Speaker 1:
From our studios in the store located in Northeast Washington, DC.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. Did you know that there's a non profit organization that advocates for prison reform and their success is due to volunteers. Let's find out more about cure, also known as citizens United for rehabilitation of errants.
Speaker 3:
Citizens United for rehabilitation of errands and, and basically it's people make mistakes, which we can all relate to here started in 1972 in San Antonio, Texas my wife and I started here. We felt then the need for bus services for families to the state prison. And so we did this for a few years and it was very successful. The prison system liked this when we ran the bus service. But when we began to question the policies in particularly inmates being used has guards. They did not want to work with us anymore. And we have all things who were successful in passing legislation to do away with inmates, having this power over other inmates, we ended up expanding to a national organization and moving to Washington in 1985 in 1986, my wife was able to pass legislation to provide the WIC program for mothers who were pregnant in prison.
Speaker 3:
And that was a very difficult issue back then because people did not want to acknowledge that there were people in prison who were having children. And she later was able to pass legislation that allowed mothers to serve their prison time with their small children. We it's, it's amazing. We, we, we do receive a volunteers almost daily. Family members want to get involved, particularly when they have loved ones. People see through their churches that this is something that as we know, Matthew 25 is the basis that I was in prison and you visited me. But also there is another side to that. Not only to we be visiting prisoners, but we should also be advocating for their release. Certainly we believe that people of color are dis proportionally incarcerated. We also believe that people, a lot of times it's because they don't the resources that they need for defense, et cetera. In Texas, when we started the prisoners used to say you're guilty until proven rich. And I think this is still true in our society here is basically funded through memberships that people send to us the prisoners field that this is their organization and they support it. And we instead of receiving a $2 in cash we'll receive stamps if the prison system allows that. So we've anyone of course that writes us will receive information, whether they are indigenous.
Speaker 4:
In 1996, tragedy hit my family and it led me to go out and find meetings and support for my pain and Maryland cure was one of the chapters that I had gone to meetings with and liked the meetings. And with all that coming together, I decided to keep coming back. And at the end of the day, they asked me to be president. If I could add anything, it would be to expand and to get families involved. And so I would love to see a family networking with the inside out, we've come a long way. And Maryland cure really looks at a, a positive. And so we're fortunate enough to be able to partnership with bipartisan organizations that think like we think, and I'm happy as that can be that it is a shift out here with even our president and everybody's understanding that people deserve a second chance.
Speaker 4:
So I'm happy about that part, that no doubt in my mind, and now that we have statistics, we have everything we need to know that prisons have gone into big business is big business today. It's no longer a punishing tool is deep pockets. We are learning all of the things that we have is brought to the table, how much it costs to incarcerate a person how much they make is just modern day slavery. It's, it's been a pleasure to be part of this program. We have many, many chapters throughout the United States, and hopefully we can combine our efforts and become one voice. And I'm hoping though see that when we speak of cure, it'll be known worldwide.
Speaker 2:
And here in studio with me today is our DCTV student producer, Daniel Del PL ago, welcome to student exposure, Daniel. So we were, as you saw in the package that talked about coming from Texas to DC, but I understand they also have an international presence.
Speaker 5:
Yeah. I mean, it's been from their very initial grassroots action to they have a global presence now they are there's the, you know, the, the state-based organizations that cure represents. But they also have an international arm. So they are in several countries around the world doing the good work that they started here in, in the United States.
Speaker 2:
Right. I'll, I'll just based on one simple move in that they took part of Ben. So as a co-producer of this segment, what is the most significant contribution that you think your offers to the community?
Speaker 5:
And what I saw in, in specifically from the woman Leah green, who's the president of Maryland cure. It was the sense of hope that she has, you know, she has a lot to be down about if, if one thought thinks about it, he has a family member that's incarcerated. But cure has given her hope that she can help him in his current situation. But also as she mentioned, help other families that are in the same situation, give them an outlet to, to, to interact with other families in very similar situations and hopefully lighten their load. And they're paying.
Speaker 2:
A little bit, absolutely another great organization working to help and aid the community and residents here in the district. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you very much. Who would've thought that a trip to a county jail visiting a friend could inspire Charlie and his wife to create the cure organization that exists today. For more information about citizens United for rehabilitation of errands, visit their website at curenational.org.
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