You can be released from prison, but once a felon, always a felon. The punishment persists; it's a life sentence. Bad for the punished and bad for the punishers.
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I met a woman who pled guilty to a theft that she didn't do for which there was no evidence. Her ex boyfriend complained that she had stolen from him, when she broke up with him, but there was no evidence of a break in. She did not have any of his stuff and she didn't pawn any of his stuff. However, she was denied bail. Her public pretender told her that she would not get a fair trial because the jury would assume that she was guilty because bail was denied. After 5 and 1/2 months in jail without a trial, she pled guilty to a lesser offense -- Her boyfriend must have put a claim on his insurance-- he claimed he had lots of cash sitting around that she stole which seems very unlikely since she had no money when she was arrested but she was charged with felony theft and could have got 10 years. Her pretender said that she would be charged with perjury if she withdrew her plea bargain. She was released with the requirement of paying for 5 years of probation supervision so who knows how well that went for her since she never made more than minimum wage.
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@Kay Sieverding People shouldn't and don't plead guilty to thefts for which there is no evidence. I promise you. You're no doubt missing something here.
I wish her and her family nothing but the best!
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She shares ALL of the details and receipts on her channel. Her “victims” were hardly that. She was kidnapped and abused as a small child, further abused in foster care. She got into minor trouble as a little hoodlem with other little hoodlems and it snowballed into jail time. It’s easy to assume the worst of people with a criminal past HOWEVER, the whole story is often not what you expect or assume. Go watch her channel, hear her entire story for yourself.
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Christina, I’ve already told you directly, but now I’m gonna shout from the rooftops here anyway! I am SO SO SO proud of you and all that you have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. Your impact on the world will be everlasting, I just know it. Love you!!!
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We can applaud her grit. Be a better story if the reporter interviewed the people this person robbed and battered. Has this video blogger sought out her victims to make amends? It’s difficult to discuss reforms in the justice system without discussing the needs of victims.
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@Addison Clark There aren’t really any victims to make amends with. She got into an argument with some girls who were harassing her friends and grabbed birthday money that was pinned to one of their shirts. She was arrested because they called the police; had she called the police, they would have been arrested. Her story highlights that the law doesn’t see what we consider to be common sense, it only sees black and white. Christina preaches that you have to follow the law even if you’d be reasonably justified because those around you aren’t.
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Congratulations Christina!! 🙌🎉🥳 You’re SO deserving of this! Keep up the amazing work!!! We’re so proud of you, & we/your subs adore you!! ❤️
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Ms Randall, you rock!
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As a loyal follower of Christina Randall’s, her realness, her strength, kindness is so incredibly empowering. She is actively remorseful for her actions in the past that led to her incarceration, and uses her platform to educate others on not only her personal experiences, but also why the things she did was wrong. She’s not an advocate or someone who is trying to fetishise prison. She’s a mum, a wife, a daughter, a friend...another person making a life for themselves and using their past for good.
She’s amazing !
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It is a shame that she could not obtain a job in the social work field; a profession based on the belief in individuals ability to change. A social work agency that won't give a chance to someone who has shown great strides in their own life should reflect on their own values.
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I just want to say that it's heart breaking that this woman got out of prison and did ALL the right things; got a job, saved money to buy a car, enrolled in college...and not a single business would take a chance on her. Something is horribly wrong! And regardless of this Balick's warnings about truthful content, she had to do something to make a real income. It's crazy.
Sweden has managed to find a whole new way to manage their prison population; not stigmatize them so that they can develop self-esteem and learn a sense of belonging in everyday society. Making people serving time feel like there's no way out just pushes them back into crime.
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@Diane Gross The article doesn’t say she couldn’t get a job. It says she got a job preparing food but couldn’t get a job as a social worker. I don’t blame the organization that refused to hire her to work with children. If I had children, I would do everything I could to keep them away from someone who had been convicted of a violent crime, no matter how rehabilitated that person seemed to be.
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I read this wonderful story of redemption and it was very heartwarming to say the least. Whoever didn't hire Ms Randall is a fool. Just look at what she went on to do. More power to your girl! The rest of the world is glad and rooting for you.
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God bless.
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While I have never heard of this particular woman, I do know that former inmate youtubers are rapidly increasing in terms of popularity and reach of their message. I started watching Big Herc (best interviewer on any media platform imo) about a year ago, and earlier this year I watched his interviews with Wes Watson...and it *changed my life*. Wes Watson is not only the wisest and most humane person I have ever heard, he is the most honorable, because he lives his life exactly as he speaks it. If you are a man in America, you need to be doing what Wes Watson is doing. Listen to your conscience and level-up!
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@Douglas Harley show me that paperwork!
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What we do to ex-criminals is in itself criminal. Supposedly they have paid their debt to society. But society continues to penalize them. Yes, there are chances that one takes in hiring ex-cons. But where is the forgiveness in our Christian society? Forgiveness is supposedly central to Christianity. Christianity in the US is more about the Old Testament than about the New Testament. Anger, fear, retribution, damnation. Has anyone read the Sermon on the Mount lately? Or have they torn that out of the Bible?
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@amp
In CA in 2006, $200 gate money was given to each departing inmate. Enough for a plane ticket from a Northern California prison to a Southern California location. Some inmates don’t even have homes to return.
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I love this so MUCH! xoxoxo
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" Are they honest? Are there commercial or other attention-seeking incentives that pull the story away from authenticity?” Could be said of any social media product.
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@Norah
Right -- as if being an ex-convict somehow implies your capacity for honesty became impaired?
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So many folks on social media are complete fakes. Even those that aren’t fake make up all kinds of fake photos and stories to embellish their story for the audience. The problem is that just like TV: what you see isn’t real. The super cool mommy who has it all together with her mommy blog when in reality she is falling apart at the seams. The cool family beach photo that the audience doesn’t realize was completely staged. What does it say about social media when the most watched YouTube channel in the world is a guy who films himself playing video games? I never understood the attraction of social media and I guess I never will.
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Here's someone turning her re-entry life into a program to help reduce recidivism. This just shows how our prejudice against the talent and intelligence of ex-prisoners is crippling for all of us. I'm glad she can bottle and sell this. She just needs someone to write grant proposals so she can include folks who can't afford the access.
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If a person is convicted of a crime and pays their debt to society, they should be able to earn a living once they are released. Such a shame Ms. Randall completed an undergraduate program in social work only to be denied employment because of her record. By society's standards she did what she was supposed to do. Good on her for finding a use for her talents, but the system needs reform. No wonder so many ex-cons go back to prison -- we've put up too many barriers to re-entry.
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@Bill Johnson
Teach these people skills that pay the rent.
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@Bill Johnson
Ms. Randall served three years for battery , robbery and escape.
She wasn't denied employment. She is earning a living.
Her having been a felon who had been convicted for violent crimes prevented her from being hired for a job working with CHILDREN.
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What is this woman doing for her victims? Any compensation or healing for them?
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@KatheM She didn’t kill anyone 🙄 she got into a fist fight (when she was under 21) Keep reaching tho! Smh
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@Kerry Don't know about you, but robbery is a big deal to most folks. Jaywalking was not this woman's crime.
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@KatheM There were no victims. During a mutual fight with someone who was harassing her and her friends, she grabbed some birthday money safety-pinned to the girl’s shirt. Christina went to prison because the girl called the police; had Christina called the police, that girl would have gone to prison. Cruddy situations happen and sometimes the labels the justice system puts on people make us assume worse than what actually happened. She shouldn’t have done it, of course, but even before she changed, she wasn’t some awful person leaving innocent victims in her wake.
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I expect if more details of the original crime were shared, this story would have a different feel to it...
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Yes, then the article would make you even more angry that she was denied a job for her record. Even though she shouldn’t have done it, it was a mutual fight and there are no victims. Had Christina been the one to call the police, the other girl would have gone to prison.
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Good for Ms. Randall. When I was young and asked my parents about 'bad' people who had gone to prison my parents took me to see Birdman of Alcatraz. I think I was about 10-11 years old. Much too you to really understand what I was seeing but old enough that it impressed me to understand that prison was the intent to offer a person to rebuild their life into something better. Since my parents were Sunday Church Goers it simply seemed common sense to me then: If god could forgive just by a simply baptism then we must help a person in trouble to know how to say their are sorry and come back to a new life.
Yes, those are child's thoughts but it still seems so to me. If we, as a society and culture, decide a person must be retrained then we have an obligation to that person to accept them as a new person when they have finished their training.
It would be better if we fixed society but we humans in a capitalist society are not known for our patience. It if doesn't happen within and 10-12 week period it is probably not going to happen. Yet everything we do for our selves and our children are decades. I think we may need to start trying to see things in centuries. I fear if we don't we have written our own demise.
I would have a difficult time forgiving to the point of helping a person who had harmed or killed one of my family. I failed that test once. I hope I never have a second chance to do better.
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@Susannah Allanic
At the end of the day it costs less to hurt them than to help them; welcome to the American Way.
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@ivanogre Incarcerating someone is horribly expensive. I would think the opposite is true.
Just saw Aziz Khamisa give a talk about his path to forgiving his son's murderer. He also discussed, not incidentally, about the dysfunctional society we live in wherein it costs $110,000 to incarcerate one individual for one year and $11K to educate and yet citizens generally complain about the $11K and not the $110K.
No discussion about how to knock that recidivism rate down but maybe that's where a bunch of 21st century ideas are needed most...especially if it's recidivism that has potential employers most anxious about hiring the recently released...
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It is beyond my comprehension that a person who has done his/her time in prison is given $30 and sent on their way. To do what exactly when you have no support network. It is hard to become an engaged person when you can't find a job, can't vote in many states (congrats to Florida for allowing felons to vote), are denied many benefits to punish you even more. This is a system that guarantees failure. Now wonder we have such a high recidivism rate. How about we try to prepare inmates for a better future while still in prison instead of just warehousing them and end punitive laws. Money and lives would be saved in the end.
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The recidivism rate is around 70% in the United States but less than 20% in Norway. Training while in prison as well as the ability to get meaningful employment post-release are among the biggest drivers of this alarming comparative gap.
Having a felony record has become a legally justified reason to deny former inmates rights to housing, employment, financing or even voting - hence why mass incarceration is referred to as the "New Jim Crow".
Fortunately for Ms. Randall she's been able to overcome societal limitations...but this isn't a realistic path for the many.
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@Cee
The last sentence should read: this isn't a realistic path for 99.9% of former prisoners.
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@KC State your sources for the precise percentage please.
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I agree it's far too high but this isn't norway, an all white rich nation
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It's wonderful and amazing that Ms. Randall is living a life of peace, love and contentment after her prison term. Just one detail though - an undergraduate degree does not lead to the profession of "social worker." For that, a Masters in Social Work (MSW) is required, plus 3,000 supervised hours prior to licensing eligibility as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Certainly understandable that she got discouraged, not to mention the student loans for a Master's degree. Hope she keeps going!
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@Xtine
The requirements differ from state to state but yes, that occurred to me as well. There may be entry-level jobs for people with undergraduate degrees.
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@Xtine @amp That is not true at all. Social Work is a profession not a discipline, so anyone with a social work degree- whether that be bachelor level or masters- is considered a social worker. There are many levels to the social work profession, BSW, MSW, LMSW, LCSW- all are considered “social workers”. You do not have to be at this highest level (LCSW) to be considered a social worker.
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@Ana
Entry level jobs, but not as social workers.
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I think that this is wonderful and she is doing a good thing here. but I'm also saddened because she trained as a social worker but hasn't been hired in a traditional job setting. Admire her for being creative and putting her skills and knowledge to good use. Finding job and housing has to be so so much more difficult for people coming out of prison or jail. wonder how much support local governments or non profits offer to help these people get into a positive normal way of life.
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It's one of the few circumstances where I can point out that YouTube is finally elevating disenfranchised voices without ulterior motive. Lockdown 23and1 is another YouTuber who was formerly incarcerated for a violent offence. The content of his videos consists of interviewing former detainees and prisoners, as well as explaining everyday jail life without trying to punch it up for dramatics. Both of these individuals are phenomenal and it's a good thing that they are able to share their story with us through the internet.
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@Daniel
Lockdown 23 & 1's videos with other formerly incarcerated people shows the world what a pointlessly horrible place prison is. If people have any good in them prison rips that away. But if they have any evil in them they will flourish in prison.
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Finally a feel good story about someone who is able to get their life together. Hopefully it's an inspiration to others.
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Wish her and her family the very best. This seems like a good use of the internet allowing shared stories to deter some while helping others re-enter society.
Also seems as though this is one area of bi-partisan progress in the country what with this story and others along with the release of prisoners in Oklahoma.
Hope so. There's a lot of people in prison who don't belong there, particularly on drug charges. Not saying they're innocent but that the prison terms are too long for no valid reason.
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@Lou Good Oklahoma also took the bold step of voting in a medical marijuana law that is basically legalization. All you need is an easily obtained license to purchase. We now see cannabis as medicinal. It has been helpful to people suffering a variety of ailments but, more importantly, we’ve turned our backs on mass incarceration. Some places, this would be a small step, but in Oklahoma it is literally, as significant as the fall of the Berlin Wall. The state now has more cannabis dispensaries than churches and we are now a freer people.
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@Lou
I don’t know the solution but drug users are a danger to society and need to be involuntarily kept off the streets until their problems are solved. Not saying prison but at least forced involuntary drug rehab or recovery houses. The streets are full of people who steal, threaten, assault, and generally create unsafe environments for law abiding citizens to walk down the street. Their crimes are generally tolerated but they should not be. They should not be allowed to continually endanger others and themselves. I know I’ll probably get a lot of flack for this post but be honest, do you want to walk down “that” street with your kid?
I’m happy for the subject of this article that she turned her life around. How can we do that for more people. Not by just letting them commit crimes, that’s not the answer for sure.
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@Annie
I share your concerns but would point out that alcohol and tobacco are drugs, as are hypnotics such as vallium, anti-psychotics, antibacterials, antifungals, aspirin, ibuprofen and paracetamol (acetaminophen) and all other pharmaceutical drugs.
Tea and coffee contain caffeine. Caffeine is a drug.
When opium was widely consumed recreationally in the late 1800s in the West and in China, the safest place for an opium addict used to be an opium den. If he or she passed out, then a fellow addict might notice and alert the den master.
So, yes, by all means, let's get all drug users of the streets, out of motor vehicles, out of the work place, out of sports, out of schools.
But let's be clear also about what that would entail.
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