Ronald is a formerly incarcerated person who defended himself in prison, succesfully advocated for his own release, and now works as a nationally recognized activist for prison reform. The interview goes over Simpson-Bey’s experience as an incarcerated person, and as a leader within his prison family. In this, we hear stories of dehumanization, found family, and the barriers to education within the prison system. Simpson-Bey also describes life after prison and his vision for the future of incarceration through the decarceration movement. Simpson-Bey calls for an end to the systemic injustice of mass incarceration as it exists today.

Transcript

The interviewee spoke to their experiences working as a social worker providing mental health services in the criminal justice system. She described different approaches to working with clients, whether more restrictive or ones that offer more autonomy. Additionally, she offers her experiences in confronting the hierarchies and “rules” that govern mental health in the criminal justice system and the ways mental health professionals become overshadowed by correctional officers, police officers, and judges. Overall, she expresses her affinity for restorative approaches in working with incarcerated individuals.

Catia talked about the intersection of race, ethnicity, mental health, and housing insecurity in the incarceration system in Massachusetts. She described how the momentum of keeping individuals incarcerated is a result of individual decisions made by people in power. She described this process as “velcro,” keeping people tied to the criminal justice system once they’ve had the first contact. She talked extensively about how a lack of mental health services contributes to mass incarceration and how people of color are especially excluded from receiving the care they require. Instead, the prison system acts as a default resolution for cases involving mental health issues. Catia talked about her own family’s experience having a loved one with a mental health condition and how she is often fearful that they may become involved with the criminal justice system. She also described how she feels when visiting a prison and how the physical space is set up in such a way to make visitors and incarcerated individuals feel powerless.

The interviewee discussed how the carceral system and income impact their vision of health. Folks in their community need health care, but a lack of money prevents them from receiving care. Health to the participant comprises a variety of components. Although health care providers do not discriminate against formerly incarcerated individuals due to their association with the legal system, formerly incarcerated individuals experience economic discrimination. The interview also touched on prejudices that take place. People who have been incarcerated experience stigma associated with their incarceration. This stigma also impacts communities intergenerationally. The impacts of the carceral system impact generations of families in the communities. They concluded by discussing the impact of policing in the community and made parallels between incarceration and slavery. Mass incarceration includes policing. These aggressive policing conditions normalize the community to police discrimination and impact relationships between different people in the community. This policing changes how people interact with their geography. They navigated their community and life in order to avoid policing.