By Jean F. Andrews Police and jail officers are often confused by the many forms of English that come from the mouths and lips, and off the fingers and hands of deaf suspects. Just because the deaf person can speak some words, and lipread the question, “what is your name,” or even sign some words
By BitcoDavid I am fortunate enough to live in quiet bedroom community outside of Boston, but it was not always thus. I used to live in the heart of one of the inner city’s biggest ghettos, Roxbury. I bring this up, because it was there, that dwelt a profound and long-lived piece of graffiti. Sprayed
By BitcoDavid While reading Prison Riot, I was struck by how similar this story is to the classic Melville novella, Billy Budd. Of course, the latter was written in a much more stilted voice, and was built on Biblical allegory – but the thread of the story is very much the same. Here we have
By BitcoDavid This past Sunday marked Correction Corporation of America’s 30th birthday, making this article about as timely as a CCA guard feeding a diabetic inmate. Let me tell you a little story. In 1905, the state of Mississippi launched an experiment in crime prevention. The program was referred to as the convict lease system.
By Jean F. Andrews While it is commonly accepted to provide interpreters in court, deaf suspects and offenders still struggle to get sign interpreters for arrest, booking, medical/psychological intakes, classification, grievance committee meetings and for translation of the inmate handbook. Most vulnerable are hard of hearing persons who use sign language, and profoundly deaf persons
By BitcoDavid Have you ever thought about learning a second language? You might be surprised to discover that there is evidence out there that becoming bilingual makes you smarter. It’s true. Neuro-biologists – eggheads who study the Human brain – claim that since so much of our brain activity is language based, by learning a
By Joanne Greenberg Activism usually means my telling someone what to do for someone else, and it generally involves the transfer of money from one group to another. The prison system here is fund-starved, but our idea, the one about grouping deaf prisoners together, isn’t costly at all. Once deaf prisoners in a state system
By Jean F. Andrews [Jean’s note: This article was sent to me by Julie Evans, freelance writer.] Article by: GAIL ROSENBLUM Star Tribune (Minneapolis daily paper) January 21, 2013 – 8:47 PM Adrean Clark insists she’s not an activist, just a hard-working mother who wants to right a wrong. That’s the best kind of activist
By Jean F. Andrews The media has increasing spotlighted suspects who have been wrongfully accused by the police, wrongfully judged by the prosecutor and judge and wrongfully imprisoned for decades. Tony Freemantle in Sunday’s Houston’s Chronicle (Jan 20, 2013) lists a number of reasons for false convictions: 1) prosecutors hide evidence, 2) judges refuse to
By BitcoDavid Tapestry Entertainment has finally completed their long anticipated independent film, Women’s Playground. A screening is to be held at the International House of Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19104 at 6:00 PM, next Sunday, with more screenings in more cities to follow. Tickets are 15 dollars and can be ordered through their
