The Barnstable County Sheriff's Office is inviting you to visit the county correctional facility and meet face-to-face with incarcerated people.
This program is called the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice. It's a nonprofit that partners with prisons across the country to facilitate conversations between incarcerated people and people on the outside.
CAI’s Gilda Geist spoke to Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley to learn more about this program and how you can get involved.
Gilda Geist How did this program come to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility?
Donna Buckley We learned about the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice through both the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office—which is the only other sheriff's office that participates in this program in Massachusetts—as well as some of our community volunteers, who had expressed an interest in helping us bring the project to Barnstable County.
GG What is the Frederick Douglass Project?
DB The Frederick Douglass Project is an opportunity for community members to meet with incarcerated individuals and to talk and learn from each other during structured conversations. When I was running for this office, one of the priorities was to make sure that we were able to do the best job that we can for reentry and reintegration, and in order for us to have the most successful reintegration, we need to have a relationship with the community that people are going back into. So the Frederick Douglass Project is an opportunity for us to bring together members of the community, policymakers, educators, public safety officials, business owners and good neighbors to come together to interact in a human way with people who are incarcerated, and for people who are incarcerated to interact with people in the community that they will be returning to.
GG So let's say one of our listeners were to sign up for this program—can you walk us through what they can expect?
DB So the program itself is facilitated. When you arrive, it starts with an orientation, and then there's a tour of the facility. And then there are facilitated introductions between the community participants and the incarcerated individuals. And that's facilitated by the Frederick Douglass Project. And then some icebreakers, some opportunities to engage in a large group conversation. And then we break into small groups, and over dinner, there'll be tables of four or five people, some community members, some incarcerated individuals, and they'll just have an opportunity to have conversations.
GG When you were putting this together, how did you gauge interest with inmates?
DB We asked. We have a significant number of incarcerated individuals here involved in programming, and we have talked with them about this, and given them an opportunity to express interest in being considered for this project. I also had the opportunity to participate in one of these sessions up in Middlesex, so we were able to draw on the experience that they've had there as well.
GG As the sheriff for Barnstable County, what do you hope this program accomplishes?
DB My hope is that it becomes a key piece in the reintegration process in helping those who are incarcerated relate, and learn to relate, and learn to communicate with community members and people on the outside—and to be witness to the fact that, based on people signing up for this project, people care. People are willing to support and provide opportunities for people who are incarcerated if they want to do the right thing when they get released. So our hope is that this Frederick Douglass Project will be one of the pieces that we have available to support successful reentry, so that we can cut down on recidivism, we can make your community safer and we can provide a greater understanding of what role incarceration plays in the criminal justice process.
The first session is on March 25. More sessions are planned for June 11, July 23 and October 29. Each session runs from 5 PM to 8 PM and has room for up to 20 participants. You can register for a visit here.
