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Written by: Judy Flattery

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Our National conference will be on Zoom, on Saturday, November 23rd. It will be from 9am-5pm PT with a 30-minute meal break, plus breakout sessions after each of the three segments.

The purpose of the conference is:

• To explore what life is like for people and their families experiencing incarceration and after release.
• To highlight programs and initiatives that successfully prepare and support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in their rehabilitation and safe reintegration into society.
• To offer new opportunities for partnerships by promoting meaningful dialogue and collaboration.
• To inspire people to support programs that reduce recidivism, promote social justice, and transform lives during and after incarceration.

We are starting the transformation with a National virtual conference on Zoom.  We would love for you to join us  (register here)

Speaker number 2 on our hit parade:

Michael Todd 

Coming From The Heart

Synopsis: Michael Todd shares his life and his work making the point that effective programming, coupled with the ability to change, makes personal transformation possible, which in turn can lead to community and societal transformation. His work with Compassion Prison Project and the development of the New Start Parole Preparation Class is one of the many ways Michael gives back.

Our Speaker: Michael Todd is the Manager of Rehabilitative and Reentry Programming at  Compassion Prison Project, and a survivor. 

He has survived many Adverse Childhood Experiences. He has survived a Traumatic Brain Injury suffered in an automobile accident that killed the other people he was with. 

Most importantly, he has survived a Life Sentence in the California Department of Corrections, before they decided to offer any type of rehabilitative programming. 

Michael was tried as an adult for a crime he committed when he was 15 years old. He served over 27 years on this sentence before he was granted parole. While in prison, Michael participated in many self-help and rehabilitative programs, including Compassion Prison Project’s  ‘Trauma Circle’ that was used in the Step Inside the Circle film. 

Since being released, Michael has continued to work to make a difference in the way that people view people in prison, and those who are released from prison. He facilitates classes teaching people about the types of trauma that lead to crime, and that come from crime, and how to heal from that. 

He also trains Service Dogs for Military Veterans with PTSD and teaches Veterans how to train the dogs themselves.

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Written by: Marc Malamud

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Blog Author: Marc Malamud

First National Virtual Conference

We are starting the transformation of the culture around incarceration in the USA with a National virtual conference on Zoom.  We would love for you to join us  (register here) 

• Saturday, November 23rd. 
• 9am-5pm PST in three segments with working breakout sessions after each segment and two 20 min breaks.

The purpose of the conference is:

○ To explore what life is like for people and their families experiencing incarceration and after release.

○ To highlight programs and initiatives that successfully prepare and support this community

○ To offer new opportunities for partnerships in this realm

○ To inspire people to support effective programs

There are three segments:

1. What's it like to be in prison and what resources and organizations are helping with the healing and re-orientation/rehabilitation needed
2. What’s it like to walk out the gates and be on parole? What are the challenges of reentry, and what type of support is needed and available?
3. What work is being done to address underlying systemic issues? What else is possible?

Join us for part or all of the day!   (register here)

Interact in the breakout sessions!

Build community and connection!

If you have any questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Written by: Judy Flattery

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Our first keynote speaker of our November 23, 2024 National Virtual Conference.

Register Now

David Cunningham

A Time for New Thinking, New Energy, and New Action 

Synopsis: In this presentation, David will propose that for the Partnerships we want, to have the impact we are committed that they have, we must have new dialogues at every level.

Dialogues…

     . in which we give up talking about who or what is "right and wrong" or "good and bad" and instead focus on what “works” and what does not “work”;  
     . in which we drop all language which dehumanizes anyone and falsely separates anyone.
     . which offer real concrete tools for successful free living; and, 
     . in which real respect, honor and love is generated in all directions.
     David will also shine fresh light on the importance of “community” for all people.

Our Speaker: Always dedicated to human services, David Cunningham started as a special education teacher, and served as a Director of the Connecticut Justice for Children Collaboration and the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.

Then, as a senior leader at Landmark Worldwide, David led transformational programs around the world for over 30 years.  David has impacted hundreds of thousands of lives with lessons of authenticity, communication, acceptance, forgiveness, leadership, integrity, and love.

David currently volunteers with the Another Way to Go program in Philadelphia. 

David’s new book and corresponding seminar series Your Love Does Matter: A Pathway to New Consciousness and Expanding Your Love Footprint,  are both available for pre-release sale.

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Written by: Marc Malamud

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2024 Virtual Conference Schedule 

Times in Pacific Time

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Written by: Karen Johnson

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Blog Author: Karen Johnson

Thoughts on the Judicial System

Written in 2005 by the mother of an incarcerated juvenile. I have been studying the judicial system for a while and decided to write down my thoughts on the matter.

First, let me say that I am a person who makes a difference in my family, community, and country. I come from a long line of revolutionists starting with John Milton in England. I am a person with a good head on my shoulders, and common sense is my middle name. I am a positive person who likes to look on the bright side of things, but I'm always looking for ways to make things better.

In my studies, I have noticed that the so called 'criminal justice system'" is not that at all, but is actually a 'criminal legal system', and as such, is only looking at the law. Now, law is good to have: it keeps us steady and on the straight and narrow. However, law without judgement is not good for it breeds injustice for all. When the laws are more important than a man's life then a line has been crossed. So many times I have heard, in talking to people across this great nation, that someone in their family or someone they know personally was touched by and impacted (not in a good way) by the 'criminal legal system'. I say, "How can this be? Is not the 'system' supposed to work for the people, and not the other way around?" Instead I hear story after story of people, good people, being thrown away by the 'system' because of one infraction. In many of these stories the punishment does not fit the crime, and in some cases innocent people are convicted of crimes. And, once in the system, their record follows them around for the rest of their lives, even though they have done their time and 'paid' for their crime. I thought that once you had served your time, you would be free to rejoin society and get on with your life, but not so.

In the case of my son, he did do something wrong, and he was incarcerated for it, but once he returned home something was dreadfully wrong. Now, I do not know what influenced him in the juvenile system, and for all intents and purposes 'they' were there to 'rehabilitate' the young people. But, I can say for certain that the person that my son was before was not the person that returned to us on that November day when he was released. He was unsure of himself, had low self-esteem, and thought 'bad' thoughts about himself.  This escalated into 'bad' behavior and eventually a DWI that landed him back in the 'system'. Hey, that is just where they expect you to land. There is no expectation of success, although they spout those words. "Go and do good, and don't mess up". But behind those words is the feeling that they don't expect that to happen and so it rarely does. Once you are back in the 'system' they put you on 'probation' which is supposed to help you, but all it does, that I have ever seen, is drag you down until you submit and go out and do another crime.

My son tried to go to school after the DWI, but waiting in the lobby of the Probation Office for three to four hours became too much for him to take. His school told him that if he missed class three times his grade would fall by one letter. Now, he had to choose between being at the probation office, or being in class. He chose class and was faulted for it. He called probation and left a message with his probation office, but did not get a call back.

How do we fix this? By putting in more caring people?  No, there are already caring people there, at least at first before their spirit is broken.  No, the caring people need training and the freedom to do their jobs in a caring environment. Cynicism rears its head to say, "Oh yes, but the 'criminal' is conniving and sneaky and lies to us, so we treat them like a 'criminal'.

What if all they need is to be 'heard"'?

Karen Johnson

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Written by: Marc Malamud

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Blog Author: Marc D Malamud

 www.prisons2partnerships.com

We hope you received our first email telling you about our recently-formed 501(c)(3) Prisons to Partnerships organization and our national virtual conference.

If you have already registered, thank you! If you haven't, let me tell you more about it. 

Our National conference will be on Zoom, on Saturday, November 23rd.  It will be from 9am-5pm PST with a 30-minute meal break, plus two working breakout sessions after each segment.

The purpose of the conference is:

• To explore what life is like for people and their families experiencing incarceration and after release.
• To highlight programs and initiatives that successfully prepare and support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in their rehabilitation and safe reintegration into society.
• To offer new opportunities for partnerships by promoting meaningful dialogue and collaboration.
• To inspire people to support programs that reduce recidivism, promote social justice, and transform lives during and after incarceration.

Here’s how the segments will be divided:

1. What's it like to be in prison, ready and willing to address the issues that resulted in incarceration while working towards release? What issues typically need to be addressed to appear before the parole board and be successful in getting a release date? What resources and organizations are helping with the healing and re-orientation/rehabilitation needed to be approved for parole and successful in life?
2. What’s it like to walk out the gates and be on parole? What are the challenges of reentry, and what type of support is needed and available? What’s working? What’s it like for the families? Relationship between parole officer and parolee. Successfully transitioning off of parole. 
3. The organizations presented today are doing great work within the current system; but what about the system itself? What work is being done to address underlying systemic issues? What else is possible? What support is needed? 

We do hope you will join us for the breakout groups after each segment, where you’ll be able to interact with other like-minded people and have more personal contact with the speakers. Everyone is invited to come and go as they please. And we would love for you to stay for the entire day! 

Registration is free. We don't want a registration fee to stand in the way of anyone connecting with this valuable information and networking opportunities (and P2P gratefully welcomes donations of any amount to offset our conference costs).

Please register in order to receive the conference Zoom link.

If you have any questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Marc D. Malamud

 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.