Member Success Stories
"Responsibility,"
Ronald Simpson-Bey
"We are responsible for actions performed in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible." ~ Allan Massie
I once read that the secret to life is to fall seven times and get up eight times. I have been blessed enough to have the physical, spiritual, and emotional strength to get up from the many pitfalls in my life. I was born and raised in a two-parent home in Flint, Michigan. My dad was a school teacher and my mother a homemaker. I was the oldest of five children, I was a high school track star, and good student. On the outside it looked like we had a perfect family life and home. But on the inside, I lived in a dysfunctional family marked by years of physical and mental abuse and trauma.
In the summer of 1980, I was 22-years-old and married with children of my own. The years of abuse and dysfunction came to a shocking head when my mother shot and killed my father in their marital home after 23 years of marriage. My younger brother and sister were in the home when it happened. I had to bury my father at the same time I was working to keep my mother out of prison and my younger siblings stable. Because I never properly grieved or sought counseling, my life spiraled out of control and I began to lead a “Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde” double life. During the day I was a husband and father, worked for General Motors on skilled trades as a journeyman die maker, and had a nice home, cars, etc. At night however, I lived a violent life that included selling and using drugs, seedy night clubs, and carrying a pistol.
On the day that marked the six-year anniversary of my father’s death, I walked into prison to serve a 50-year sentence after being convicted for a crime that I did not commit. After serving 27 years, the court reversed my conviction and I was subsequently released in 2012 without any reentry support or services – I received nothing more than a handshake. Unlike people who are paroled from prison, state law currently does not require that any services be offered to individuals who are released as a result of their conviction being overturned.
During my 16th year in prison, on Father’s Day 2001, I was waiting for a visit from my son and three daughters. I had talked to my son that morning, who was 21-years old at the time, and he said “Dad I’m going to pick the girls up and we are coming to visit you.” As I waited, morning turned into afternoon, and afternoon turned into evening, but they had not arrived. So, I called around to family and friends in an attempt to see what was going on. To my horror, I discovered that my son had been shot and killed by a 14-year-old juvenile.
I was devastated to say the least. However, I had reached a point in my life where I no longer believed in the concept of an “eye for an eye," or revenge. I saw no useful purpose in having this young man spend the rest of his life in an adult prison. I did not want to compound an already bad situation by taking another child away from his family and our community forever.
I recognized that even though he committed a horrible crime, the boy who killed my son was still a child, and was also the victim of the same trauma suffered by my son and most people who live in poor black communities. Because I believed that we don’t make our communities safe by creating artificial lines between “victims” and “offenders”, I advocated for fair treatment for the teen who killed my son. I wanted him tried as a youth. and placed under the juvenile justice system’s jurisdiction after his conviction to prepare him for release, because it is better designed to rehabilitate children than the adult system. The judge granted my wishes, and the young teen was sentenced in juvenile court and told that he would be released at age 21 if he met the requirements of the court and demonstrated his rehabilitation. He succeeded, and was eventually released.
There has been a lot more pain and suffering in my life than detailed here, but the point of my story is the subject of the above quote: “We are responsible for actions performed in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible.” We can choose to be angry and bitter about the trauma life has dealt us, or we can practice what we preach and live a life of redemption, second chances, and restorative justice to make our world a better place to live for all.
As a result, the last four years of my life since my release from prison have been an amazing string of opportunities and successes. I now live in Detroit, my job is in New York City, I travel all over the country speaking about criminal justice reform issues as a nationally recognized thought leader and activist in the movement to decarcerate America.
Ronald D. Simpson-Bey is a formerly incarcerated leader in the decarceration movement working as the Director of Outreach and Alumni Engagement for the New York-based organization, JustLeadershipUSA, committed to cutting the national prison population in half by 2030. He is a 2015 Leading with Conviction Fellow with JLUSA, a steering team member for both the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration (MI-CEMI) and Nation Outside. Ronald is a co-founder and advisory board member of the Chance For Life (CFL) organization in Detroit, Michigan. Ronald is on Twitter @BeySimpson, Facebook, and can be contacted at simpsonbey1@gmail.com.
"It Still Takes A Village,"
Kevin Harris
Many of us have probably heard that old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”. It is a great phase that illustrates how everyone has a role to play in the raising and training of children in our communities, to ensure that they become productive, thriving adults. I believe that same thinking should be applied in our perspective of those within the criminal justice system, especially the formerly incarcerated population.
I grew up on Detroit’s east-side in the shadow of criminals and major drug rings. As a young person, I viewed these negative influences as role models, which led to my criminal conviction and 14-year prison sentence. My prison experience in was horrible – there was not much in the way of rehabilitative programming happening. However, MDOC did allow prisoners the right to worship, and that more than anything else is what helped me. My faith in God is what enabled me to move toward a more positive life path.
After being released from prison in February 2006, I had to overcome great obstacles, hardships and challenges. During this period it took a village to help sustain, encourage, and motivate me to pursue my professional and personal goals. My wife, my pastor, family members and friends believed in me, and provided the support I needed to make it through the difficult transition from prison to reentry.
After earning a degree in paralegal studies, I worked for various attorneys for nine years as well as the owner of a small business doing contract legal work. These employers gave me the opportunity to earn a living, despite knowing that I had a criminal record. After serving as Director of Prison Ministry at Vision of Victory Christian Center for five years, I founded Worldview Christian Ministries which has a strong focus on formerly incarcerated men and women. My accomplishments are not my own, they are because of my village that I have been able to achieve so many of goals.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any of the industrialized nations on earth. This means that we also have a higher rate of returning citizens to our communities. These returning citizens are often faced with putting their lives back together after having gone through what can at best be described as nightmare experience. In order to assist those who sincerely wish to put their lives on solid ground after incarceration, there needs to be an “all hands on deck approach” within the community of those who care about this issue. For the millions of Americans who are incarcerated, about to be released, or are returning citizens, my belief is that it still takes a village!
Kevin Harris is the Project Coordinator of Nation Outside, Pastor of the Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, and currently a Legislative Aide for Representative LaTonya Garrett in the Michigan House of Representatives.
