By David Cruz
Correspondent
There was star power at today’s second Prisoner Reentry Conference, highlighted by former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and former Newark Mayor and Sen. Sharpe James. In sometimes harrowing detail, these well-known ex-offenders told of the effects of incarceration even on high profile inmates like them.
“Prison is hell; don’t let nobody tell you different about that,” said James. “It’s dehumanizing individuals. And their job in prison is to make you less than a man or a woman. That’s what they’re there for.”
Kerik agreed, saying there is no un-ringing the bell, once you’re convicted of a crime. “Today, you can pay that debt and think it’s behind you,” he said. “I promise you; it never goes away. It’s never behind you, ever. You live with it until the day you die.”
Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who, along with Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, hosted today’s conference, said it’s increasingly difficult to keep poor, undereducated young men and women out of prison when so many forces are armed against them.
“If 70 percent of the people behind bars are addicts and/or alcoholics, and they don’t receive any treatment while they’re behind bars, then we’re not doing ourselves justice,” McGreevey said. “We’re doing a disservice not only to the addict/inmate but to society.”
McGreevey says Martin’s Place in Jersey City, a resource center for ex-offenders that opened last year with much fanfare, is a model that other states should follow, with drug treatment, education and employment assistance provided to those looking for a way back. Fulop says in his city, about 2,000 former inmates come back from prison every year, posing a challenge and an opportunity.
“People would often say, ‘Why are you spending so much resources on criminals when you should be spending it on people who haven’t committed crimes? And it’s only 2,000 people.’ The response to that is that these 2,000 people have a disproportionately large impact on the broader community and if you don’t help these 2,000 people it impacts everybody,” Fulop said.
The former champ, whose troubled life was the subject of an award-winning one-man show, and countless news stories, recalled, in sometimes harsh detail, his life in prison and the dangers of the system’s status quo.
“Once you’re in there, they’re gonna put the whammy on you. Once you’re in there, everything’s gonna change,” Tyson said. “You have to prevent from going there. Once you’re in there; it’s almost a wrap. Some guys may become more articulate, more didactic, read books and they’re very articulate with their words, but they have their demons in there working. They have their demons and it’s really hard to release those demons when you’re in that place.”
Tyson and James and Kerik are a-typical. They had resources upon their reentry. Today was about the struggle to help those who don’t have those resources find a way back into society.
WATCH THE FULL VERSION OF MIKE TYSON’S REMARKS: