On The Outs | OC/AD
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- On The Outs: Reentry for Inmates with Disabilities is a short documentary produced by the Amplifying Voices of Inmates with Disabilities (AVID) Prison Project. On The Outs follows three inmates with various disabilities, including vision impairment, brain injury, and mental illness, through the stages of the reentry process. The film is intended to raise awareness about people with disabilities in prison, inspire communication about much-needed reentry reform, and encourage collaborative relationships among inmates, prison systems, advocates, and other interested stakeholders to address this issue.
"On the Outs" produced by Rooted in Rights
[NARRATOR]: AVID Prison Project - Amplifying Voices of Inmates with Disabilities
Eldorado
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A young man sits in a shaded area of a park. He wears glasses and has two braids that fall beneath his shoulders.
ELDORADO: My name is Eldorado Fleetwood Cadillac Brown.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Eldorado existing a white van in handcuffs.
(ELDORADO): Today we are in the East Central side of Spokane, in Liberty Park, celebrating my release! Celebrating the day that I did nine years plus in prison, and today's my first day out.
[NARRATOR]: Kara
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Fencing and razor wire guard a prison campus.
A corrections officer talks to Kara, a woman with long gray hair standing in front of a prison cell.
DOC STAFF: This is what's gonna happen, Miss Moser.
KARA: What about my meds and the medical equipment I was promised?
DOC STAFF: We're gonna have the officer go through the process with you.
KARA: Okay.
DOC STAFF: You can ask him that question, okay?
KARA: Okay, thank you.
(DOC STAFF): Yeah.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara ways goodbye to inmates offscreen.
(INMATES): Bye Kara! Nice to meet you!
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone
[Intercoms broadcasting in background]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Tyrone, a tall man with broad shoulders, who uses a white cane as he pushes through a doorway.
TYRONE: From what I understand, they're gonna give me a bus ticket, they're gonna give me a housing voucher, and they gonna give me the phone card, and um, I'll be taken to Pasco, Washington. And from Pasco, I'll board a bus that'll take me to Seattle...
[NARRATOR]: On the Outs - ReEntry for Inmates with Disabilities
Eldorado 26 Days Before Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Spools of razor wire line the perimeter of Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Washington.
Eldorado speaks from a holding cell.
[chirping birds]
ELDORADO: Today is a lock-down day, so that means I'll be stuck inside of a cell about as big as the room that I'm in now, maybe a little bigger 'cause of the bed, for the whole day without being able to come out or shower or use the phone or anything like that. It's like solitary confinement, basically. They don't understand that placing me in the hole exacerbates my mental illness to a whole different degree.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A professional woman types in an office.
ANNA: My name is Anna Guy, and I'm a staff attorney with Disability Rights Washington, on the AVID Prison Project, which stands for Amplifying Voices of Inmates with Disabilities.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shots of Anna and the AVID prison team monitoring various prisons.
ANNA: We set out to determine whether or not there were barriers to reentry specific to people with disabilities, and Eldorado Brown is one of the three people that we followed through the reentry process. Most prisoners face reentry at some point, once they've completed their prison sentence, and knowing that reentry is difficult for everyone, the AVID Prison Project felt that it was likely that it was more difficult for people with disabilities, just due to some of the challenges that people with disabilities face with respect to getting accommodations, and accessing the services they might need.
[NARRATOR]: Kara 12 Days Before Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara is interviewed from inside a holding cell at Washington Corrections Center for Women.
(INTERVIEWER): Let's start real easy. Can you tell me your name and where we are today?
KARA: Kara Moser, and I'm at WCCW. I had neurosurgery because I had avian brain tumors, and once I got out, a doctor gave me an MRI and I was diagnosed with bilateral hip surgery. I've had my hip replaced here. So I was in the hospital for, I don't even know how long, 'cause the people that are around, weren't-- those people that were around me then, aren't around me now.
[Kara cries]
KARA: I'm sorry, nobody's really talked to me, like, ever cared about really what's going on, you know?
ANNA: Kara has-- reported to have a number of disabilities, and I think that it was challenging for Kara. I think she had a lot of hard time in prison.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Kara walking down a hallway in prison, with some difficulty.
ANNA: I think that it's hard for people who don't have experience with people with disabilities to be compassionate and be patient, and really see the underlying issue, and not just address the immediate emotion that's being expressed.
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone 103 Days Before Release
TYRONE: My name is Tyrone Gathings and we're in Coyote Ridge Correctional Facility, which is located in Connell, Washington. I have a vision disability. I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, RP. I was diagnosed with this back in 1979. I do have some vision, but my vision has gradually been taken away. When I first got here to Coyote Ridge it was a challenge for me. I used to go in the other units because I would get lost, you know, I mean I would go inside other peoples' cells because I would get lost. I spend a lot of my time in my cell because it's really hard, especially for somebody with a vision disability.
ELDORADO: You know, me not being able to see my daughter, or me not being able to communicate with family, friends, or loved ones as I once did, it created a sense of severe depression that led me to find a release. I needed to find a release.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Eldorado's scarred wrist with several fresh cuts.
ELDORADO: Doctors say that I suffer from nonsuicidal self-injury, NSSI, and that means that I like to cut on myself without the thought of suicide, and I engage in self-harm without the intentions of actually dying.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Eldorado's other wrist, also covered in scars and several new wounds.
ELDORADO: A lot of people in this situation feel like they have no voice, they feel like they have nobody that would actually understand them, whether you're incarcerated or you're in segregation.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A metal door labeled with the word 'segregation' slides open.
KARA: In here I'm locked down 23 hours, but they consider it for my safety, because if you have any kind of suicidal background, which I do, I have five suicide attempts, right... and um, yeah, I've gone through it.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The interviewer asks Kara if she receives counseling for her suicide attempts.
(INTERVIEWER): Did, do they give you counseling for the suicide?
KARA: No, uh uh. I never thought of that. I mean, prison is, like, not that hands-on, I mean this is punishment.
ANNA: We talk about prison as being this-- it's for punishment, but also there's an expectation that people are being rehabilitated. And the prison has some responsibility over the services the person receives, both in the prison and making those connections out in the community, to make sure that they're successful, and they get the tools they need to find jobs and housing, and be productive members and safe members of our community.
TYRONE: No one's here has really done anything to help me get something in concrete as far as my transition back out into the community. They haven't decided where they want to send me. They don't know if they're gonna send me to Cowlitz County, Pierce County, or King County.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Tyrone walking through a prison hallway as inmates move aside, making way for him and his white cane.
TYRONE: And I'm real familiarized with the Pierce County area and the King County area. I know my way around, I use the bus service there, I know not only my mental health doctors but my normal physical doctors, you know, I know where their office is, I know how to ride the bus, the public bus service and get there. I don't know anything about that in Cowlitz County.
ANNA: When inmates release, generally the Department requires-- it's a requirement that inmates release to their county of origin, which is where they committed their first offense. That's sort of the first hurdle that people have to get through, is figuring out what they have to support them in that county of origin.
ELDORADO: I have 62 criminal charges out of Spokane County, before I was 21. I was involved in a lot of street life activity, a lot of negativity, a lot of the drug game, a lot of gangs. I asked them to change out of Spokane County to Snohomish County, to be able to better adjust. My mom died, my dad's dead. There's nothing in Spokane but family members that smoke crack cocaine.
ANNA: One of the other elements of reentry is setting up the supports and services that a person needs once they're on the outside, so that they can be successful, and that's where work release really could come into play.
KARA: Work release is when you go and you-- it's still considered a prison facility, and you're able to go work but you report back in.
And you know, you're theirs, right, for while you're there. And then you're able to save up a little bit of money. They take a percentage. I asked to go to work release. In my county it's Radcliff, and I did-- I've only been there once, but I did really well there. And they said, "No".
TYRONE: Everybody who I arrived here with on the chain bus, they're all employed, all of 'em. If I had my ability to do things as a normal person would, I would've been to work release. If I was at work release right now, I would be-- I would be going over to the vocational rehab center for the blind, I would reconnect with the various resources I have out there. That little buffer before the streets, that really helps. They sent my information in and the work releases have denied me. You know, I'm kind of like in a bad situation right now.
ELDORADO: I made it 22 days last time so, I mean, 30 days would be better. You know, if I can make it 30 days this time, I think that that'll be a goal.
ANNA: That's not what we want people's reentry success to be. That's not what we're striving for.
[NARRATOR]: Kara Day of Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A banner on the prison wall that reads, "re-entry starts here."
(DOC STAFF): Good morning. We have the camera crew here.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara speaks from behind her closed cell door.
KARA (muffled): Look, I still, I still haven't gotten my meds...
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara's cell door opens.
(cell door clanks open)
KARA: I still haven't gotten my meds from--
[Kara snaps her fingers]
KARA: medical. You're here really early. I'm leaving, I've been nervous about that because I was supposed to leave on 3/16, and that didn't happen. So today's 4/9, I'm supposed to be being released, and that-- I explained my parole officer is coming. I don't-- they won't tell you who she is, or he, or what office they're with. I am headed to Kent, Washington, to this Aahaa clean and sober place. I wanted to live in North Seattle, where's my hospital, my physical therapy, I've had none here.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara changes from her prison uniform into plain clothes.
(DOC STAFF): Are you all changed?
KARA: Well it looks like it... this is as good as it gets.
(DOC STAFF): So do you have some shoes that you're gonna be wearing?
KARA: These-- oh shoot!
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara has forgotten to change out of her prison-issued shoes.
KARA: I feel really overwhelmed, like, I know-- I hate using that word, it's, like, so overkill, I haven't been free in over 24-- it's 24 months for this whole time.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara sorts through scattered belongings in her cell.
[NARRATOR]: Eldorado 12 Days Before Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna on the telephone.
ANNA: Hi Eldorado. So, is it okay if we-- if I put you on speaker and we record?
(ELDORADO): Right now, they have me in, like, total confinement. I'm in a place that is worse than IMU or worse than max custody. They're not allowing me to have anything. They're not allowing me to contact anybody that I need to contact to prepare for the streets, and I'm supposed to be in general population. I said I can go anywhere. Send me to the West Complex, send me to the South Complex, send me to the East Complex, you could send me to the BAR units, or you can send me to protective custody unit. I'm twelve days away from going home. Send me anywhere you want to in general population, because I need to adjust back to society, and I need to be able to be around people.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna speaks to camera.
ANNA: The records indicate that DOC did try to move him back to the BAR unit, but Eldorado was indicating that he would self-harm if he was moved back to the BAR unit. But I think it's worth noting that he was just days away from his reentry, and that there had been a lot of changes that took place in the days leading up to his reentry, he was transferred across the state to a different facility, his county of origin exception requests were denied, you know, he was lined up to be living at one place, and that fell through kind of at the last minute. I think what you're hearing is panic. He's been in for a decade, and he's getting out in twelve days.
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone 9 Days Before Release
TYRONE: There's a delay in my release plan. I was wanting to return back to the home where I left prior to coming in here. And right now it's under construction. I'm aware of that, and I don't see myself being hurt there or anything, you know, I know what's going on. However the probation people when they went out there they'd been out there three maybe four times now, and each time they go out there they have another excuse as to why I can't go there. The last reason they said because there was no toilet tissue dispenser. Since that time, I've spoken with my counselor, a good guy, Mr. Harmon, he placed me into this program, it's called the Housing Voucher Program, I was attempting to try to get somewhere in the area that which I know, which is North Seattle. Unfortunately, there was nothing available in that area, so he submitted me for West Seattle, and it's a two bedroom house. I don't know how I'm gonna get the keys, or get inside, and things of that nature, but there's only gonna be two people residing there, myself and this other person who I don't know who that person is yet.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara in the process of being released from prison.
KARA: I need the stuff, my hygiene, I have no hygiene to take home with me.
(clanking metal)
KARA: I literally have nothing to go home with. Thanks.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara waits in the prison hallway.
KARA: I'm still gettin' kind of burnt because of the conditions of my release. Like, I'm not able to go live where I want to, like, you have to be told where you're gonna live, and I don't know how long I have to live there. So, I don't know how long I'm gonna go with no money. No money. The 40 dollar gate thing, I gotta get ID, I don't have food stamps, none of the stuff has been prepared. There's no pre-release plan here, or nobody knows about if it exists or not. So, even thought I've been trying to work on this since you guys sent me the paperwork six months ago, nothing's happened. Even though I filled out DSHS paperwork three different times, nothing's happened. It's a miracle to me that anybody does get released.
ANNA: I think at the very least I expected inmates, the folks in our video, to... have a more clear understanding of what was happening, even if it wasn't what they wanted, or it wasn't happening in the time frame that they wanted it to happen in, or it wasn't the housing facility that they wanted to go to, or it wasn't the county that they wanted to go to, even if everything was sort of at odds, I expected them to know that. And what they were telling me was that they didn't know that, and that they weren't getting answers, or that the answers were that the staff they were asking didn't know, or they were getting conflicting information, and if nothing else, that's problematic.
[NARRATOR]: Eldorado 3 Days Before Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna listens to Eldorado from over the speakerphone in her office.
ELDORADO: I am currently in a isolated mental health... whatever they call this area of the hospital that I'm in, and I haven't seen anybody or talked to anybody or heard anything about anything about my release. I don't even know where I'm going or anything. They haven't contacted me, they haven't told me anything. I don't really see who is available or who-- what the plan is.
ANNA: Okay.
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone Day of Release
TYRONE: I'm just really excited about this day, finally making it.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Tyrone waits in prison common area.
[Tyrone sighs]
TYRONE: I'm gonna see if I can find somebody to help me get to a bus stop where I can go to the house. Yeah. Either there, or... I want to go to the Social Security office so I can get my benefits reactivated.
ANNA: We know that, you know, people who have disabilities are often on public assistance of some kind, or government benefits, Social Security benefits, and that's another factor that we were thinking about when we were thinking about reentry, was whether people were getting connected to those benefits before they were released.
TYRONE: I got a lot of worries now, you know. Once I get my bearings down, I'll be able to hopefully get around without any assistance. But I think it's gonna be okay. I got patience, and I know the Lord is with me too you know, right beside me, got my back and everything, so I feel confident that I'm gonna get this thing completed.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara talks to prison employees.
(DOC STAFF): Would you like a cane or a walker?
KARA: They're gonna give me a cane or a walker, I have to choose between one.
(DOC STAFF): What's been most helpful for you, a walker or a cane?
KARA: Yeah, the walker, except when I get to stairs then I have to... carry it up.
(DOC STAFF): That's what I'm trying to say. If you're going up and down the steps, a walker isn't going to...
KARA: I don't, I've never seen this house, I have no idea...
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara moves to a clerical office.
(DOC STAFF): Good morning, Miss Moser. Come on over.
[background conversation]
DOC STAFF: Okay, so I'm gonna have you sign there for me. That's your Social Security Card.
KARA: And I can't go home for now 32 months. On probation.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara prepares to have her ID photo taken.
(DOC STAFF): Okay Miss Moser, go ahead and turn and look out the window. Full body.
KARA: Oh, sorry, yeah.
(DOC STAFF): It's okay. Take your time.
[Kara exhales and inhales deeply]
(DOC STAFF): Deep breaths.
KARA (crying): I know, I just...
(DOC STAFF): It's okay. It's okay. Take a slow deep breath for me, Miss Moser, okay?
KARA: I'm so afraid of you guys, I mean, I'm gonna be on DOC for 32 months, I'm really scared I'm gonna do something wrong, and...
(DOC STAFF): Okay, Miss Moser, come over here for me, okay? Come up here.
[NARRATOR]: Eldorado Day of Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado sits in the shaded area of a park.
ELDORADO: I didn't have any idea what was gonna transpire today, all I knew was that I was leaving.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Eldorado moving boxes into an apartment building.
ELDORADO: They said I'm signed up for Obamacare. Then they gave me a bus pass, then they gave me an apartment. So, I gotta buy a bed?
(MAN): That's what I'm trying to tell you. You're gonna need some stuff!
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The interviewer asks Eldorado if he knew about the apartment prior to his release.
(INTERVIEWER): Can you talk a little bit more about the apartment... so, you didn't know about that ahead of time?
ELDORADO: Nah, I found out when you found out. I didn't find out anything. They told me when they told you.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A corrections officer talks to Tyrone prior to his release.
(DOC STAFF): Here's your new ID.
TYRONE: Okay. Does it have sight impaired on here?
(DOC STAFF): No.
TYRONE: 'Cause on my ID it had sight impaired
(DOC STAFF): Here's your $40 gate money.
TYRONE: All right.
(DOC STAFF): Okay, here is a check for $20.50.
TYRONE: Okay.
(DOC STAFF): Here is your bank statement, with your account closed out.
TYRONE: All right.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Tyrone walks through two doors before entering outside and boarding a bus.
(DOC STAFF): Okay, and then you ready?
TYRONE: I'm ready.
(DOC STAFF): All right! Let's go!
TYRONE: I was ready last week...
DOC STAFF: Now there's no turning back.
TYRONE: Yeah, no doubt.
[DOC staff laughs]
TYRONE: I'd like to go to Seattle, sir.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara is handed a cane by a prison official.
DOC STAFF: Here you go Miss Moser.
[Kara gasps]
KARA: Ah, okay, well, it's not a walker, but--
DOC STAFF: That'll do.
KARA: Uh, they said they'd give me a walker, sir.
DOC STAFF: I thought you wanted-- do you want a walker instead?
(DOC STAFF): I'm gonna talk to you about that.
KARA: Okay.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara moves through a door and walks towards the main exit of the prison.
(DOC STAFF): This is Miss Moser, she's releasing.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A professional woman is buzzed in through the gate and walks towards Kara.
[electric buzzing]
[faint conversation overheard]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The woman stops her just as she is about to leave the prison.
KARA: This is my Dr. Colter, it's amazing!
DR. COLTER: You know you have an appointment, with Harborview?
KARA: No, nobody told me. Harborview!? You mean UW?
DR. COLTER: Well, UW.
KARA: Okay. No, thank you.
DR. COLTER: Well I need-- Do you have an address you can give me? And I'll mail you the information.
KARA: It's a whole bunch of numbers on 121st Street-- Avenue Southeast.
DR. COLTER: So you don't know the address?
KARA: Not without-- I had brain surgery, I can't remember anything.
DR. COLTER: Okay. All right, well we'll try to get it for you.
KARA: Okay, thank you.
DR. COLTER: I'm sorry I didn't get that to you before today. All right, good luck.
KARA: Yeah, it's soon I hope, thank you.
DR. COLTER: Take care!
ANNA: As Kara is leaving, she runs into a medical provider who says something to the effect of, "Oh, did you know about this appointment that we have scheduled for you," or, "we have an appointment scheduled for you." So, if she hadn't run into that person, in that moment, that appointment was lost.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara stands motionless outside the prison fence as the gate closes behind her.
[clanking metal fence]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Kara climbing into the backseat of a car and being driven away.
Kara looking out the car window.
(BUS DRIVER): We're going over to Spokane today--
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Tyrone resting on a bus.
(BUS DRIVER): Then it's in to Seattle, due to arrive in Seattle pretty close to on time, right about 12:40 or 12:45.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado from inside a car.
[Eldorado laughs]
ELDORADO: What time is it?
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna, from the front seat.
(ANNA): It's almost noon, 11:54. What would you be doing right now, if you weren't with us, if you were at Walla Walla?
ELDORADO: Oh man. Probably kicking on my door. Yelling at the police. Having a mental health breakdown. No, if I was at Walla Walla right now, I'd probably be eating lunch.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna and Eldorado at a fast-food restaurant called Zip's Hamburgers.
(ELDORADO): The double-bacon cheeseburger combo. What are you guys gettin'? For here. Every single time I've been in this neighborhood, or every time that I've been in this store, I've always been doing a deal, or I've always been doing something negative.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado pulls a bacon cheeseburger from its wrapper.
ELDORADO: All this way, from prison-- Ooh! They got the bacon sticking out of the thing! Yeah, man. Well! Nine years gone!
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: He smiles as he takes the first bite of his burger.
[Eldorado laughs]
ELDORADO: It's crazy 'cause I haven't ran into nobody that knows me yet, which is good.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A Greyhound bus arrives at a station.
[street noise]
[honking horn]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Tyrone exits the bus with a small cardboard box in one hand and his white cane in the other.
TYRONE: And so I'm gonna drop this off over at the bonding company and walk the rest of the way over to the, to the Federal Building. Then, I'm gonna try to get over to the department of health and social services, and see if maybe I can get me some assistance, some food stamps and things of that nature.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A city bus approaches. Tyrone boards and is driven away.
[ringing bell]
[squeaking brakes]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara exits a car in front of a house in a rural neighborhood.
KARA: I'm Kara.
(WOMAN): Hi!
KARA: And we're going by, and I'm like going, "Oh! I really like that girl's outfit," 'Cause like, having clothes-- Listen these-- this is Disability Rights, because I went through some stuff.
(WOMAN): Oh, that's okay. Anthony's the manager, he's coming out here in a second.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara enters the house and speaks to Anthony, the house manager.
KARA: Hi, you look familiar to me.
(ANTHONY): Probably seen me in the movies.
[Anthony and Kara laugh]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The corrections officer speaks with Kara.
OFFICER: Your room's back there, we put all your property up there.
KARA: Yeah?
OFFICER: It's all on your bed.
KARA: Nice, thank you!
OFFICER: And he'll show you where your room's at. I will see you Wednesday the 15th.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara looks around at her new home as the officers say goodbye.
(OFFICER): Take care, Miss Moser.
KARA: Yeah, you too. I-- yeah, I mean, I could cry I'm so happy. It's so nice...
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado driving through a neighborhood.
ELDORADO: Where that-- ah, that apartment right there! This is where I got arrested at. March 20th, 2006. That's where I got arrested at, this is, crazy. You've got people just posted in the middle of the street, Take a left, right here. From right here from Sprague and Altamont, down to Sprague and Perry, is prostitution central. It's drug central. It's where gangs and the night life--
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado pauses as he looks out the window at people passing by.
ELDORADO: come from.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Spokane through a car window.
(ELDORADO): There's more things to life than living inside of a place like this. It's time to really do something different.
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone 30 Days After Release
(TYRONE): I'm at my probation office in West Seattle.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Tyrone is well-groomed, wears a baseball cap and several necklaces. He stands outside in a parking lot.
TYRONE: I was instructed to live inside housings for prisoners and I had some problems in there. I didn't like the place, it was real filthy. I mean, as soon as you walk into this door you can just smell the stench of urine. People were stealing my t-shirts and socks, and some hygiene products, and I explained that to my CCO officer and she said I had to stay there for at least 30 days. I didn't do that, I went to the house that they had originally said I couldn't go to.
ANNA: In Washington State we have what's called 'Community Supervision', and people get assigned a Community Corrections Officer, which is like your probation officer, and so there are certain rules that you have to follow when you're on community supervision. Tyrone didn't follow all the rules. He turned himself in, but he was still violated.
TYRONE: More than likely they'll probably arrest me. You know, because I didn't show up for-- I didn't report. But I been, you know, doing phone calls with her, and I got some documents in my briefcase 'cause I was sick and the doctor been giving me notice of absence. Like I said, I feel pretty positive about it, I don't think, you know, she's gonna slam the book on me, you know.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Tyrone handcuffed and being escorted into a police vehicle by three officers.
[NARRATOR]: Kara 37 Days After Release
[ringing telephone]
(ANTHONY): Hello?
ANNA: Hi, can I speak to Kara Moser, please?
(ANTHONY): Uh, she's not here right now.
ANNA: Okay, do you know when she might return?
(ANTHONY): Nah, I don't even-- I don't even think she'll be staying here any longer.
ANNA: Oh I see, uh, did she move out?
(ANTHONY): Nah, uh, she wasn't following the rules. We asked her to come back on time, and she still hasn't been back. So like, she left and just never, you know...
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Kara pushing her walker down the sidewalk of a busy street. Kara stands in a gravel driveway surrounded by trees.
[street noises]
KARA: Just imagine that you had your life set up and all of a sudden you walk out to nothing. I mean, it's almost like homelessness, I mean, you're in a house where nobody likes you because you're old, you take up extra space, you're slower, and there was definitely no bar or anything in the shower. They didn't even like the clomping of my cane. Nobody else went to meetings, AA meetings? I'm required to, and like, you know, really if you're-- it's called working a program, right? Stay-- It's not just not drinking, it's like, recovery, working the steps. So, I've had to fight to get everything that I've gotten since then.
ANNA: Things that seem small, I think, maybe, to other people, like getting a bus pass, you know, a couple of dollars for a bus ride, you know, accessing housing, having to buy a mattress. There's a lot to be done, and you think about all the things in your daily life that you take for granted.
KARA: It's like, what do I do first? I need-- Is it medical? Is it housing? Is it, you know, is it getting to my court ordered stuff? Is it getting a free phone? Is it-- Oh, I'm gonna need stuff when I move, like, even to get a room, I'm gonna need sheets and a towel. Do I, what? Whoa! I mean, sometimes I'll be just, like, sitting there going-- literally, at a bus stop somewhere, and at least I know this neighborhood, going, "Should I go that way or go that way? If I go that way, I go--" Just the feeling of hopelessness. Of, you know what, I just might as well stay, 'cause they're gonna get me back anyway. This is a lose, lose proposition.
[NARRATOR]: Eldorado 83 Days After Release
(ELDORADO): Hey if I'm, if I'm, uh camp custody though, then how come I'm, is this, how come I'm being handcuffed like this?
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado is hand-and-leg-cuffed to a metal table in a holding cell. His head is shaved.
ELDORADO: Well, when I first, well, when I first got out and I went up to my apartment, I was kind of excited, I looked around, like okay, this is something that can work, this is something, you know, it's something feasible. But then again, like I said, everybody knows me.
ANNA: I really wanted him to be successful, and I felt personally invested in his success. But I don't know that I was necessarily surprised, given the fact that he tried so hard not to release to that county in particular.
ELDORADO: I was too entrapped with the night life, I was too busy trying to get my reputation back, 'cause everybody knows me, Eldorado, and it sidetracked my overall objective.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Anna asks if Eldorado can talk about what happened to his wrist.
(ANNA): Can you talk a little bit about what happened, with your wrist?
ELDORADO: I chewed on it.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of a bandage covering Eldorado's wrist.
When I first come in, they said I'm on custody lock. So that means Fridays and Saturdays, I don't move at all. So that means from Friday morning at eight in the morning, until Monday morning at eight in the morning, I'm locked in my cell. So that's, that's 24, 48, 72 hours of solitary confinement. No movement. No nothing. So I'm like, I'm like this is driving me crazy. I can't deal with it.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado removes his bandage to show the open wound on his wrist.
(Anna): So what, what made you feel like that?
ELDORADO: Stress. Not being able to communicate. Sayin' just because I came back, I get no help, no one to talk to.
[NARRATOR]: Tyrone 35 Days After Release
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: He's interviewed from a holding cell and wears a green suicide smock.
TYRONE: As you last remember, on the 10th, which was Wednesday of last week, I was going to turn myself in.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shot of Tyrone walking into his CCO's office.
TYRONE: Once I got on the other side of that door, they took my stuff, they handcuffed me, and they shot me out the back door into a waiting vehicle and brought me to this grand finale over here. At a certain hour at night, they turn the lights out. So, what low vision I do have, I have even less vision then. And they placed me on the top bunk, and there's no ladder or nothing, and that really, that really concerned me, you know. I had a panic attack, and I couldn't see how to get down. I requested numerous times to be moved from off the top bunk. You know, I told them, I said, "Man I don't feel comfortable up there, you know, and I feel that it's gonna be an accident." One officer said to another officer, "Well, you sound as though you're gonna hurt yourself." I said, "No. I sound as though I'm gonna protect myself from getting hurt. So, you can interpret that any way you want, but I'm not getting back up on that bunk." You know, and he told me to turn around, and he handcuffed me, and they brought me to this area here and gave me this smock. I want to say it's a place for mental illness, as you can hear all the various combatant stuff going on out there in the background, but, I'm wearing like some type of smock. They don't allow you to have regular clothing, because I'm on some type of suicide watch. And as you know, I'm the most enjoyable person that is out there, I'm a fun person, kind person, love animals, you know, and for me to be like this, degraded like this, is really bad. It's really bad on my mental.
[street noises]
KARA: People don't understand A.) how easy it is to become an offender, and B.) how much easier it is to violate. You know, that's why girls come back so many times. You think 'oh they're out committing crimes.' No, most of it is violating probation! It's like being on the bottom rung of that ladder, you gotta have to, you know what I mean? Climb over a few people to finally get where you want to be. But I'm only-- I've only been out since April. So, hopefully it'll get better.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kara is in the far distance. She pushes her walker down the sidewalk, away from the camera.
ANNA: When we started this project, we set out to find specific problems and identify specific challenges, and specific barriers that were unique to people with disabilities reentering. And we think that disability plays a factor in, maybe, the lack of success that some of the inmates that we followed experienced, but whether they were shortfalls with DOC, or shortfalls in the community, Eldorado and Tyrone went back into the correctional system almost immediately and we lost touch with Kara almost immediately, who appeared to, at the time of our communication cut-off, was not doing particularly well. The three folks that we followed through their transition into the community weren't successful. What we've taken out of this is that what we have set up isn't working. We don't want people coming back to prison. We don't want people with disabilities going back to prison, where we know that it's harder for them than for other people. We need to make the system better.
[music builds]
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Eldorado looks into the camera through the barred window of his cell.
[NARRATOR]: On the Outs - ReEntry for Inmates with Disabilities
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Closing credits begin to scroll and read as follows.
[NARRATOR]: Directed by Jordan Melograna
Produced by
Anna Guy
Jordan Melograna
Tina Pinedo
Executive Producers
David Carlson
Mark Stroh
Cinematography by
Jordan Melograna
Tina Pinedo
Edited by Peer Rand
Music by Pond5
Graphics
Peter Rand
Editing Assistant
Rebekah Price
Thank you to the people who shared their stories:
Eldorado Fleetwood Cadillac Brown
Tyrone Gathings
Kara Moser
AVID Prison Project Staff
David Carlson
Anna Guy
Heather McKimmie
Tina Pinedo
Rachael Seevers
Special Thanks
Aahaa Sober Living
Kayley Bebber
Legal Foundation of Washngton
Kim Mosolf
Mona Rennie
Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger
South Correctional Entity (SCORE)
The Washington State Department of Corrections
Zip's Drive-In
This video was made possible by:
AVID Prison Project - Amplifying Voices of Inmates with Disabilities
A project of Disability Rights Washington
Produced by Rooted in Rights
Copyright 2016 Disability Rights Washington
End of transcript.