THE FORTUNE NEWS - The Fortune Society

THE FORTUNE NEWSA FORTUNE SOCIETY PUBLICATION ·VOLUME XLIV NO.1 ·JANUARY 2013“THE DEGREE OF CIVILIZATION IN A SOCIETY CAN BE JUDGED BY ENTERING ITS PRISONS” —DOSTOEVSKIwww.fortunesociety.org The Fortune News 1

Table of ContentsOur MissionEye on FortuneFaces of FortuneNews from the DRCPP and The Word in ReformIntroducing The Fortune Society's Better Living CenterOn the Record - Notes from our Founder, David RothenbergCenter Stage“Suffering in Solitary", by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella of Solitary WatchThe Last WordIn the Next Issue113457891010Our MisssionEye on FortuneThe Fortune Society's mission is to support successfulreentry from prison and promote alternatives toincarceration, thus strengthening the fabric ofour communities.WE DO THIS BY :Believing in the power of individuals to change;Building lives through service programs shapedby the needs and experience of our clients; andChanging lives through education and advocacyto promote the creation of a fair, humane and trulyrehabilitative correctional system.YOUNG PHILANTHROPISTS RAISEOVER $69,000 AT THE FORTUNESOCIETY'S SECOND ANNUAL SPRINGSOIREECONTACT212.691.7554info@fortunesociety.org.The Fortune Society29-76 Northern BoulevardLong Island City, NY 11101To learn more, please visit usat www.fortunesociety.orgcontact us by phone or email, , orsimply stop by our Long IslandCity location!Walk-in hours: Monday throughFriday, 8:00AM–4:00PM.On May 16th, 2012, hundreds of youngphilanthropists came together at TrumpSoho in Manhattan in support of TheFortune Society at the Second AnnualSpring Soiree. Hosted by The FortuneSociety Board's Junior Committee, TheLeadership Foundation and youngphilanthropists Luke Weil and LouiseTabbiner, the event raised more than$69,000 to support services that helpFortune's clients successfully re-entertheir communities after serving time inprisons and jail.1 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

Eye on Fortune (cont.)"We are thrilled that we were able totop last year's results," said Luke Weil,co-chair of the event. "It is gratifying tosee that our generation can make adifference," Weil added.The Spring Soiree event included a 30-minute set by Grammy-nominatedsinger-songwriter John Forte,accompanied by a five-piece band. Atone point, Ben Taylor, themusician/actor son of James Taylor andCarly Simon, joined Forte and his band.Renowned artist DJ Layela (formerMiss Colombia) also performed.CHEF MARCUS SAMUELSSON COOKSUP INTEREST IN HEALTHY EATINGAT THE FORTUNE SOCIETY'S CASTLEGARDENSOn May 17th 2012, MarcusSamuelsson, owner of the Red RoosterHarlem and Ginny's Supper Club,stopped by The Fortune Society'sCastle Gardens to discuss theimportance of healthy eating andprovide cooking tips to Fortune clientsand community members. Theprogram was a part of Fortune'songoing efforts to promotehealthy living."It does make a difference what weeat," said Samuelsson, who doescooking demonstrations once a monththroughout Harlem as a way to givesomething back to the community.Samuelsson provided practical tips forincorporating healthy eating. Forexample, he told the group that eatingfoods such as fried chicken is okay, buthe encouraged eating it with a saladrather than a side of macaroniand cheese.He showed the group how to prepare asalad that is crisp and full of texture. Healso cautioned them against drowningthe salad in dressing before it was timeto serve. These small adjustments canmake a significant nutritionaldifference. JoAnne Page, president andCEO of the Fortune Society, wasimpressed by the reaction Samuelssonreceived from the group. “He gotpeople excited about salad,” she said.“What more could you ask?”THE FORTUNE SOCIETY CELEBRATES10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEFORTUNE ACADEMYOn June 18th, 2012, more than onehundred members of New York City'sphilanthropic, government, businessand Broadway communities joined TheFortune Society to celebrate the 10thanniversary of The Fortune Academy(also known as the Castle), a WestHarlem supportive housing programthat, over the last decade, has providedcritical services to more than 1,000formerly incarcerated men and womenwho were homeless when they came toFortune. Former New Jersey GovernorJames McGreevey and award-winningactresses Linda Lavin and Nilaja Sunwere on-hand and served as event cochairs.Fortune transformed the Castle from aformerly abandoned drug den into aplace of hope in 2002. Today, the Castleis a 62-bed residential housing facilityfor people who have served time andare homeless. Staff members are onhand 24 hours a day and provide abroad array of support services to helpresidents address the multiplechallenges that confront them. Everyresident also participates in FortuneSociety programs to assist them intheir successful transition back to thecommunity. Programs includeeducation, career developmentand counseling.While the project was initially met withresistance from the community, in theensuing decade, it has been embracedby the neighborhood and serves as animportant community anchorand resource.In fact, the success of the Castle pavedthe path for Fortune's newestsupportive housing project, CastleGardens, a “green” permanent housingand service facility opened in 2010 thatprovides affordable housing andservices to formerly incarceratedindividuals and low-income families.“Ten years ago, against all the odds,Fortune opened the doors to the Castle.It has become a place of hope wheremore than 1,000 deserving men andwomen have found a true secondchance and most importantly, a place tocall home,” said JoAnne Page, CEO andPresident of the Fortune Society.“Finding a home is one of the first andmost important steps towardrebuilding lives, and Castle residentshave demonstrated that with strongsupport and resources, they canbecome contributing membersof society.”The Fortune community of staff, friends, and partners came together this June to celebrate two incredible milestones–the birthday of our founder, David Rothenberg (4th from left, above), and the 10 year anniversary of "The Castle".2 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

Faces of FortuneAurora Tompar-Tiu, MDBLC PsychiatristEugene KingFortune Society ClientErika KocherGroup FacilitatorPhoto: Larry BercowAs a practicing psychiatrist I havealways used the bio psychosocialmodel in understanding psychiatricdisorders and when treating patients. Ifirmly believe that in treating thesepatients, they are not only treated fortheir mental illness but they are alsohelped as a total person in the contextof their experience and culture.When I started working with thepatients at the Better Living Center(BLC), I was happy to see fathers showup who were “missing in action” whileincarcerated. I used to feel angry atthese parents who abandoned theirchildren due to their criminal activitieswithout knowing their stories. Now, Ihear their stories, what happened tothem when they were children, howthey were abused and abandoned bytheir own parents and at times left tolive in the streets. The anger I had feltwas turned into a desire to understandtheir journey from incarceration toreturning to their community. Some ofthem had suffered so much abuse whilein jail and now wanted the chance toreunite with, and to rebuild, theirfamilies.The work in the BLC is very challengingand the road to recovery is long. One ofmy patients, who was incarcerated formore than 20 years, realized theimportance of his mental healthtreatment at the BLC and shared withme these few lines, “I travel the roadless travelled and that has made all thedifference.”The Better Living Center (BLC)'sholistic treatment model facilitates aseamless transition for mentally illindividuals being released fromincarceration by providing thesupportive environment and therapythey need to manage their mentalillness, while also making progresstowards achieving their other reentrygoals. But does it work? “Yes,” saysEugene, Fortune client and BLCparticipant. “My life has never been sofull of purpose and peace.”Peace is new to Eugene, who witnessedextreme violence as an African-American child growing up in 1950sGeorgia. “The cops would sic dogs onpeople and beat them,” he grimaces,recalling the disturbing childhoodexperiences that led to his developingboth Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) and depression. As it turnedout, these traumatic experiences alsolaid the foundation for a legacy ofanger and addiction that has landedEugene in prison more than a fewtimes.Eugene will tell you that he stillremembers the moment he firstunderstood the connection betweenhis anger and his childhood trauma.“I was in therapy one day, when Isuddenly realized that I've always lostmy temper when I was being abused,”he recalls. “But now I've learned howto be mindful. I've learned restraint.”“I'm so focused, and so appreciativethat The Fortune Society now has amental health component, because Iknow that what has happened in mylife can happen for others,” Eugenesmiles. “This is a new life. I don't takeDuring my senior year of high school Iwas given the opportunity to pursuemy interest in the criminal justicesystem by taking part in New Visions:Law and Government, a program thatallows students to shadow law andgovernment professionals. Followingthat I devoted my undergraduatestudies to psychology and sociology.When I entered graduate school, Iknew I was ready to focus on the fieldof forensic psychology and counseling.As part of my graduate program, I wasrequired to complete a six hundredhour externship. I chose to extern atThe Fortune Society because not onlydoes it offer an array of services to itsclients, but it also gives them a secondchance. I was placed in The BetterLiving Center, which allowed me to putthe knowledge of counseling I gained inschool to practical use.I cannot describe how fulfilling it wasto work with individuals on a weeklybasis and see the impact that we wereable to have. However, I feel that theimpact that those individuals had onmy life was far greater than my impacton theirs.I have now moved on to a new phase inmy life and I am happy to say thatFortune is still part of my experience. Inow work in Group Services as afacilitator and continue to learn fromthe staff and clients alike. I lookforward to working here in the monthsand years ahead.3 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

The halls of The Fortune Society arealways busy with the hum of activity asclients and staff work together on avariety of activities. However, found inone corner is a calm and welcominghaven – The Better Living Center.Here individuals who were formerlyincarcerated or involved in the criminaljustice system (including thoseenrolled in Fortune's Alternatives toIncarceration programs), are able tofind help in coping with mental healthissues. These greatly needed servicesare now being made available toanyone who is formerly incarcerated orcurrently in the criminal justice system.The Better Living Center opened onJuly 1st of 2011, becoming the firstfacility of its kind. As Patricia Brown,LCSW, Assistant Commissioner, Officeof Forensic Behavioral Health Servicesat DOHMH said regarding the Center'sopening, “We are thrilled as thisbecomes the only agency in New YorkCity to exclusively target thepopulation of formerly incarceratedindividuals.” Currently, The BetterLiving Center is staffed with apsychiatrist, social workers, a nurseand a clinic director.Mental health clinics often have longwaiting lists. Further, other barriersprevent individuals with criminaljustice involvement from accessingmental health services. These barriersinclude the need for culturalcompetence, facility policies againstworking with people suffering fromsubstance abuse or undiagnosedmental health problems, cultural stigmato seeking mental health treatment anda lack of health insurance.Perhaps most significantly, “People atother types of facilities don'tunderstand the particular needs of thepopulation served by The FortuneSociety,” points out Damien Cabezas,former Vice President of ProgramServices.JoAnne Page, The Fortune Society'spresident, further explains that havingsuch services available at The FortuneSociety helps to immediately overcomethe stigma and other forms ofresistance individuals sometimes feel toseeking help with mental health issues.“The mental health clinic becomes justpart of the array of re-entry servicesoffered,” says Ms. Page. “It's a softreferral in a place where peoplealready feel safe and it means thatyou're able to get people into mentalhealth services.”The Better Living Center may haveofficially opened its doors in July 2011,but the real work began several yearsbefore. Starting in 2008, Fortuneconducted focus groups with clientsand staff about the need for mentalhealth services. After meeting with thestaff it became clear that culturallycompetent mental health services wereneeded. Further, during focus groupswith Fortune Society clients manyexpressed feelings of depression,anxiety and trauma associated withhaving been incarcerated.Not only was Fortune seeing the needfirst hand, but statistics confirm thatroughly 15% of people who areincarcerated have serious mentalillness, with many more encounteringemotional and mental health issuesduring the reentry process.5 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

Fortune's New On-Site Mental Wellness ClinicThe lack of proper treatment andplanning for incarcerated individualswith mental health disorders increasesthe barriers to successful reentry intothe community. Individuals withmental health disorders and on paroleor probation are twice as likely aspeople without mental illness to havetheir community supervision revoked.Fortune's board and CEO werecommitted to filling this void. Thispassion, coupled with the FortuneSociety’s grant writing team andsupport from other executives,eventually resulted in a $200,000 grantfrom the Jacob and Valeria LangelothFoundation. In addition, we alsoreceived $50,000 in funding for theBLC from the vanAmeringenFoundation, whose President, HenryvanAmeringen, is a long-time personaldonor to Fortune and a friend of DavidRothenberg. Lastly, the DavidRockefeller Fund – which has providedpast support for Fortune's baselineservices and policy/advocacy work –invested $30,000 in the BLC in its firstyear of operation.These grants provided start-up fundingfor the clinic to support a full-timepsychiatrist and social workers, as wellas covering the cost of an evaluationprogram to determine future directionsfor the clinic. In addition, recognizingthat the need goes far beyond the NewYork City population being served byThe Fortune Society, the grant includesthe development of a model programthat organizations in other areas canuse to launch a mental health programof their own.The Center is already serving over 100individuals, and has the capacity toserve 550 in three years. To date all ofthose benefitting from these servicesare current clients that have beenreferred to the Better Living Center byFortune Society counselors or otherstaff members. In the future, externalreferrals may come from Riker's, theNew York State Office of Mental Health,and from different courts, governmentagencies, nonprofit providers, andmedical centers. “Until this Centeropened there was really nowhere forthe judicial system to refer individualsfor treatment,” Mr. Cabazas explained.CLIIENT TESTIIMONIIALCLIIENT TESTIIMONIIAL“I’ll always remember the ‘light bulb’ moment when I first understood theconnection between my anger issues and the trauma I experienced as a child. It waslike suddenly I had the power – not my past; not my anger. My therapy sessions atthe Better Living Center have since become so interesting and rewarding for methat I really look forward to going each week. I guess I finally realized that I needthat outlet. I need to sit down with someone who will not only listen, they’llunderstand what I’m going through and point me in the right direction.Abraham Lincoln said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’sthe life in your years.” Well, I may not have that many years left, but the life Ilive now is full of purpose and peace. I’m so focused, and so appreciative thatFortune now offers mental health services. This is my life, and I’ll never take it forgranted again.”-Eugene T. King, Fortune Client and BLC ParticipantThe Better Living Center (BLC) wasnamed in accordance with Fortune'svision – that by receiving culturallycompetent mental health services byhighly skilled staff, clients will be livingbetter and will be better able to copewith mental illness or with otheremotional issues they may beexperiencing as a result of having beenin the criminal justice system.LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BLC:We encourage you to come by andmeet with one of our dedicated BLCclinical staff members. Walk-in"screening" hours are from 9:00am-7:00pm Monday throughWednesday, 9:00am-8:00pmThursdays and 9:00am-5pm Fridays.We ask that you come early in theday if possible, so that we cantake the time to understand andbegin addressing your needs.To Schedule An Appointment:Please call 212-691-7554 ext 370,and ask for Jazzi Zzaman, BLCAdministrative Assistant. We lookforward to speaking to you soon!6 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

On the Record–Notes from our Founder, David RothenbergIn the late 1960's, when The FortuneSociety was in its infancy, Eddie Morriswalked through our doors. He wasfresh out of prison, nearly 40 years old,with more than 25 years of juvenileand adult institutional life. He had thescars, mental and physical, from toomany years in a cage. He was lookingfor a new life, but he was fighting toovercome his past. One day, he joined agroup of us driving to a speakingengagement in Westchester County.As we motored through the parks andpastures, I commented on the sceneryand the serenity it conveyed. Eddieturned to me and recited a verse ofbeautiful poetry. He was the last manin the world you would suspect ofquoting a poet. I asked him whosewords he was recalling.“Lord Byron,” he said.I inquired, “Do you know other poets?”He made it clear, “only Lord Byron.” Hetold me that when he was about 17,doing time in Caxsackie, he was throwninto solitary for six months. He had acot, a sink, a toilet and a shower once aweek. And for some inexplicablereason, there was one book in his cell,“The Complete Works of Lord Byron.”I'll never forget the expression on hisface when he told me, “Lord Byronsaved my sanity. No teenager shouldever be confined like that. Lord Byron'spoems brought beauty into mydungeon. That's what kept me going.”That was the first of hundreds ofstories I would hear about “the hole.” InJohn Herbert's prison drama, “Fortuneand Men's Eyes,” an inmate tells a newfish, “You ain't done hard time kid untilthey throw you into solitary. You eat,crap, jerk and flop, all in a six by six.It's real cozy if you don't go haywire inthe first month. A couple of goonssmashed their own heads on the brickwall, wide open like eggs. Theyfiggered they was better off in ahospital than locked in a cage.” Sincehearing Eddie's story, I have visitedhundreds of prisons around thecountry and I always ask about seeingsolitary. I've talked with men insolitary at Danemora and Rikers Islandin New York, Trenton in New Jerseyand at the state prisons in Delawareand New Mexico. It was as if thebowels of the Earth had opened up. Iwas witness to men in the mostinhuman conditions conceivable.The question I always asked was, “howmany men in solitary will be releasedfrom prison someday and how willthey be able to function in society aftersuch dehumanizing conditions?” Thatis a question to which prisonauthorities are never able to provide aresponse.Sadly, the answer is frequentlyreported in the news, which gliblyannounces that an inexplicable violentact was committed by a formerlyincarcerated person. Rarely does areporter dig deep into the story. Theprison system is never heldaccountable for its acceleration ofviolence and uncharted rage. Quitesimply, our collective form of severepunishment is a contributing factor tocrime in America. The high recidivistrate is a measure of the prison's failure.Solitary confinement is the prisonsystem's admission that it is incapableof reclaiming lives. They send back tosociety an army of angry, broken menand women.The prison system will only be able tore-conceptualize when it no longer is amoney making operation. At a politicallevel, prisons are maintained to keepjobs in isolated areas. But alternativeemployment can be created. Thebarrier to change is the great profitsmade by corporations which contractwith prisons, and feed the pockets ofcampaigning office holders.Eddie Morris never went back toprison. We stayed in touch for about adecade, as he struggled to find a placefor himself. A few years ago he calledme from a hospital, where he was in hisfinal days. He never had a life thatcould be called self fulfilling. Butwhenever I see a poem by Lord Byron, Iam thankful that he gave that troubledboy some beauty and insight.JUST RELEASED!"Fortune in My Eyes: A Memoir ofBroadway Glamour, Social Justice,and Political Passion" – a newbook by David RothenbergDavid Rothenberg founded TheFortune Society in 1967 afterproducing "Fortune and Men's Eyes," acontroversial play about the horrors ofthe prison system, with his life savings.You can get the full story in his newbook, available for purchase throughThe Fortune Society ($29.99 + S&H,$15 + S&H for incarceratedindividuals).To order David's book today, simplysend a letter with your name, address,and the number of copies you'd like toorder–along with a check payable toThe Fortune Society–to the addresslisted below:The Fortune Society? Fortune in My Eyes Order29-76 Northern BoulevardLong Island City, NY 111017 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

Center StageIn 1961, at the age of 19, WilbertRideau was convicted of murder by anall-white, all-male jury, after killing abank teller in the aftermath of abotched robbery. Ten years later, hisdeath sentence was commuted tolife in the Louisiana State Penitentiaryat Angola. Rideau became editorof the Angolite, and was instrumentalin transforming it into the bestprison publication in the country,publishing exposes on prisonviolence, segregation, and sexualslavery. (For an example of his work,read ”Why Prisons Don’t Work,”published by Time in 1994.) Hewon journalism awards, published abook called Life Sentences, andcollaborated on a film about Angola,The Farm. He was finally retried,convicted of manslaughter, andreleased on time served in 2005, after44 years in prison.Rideau’s story is receiving renewedattention because of his 2010memoir, In the Place of Justice: A Storyof Punishment and Deliverance. Theexcerpt that’s been made public by thepublisher is a powerful chapter called“Solitary.” Rideau spent more thanthree years in solitary confinement, aswell as eight more in a one-man cellon death row. What follows is a smallsample from Rideau’s compellingmemoir.Excerpt above written by JamesRidgeway and Jean Casella ofwww.solitarywatch.com.SEND US YOURCREATIVE WORKS TODAY!Learn how on page 10.This is my reality. Solitude. Four walls, graygreen, drab, and foreboding. Three of steel and one of bars,held together by 358 rivets. Seven feet wide, nine feet long. About the size of an average bathroom or—and my mind leaps at this— the size of four tombs, only taller. I, the living dead, have need of a fewessentials that the physically dead no longer require— commode, shower, face bowl, bunk. A sleazy oldmattress, worn to thinness. On the floor in a corner, a cardboard box that contains all my worldlypossessions—a writing tablet, a pen, and two changes of underwear. The mattress, the box, and I are theonly things not bolted down, except the cockroaches that come and go from the drain in the floor andscurry around in the shower. This is my life, every minute of the year. I’m buried alive. But I’m the onlyperson for whom that fact has meaning, who feels it, so it’s immaterial…One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . turn. One . . . two . . . three . . . It’s not right to make a man live likethis, alone. But I can take it. I can whip this motherfucker. I am stronger than anything they can do to me.The more they do, the stronger they make me. I actually smile. Haven’t I endured and risen above anexperience that would crush most men?One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . turn. Yeah, I’ve seen men broken, destroyed by solitary. Some havecome to fear every shadow. Others have committed suicide. Some men would do anything to escape thiscell. Some feigned insanity so they could go to a mental institution. Even more cut themselves, over andover, until the Man, fearing a suicide on his watch, moved them out of solitary. Others stayed doped up,whenever they could get the dope. Engaging in such tricks, though, is beneath my dignity; it’s unmanly. Iam stronger than the punishment. The only way to beat it, to rise above it, is to regard the punishment asa challenge and see my ability to endure it while others cannot as a victory. Whenever another man fallsunder the pressure, it’s a triumph for me. Callous, some would call me. A man falls, broken, insane, ordead, and I feel nothing except triumph. But this is no place for pity— not for the next man, nor formyself. It would break me. The hard truth about solitary is that each man must struggle andsuffer alone.”8 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

Suffering in SolitaryPRISON ISOLATION CELLS HOLDTHOUSANDS OF INMATES WITHMENTAL ILLNESSBy James Ridgeway and Jean Casella,Co-Directors of Solitary WatchA 2003 report from Human RightsWatch found that, based on availabledata from states throughout thecountry, one-third to one-half ofprisoners held in “secure housingunits” (SHUs), and “specialmanagement units” (SMUs) sufferedfrom mental illness. Since the totalpopulation of inmates in solitaryconfinement is thought to number75,000 or more, tens of thousands ofprisoners with mental illness may be inisolation on any given day.The Human Rights Watch reportconcluded that “persons with mentalillness often have difficulty complyingwith strict prison rules, particularlywhen there is scant assistance to helpthem manage their disorders….eventually accumulating substantialhistories of disciplinary infractions;they land for prolonged periods indisciplinary or administrativesegregation.” In other words, they areplaced in solitary precisely becausethey display the symptoms ofuntreated mental illness. Given thatisolation has been shown to causesevere psychological trauma inprisoners without underlyingpsychiatric conditions, it would bedifficult to imagine a more damagingplace to incarcerate the mentally ill.At the all-solitary Colorado StatePenitentiary, Troy Anderson has spentthe last 10 years in isolation, neverseeing the sun or the surroundingmountains. Anderson has beendiagnosed with ADHD, bipolardisorder, intermittent explosivedisorder, anti-social personalitydisorder, cognitive disorders, a seizuredisorder and poly-substancedependence, and he has attemptedsuicide many times, starting at the ageof 10. His mental health treatment inprison has consisted largely ofintermittent and inappropriatemedications and scant therapy, most ofit conducted through a slot in his solidsteel cell door. By Colorado's ownestimate, 37 per cent of the prisonersin its isolation units are mentally ill.In 2006, 21-year-old Timothy Soudersdied of heat exhaustion anddehydration at a Jackson, MI prisonduring an August heat wave. For thefour days prior to his death, Soudershad been shackled to a cement slab insolitary confinement because he hadbeen acting up. That entire period wascaptured on surveillance videotapes,which according to news reportsclearly showed his mental and physicaldeterioration. His suffering may havebeen further exacerbated by antipsychoticdrugs, which raise the bodytemperature and cause dehydration.Terry Kupers, a professor at the WrightInstitute in Berkley and a nationallyrecognized expert on the psychologicaleffects of solitary confinement, testifiedin a Wisconsin case “confinement ofprisoners suffering from seriousmental illnesses, or who are prone toserious mental illness or suicide, is anextreme hazard to their mental healthand wellbeing.” A California judge put itsomewhat differently: In a caseconcerning Pelican Bay State Prison, hesaid that placing prisoners with mentalillness in solitary confinement was “themental equivalent of putting anasthmatic in a place with little air.”Research indicates that even forprisoners without underlying mentalillness, long-term solitary confinementcan alter neural and thereforepsychological states. One study foundthat those in solitary developedpsychopathologies at higher rates thanthose in the general population (28percent vs. 15 percent). WilbertRideau, a renowned prison journalist(and now a free man), describes in hisrecent memoir In the Place of Justicethe "bone-cold loneliness" of life insolitary confinement on Angola's deathrow--“removed from family or anythingresembling a friend, and just beingthere, with no purpose or meaning tomy life, cramped in a cage smaller thanan American bathroom. Deprivation ofboth physical exercise and meaningfulsocial interaction were so severe...thatsome men went mad while othersfeigned lunacy in order to gettransferred to the hospital for thecriminally insane."In recent years, lawsuits and grassrootsmovements in Illinois, Maine, NewYork, and elsewhere have spurredpolicies or legislation limiting the useof solitary confinement on prisonerswith serious mental illness. In NewYork, for example, such inmates aresupposed to be moved to specialresidential mental health units, or atleast spend several hours a day outsideof their isolation cells receivingtreatment. These changes represent animportant step toward more humanetreatment of mentally ill prisoners. Yeteven in these states, the diagnosisprocess is highly fallible, and the needfor alternatives to solitary far outstripsthe available resources. Until a majorshift in thinking and policymakingtakes place, there will continue to seethousands of inmates with mentalillness suffering in solitary.Solitary Watch is a public website aimedat bringing the widespread use ofsolitary confinement and other forms oftorture in U.S. prisons out of theshadows and into the light of the publicsquare. Solitary Watch's mission is toprovide the public—as well aspracticing attorneys, legal scholars, lawenforcement and corrections officers,policymakers, educators, advocates, andprisoners—with the first centralizedsource of background research,unfolding news, and original reportingon solitary confinement in the UnitedStates. Learn more today by visitingwww.solitarywatch.com.9 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

IN THE NEXT ISSUEQUESTION FOR OUR READERS:in the next issueVOTERDISENFRANCHISEMENTA 2012 election retrospective, coming outSummer 2013.What criminal justice and reentry issues doyou believe President Obama should focus onin 2013, and why?Send your answers to the address listed below fora chance to be featured in our next issue!FORTUNE NEWS SUBMISSIONSPlease send articles, responses, letters to theeditor, creative works, or other submissions tothe following address to be considered forpublication in a future issue of theFortune News.Fortune News Submissionsc/o The Fortune Society29-76 Northern BoulevardLong Island City, NY 11101For more information, please contact The FortuneSociety at 212-691-7554 or info@fortunesociety.org.(May 31, 2012 -New York, NY) – Members of the New York Alternatives to Incarceration Reentry Coalition, including The Fortune Society, were joined by elected officialsand hundreds of alternatives to incarceration (ATI) supporters in a rally to urge City, State and Federal leaders to increase funding and save ATI programs across New YorkState. On the steps of City Hall in Manhattan participants held signs and voiced their support for vital ATI and reentry programs that play an integral role in the City’soverall effort to reduce crime.10 The Fortune News www.fortunesociety.org

The Fortune Society29-76 Northern BoulevardLong Island City, NY 11101YOU’RE INVITED!Join Fortune’s social mediacommunity for all the latestnews, media, policy andadvocacy updates, and more!You can visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,and Flickr to see recent pictures, connect withother members of the Fortune family, readarticles and watch videos about Fortune, answerquestions about criminal justice on “both sides ofthe bars”, and comment on blog posts such thosewritten by our founder David Rothenberg.Check out our blog at:www.fortunesociety.org/blogFind us on Facebook:www.facebook.com/fortunesocietyThe Fortune News is FREEto all incarcerated men andwomen. To subscribe, pleasefill out the information below andsend to:Fortune News Subscriptionsc/o The Fortune Society29-76 Northern Blvd.Long Island City, NY 11101SUBSCRIPTION FORMFull Name:ID Number:Correctional Facility:Follow us on Twitter:www.twitter.com/thefortunesocEnjoy our pics on Flickr:http://www.?ickr.com/photos/fortunesociety/Address:City:State/Zip Code:Please check one:Renewal/Transfer orNew SubscriptionSubcriptions must be renewed once a year and/or when youare transferred. Please allow four to six weeks for processingof your subscription request, and keep in mind that the FortuneNews is produced twice per year only.