Well, my name is Mansa Musa, and I’m founder and director of FLIP with stands for Financial Literacy for Incarcerated People. And, um, essentially what our program is about is we want to curtail the recidivism rate by teaching financial literacy and to develop strategic investment planning for people who are reentering society.
And I think that what is really important for people to understand is that the clause in the Thirteenth Amendment that has been that was ratified is basically fan that slavery was abolished unless a crime is committed. And so when we look at these communities of color who are living on the margins of society, crime becomes an appealing thing when they have been circumscribed and they have been deprived the ability to enter free enterprise and access to capital markets and pursue higher education and upward economic mobility.
And so that’s what this program is about. And it’s- I’m actually currently incarcerated. It’s started at RJ Donovan, and we’re just really preaching the gospel of being financially literate and in ways to generate income legally without engaging in criminality- in illicit behavior that will ultimately lead back to re-offending.
And so I think where we’re at at in this time in society with this technological revolution is that artificial intelligence are starting to replace manual labor. And so people who will be hired in the future, we’re happy to have some sort of technological know-how. And so I think that self-employment is a sustainable alternative, because when people have felonies, they are overwhelmingly discriminated against in employment, in the job industry, housing-wise. And it really just presents a nefarious reality when our people are reentering back into society.
And so this is what this organization is addressing, society issues, economic, political, and social issues, and I think that if we can work together in a comprehensive effort, we can actually tackle the mass incarceration rate, which is disproportionately populated by people of color. For example, everyone knows that African-Americans make up about 13% of the country’s population, but over half of the people incarcerated are African-American.
And so really understanding the disparity that exists inherent inside of our society, I think that that will give us a better footing to be able to combat and effectively fight mass incarceration.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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