Helping Inmates To Reintegrate Into Society and Poetry by J. Kahn

Jason Miles joins host Craig Lubow to discuss programs to help inmates readjust while in prison and post-release. Jason is a board member for Reaching Out From Within.

Reaching Out From Within (ROFW) was established in 1982 in Kansas as an incarcerated-led program that empowers residents to transform themselves and heal each other.

ROFW is a national leader in rehabilitation programs for incarcerated individuals, and utilizes factual based concepts, welcoming volunteers and incarcerated men and women of all clerical and belief systems. ROFW’s rehabilitation program offers an opportunity for a “whole person” transformation for incarcerated individuals who want to make lasting changes in their behavior in order to become a role model for nonviolence, while still incarcerated, and becoming contributing members upon their return to our communities. The prison residents do this through leading their own meetings, helping each other transform, and healing each other.

We’ll play our calendar at the midpoint of the hour.

Also, host Margot Patterson speaks with J. Kahn, Kansas City Area Physician and Poet.  He has a published book of poetry:

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/speech-in-an-age-of-certainty-by-j-khan/

​Readers of Speech in an Age of Certainty by J. Khan might want seatbelts for the high-speed chase of his intense poems. He writes sometimes about life as a Midwesterner of South Asian descent, which is a complicated diaspora that includes London and rural Missouri. His poems are stories and songs of resistance—and not to be missed.

–Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007-09

Speech in an Age of Certainty is a colorful collection of timely pieces by J. Khan that tackles police brutality, identity, history of our sins and finding balance.  Khan offers reflective, lyrical poems that question one’s place in the world.  A lovely collection that captures the voices of many who are silenced.

Calendar for the week of May 16th:

• The Kansas City Chapter of Missouri Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants has a monthly virtual meeting. MO CURE advocates for the human rights of prisoners in Missouri prisons and jails as well as those who have returned to society.   For info call Keith Brown El at 816-377-2873.
• WED, May 18^th, 9 AM, Kansas Clergy Caucus is a virtual event hosted by More². Please register at https://more2.org/calendar/
• WED, May 18th, 10:30 AM, MO-604 Continuum of Care HIV Education & Awareness Workshop, online, register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mo-604-continuum-of-care-hiv-education-awareness-workshop-tickets-322665981637?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
• FRI, May 20th, 11 AM, Empower Missouri’s Criminal Justice Coalition is online. Access at https://empowermissouri.org/
• SUN, May 22^nd, 10 AM, online or in person, All Souls Forum features Spencer Graves’ presentation of the “Social Construction of Crime and What We Can Do About It”. Major media everywhere shape our understanding of everything including crime.  In the early 1800s the US had more newspapers per capita than any other place or time.  Today, we face major problems with political polarization.  Graves discusses research and recommendations by Robert McChesney for improvement of the press.

• A list of services, meals, and hot lines are available at https://lawrenceprogressivecalendar.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all our listeners, stay close to your dial and stay well!

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