Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

  • Home
  • About
  • Creative Read
  • Blog
  • TV Shows
  • Books
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Making Change Radio
  • Archives

by Catherine Read

Ghost of the Innocent Man – Benjamin Rachlin

Ghost of the Innocent Man(Sept. 2017) What a remarkable book. The entire gripping story is gleaned from 25 years worth of notes, transcripts, forms, files, interviews and testimony. No one’s name has been changed because it’s all a matter of public record. If transparency is what you want, then this style of non-fiction investigative journalism will deliver that on every page.

The book starts off telling two stories: The conviction of Willie James Grimes in 1989 for a rape in Hickory, NC; and the formation of North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission (NCIIC) which is the first and ONLY commission of its kind in the entire United States. In ten years, the NCIIC has exonerated 10 wrongly convicted inmates.

The chapters alternate between the two stories, which converge when inmate Willie Grimes eventually connects with Christine Mumma, who was the driving force behind the formation of the NCIIC. As a young lawyer fresh out of law school clerking for the Chief Justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court, I. Beverly Lake, Christine began flagging cases that looked like wrongful convictions. She was frustrated by the fact that appeals are only matters of procedural considerations and NOT about actual innocence. She convinces this conservative Judge to work with the liberal academics of North Carolina’s Innocence Project to form a working group that eventual swelled to 30 members from DA offices, sheriff’s departments, police departments, defense attorneys and even members of a victims rights group. It was rocky, contentious, messy and hard. That group was the genesis of The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, where Mumma remains its Executive Director.

The story of the birth of the NCIIC is every bit as gripping and frustrating as the wrongful conviction of Willie James Grimes. We know from the beginning of the book that he is innocent of this crime of rape which happened in Hickory, NC, in 1988. This was at a time when DNA testing was in its infancy and not used as a primary tool in crime investigations. Willie Grimes is convicted based on the testimony of the 69 year old victim and the testimony of a specialist in hair identification – which would later be totally discredited as a reliable tool for identifying perpetrators.

The author, Benjamin Rachlin, walks us through incompetencies at every level – in excruciating detail – from the initial investigation of the crime, to Willie’s many moves among multiple prisons for no apparent reason, to psychiatric reports that are breathtaking in their presumptions, misinformation and misdiagnosis.

The inhumanity of the criminal justice system screams from every page. And the author is simply relaying the information contained in volumes of reports about every tiny aspect of Willie’s life inside the North Carolina prison system. It’s also a walk through 25 years of pharmacology in the U.S. This man entered prison taking no medications whatsoever, and the list of prescription medications and the amounts he was given in the almost 25 years he was a prison is mind boggling. The fact that he had advanced prostate cancer that was overlooked despite constant medical supervision is just one of a long list of incompetencies that plagued this man’s life.

This book is simultaneously infuriating and frustrating and also incredibly inspiring. What happened to Willie Grimes is not some rare case. Far from it. As of March 2017, there have been over 2,000 exonerations in the U.S. – at least one in every state. And that is the tip of the iceberg. Keep in mind that the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission has no counterpart in any other state. There are Innocence Projects scattered across the country doing what work they can, and there are some Conviction Integrity Offices working under District Attorneys in various cities and counties. But the North Carolina Legislature formed this commission and FUNDED this commission and gave them legal authority to decide if a convicted defendant is actually innocent.

The protagonists in this book are Willie J. Grimes and Christine Mumma. Where their stories converge is the heart of this book. The NCIIC decided to investigate his case – a fascinating look at how they conducted that investigation – and then made their case to the 8 member commission which voted unanimously to send it to a 3 judge panel. After living every minute with Willie in prison, and watching the machinations of Christine to invent something that had never been done before, I think I held my breath through the last chapters of the book.

This book is so real. The writing is excellent. Benjamin Rachlin masterfully weaves all this “information” into a compelling story. And he’s not in it. That is the other remarkable aspect of this book – the absence of the writer’s presence. That is a talent not to be overlooked. I’m not sure a lesser writer could have turned 24 years of prison reports into a page turner of a book. This author did that.

I love this book. It makes me crazy to think that we have allowed this to go on. It makes me crazy to think that after a decade of showing the effectiveness of this kind of commission that NO OTHER STATE has followed North Carolina. Why? Do we really not care enough about the integrity of our system of justice to warrant replicating a proven model that has saved the wrongly convicted from death row and life sentences? WTF?

Read this book and then get really really mad. Get up on your high horse and take a wild ride to your state capitol and advocate for your legislature to DO THIS THING!

Filed Under: Good Books, Political Tagged With: Benjamin Rachlin, Beverly Lake, Christine Mumma, Criminal Justice Reform, Innocence Project, NCIIC, North Carolina, North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, Prison, Willie J Grimes, Wrongly Convicted

by Catherine Read

Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women

Becoming Ms. Burton(Sept 2017) This book is extraordinary – as is the woman who wrote it. One of the great strengths of the book is how it weaves staggering facts and statistics about mass incarceration into Susan Burton’s deeply personal story. Each chapter begins with facts about different aspects of our criminal justice system, and the sprawling prison-industrial-complex, that are impacting generations of American families.

Sixty-five million Americans with a criminal record face a total of 45,000 collateral consequences that restrict everything from employment, professional licensing, child custody rights, housing, student aid, voting and even the ability to visit an incarcerated loved one. Many of these restrictions are permanent, forever preventing those who’ve already served their time from reaching their potential in the workforce, as parents, and as productive citizens.

“The result is that these collateral consequences become a life sentence harsher than whatever sentence a court actually imposed upon conviction.” American Bar Association president William C. Hubbard

While factual information like that sets up the framework for each chapter of this book, it is Susan’s narrative that breathes life into what this means for the people who are caught up in this revolving door of poverty, trauma and incarceration.

Knowing that 90% of incarcerated women have suffered some form of sexual abuse or physical violence isn’t the same as hearing what that means when it is described from the point of view of a 3 year old, a ten year and a 14 year old rape victim now a mother. This is how Susan Burton’s life began. A teenaged prostitute, she was befriended by a bail bondsman name George who would be with her for 30 years – encouraging her to be the person he knew she could be. He was there from the lowest points of her life – working the streets, drug addiction, losing her son to a police van hitting him in the streets, forgery and theft to feed her drug habit – to the point at which she decided to get sober, get clean and start over. When she was named a Top Ten CNN Hero in 2010, she called him out by name at the awards event.

In 2012, she was named Encore’s Purpose Prize winner. In 2014, she received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, and in 2015 the Los Angeles Times named her one of the nation’s 18 New Civil Rights Leaders.

Susan’s journey is remarkable for her ability to re-invent her life as an “ex-con” at the age of 46. It was a series of happenstance and circumstance that created opportunities for her to finally divert into a drug rehab program instead of back to prison. When she finally found the program CLARE in Santa Monica that got her into AA’s 12 Step Program, she was on her way to a new life.

There were many remarkable people that helped her along the journey to what would become “A New Way of Life,” a re-entry program for formerly incarcerated women in the Watts area of Los Angeles. This part of the book resonates with me because of my work with a re-entry program for women here in Alexandria, Virginia, called Friends of Guest House. Susan forged ahead with her vision of providing other women the help they needed to start their lives over after stepping off the prison bus. She did it herself, and she was determined to do it for others.

The impact of our broken criminal justice system on generations of families is a cycle that seems to have no end. The poverty, the trauma, the lack of educational and economic opportunities, is just compounded when millions of people are saddled with a lifetime of restrictions because of a criminal record. The impact on our country cannot be overstated – it’s tearing at the fabric of our culture and our economy. Something must be done and it will only be done when more people are motivated by the injustice of our criminal justice system.

I would highly recommend this book to every reader, and it would be a particularly excellent book club choice. These are issues more people need to be talking about. Individually, we can be the voice advocating for change, and together we can move the needle on taking back our country from a broken system of justice that feeds mass incarceration and dooms future generations.

Filed Under: Good Books, Political, Women Tagged With: A New Way of Life, Addiction, Friends of Guest House, Incarcerated Women, Mass Incarceration, Poverty, Prison, Re-entry, Susan Burton, Trauma

by Catherine Read

Friends of Guest House – Inside Scoop

(Dec. 5, 2016) Guest House in Alexandria, VA, was founded in 1974 to assist formerly incarcerated women with their transition back into the community. Executive Director Kari Galloway joins host Catherine Read in explaining the services provided to the residents of Guest House and their remarkable success in supporting over 3,000 women in the last 42 years. Joining them in the first segment is former resident Terry Garrett who now speaks to local groups on behalf of this non-profit. In raising awareness of this program, they hope to eventually expand their services to better serve the increasing numbers of women being incarcerated and released here in Northern Virginia.

Jessica Rodgers, the Residential Case Manager for Guest House, and a current resident of two months, Monica, join Catherine in the second segment to talk about the benefits of the three month residential program. There are numerous ways in which these women are supported in the first 90 days after their release, including how they support each other. There are three core programs: the one-year Residential-to-Aftercare continuum and the non-residential Outreach Program. Less than 10% of the women who come through Guest House return to jail or prison. Without such support, nearly 70% of previously incarcerated women will return to jail or prison.

Mariel Branagan, Volunteer Program Coordinator, and Noelle Moore, a volunteer with Guest House, discuss about how important it is for these women to be supported in ways both great and small. Many volunteers share their time, talent and skills in helping these women reconnect to their communities and to their families. Many are mothers, and helping them to reconnect with their children has benefitted more than 4,000 children of previously incarcerated women over the years. Those interested in volunteering can reach Mariel at [email protected]

In Northern Virginia, Guest House is the only group providing reentry support that is both comprehensive (housing, jobs, healthcare and family/community connection) and tailored to women’s unique needs. They continue to seek additional support from agencies, organizations and donors to help expand the services they can provide. Individuals can also support these women through a Target Registry set up to help supply them with basic necessities like toiletries.

Most of all these women need JOBS. Finding companies willing to give them employment opportunities is especially key to their successful reentry into our community and Guest House welcomes all suggestions in this regard.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Guest House, Non-Profit, Prison, Virginia, women

Catherine S. Read
I believe in the power of community and the ability of one person to make a difference.

Read more…

Get the Latest

I will not spam you. Read my privacy policy.

Recent Posts

Railroaded – Dale Brumfield

His Other Life – Melanie McCabe

The Art of Gathering – Priya Parker

Faithful Servant Awards on Your Need to Know

Laura Jane Cohen on Your Need to Know

Elaine Tholen on Your Need To Know

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center

Delegate Kathleen Murphy on Your Need to Know

Search

Archives

Archives

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Read. Think. Act.

Copyright © 2021 Catherine S. Read · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy