OBAMA SPEAKETH WITH FORKED TONGUE ABOUT HOW EX-CONS SHOULD BE TREATED

Ex-cons: “Life turn-arounds” find it difficult to gain entry inti the White House even though Obama has said former prison inmates should be treated like everyone else

By Richard Krupp, PhD

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 27, 2015

Recently the President stated:

“The people in our prisons have made some mistakes—and sometimes big mistakes—they are also Americans, and we have to make sure that as they do their time and pay back their debt to society that we are increasing the possibility that they can turn their lives around.”

I guess he wants people to treat former inmates like anyone else–not like ex-cons. At least that’s what he says.

How do his words match his actions?

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, a disconnect between his words and actions has surfaced:

White House Door Isn’t Always Open to Ex-Cons

President Barack Obama, as part of his push to overhaul the criminal-justice system, has said ex-offenders should have a chance at redemption. The White House’s security operation, however, hasn’t always been on board.

Invited guests with convictions in their past have encountered an array of roadblocks when attending meetings with administration officials. Some have been denied entry. Others have been assigned an escort. Several said they felt stigmatized by the experience.

“I was treated like a second-class citizen as a prelude to a conversation about how to overcome a criminal record,” said Glenn Martin, an ex-offender who is now an advocate for reducing the correctional population and overhauling sentencing laws.

When Vicki L. Lopez was invited to the White House, she was eager to discuss her work on prisoner re-entry issues. Ms. Lopez had attended similar meetings at the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency without incident, but her visits during the Obama administration have been much different. After traveling from Florida in 2009, Ms. Lopez and her colleagues never made it past the Secret Service checkpoint. Eventually, their meeting was moved to a nearby conference center.

Ms. Lopez, a former county commissioner in Florida, was convicted of a form of mail fraud and sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison. President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence in 2000, and she was completely exonerated when her conviction was vacated in 2011. No one explained why, exactly, Ms. Lopez wasn’t allowed to meet with officials in the Executive Office Building. “Somehow we’re unsafe, and somehow we’re not welcome,” she said.

While some former offenders appear to have been singled out, Janine Bertram Kemp, a disability rights advocate, said she didn’t have any problems during a recent visit to the White House for the 25th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act. Ms. Bertram, 64 years old, served four years in prison for conspiracy and bank robbery as part of a 1970s revolutionary group. (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/pjmchg2.)

Hold your horses now! Are some ex-cons different than others? Is this an example of some kind of discrimination?

Is it possible that the President’s “life turn around” words don’t match his actions? Who can take the blame for this?

If a “life turn around” criminal has served his time and gone on the straight and narrow should he or she be treated like anyone else? Should he or she be able to get all the benefits of a person who hasn’t been in prison? What about voting rights?

Evidently, the President believes the answer to those questions is, “It depends.” Maybe there should be “life turn around” eligibility criteria and a form.

Doesn’t California already have a process for criminals to obtain a Certificate of Rehabilitation or something? Governor Brown could send a copy to the President.

Once the ex-cons find out about the “life turn around” deal they will be working their way up the mountain to the White House to chat it up with the President about criminal justice system reform. Imagine what visionary ideas they will come up with.

EDITOR’S NOTE: No surprise here since Obama is our Liar-In-Chief.

I have always advocated that inmates who have served out their time, or successfully completed parole, should have their right to vote restored along with the right to obtain skilled work licenses and professional licenses. If they fuck up feloniously, those rights will be revoked again.