Maria Townen: Good
afternoon everyone, and
welcome to the
White House.
My name is Maria Townen
(spelled phonetically) ,
I am an Associate
Director in the Office of
Public Engagement.
Thank you all for joining
us for today's event.
And to get it started
I'd to introduce Senior
Advisor to the President,
Valerie Jarrett.
Valerie Jarrett: Thank you
so much, Maria, and good
afternoon everyone.
Multiple Speakers:
Good afternoon.
Valerie Jarrett: Welcome
to the White House.
We're delighted to
have you all here.
And we're here to talk
about how we can make our
criminal justice systems
work better for all Americans.
But I want to spend a
moment just touching on
the tragedies yesterday
in Baton Rouge.
Obviously, our hearts go
out to the families of the
three officers who were
killed, and the three who
were wounded.
I spent much of yesterday
speaking with the
governor, mayor and the
police chief, just trying
to figure out
what had happened.
And there was a lot
of misinformation.
But as the facts unfolded,
what became clear is that
somebody motivated by
evil decided to basically
ambush people who are
putting their lives on the
line each and every day to
serve and protect all of us.
And as the President
said yesterday, that is
completely unacceptable.
It's not who we are.
And we have to all,
individually and
collectively, speak out.
And obviously it's more
painful than ever, because
it follows right on the
heels of what happened in
Dallas as well.
And so going into the
summer where it's hot and
people's temperament
sometimes is frayed, it's
always good to remind
everyone that we have to
be voices of calm and
voices of reason.
And there's plenty of
reasons to demonstrate,
but those demonstrations
have to remain peaceful.
So even as we push for
reforms in our criminal
justice systems, reforms
which are mightily needed.
We need to make absolutely
clear there is no
justification for violence
against law enforcement,
and as the President has
said repeatedly, there is
no contradiction between
honoring incredibly
courageous police officers
who are doing their jobs
each and every day, while
lifting up the disparities
that we know exist in our
criminal justice system.
We can hold both truth's
at the same time.
That's why as we grieve,
it is so critical that we
continue this important
conversation.
So often when we discuss
the disparities in our
criminal justice system,
all to rarely do we
discuss the impact of the
criminal justice system on
people with disabilities.
That's why the report
released today by the
Center for American
Progress is so important.
And as you'll hear this
afternoon, as CAP's
Rebecca Valis
(spelled phonetically)
reports, people with
disabilities are
dramatically
overrepresented in our
nation's prisons
and our jails.
Of the 2.2 million people
behind bars, 32 percent of
prisoners and 40 percent
of jailed inmates reported
having at least
one disability.
Prisoners were nearly
three times more likely
and jailed inmates were
more than four times more
likely than the general
population to report
having at least
one disability.
This trend as we know
starts in the classroom.
Students with disabilities
receive the highest rates
of out of school
suspension among
student subgroups.
They're twice as likely to
receive an out of school
suspension than
their peers.
And students with
disabilities represent a
quarter of the students
arrested and referred to
law enforcement even
though they only represent
12 percent of
the population.
For many students with
disabilities, the issue we
see in discipline actually
starts with identification
and early, and how early
we address the needs of
students by individualizes
education programs.
What are those?
While today's event is
going to focus primarily
on adults with
disabilities in our
criminal justice system,
shutting down the school
to prison pipeline for
students with disabilities
is a critical piece of the
puzzle, and so I want to
spend a moment just
to touch on that.
The impact of suspensions
and other exclusionary
disciplinary practices on
students is devastating.
And honestly, I've never
understood why people
thought the right thing to
do when people misbehave
is to send them
out of school.
We want them to
stay in school.
Students who are suspended
are more likely to be
retained in grade, or
dropout, and exclusionary
discipline feeds that
school to prison pipeline.
Research also shows that
very few suspensions are
for violence or violations
of state statutes.
So we have to ensure that
the punishments fits the
infraction, and to go into
our education system with
the attitude that we want
to keep everybody inside
the classroom.
Wherever we can, we should
address behavioral needs
as early as possible in
childhood as we can.
With the alarming rates of
people with disabilities
behind bars, and the
disproportionate number of
students with disabilities
entering the school to
prison pipeline.
It's clear that it is
essential that the
disability community be
an active partner in our
criminal justice efforts.
And that's why
you're here today.
When President Obama laid
out his administration's
principles for criminal
justice reform, he
emphasized the need to
focus on the community,
the courtroom, and
the cell block.
All of this is predicated
on the simple belief that
criminal justice reform,
if done properly, will
actually make our
communities safer.
First we must focus
on the community.
And as Sheriff Kotujan
(spelled phonetically)
, from Middlesex County
Massachusetts, following a
long history of
disinvestment in the
community based treatments
and services there, too
many jails have become
social service providers
of last resort.
With devastating
consequences for
individuals with
disabilities, who have no
business being in jail
in the first place.
Second, we must focus
on the courtroom.
Poor Americans can spend
two weeks, can spend weeks
or months in jail for one
reason and one reason
only, because
they are poor.
They can't afford the
fees, the fines, and the
cost of bail.
Today, Diane Smith-Howard (spelled phonetically)
of the National Disability
Rights Network will
discuss how people with
mental illness and
cognitive disabilities
often become involved in
the system because of
offenses directly related
to their disabilities.
And can be denied their
combinations that they
need to receive
just outcomes.
And third, we have to
focus on the cell block.
David Carlson (spelled phonetically)
of the Avid Prison
Project, is it Avid or AVID?
Avid, thank you, Prison
Project, will discuss how
poor conditions and
accommodations are really
widespread in our nation's
correctional facilities.
Now the President is very
proud of what we have
accomplished so far, in
many of the areas that I
just outlined.
So for example, he has
commuted 348 sentences,
more than the past seven
Presidents combined, of
people that he felt that
the punishment didn't in
any way fit the crime.
Serving life sentences, a
young man who I met, who
was sentenced for three
minor drug infractions,
all nonviolent,
to life in prison.
He did not need to
be behind our bars.
He needed help.
The federal government has
taken steps to be a model
employer by implementing
fair chance hiring for
federal jobs, and
advancing disability
recruitment in the hiring
at the federal government,
something the President
committed to from day one.
And he's very proud of our
record, not just for what
we're doing, but because
it's a role model for what
we expect from both the
private and public sector
around the country.
We have invested in
mentoring and job training
and new reentry programs.
We have brought together
leaders in the private
sector, and encouraged
them, as well as those in
higher education, and
encouraged them, and folks
in state and local
government, and encouraged
them all to catalyze
reform from banning the
box to better
diversionary programs.
But let's face it; we
also need comprehensive
immigration reform
at the federal level.
And it's one of the areas
where already seven and a
half years in, that on a
bipartisan basis, Congress
will act.
There's strong bipartisan
bills in the both the
House and the Senate, and
we were heartened to hear
last week Speaker Ryan
commit that he intends to
move it out of the
House in September.
And we know right now,
based on all of the
research we've done, that
those bills would pass and
the President could sign
them, and particularly
they would help nonviolent
drug offenders avoid the
mandatory minimum
sentences that they're
under today.
We would take resources
and put them back into
ensuring our communities
are safe; ensuring that
people receive the
treatment, the job
training, and the
education that they need
while they are
incarcerated, so that when
they leave prison, they
can hit the ground
running, and be law
abiding members of society
with opportunities as
opposed to falling victim
to the falling door.
So I'm grateful for
the leadership of the
disability community
on these issues.
Many, a wide range of
issues from the statement
of support for the
Sentencing Reform Act from
the National Council on
Independent Living and
Disability Rights Network,
thank you for that.
To the numerous to
raise awareness of the
intersection between
disabilities and the
criminal justice system.
To ensuring, ensuring over
and over again that we're
working closely with
organizations such as
ARC (spelled phonetically)
, AUCD, Avid, and
Respectability.
To the state focused
efforts for organizations
such as Disability Rights
of North Carolina, that's
working to end solitary
confinement for people
with serious
mental illnesses.
I should also note that
the President instructed
his Attorney General to
do an analysis of the
solitary confinement at
the federal level, and she
concluded that we should
use it sparingly, never
for children or juveniles.
And that we should ensure
that adults who are in
solitary confinement are
not there because we are
trying to separate
them from the
general population.
Because all too often,
people with disabilities,
the LGBT community, and
youth are put in solitary
confinement allegedly
to keep them safer; but
actually it creates all
kinds of other mental
health challenges that
are hard to overcome.
So that's an important
part of the President's
record as well.
But the reality we know is
that the clock is ticking
here in Washington, and we
are all acutely aware that
the President's time in
office is coming to a close.
And so we want to do
everything within our
power to ensure that
Congress moves forward on
its responsibility to pass
reforms by September.
As I'm reminded being
here, making our community
safer and healthier does
take us all working together.
And I'm so thankful that
you are leading in the
innovation, the important
work necessary at the
county level, from the
state level, from the
national level, all of us
have to work together to
ensure the reforms that
are put in place are
helping not some
Americans, but all Americans.
So to continue our effort
here today, I'd like to
turn it over to my dear
friend and colleague
Rebecca Coakley (spelled phonetically) .
She's the Executive
Director of the National
Council on Disabilities.
She has been a champion
for people with
disabilities throughout
the President's time in
office and long before.
She's a terrific person,
a great mom, and my dear friend.
Rebecca, please come up.
Rebecca Coakley: I'd like
to go ahead and invite our
panelists up.
Wow, this is really loud.
And we're going to do
really brief introductions
for this esteemed panel.
I am thrilled to have
them all here today.
It was a pleasure pulling
all of this work together
with all of you.
To my right is
Sheriff Kotujan.
Sheriff Kotujan is the
Sheriff of Middlesex
County, the largest county
in Massachusetts, and one
of the most populated
in the United States.
Prior to five years with
the Sheriff's office, he
served as a prosecutor,
and later as an elected
member of the
Massachusetts legislature,
where he held a number
of leadership positions.
He's a designated member
of the Massachusetts's
Council of State
Governments, Justice
Center Working Group, and
a founding member of Law
Enforcement Leaders
to Reduce Crime
and Incarceration.
Next to him is the
amazing
Jamila Morgan (spelled phonetically) .
Jamila is the
Arthur Lyman (spelled phonetically)
Fellow at the ACLU
National Prison Project.
At NPP she litigates
federal class action
prison condition cases
under the eighth amendment.
In addition, she works on
the ACLU stop solitary
campaign, seeking to end
the practice of long term
isolation in our nation's
prisons, jails and
juvenile detention
centers, through
legislative reforms,
litigation, and
public education.
The third esteemed
panelist is Rebecca Valis,
who is the Managing
Director of the Poverty to
Prosperity Program at
the Center for
American Progress.
She began her anti-poverty
career working directly
with low income
individuals and their
communities, with a
focus on people with
disabilities and
criminal records.
As an attorney and a
policy advocate for
Community Legal Services
in Philly, she was twice
named one of Forbes 30
Under 30 for law and
policy, and I like to
refer to her as the Jedi
master of poverty
research.
And hopefully, hopefully
somebody tweets that.
I will say the hashtag.
#CJReformForPWD.
Not for PWDS.
But for #CJReformForPWD.
And then our final
panelist is David
Wilkinson, the Director of
the White House Office of
Public Innovation and
Social Participation.
He leads the White House
efforts to identify and
scale better, more
effective social
solutions, advancing the
President's priorities
that strengthen
communities and enable
upward economic mobility.
This involves programs
that work better for the
use of data, and evidence
as well as scaling what
works for smarter use of
federal resources and
cross-sector
collaboration.
I think this table right
here is a perfect example
right here of
that cross-sector collaboration.
I'm going to go ahead and
jump right in, because I
know our time is limited.
And so I have a couple of
key question for each of
you, and then, you know,
I'm hoping to wrap it with
one broad question, and
then being able to open it
up to the audience.
And I suspect, or I
expect, that Maria will be
monitoring our
time judiciously.
So first I'm going to turn
to Rebecca Valis, and say:
Rebecca, teeing up, can
you give us a sense of the
report that you
guys put out today.
You know, a short version
emphasizing, you know,
what the key areas were
and, and where you were
looking to go with it.
Rebecca Valis: Happy to
provide the Cliffnotes,
and thanking for not
calling me the other Rebecca.
I will happily
take Jedi master.
Rebecca Coakley.
I can start referring
to you as that.
Go for it.
Rebecca Valis: Only if
I get to call you that.
So first of all, thank you
so much for everyone who's
here today.
To the administration,
for holding this really
important conversation, at
an intersection that is
all too rarely discussed.
I am optimistic that today
is the start of that changing.
A huge thank you to
Valerie Jarrett for her
remarks earlier, and to
the amazing, one and only
Maria Townen, who really
deserves some sleep after today.
So I think that there's,
there's incredibly broad
and bipartisan, really
trans-partisan agreement
that it's long past time
to overhaul our nation's
criminal justice system.
That it's time to
close the book on mass
incarceration and
over criminalization.
There's also increasingly
wide awareness that
certain populations have
been hardest hit by our
nation's experiment with
mass incarceration:
communities of color, of
course, residents of high
poverty neighborhoods,
LGBT individuals.
But too rarely discussed
is the impact of the
criminal justice system on
people with disabilities.
And that's why CAP is so
pleased to be partnering
with the White House and
so many organizations in
this room to, to be part
of today's conversation.
As you heard from Valerie
Jarrett, people with
disabilities are
dramatically
overrepresented in our
nation's prisons and in
our nation's jails.
And I'm going to repeat
one of the statistics that
she mentioned, because
it really does bear repeating.
And that is according to
the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, people behind
bars in prisons are three
times as likely, and
people behind bars in
jails are more than four
times as likely to report
having at least one
disability, compared to
the general population.
Fully half of women in
jails have at least
one disability.
Now a big part of the
story here, as many people
in this room, leaders in
the disability world know
all too well, a big
part of the story
is deinstitutionalization.
The past 60 years have
happily seen widespread
closure of state mental
hospitals and other
institutions that used
to serve people with
disabilities in large
numbers, and not terribly well.
This is widely regarded as
a tremendously positive
development, the shift was
not accompanied by the
public investment that
was needed to ensure the
availability of community
based alternatives.
So as a result, while
people with disabilities
are no longer living
in large numbers in
institutions, too many
have been swept up in the
criminal justice system.
And the U.S.
has effectively
traded one form mass
institutionalization
for another.
Now in addition to making
up a disproportionate
share of the incarcerated
population in this
country, people with
disabilities are
especially likely to be
the victims of police
involved killings.
And the tragic events of
the last few weeks have
rightly reignited that
national conversation
around policing reform.
Freddie Gray, Eric Garner,
Kristiana Coignard, and
Robert Ethan Saylor,
all individuals with
disabilities who lost
their lives during
interactions with law
enforcement that went
wrong, are four high
profile examples of a
sadly commonplace
occurrence.
And while are extremely
limited, something you're
going to hear about I'm
sure from my colleague to
the left, I'm sure, in
just a minute, one study
does estimate that people
with disabilities comprise
one third to one half of
all individuals who are
the victims of police
involved fatalities.
And according to an
investigation by the
Washington Post, one
quarter of the individuals
fatally shot by police
in 2015 were people with
mental illness.
Now our nation's courts
are in many ways the
epicenter of our justice
system, but as the
National Center for Access
to Justice in New York as
well as advocates at HEARD (spelled phonetically) ,
and other leading
organizations in this
space have documented,
lack of accessibility and
failure to provide needed
accommodations under the
ADA are widespread.
And this is also something
you're going to hear about
extensively on the second
panel from my colleague at Avid.
People who are deaf
are frequently denied
interpreters in
court proceedings.
In some states, courts are
even permitted to charge
people money for their
own interpreters.
Precious few states have
systems in place for
people with disabilities
to request
needed accommodations.
And denial of interpreters
can lead to wrongful
arrests, even convictions.
Christine Stein (spelled phonetically)
is a story that
everyone needs to know.
A deaf resident from
Jamestown, North Dakota.
She called 911 using
a video relay system.
She was asking for help
with a man who was
experiencing crisis
in her apartment.
But what happened,
according to a lawsuit
that she has filed, the
cops ended up arresting
her because she was not
given an interpreter, and
wasn't able to explain
to them without an
interpreter what
had happened.
Because she denied that
interpreter, she was
ultimately brought before
a judge, spent weeks
without being able
to clear up what had happened.
It was only when she was
finally able to meet with
an interpreter weeks later
that she, that she was
able to clear the
situation up and have
charges dismissed.
Then there's
the cell block.
While behind bars, people
with disabilities are
often deprived of needed
medical care as well as
support, services,
accommodations, despite
long standing federal laws
such as the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which
we're commemorating the
26th anniversary
of this month.
And as you'll hear in
greater detail from other
speakers, many individuals
with disabilities are held
in solitary confinement
for needed and
appropriate accommodations.
The Avid Prison Project's
imported report released
in June, which you'll
hear more about today,
documents one case example
after another of inmates
denied needed medications,
even denied prosthetic limbs.
People sustaining injuries
because they weren't given
access to accessible
showers, toilets, and the like.
I could go on.
And finally, and
importantly because this
is almost never
discussed, is reentry.
People with disabilities
already face unemployment
as high as three times
their non-disabled
counterparts, and they
also face a steep pay gap
in this country, earning
on average 63 cents for
every dollar paid
to workers without disabilities.
But when you add a
criminal record into the
mix, you're only going to
make it harder for people
to return to their
communities, and to
achieve stability.
And that's because, and
Sharon Detrich (spelled phonetically)
could do this if she were
sitting up here, from
Community Legal Services,
my former boss who
deserves a shout out,
nearly nine in 10
employers in hiring,
and having even a minor
criminal record, even an
arrest that never led to a
conviction can be a recipe
for having your resume
thrown in the trash.
And meanwhile, reentry
programs all of often lack
the needed accommodations
and expertise to work with
people with disabilities.
There's no one
single panacea here.
We're going to talk a lot
about solutions today, but
I think one important
takeaway is it's going to
take reform and
partnership across these
communities at every
single level of the system.
And I'm incredibly proud
and honored to be in a
room with so many people
who leading on the
solution based thinking
both on the outside and
the inside.
I'm thinking of
you Sheriff K.
So thank you for being
here today, and I look
forward to continuing
this conversation.
Rebecca Coakley:
Thank you.
Jamila, let's dig into the
cell block a little bit.
Walk us into what you guys
are seeing around the
solitary, which I know is
something you and the ACLU
are obviously very
passionate about.
Jamila Morgan: All right.
For the past five years,
first of all I just want
to say thank you to
Rebecca and to the White
House for convening
this amazing event.
It's certainly an
important issue, and it's
an issue that the ACLU
is concerned about.
And I want to thank the
advocates in the room for
their incredible work,
I've learned from many of
you all.
So here at the Stop, well
at the Stop Solitary
Campaign, what we're
finding is that there are
persons with physical
disabilities that are
routinely placed into
conditions amounting to
extreme social and
sensory deprivation.
For many of the same
reasons that we read about
in the Department of
Justice report, talking
about the report and
recommendations coming out
of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, we're finding
that people are placed
into isolation because
there are, as Rebecca
mentioned, a lack of
accessible housing
for these persons.
So they're placed in
there, they're denied
access to their
assistive devices.
Many are forced to sort of
crawl around their tiny
cells for hours on
end without access to
reasonable accommodations.
When we started hearing
about these cases at the
ACLU, it was
very concerning.
Why, we have a very
comprehensive federal law,
the Americans with
Disabilities Act ensure
reasonable accommodations
to persons with disabilities.
But unfortunately, this
law is not respected in
many prisons in jails
across the country.
So I'll back up.
Solitary confinement, as
we know, confinement 23
hours a day or more in
conditions that are
amounting to social and
sensory deprivation.
We know from research that
this has dramatic harms on
persons with and without a
history of mental illness.
But what less research
shows, and what we're
finding out through
scholars like Brie Williams
(spelled phonetically)
at the University of
San Francisco, is that
solitary confinement
can be physically debilitating.
We're seeing persons
going into conditions of
solitary confinement
having and experiencing
physical debilitation.
They're not getting access
to physical therapies,
regular and routine
physical therapies.
They're not receiving
access to their
prescription medications
on a timely basis.
One of the persons I spoke
with, he has quadriplegia,
he requires medication
four times a day to
prevent seizures.
He was placed in
conditions in isolation
until a jail in Oregon
figure out what to do with him.
And during this 48 hour
period was denied access
to his prescription
therapies, and as a
result, had a series of
very painful
seizures throughout.
And especially as relates
to the accessibility
issues, we wanted to
highlight that there is no
penalogical justification
for these placements for
persons with physical
disabilities into these
conditions of isolation.
Now we've also found that
persons are being placed
into solitary confinement
for some of the more
common reasons:
disciplinary segregation,
administrative segregation
where there is a perceived
threat to a security and
safety of the institution.
But to think about
disciplinary segregation
for a minute, as Rebecca
mentioned, in many cases
persons that are deaf or
are hard of hearing are
denied access to
accommodations to permit
them to fully understand
what's happening in the
disciplinary hearing.
And so we're seeing
cases where disciplinary
hearings are not
accessible and due to in
some cases
miscommunications, you
have persons that will
spend time, deaf persons,
that will spend time in
segregation on charges
that are really
on the basis of a
misunderstanding.
So these are very
concerning to, you know,
anyone who is concerned
obviously about the rights
those with disabilities,
but also procedural due
process protections.
You can have folks sitting
in these
conditions unjustifiably.
So we were very, very
concerned at the ACLU when
we heard about that.
And the last thing that
I do want to lift in
particular is that we
think about the conditions
of solitary confinement,
and again as I mentioned,
the harms on those with
mental illnesses are very
well known, and
are traumatizing.
But we really should also
expand our scope and think
about the harms
physically.
And I want to lift some of
the work HEARD has done,
and T.L. Lewis (spelled phonetically)
and the advocates there.
They've termed some of
these experiences as a
prison within a prison.
If you're in a condition
of isolation, you're in a
cell that's the size of a
parking lot for 22 or more
hours a day.
You're looking at a cell
concrete block that's, you
know, tiny for
most of the day.
That's not much by way
of visual stimulation.
The sounds that you hear
are probably scream or,
you know, doors
being slammed shut.
Not much by way of audio
and sensory stimulation.
These have the effect of
what HEARD has termed to
be a prison
within a prison.
It's difficult to imagine
being incommunicado for
that long if you don't
have access to a sign
language interpreter, if
all you hear are banging
sounds or if all you see
is sort of the cell block
around you.
We have to really think
about what we're doing to
human beings, and
our commitment
to rehabilitation.
Solitary confinement, we
argue at the ACLU, and
many others agree in this
room, is not at all in
line with our commitment
to rehabilitation.
And so we are grateful for
the opportunity to share
about this additional
group of persons that are
affected by the practice
that we call torture here
at the ACLU.
And again, want to lift
these narratives, and
encourage those of you who
are already working in
this area to continue
focusing on physical
disabilities as an
issue under solitary.
Thank you Rebecca.
Rebecca Coakley:
Thank you Jamila.
Rebecca Valis and I were
both at Net Roots Nation
(spelled phonetically)
this last week, and
hearing from folks on the
ground as to what they're
dealing with; and one of
the things that really
struck me was I was
talking to an advocate
from outside of Ferguson,
and she said, "I
am post post."
And I said, "What
do you mean."
And she said, "This
is, you know, when the
President got elected,
people said it was post racial."
Depending on who gets
elected, they might say
we're post gender.
She said, "I am post post.
Post is not a thing."
She said, "I don't have
post-traumatic stress
disorder, I have traumatic
stress disorder.
It is something I
live with daily.
I am not post anything.
And it really struck me in
terms of how we talk about
folks as they enter the
system, but then also
they're time while in the
system, and leaving the system.
As it, that trauma
just continues.
And I think it's important
as we think about it both
in terms of both
acquiring, folks entering
the system with
disabilities already, and
as you said, quoting our
colleagues at HEARD and T.L.
Lewis, the jail
within the jail.
Or the prison within the
prison, and acquiring
additional disabilities
while within the system.
Sheriff K, I want to
kick it over to you.
Talk to us about what
you see on the ground.
I know, I know we've
talked, we've had
conversation this last
week about the cycle of
repeat customers,
as it is.
You know, the folks that
really have no business in
being behind bars, but
there are not accessible
and affordable community
based solutions to folks.
Talk to us about what
you're seeing in your community.
Sheriff Kotujan:
Thank you Rebecca.
So what I, so what I will,
the way that I'll, firstly
I would just like to say
thank you to the Office of
Public Engagement and to
the White House, and for
the Center for
American Progress.
I mean, I'm kind of giddy,
not just because I'm here
at the White House
speaking, which would make
anyone really excited to
be invited to do something
like this, but by the fact
that we're speaking about
this, as a group today,
something that many in
this room never would have
thought possible over many
years and decades,
quite possibly.
I mean, I think about this
president was the first
sitting president to visit
a correctional facility.
That's kind of stunning
that no one has done that
before that date; even
our own governor in
Massachusetts was
surprised to learn that
this was the first time
and he's already been to
institutions a
couple of times.
The leadership by the
president is incredible
and especially when you
consider that we're
talking about two groups
here combined that society
forgets about, one: the
incarcerated and another:
people with disabilities,
then you combine them into
one population and it's
even more extreme so to speak.
So what -- I'll
address it,
Rebecca (spelled phonetically) ,
in just the terms of --
a little bit about the
Middlesex Sheriff's
Office, a little bit about
the problem, a little bit
about the effects and then
we can speak about the
solutions at a later point
during the regular
discussion.
I've been the sheriff for
the last five years; I was
formerly a prosecutor and
a state representative; I
was the chairman of the
committee on healthcare
that also had the mental
health and public health
components to that
committee at that time.
My county, just so you
understand the size of it:
1.55 million people;
it's one of the largest
counties in the country;
54 cities and towns, so
it's a sprawling county as
well with urban, suburban,
and rural communities and
we're a member of the
major county sheriff's.
Our population snapshot
for just today was --
today we had -- we're a
little bit down in our
count, but 1,122 jail and
sentenced men with us,
about 100 women that serve
in a different place; 481
were sentenced and 641
are jail or pre-trial
detainees; that's what --
in our shop right now.
So what's the problem?
You know, you've seen
these figures: up to
two-thirds of those in
the jail populations on a
national level have
mental health issues.
Let me just tell you about
our numbers: 46 percent of
our population in the
Middlesex Sheriff's Office
have a history of mental
health; about 32 percent
are being treated while
inside or attended to for
mental health needs
while they're inside.
Sadly and more problematic
is the addiction levels
overall, but then when you
consider the co-occurrence
rates -- our co-occurrence
rate is about 78 percent
and that's really hard to
extricate how you treat
people; that's
a real problem.
National Alliance of
the Mentally Ill in
Massachusetts estimated
that the state population
has mental health rates of
about 25 percent; county
and jailhouse of
corrections about 50
percent; incarcerated
women: 70 percent.
Let's not forget about
certain populations that
suffer more.
We could also speak
about the young adult
population, 18 through 24,
but we also know that so
many of the mental health
-- the first signs of
mental health issues start
in the early 20s really so
we're really not going to
know, we can't tell who is
going to have problems
there, but we know it's a
whole different population
we have to treat very
differently in
correctional facilities.
We are -- the three
largest mental health
treatment facilities in
the entire country are
King, Cook, and L.A.
County Jails, that's the
sad state of affairs and
we are the largest mental
health treatment provider
in Middlesex despite the
fact we have a couple of
major treatment
hospitals in our place.
Thirty-three percent had
some suicidal mention
ideation; we call it
Q5, query number five.
Twenty-four individuals
reported -- self-reported
cognitive disabilities or
intellectual disabilities;
that's another issue we
have to be considering,
but that's self-reporting.
New commitments: 26
percent attempted suicide
before incarceration; 47:
self-injurious behavior,
cutting, burning,
head-banging.
Part of this is
interesting because we're
realizing more and more
trauma is part of the
reason people are ending
up in carceration with
mental health issues.
We've done a tally of
-- about 20 percent had
trauma as of -- in June:
20 percent for physical
abuse, 22 percent for
neglect, 21 percent for
sexual abuse, and 33
percent for other
significant trauma.
We're understanding more
trauma has more and more
effects on people
becoming carcerated.
I'll close out by saying
this: how did we get to
this problem?
Well, we started with the
de-institutionalization of
people and in probably
not a thoughtful way.
Should people be
institutionalized in
these warehouses?
Absolutely not, but when
we decided to move people
out which we started doing
in the, you know, late 50s
and early 60s, you know,
at that time we had about
500 to maybe 750,000
people that were -- you
know, had been
institutionalized or had
some type of
institutional setting.
Now we've got about --
maybe I've seen 40,000,
70,000 institutional beds
out there for people and
the idea was that when
we move them out to the
community it would be a
more humane setting, lower
cost, better treatment,
but the money never
followed the people, so
the money never followed
them and additionally
the money was cut.
Surprise, surprise that
now jails are the de facto
mental health treatment
facility and emergency
rooms too.
Surprise, well,
we shouldn't be.
Our incarceration of
mentally ill exacerbates
mental health issues even
short-term, even if you
don't have to go to a
restrictive housing,
segregation, or solitary
confinement site, whatever
you want to call it, even
without going to that it
exacerbates existing
mental health issues.
It does not protect public
safety because it disrupts
the treatment, it disrupts
your housing, it disrupts
your job status and it
increases -- thereby
increasing recidivism,
pretty easy, and it's
unsustainable as far as
fiscal impact as well.
It's more money for meds
in our shop and elsewhere,
more often for meds; those
with mental health issues
tend to stay in our places
three times longer than
those without and
especially when you
consider that they
continue to recidivate and
come back and come back
and come back over and
over again even with
alternatives that are less
expensive and more
effective and then lastly
I'll say this: I'm really
proud of the programming
that we provide in the
Middlesex Sheriff's Office
and the treatment
we provide.
I think it's thoughtful,
sensitive, progressive,
really where we should
be as a nation, but the
program we can provide for
our people with mental
health is just not there.
You know, we can provide
programming for education
and vocational
opportunities and
parenting and especially
addiction, right?
We can provide programming
for that and then pass it
off on the outside, but
inside all we can do is
evaluate, stabilize, and
then set it up so that
hopefully we can do a soft
handoff, a thoughtful
handoff on the way out,
but we don't choose who
comes to see us and we
don't choose who gets
released at what time,
that just happens, so our
real solutions, as we'll
speak about, are you know,
prior to coming to us and
as they leave us in places
of incarceration.
Thank you.
Female Speaker: Okay.
Kicking it over to Dave.
David, can you talk to
us about how data really
comes into play in both
sort of highlighting the
problem and also
informing reforms?
Male Speaker:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Female Speaker:
(laughs)
Male Speaker: Thank you,
Rebecca, and also thanks
to the Center for
American Progress.
There's two Rebeccas on
this panel I realize.
Female Speaker:
Other Rebecca.
Male Speaker: Other
Rebecca, yeah, JEDI Rebecca.
Female Speaker:
(laughs)
Female Speaker: It's a --
it's a -- we refer to it
as a singularity.
Male Speaker:
Yeah, I like that.
Female Speaker:
(laughs)
Male Speaker: You know,
we actually have a team
here that works on this
that we call informally
JEDI, Justice Evidence
Data Innovation, so we're
glad to have everyone on
this panel part of
the team JEDI.
Female Speaker:
(laughs)
Male Speaker: We're here
at the White House these
last few weeks with
heavy hearts because of
unimaginable challenges
that we've been facing,
that the country has
been facing as a result,
families have been facing
in Dallas and Baton Rouge,
in Minnesota and so I say
this couldn't come at a
more appropriate time.
One police chief we've
gotten to know well who's
a leader on data, on open
data and on tackling these
problems is sheriff David
-- I'm sorry, police
chief David O.
Brown from Dallas.
Many of you have seen him,
he's been in the news
quite a bit lately.
He's someone that we
routinely invite to the
White House because he's
a leader on these issues:
implicit bias training,
crisis intervention
training for mental
health populations.
They have reduced uses of
force and complaints of
uses of force dramatically
and so here's someone who
is, you know, virtually
doing everything right.
He said something that I
think is very relevant to
this community.
He was quoted in the New
York Times talking about
the impossible demands
on police officers.
He says "Every societal
failure -- every societal
failure we put off onto
the cops to solve.
Not enough mental
health funding?
Let the cop handle it.
Not enough drug
addiction funding?
Let's give it to the cops.
If schools fail, and
including mental health
programs and disability
programs at schools, give
it to the cops.
Let's give it to the cops
to solve that as well."
Here's someone who's a
leader, who understands
these problems and that's
a call for help and I
think for the people in
this room it's also a
call to action.
You already know these
challenges, you're taking
them on, you understand
the deep connection
between disability and
mental health, policing
and incarceration and so
I will quickly share with
you one action that we're
undertaking, which is
called the Data-Driven
Justice Initiative, that
Valerie Jarrett announced
just two weeks ago, and is
a coalition of willing
communities, bipartisan,
nonpartisan communities
across the country,
states, and counties
primarily signed off on by
their chief executives.
So the goal of the
Data-Driven Justice
Initiative is primarily
to reduce unnecessary
incarceration in
the United States.
In particular it's focused
on the jail population
that sheriffs oversee and
that -- and that Peter is
a leader on.
So close to 12 million
people are in and out of
jail each year, that's
about 18 times the prison
population and Data-Driven
Justice Initiative is
about reducing unnecessary
incarceration by
delivering data-driven,
evidence-based solutions
focused on two populations
that are overrepresented
in U.S. jails.
Rebecca's report that just
came out today will show,
what, 39.9 percent of
folks in jail have some
significant disability,
huge portion of them of
course as the sheriff was
mentioning are mental
health disabilities,
mental health challenges.
So we are focused on
that population and also
another population that's
very relevant for this
community, which is folks
who are in jail pre-trial
and are in jail not
because they're a risk to
the community, not because
they're a risk to not show
up for a court date, but
because they don't have
the money to pay bail.
So our DOJ numbers are
that about 63 percent of
people in jail are in jail
pre-trial; a huge portion
of them are in jail
because they can't afford
to pay bail.
So we're focused on --
through DDJ communities
across the country are
committing to take up
evidence-based
practices to reduce the
incarceration of these
individuals where
incarceration is
unnecessary, as it -- as
it often is.
So in particular for the
mental health population,
communities are committing
to take steps to do two
things: one is link data
across systems to better
understand who the
high-need individuals and
super-utilizer individuals
are, linking data across the
(unintelligible)
of the criminal justice
system and the health or
mental health system so
that we can get out in
front of the problem.
We've seen when we are
able to link this data, we
are able to identify that
population and provide
alternative treatments
that prevent the rest in
the first place.
So we -- it's been
incredible to see that
Denver and Santa Clara
County, which includes San
Jose, the fourth largest
homeless population in the
United States, they've
linked this data and they
are able to not only
intervene in advance, but
they know in real time
whether the interventions
are working -- let's say
permanent, supportive
housing has provided to
the individual with a
mental health disability.
Frank may have been
getting arrested three
times a week and going to
the emergency room four
times a month and by
linking this data we
identify Frank, provide
him upfront solution, and
we also know if
it's working.
Does he stop
getting arrested?
Does he stop
going to jail?
I'm sorry, does he stop
going to the emergency room?
It's really incredible to
see the results and it is
in part through these
types of solutions
communities that are
doing this are seeing
precipitous declines in
their jail populations and
unnecessary incarceration
of this population.
The second thing that
we're asking communities
to do and communities
are committing to do is
pre-arrest diversion.
We shouldn't be using our
jail system as a way -- a
source of treatment for
people who are in mental
health crisis.
Sheriffs know this,
leaders know this, police
officers are not trained,
as David Brown -- Chief
Brown so eloquently put
it, are not trained to be
social workers typically,
but what they've done --
there's many examples, but
one thing they've done in
Miami, which is a DDJ
community, is they've
trained all their 9-1-1
dispatchers and their line
officers in crisis
intervention training.
They've done this for over
five years; over five
years they've had 50,000
9-1-1 calls or other calls
of service flagged as a
mental health challenge,
50,000; they've only
made 109 arrests; again,
precipitous drop.
They've created an
alternative facility other
than jail for this
population, basically
repurposing an emergency
room, providing better
supports and they have
drastically of course
reduced unnecessary
uses of force, reduced
unnecessary incarceration
and in the process they've
saved -- their estimate is
they're saving $12 million
a year by diverting folks
from jail, so we want more
communities to do that and
the communities in the
Data-Driven Justice
Initiative are committing
to do so.
The last component is
the folks who are
held pre-trial.
We know there are
evidence-based solutions,
risk-based assessment
tools where we can
determine is a person a
risk to the community
or themselves?
Is the person a risk to
not show up back for a
court date?
If not, all the evidence
suggests that communities
are safer, better, and
more stable if we let the
person go back
into the community.
As the sheriff was
mentioning, if this
population, many of which
have co-occurrence of
mental health challenges
or other disabilities, if
they have any connection
to work, they lose that
employment; they don't
have the kinds of jobs
where they can, you know,
be in jail for a few --
four or five days
and come back.
If they have family
responsibilities, they
lose those or they let
their family down and we
know it's not making
communities safer.
So communities are
committing to take up
evidence-based, risk-based
assessment tools so that
we can return folks
to community and not
over-incarcerate.
So that is the summary
of the president's
Data-Driven Justice
Initiative and we're
thrilled to have this
community here to build
awareness and I know that
Middlesex County, we have
not yet had the
opportunity, Sheriff, to
share that with you.
We're so thrilled with
this engaging with so many
sheriffs around the
country, so let's talk
about that.
Male Speaker: We're
actually speaking about
getting in touch with
you guys about that
(unintelligible)
-- Male Speaker:
That perfect.
Male Speaker: -- timing.
Male Speaker:
Excellent, great.
Thank you very much and
thanks to all of you for
coming and for all the
incredibly important work
that you do on behalf
of this population.
As the sheriff points out,
this too often doesn't get
the attention that it
deserves and merits.
Female Speaker: Dave, I
know you are -- you may
have to exit shortly so
we'll just really quickly,
if you guys could just
go down the line and
highlight one success or
one best practice that you
are seeing thus far in
your work as it relates to
criminal justice
reform and people
with disabilities.
Female Speaker: Do you
want to start
since (unintelligible) ?
Female Speaker: Do you
want to start since --
Male Speaker: I've got a
little time; I pushed back
the -- Male Speaker: So
I've got a hole punch I
can point to, but I don't
want to take up all the
time here, so I'm hoping
that there'll be more
questions after as I
can -- afterwards I can
address them as need be.
One of the main things
that I'd say that, you
know, we led the fight in
Massachusetts is the issue
of Medicaid and coverage
-- Female Speaker: This
1115
00:48:37,114 --> 00:48:36,947
is so important.
Male Speaker:
healthcare coverage, right?
This is really important
(unintelligible)
can speak about, you know,
pre-arrest and post-arrest
and pre-incarceration
and post-incarceration
solutions, I can do that
at some other point, but
one thing that we have
to remember is medical
coverage is really
important to a person's
stability and health in a
community, overall health
in a community and the
health of a community.
The president should be
lauded, you know, this ACA
expansion captures so many
more of those people that
are criminally justice
involved overall, it's
kind of like it was
meant for those that are
criminally
justice involved.
It's based -- you know,
there's a single, based
upon income levels --
just for instance
our uninsurance
rate, which I know would
be the -- is the envy of
the nation overall is
about two to three
percent, but the
incarcerated -- the
correction -- the
criminal justice involved
population is about 26
percent that we see coming
into our place, so you can
a need, a stark need right
there in a population, if
you can address them, that
you can really
bring that down.
It's really important
especially when you
consider addressing issues
of addiction and mental
health services.
This is a term I call -- I
don't know if I -- I don't
-- I didn't copy it from
anyone, but someone else
might be using it, but
call -- I call it "medical
recidivism" because if
you can get people on
healthcare, especially
with mental health and
substance abuse
counseling, a Washington
State study found that
they were 33 percent less
likely to recidivate.
So as we get people on and
what we've started doing
in Massachusetts --
there's like 20 some odd
states that still aren't
expansion states, but we
began the suspension
versus termination, so
when they come in, the
theory as we're trying to
integrate, to get the
system up and running, the
systems are really hard to
get up to date as quickly
as the great ideas that
we have -- is that we can
actually -- when they used
to come in, they'd come
into our jail and they'd
be terminated from
Medicaid, shut off
completely, no file, just
stop and then when they
get out, they'd have to go
sign back up again, which
most people wouldn't do.
It would take too long,
the sophistication was
difficult --
Female Speaker: Yeah.
Male Speaker: -- so what
we did, we actually now
sign them up -- the theory
is as we do this, is that
we sign them up when they
come in for Medicaid, we
then immediately suspend
them, which we can do, and
then as they're either
having an inpatient stay
at a hospital that can be
very expensive for us or
they're actually then
stepping out, we activate
them again.
That way they have the
seamless coverage and this
continuity of coverage is
crucially important to
people's wellbeing,
especially within the
people with
disabilities community.
Female Speaker: Great.
Shrila?
Female Speaker: In ter
of reform in the carceral
setting, I definitely want
to put a plug in for the
amazing work of the
National PNA Networks, in
particular the work
of Disability Rights Washington.
You'll hear from Rachel a
little bit later today,
but they've done amazing
work in terms of
partnering and pressuring
at the same time
departments of corrections
to really improve their
treatment of persons with
disabilities and in terms
of reforms that we've seen
work, where a state system
has an ADA coordinator,
someone that's aware of
the ADA, knows the law,
can conduct trainings, can
insure that they have a
seat at the table when it
comes to determining the
appropriate -- along with
the prisoner of course --
the appropriate reasonable
accommodation, we've
found that those systems
actually tend to
accommodate better and
another thing that we also
see is a very important
addition to, you know,
cultural sensitivity
trainings or things on
that order is really
understanding that the ADA
requires individualized
consideration and in many
cases that might not fit
with, you know, the
security models of
corrections institutions
there to control and command.
So we've found that there
are corrections systems
that have very enlightened
views of how to work with
persons with disabilities
and they've been
successful ensuring equal
access to programming and
services and other
activities under the ADA,
so there's certainly some
success stories out there
and I think that's really
the result of many
partnerships with folks
in this room and other
disability rights
organizations working with
these departments.
Female Speaker: Thank
you --
Female Speaker: Rebecca.
Female Speaker:
-- other Rebecca.
Female Speaker: (laughs)
(talking simultaneously)
Female Speaker:
You turned me off.
I had it, I got this now.
Male Speaker: (unintelligible)
really, really low-tech.
Female Speaker: Okay.
Male Speaker: (laughs) (unintelligible)
Female Speaker: Well,
you're -- it's a good
thing you're not
in charge of data.
Female Speaker: Okay.
Male Speaker: (unintelligible)
(laughs)
Female Speaker:
Oh, wait, you are.
Female Speaker: (laughs)
Female Speaker: (laughs)
We're friends now.
So I think we're having a
conversation today about
the criminal justice
system and about criminal
justice reform, but I
think it needs to be said
that first and foremost
we need to invest in
community-based
services, right?
We've heard -- we've heard
and we've discussed the
long history of
disinvestment in those
services and the
inextricable link that
that has to the
overrepresentation of
people with disabilities
in jails and prisons, but
we can't lose sight of the
fact that that investment
on the front end, before
we're even talking about
the criminal justice
system, has to be step one
of what we need to be
working together to do.
That's going to range from
outpatient treatment to
peer support, case
management, supportive
housing, mobile
crisis teams.
There are a lot of proven
and cost-effective tools
that prevent entry into
the criminal justice
system before it happens
and I will put a plug in,
as we are having a
criminal justice reform
conversation in states and
cities across this country
in addition to in
Washington, states and
cities are going to be
seeing savings from those
reforms because they're
going to be seeing reduced
incarceration and what I
would propose and what CAP
(spelled phonetically)
has come out strongly in
favor of, along with other
partners in this room, is
reinvesting those cost
savings from reduced
incarceration into the
community-based prevention
services that will keep
people out of jails and
prisons in the first place.
Now continuing in
a discussion about
community, I think another
point that has to be made
is that while training is
absolutely critical at
every point in the system
and for all personnel in
the system, training can
only be one part of a much
larger agenda.
We need to be very careful
not to check the box and
say oh, we're done here,
we've done that training now.
The training is critical
and crisis intervention
teams are a piece of that
incredibly successful
model, but what we -- what
we need to be doing is
considering that to be
a first step and a very
important first step
that's part of a larger agenda.
Disability needs to be a
lens that's applied across
every aspect of the system
and every aspect of
reform, so while we're
working together with
law-enforcement, with
partners across the system
and across the aisle to
build a fair and equitable
justice system, we need
to be thinking about
disability as a core
component of that reform.
Male Speaker:
That's great.
Now I know how this works.
So I think that's
a terrific point.
I'll quickly -- I want to
follow up on what Rebecca
said and share
-- Rebecca Cochly
(spelled phonetically)
asked for some highlights,
so I think one terrific
story is the example of
Charlotte and Mecklenburg,
North Carolina, that
used a data-based risk
assessment tool to
identify low risk people
in jail, often folks with
disability and mental
health challenge; so
they've identified this
population using a
risk-based assessment tool
that is data-driven and
found ways to release them
safely back into
the community.
As a result they've
enabled to release
significantly more low, no
risk individuals and today
their total -- just since
2014 they started doing
this -- their total jail
population has dropped by
40 percent.
So Rebecca was talking
about -- savings alone, I
mean at that point it's
significant not to mention
the impact, positive
impact comparatively that
you're having on this
person's -- these folks'
lives and there's been
no increase in reported crime.
Kentucky has done a
similar intervention
statewide and they've
seen a reduction in
misdemeanors since they've
increased the release of
this population because
folks' lives are more
stable, so that's
really meaningful.
The other example, I was
mentioning Miami; one stat
that I didn't mention that
is a result -- so you've
got these risk-based
assessment tools to
release folks pre-trial
and then we also have
these pre-arrest diversion
tools such that people
don't come into jail
in the first place.
Miami's jail population --
as a result of diversion
tool usage, their jail
population which was the
eighth largest in the
country dropped from 7,800
to 4,400 so it was a big
source of their savings there.
Imagine if a community
does both of these
solutions and what
the impact can be, in
particular the positive
impact on a population
with disability, but it
all does come back to
community-based solutions.
We have an initiative
within DDJ -- we talk
about diverting people
from jail, this
sub-initiative is called
"divert to what?"
We need evidence-based
and proven solutions.
I visited with the former
sheriff of Denver, the
Denver jail a couple of
weeks ago and we also
visited a supportive
housing program for folks
with mental disability
where they're diverting
folks too and this is
where it gets to the savings.
One of the challenges is
that there are upfront
costs associated with
delivering these
interventions that drive
savings on the back end,
so one of the solutions
that we really like and
that actually Center For
American Progress has been
a sort of foundational
thought leader in is pay
for success, the notion
of government, multiple
agencies who could be
health and a criminal
justice agency or a
sheriff's department can
say "We will pay for
positive outcomes once
those positive outcomes
are achieved," and then
what they can do, rather
than paying for services
upfront, first of all we
know we're getting to
outcomes, which is great,
and once the outcomes are
achieved the sheriff's
department and the mental
health division and the
health division which have
realized savings can take
a portion of that savings
and pay for the
intervention in the rears
and impact investors or
others often provide that
upfront funding.
So that's what Denver has
done, that's what Santa
Clara has done, Boston
has done this to address
over-incarceration of the
mental health population
in particular, so we've
very enthusiastic about that.
The last thing that I
would say and I might have
to go somewhere along
here, but all of you are
from communities.
Data-Driven Justice
Initiative that the
president and we announced
very recently is a
place-based solution; it's
about community-based
leaders committing to
take action on proven solutions.
There is a list online,
www.whitehouse.gov/datadri
venjustice, you can see
every one; it's actually a
top link right now on
the White House website.
If your community is
not already a member of
Data-Driven Justice we
hope that you will ask
them to consider joining
and taking a part.
Also many of you have
national platforms and we
hope that you will
encourage communities
around the country to look
at data-driven justice as
a solution to help deal
with challenges that they
want -- that they want
to solve with respect to
disability and
incarceration.
This is a community of
practice that connects
them with resources,
philanthropic and
technological and
otherwise, so would be
very happy to link, either
through CAP or others, for
ways of encouraging
communities to join
this initiative.
NAMI, the coalition for
support of -- Corporation
for Supportive Housing and
many others are backbone
partners to this
initiative and we welcome
your engagement as well.
Female Speaker: Okay.
Just to wrap things up
because I know we don't --
we went over so we don't
have time for questions.
I think one of the key
things that you said,
David, that's sticking
with me is the "divert to what?"
You know, I think we know
and I think we've all
talked about it to some
extent, that the issue of
mass incarceration as it
relates to all people, but
especially tied to people
with disabilities, is an
issue of poverty, is
an issue of lack of
accessible and affordable
housing, access to
healthcare as we
heard
Sheriff K
talk about, transportation
which wasn't mentioned,
which we know is a key
issue when it comes to
people with disabilities
accessing jobs, accessing
services, access to food.
I mean I was with a
colleague recently and we
ended up in this
real long, in depth
conversation about food
deserts and someone at the
table was like "Well,
why don't folks move?"
and it was like
"Because they're poor."
Male Speaker: Yeah.
(laughter)
Female Speaker: And I
think this conversation is
an ignorant conversation
if we don't talk about it
within the context of
poverty, looking at the
lens of racism, classism,
audism, homophobia,
etcetera, you know, and
this is a conversation
that I would really
encourage all my
colleagues in the room, in
the disability community,
you guys can't -- we
just can't have this
conversation
with ourselves.
We've been having this
conversation quietly with
ourselves for a really
long time, now we need to
have it loud and out
with colleagues from the
broader civil rights
community and I want to
give a special shout out
to colleagues from the
Civil Rights Coalition on
the police reform that are
here, Reverend Yearwood
and the Hip Hop Caucus
that are here and have
been to the table with us
repeatedly as we continue
to talk about issues of
the disability community
and criminal justice reform.
I'd like to thank all of
our panelists and thank
Maria for pulling together
this fabulous event and we
will usher ourselves off
the stage so Maria can key
up the next speaker.
Thank you so much.
(applause)
