Crime

Faith-based groups need to do more to help ex-offenders with second chances

THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES — The faith-based community must speak with one voice in creating second chances for people released from prison.

Published

6 years ago

March 1, 2019

Oakland Post

By Ameera Steward

The faith-based community must speak with one voice in creating second chances for people released from prison, a group of panelists said during a discussion this month at the Church at Brook Hills.

Jessica Haney looks on as Kenneth Tyrone King speaks during the program. (Ameera Steward Photos, The Birmingham Times)

[/media-credit] Jessica Haney looks on as Kenneth Tyrone King speaks during the program.

The Prison Fellowship and Offender Alumni Association of Alabama hosted the event, “Unlocking Second Chances” and talked about the significance of second chances and the role played by faith-based institutions.

Panelists were Kenneth Tyrone King, public relations director, Offender Alumni Association; Pastor Keith Stanley, founder of WorkFaith Birmingham; and Jessica Haney, author and Celebrate Recovery Ministry leader and CrossFit coach which recently became involved with Unlocking Second Chances. The panel was moderated by Brent Leatherwood, director of strategic partnerships, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

It’s powerful when people speak with one voice, Haney said.

“It shows love, it shows unity…when the whole church, meaning the body of Christ all over, if they would do and be who they say they are, we wouldn’t be having the struggle to begin with,” she said. “If you really think about it, we’re powerful, we have the power to combat this whole issue [of formerly incarcerated people not getting second chances] if we would all get on the same page and do the things that we’re called to do.”

She added that [the church]has the means to make such a difference if we (would be unified, if . . . “quit being afraid to be uncomfortable, get out there, [and] get messy.”

“Full-time” Life Of Drugs

Haney told part of her story and said her mother worked a lot and her dad had an addiction and with no supervision she started making bad choices, doing drugs and got married twice before she turned 17 and “lived a full time life of drug addiction.”

[/media-credit] Jessica Hanley

She was incarcerated several times for drugs beginning at 17. “I was junkie. I lived like a junkie, talked like a junkie, acted like a junkie.” That was the way it would always be, she was told.. “That was what was fed to me my years of trying to get help, that I’m always going to have this disease, that I’m always going to struggle…’you’re always going to have to deal with this, you’re never going to get over it, you’re never going to find freedom from it’ and I used that for a crutch my whole life to say well nobody expects anything any different out of me.”

While she was in jail at Ottawa County she went through the Substance Abuse Prevention Program (SAP) “and I was ready for real help and real change, and I met the Lord and people say ‘jail house religion,’ I don’t care what you call it, all I know is it was freedom for me. It was where my chains were broke, it was where I found what could truly sustain me because I had exhausted every other avenue possible. I tried everything else…and nothing worked until I found a true relationship with God.”

Early on in her recovery, Haney said she “messed up.” Her husband couldn’t reach her, so he called a neighbor, who happened to be the deacon of the church.

She said the deacon walked into her house, “looks at my mess, gets me up, makes me a pot of coffee and she talks to me.”

“She don’t talk to me about my mess, she don’t even mention the obvious chaos that’s visible to see. She tells me about her mess…and I thought this lady was perfect….I wanted to be her when I grew up. She was perfect in my eyes, but she let me know that ‘hey I’m not perfect either, I struggle in a different area. This is the area I struggle in,’” said Haney.

That one conversation changed her life and let her know, “I can do this too,” she said. Haney concluded by going back to a statement she felt needed to be reiterated, “we need to be real and we need to love people.”

“Love For One Another”

Stanley said it’s important for the church to speak with one voice.

He said Jesus taught about our love for one another “. . . we can display that love together for one another and those formerly incarcerated or those that are struggling with addictions …when we can come together as one voice . . . we display…the power of the gospel in a way that the world takes notice,” he said.

Pastor Keith Stanley, founder of WorkFaith Birmingham. (Ameera Steward Photos, The Birmingham Times)

[/media-credit] Pastor Keith Stanley, founder of WorkFaith Birmingham.

The church needs to set the example, Stanley said.

“I think the people who are not believers often look at us and wonder if that Christianity is real why there is so much division in different church buildings,” he said. “And so when we lead those church buildings together we show love for one another, we care for brothers and sisters who have come to faith and Christ.”

King said, “ministry is involving, it’s intentional, it’s Jesus…breaking down barriers of culture, breaking down barriers of sexism . . . We’ve got to be intentional and we all speak with one voice whether it’s in Sylacauga, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa or Montgomery.”

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

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Activism

Group Takes First Steps to Recall District Attorney Diana Becton

The group, called “Recall Diana Becton,” says they have lost faith in her prosecution decisions and her lack of transparency. On their social media post, they say: “We the victims of crime, their families, local business owners and employees, as well as residents of Contra Costa County, have reached our limit and are initiating the recall of District Attorney Diana Becton,” the notice states. “We are increasingly concerned about the persistent cycle of unaddressed criminal activity. We are frustrated by her continuous empty promises to victims and their families that justice will prevail while she permits criminals to roam free.” Becton, 73, is a former judge who was appointed district attorney in 2017 by the Board of Supervisors and then won election in 2018 and again in 2022.

Published

8 hours ago

March 24, 2025

Oakland Post

Diana Becton has served at the Contra Costa County District Attorney since 2017. Richmond Standard photo.

By Post Staff

After gathering more than 100 verified signatures, a group led by crime victims delivered a ‘notice of intent’ to the offices of Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton seeking her recall.

The group, called “Recall Diana Becton,” says they have lost faith in her prosecution decisions and her lack of transparency.

On their social media post, they say:

“We the victims of crime, their families, local business owners and employees, as well as residents of Contra Costa County, have reached our limit and are initiating the recall of District Attorney Diana Becton,” the notice states.

“We are increasingly concerned about the persistent cycle of unaddressed criminal activity. We are frustrated by her continuous empty promises to victims and their families that justice will prevail while she permits criminals to roam free.”

Becton, 73, is a former judge who was appointed district attorney in 2017 by the Board of Supervisors and then won election in 2018 and again in 2022.

Becton has seven days to respond. According to the East Bay Times, her office spokesperson said her “answer will be her public comment.”

After Becton responds, according to the Contra Costa County Elections Office, Recall Diana Becton must then finalize the petition language and gather signatures of a minimum of 10% of registered voters (72,000) in 160 days before it can go on the ballot for election.

She is the third Bay Area district attorney whose constituents wanted them removed from office. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was removed from office in 2021 and last year, Pamela Price lost her position in a recall election.

Of the top 10 proponents of Becton’s recall, three are the families of Alexis Gabe, Thomas Arellano, and Damond Lazenby Jr.

In each of those cases, the families say Becton failed to pursue prosecution, allowed a plea deal instead of a trial in a slaying and questioned the coroner’s report in a fatal car crash.

Some political science experts suggest that, in the Bay Area there may be a bit of copycat syndrome going on.

In many states, recalls are not permitted at all, but in California, not only are they permitted but the ability to put one into motion is easy.

“Only 10% of registered voters in a district are needed just to start the process of getting the effort onto the ballot,” Garrick Percival, a political science professor told the East Bay Times. “It makes it easy to make the attempt.”

But according to their website, the Recall Diana Becton group express their loss of faith in the prosecutor.

“Her lack of transparency regarding crime in this county, and her attempts to keep her offenders out of jail have left us disheartened,” the recall group wrote.

Petitioners say they are acting not just for themselves but other crime victims “who feel ignored, exasperated and hopeless in their pursuit of justice for themselves or their loved ones.”

KRON TV, The East Bay Times, and Wikipedia are the sources for this report.