once you get out.\u00a0 You have to know what you want to do and what you\u2019re going to do.\u00a0 You have to know the steps to take.\u00a0 It\u2019s a process.\u00a0 When I got out, I got a minimum wage job 10 days after being released from prison after almost 13 years.\u00a0 So I knew that employment was very important.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t care if I had to pick up cans or if I had to sweep floors.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t important to me.\u00a0 But I knew what I needed to do and I had the plan.\u00a0 So people have to have a plan that is doable.\u00a0 I mean you can\u2019t come home thinking that you\u2019re going to, you know, own a baseball team as soon as you step out the door.\u00a0 But you have to have a plan.\u00a0 And I think that it would be in society\u2019s best interest to go into these prisons and help people put together a foreseeable, doable plan; you know what I\u2019m saying?\u00a0 Get your CDL license or whatever your pursuit is; provide some type of mechanism that would allow people to connect with the resources that would help them to be able to pursue their goals when they get out.\u00a0 Because I mean it\u2019s easy to say oh I\u2019m not going back, but getting out is only half of the puzzle.\u00a0 What are you going to do when you get out?<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, the larger society, Randy, is and it\u2019s something again you and I talked about before the program, the larger society is not terribly keen on people connected to the criminal justice system.\u00a0 Again, if you watch the cable shows, if you listen to the 6 o\u2019clock news, it\u2019s not like you\u2019re going to get a lot of positive stories about people connected to the criminal justice system.\u00a0 The average person out there is saying to themselves, you know, I\u2019ll support programs for kids.\u00a0 I\u2019ll support programs for the elderly.\u00a0 I\u2019ll support programs for veterans.\u00a0 Heck, I\u2019ll support programs to spray and neuter pets before I\u2019ll support programs for people caught up in the criminal justice system.\u00a0 How do you get beyond that?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 I think that if you asked the average person on the street and not the talking heads about what should be done and what\u2019s not to be done, I think the average person on the street would say we need to do something to help these people reintegrate back into society and help them do a positive reintegration back into society and help them.\u00a0 The talking heads are pretty much against that up to a certain point of helping people make a positive reentry.\u00a0 Cause let\u2019s face the facts.\u00a0 Prison is a big business.\u00a0 Prison is big business.\u00a0 Prison industrial conflict is a big business and there\u2019s a lot of money that would be lost if you had a larger population not going back to prison or not going to prison.\u00a0 If we went back to the numbers of people who were incarcerated 20 years ago, we would lose over a million jobs that were tied into corrections.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, but the people on the opposite side would say nobody\u2019s forcing anybody to commit an armed robbery.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Exactly.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And so they\u2019re going back for the armed robbery, they\u2019re not going back because I want to create a job.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 No, so it\u2019s them that would more or less be promoting we need prisons because people keep going back or we need prisons because, you know, it helps society.\u00a0 Those would be the people that would be promoting, you know, not to have successful or impossible reentry programs because again, if you were to integrate people back into society and people were not going back at the staggering numbers that we see now and it dropped dramatically, then you have to downsize prison industry.\u00a0 Then you have to lay people off and the same people that you laid off might become the criminals.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, but you do understand, I mean a lot of people are out there saying the reason why we have the prisons is because people commit serious crime.\u00a0 It\u2019s there because we have no choice and but every–<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Studies show that a large majority of people that are locked up in prison are in for non-violent offenses, mostly drugs.\u00a0 So we should more get away from lock them up, throw away the key and rehabilitate them as far as what their needs are for substance abuse.\u00a0 That would be a more suitable solution to this whole prison thing.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 We only have about four minutes left.\u00a0 So you\u2019re talking to the average person in society.\u00a0 You\u2019re talking to an aide to a mayor and plenty of aides of mayors listen to this program, aides to governors, aides to congressional people.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to tell them what Randy?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 That I\u2019m pretty sure that they know somebody, maybe not immediately, but they know somebody who has been affected by the criminal justice system.\u00a0 It can happen to anybody and everybody.\u00a0 Everybody makes mistakes.\u00a0 Everybody deserves a chance to prove that they can make it back out of society.\u00a0 There are a certain amount of people who will never conform to the rules of society.\u00a0 We do need prisons.\u00a0 I mean I\u2019m not advocating we don\u2019t need prisons.\u00a0 But we need to find more and there are programs out there that help ex-offenders make their successful transition.\u00a0 We need to take what\u2019s working and build on those programs so we can have a more suitable avenue for these people to come home and be successful.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what I\u2019m out here doing.\u00a0 I\u2019m out here showing society, I\u2019m showing the world that, you know, there\u2019s life after prison.\u00a0 We all make mistakes man.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well, you know, I\u2019ve known hundreds of people in my career who have crossed the bridge, who have served very hard time in prison.\u00a0 And I always bring up this example and he\u2019ll kill me if I say his name, but a guy who served some really hard time in the Maryland prison system, who is out there selling insurance.\u00a0 And he lives in a beautiful home, beautiful kids, you know, he\u2019s got the whole suburban lifestyle and he\u2019s a two-time ex-felon.\u00a0 So it is possible and 50 percent don\u2019t go back but that story is once again not told.\u00a0 So we have a disconnect.\u00a0 We have a disconnect in society.\u00a0 We can lower rates of recidivism.\u00a0 We can lower the numbers going back to the criminal justice system.\u00a0 We can save taxpayers scads of money.\u00a0 We can improve the climate of our cities and our metropolitan areas by not having so much crime, but to do that you\u2019ve got to have good solid programs in place.\u00a0 I mean is that what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Definitely, definitely, 100 percent.\u00a0 You took the words right out of my mouth man.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 You know and reason why those programs aren\u2019t in place is my guess is and I shouldn\u2019t say my guess, the guess of\u00a0 a lot of people that I\u2019ve talked to is that simply society is very reluctant to support programs.\u00a0 People are saying there\u2019s not enough money to go around.\u00a0 I mean we\u2019ve got crumbling schools.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got elderly people who need to be taken care of.\u00a0 There\u2019s only so much tax paid dollars out there.\u00a0 Why do I want to give money to somebody who\u2019s put up a gun against somebody\u2019s head and said, you know, give me your money or I\u2019ll blow your head off?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Yeah, but in certain states they had to cut their educational budgets in order to supplement the money for their prison budget.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 So I mean come on, I mean where is there checks and balances here?\u00a0 The reason why a lot of programs are not working in the system is because there\u2019s no accountability.\u00a0 There\u2019s nobody who\u2019s taking the time to really make sure that these programs are working in a way that will have an impact on the overall fabric of recidivism.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the bottom line.\u00a0 I mean the federal reentry program is a joke man, to be, you know, just to be short of words.\u00a0 It was a joke.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, we talked about and you only about 20 seconds left, we\u2019ve talked about what you would say to the society at large.\u00a0 What do you say to the average guy, average woman getting out of the prison system?\u00a0 What\u2019s your message to them?<\/p>\n
Randy Kearse:\u00a0 Be patient.\u00a0 Be patient, don\u2019t be in a rush to do anything.\u00a0 Just be patient, pace yourself, believe in yourself no matter what everybody says and listen, you\u2019d rather have your worst day on the streets than your best day in prison.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And you\u2019ve got the final word.\u00a0 Ladies and gentlemen, we\u2019ve been doing an interview with ex-offender Randy Kearse.\u00a0 He is at www.Randy R-A-N-D-Y K-E-A-R-S-E.net, www.RANDYKEARSE.net.\u00a0 Been interviewed by The New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Amsterdam News, the Colbert Report, Wendy Williams Experience.\u00a0 He\u2019s written books and he lectures throughout the country.\u00a0 Randy, I want to express my appreciation for you being on the program today.\u00a0 Ladies and gentlemen, this is DC Public Safety.\u00a0 We do appreciate the cards, the letters, we appreciate the comments, the criticisms.\u00a0 Please keep them coming and I want everybody to have themselves a very, very pleasant day.<\/p>\n
[Audio Ends]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to \u201cDC Public Safety\u201d \u2013 Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts\u00a0on crime, criminal offenders and the criminal justice system. We currently average 90,000 page views a month. The portal site for \u201cDC Public Safety\u201d is http:\/\/media.csosa.gov. Radio Program available at http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2012\/05\/an-interview-with-ex-offender-randy-kearse-dc-public-safety-radio\/ [Audio Begins] Len Sipes:\u00a0 From the nation\u2019s capital, this is DC Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiopodcast","category-criminaljustice","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pBoKk-cR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}