Living in Boston, Richard Dyer was thrown out of his home at 14, by his father. His parents were decent, caring people but it would seem, had reached the end of the proverbial rope and had no alternatives.  The same could be said for Rick himself; throughout his teens and early 20’s, he earned one felony conviction after another, his crimes being driven by his addictions to drugs and alcohol.  For several years, his time was split between prisons and shelters.  His mother showed her ongoing love and support during those times, probably in the only way she had left; by showing up at the court holding cell with a clean shirt and tie, no matter what.

In speaking with Rick, the most common human response toward someone who is suffering, compassion, was frequently replaced by disgust and intolerance.  He was labeled, and harshly so, for behavior that he himself wanted to change and was viewed as a loser despite his pleas for help.  We’re all well versed in responses to bad behavior, criminal behavior; but most of us have no clue when it comes to judging human potential in these circumstances. We fail to see the person.  We foolishly see only one response; prison.

However, it would seem that for Rick,  there was at least one person willing to use a degree of logic and see the person as much as the behavior; A judge (in Brighton, Ma.) would opt for treatment programs despite the recommendations from prosecutors and probation officers for harsh sentences.  I imagine this judge (Charles Artesani) could see not only the potential of the young man who repeatedly stood before him, but must also have recognized that he was looking at someone who could beat the odds stacked against him.  

Bit by bit, Rick was also given some snippets of wisdom.  One of the more significant came from a Black Panther, a fellow prisoner who told him that a key to success was in education, and gave him information about scholarships and named the reasons he’d qualify.  A nurse, in response to Rick having commented about feeling badly over a life sentence that had been dished out to a partner of past crimes,  pointed out to him that he was doing “life” on the “installment plan”.  Throughout his arduous journey, these and other caring examples, short and to the point as they were, infrequent as they probably were, stayed with Rick and remain with him today.

Rick hung onto the words of the few caring people he met along the way, and eventually pulled them all together and found his way out of the bottomless black hole called “corrections”. With a G.E.D earned while in prison, he went on to graduate with honors from Boston State College.  Full steam ahead on a pathway that first came into his view,  thanks to the words of a Black Panther,  he forged on after graduation to first make a failed round of applications to law schools, but reapplied the next year and admitted to Northeastern.  By the time he had earned his degree at Northeastern, he had another thing going for him; a new history of education and sobriety.  

Armed with this and with the help of others he had met along the way, including a lawyer who had previously defended him and that one insightful judge, Charles Artesani, Rick applied for and received a governor’s pardon in 1983 (Gov. Dukakis).

As an attorney, Richard Dyer is now fervently helping some of the very people still living the life that he was able to escape.  Still suffering the trauma and experiences of prison, he is able to see what so many people fail to see; relapse is part of recovery; no man is an island and human potential cannot continue to be ignored. Success can become a reality if we all believe in each other, no matter what, and go on to communicate that belief to those who need it most. The means to achieve the end needs to be more readily within reach for those who don’t already know they matter,  and that they, too, can be treated, educated or trained and move ahead toward individual successes of their own.

Rick has many advocates for a judgeship of his own, and what a dream this would be for the lives he would be able to touch as a judge.  He has shown us that if not for the bits of faith and sincere words of direction, much of it right in the courtroom, he could have easily been forever swallowed into a life behind bars.  He has also shown us what works; acknowledgment of the person behind the behavior. Human potential.

Countless people are living life sentence in Vermont and elsewhere, once they’ve earned a felony conviction, and there is no escape for most of them.  There are lost opportunities in education, employment and even housing for people with a record.  They’ve been ostracized, banned and barred from success in most cases, for life. Many of those with addictions are simply abandoned altogether,  and left to die. This should not be allowed to continue.  

A pardon for ongoing sobriety or betterment through education subsequent to felony convictions for crimes that are drug or drug related should be commonplace, especially when the pathway to such change is made without any help, but accomplished entirely alone.  Not only has a prison sentence already been served for felony convictions, but the sentence unfairly continues for a lifetime, even for those who have managed to overcome addiction or educate themselves.  

In June of 2007, there were 2,165 inmates in the Vermont system, which includes 5-700 incarcerated in the for-profits prisons in other states: http://www.whitehousedrugpolic…

Investors are profiting on the incarceration of Vermont inmates and there are plans to send even more into these for-profits systems.

2,221 is the most recent count I can find http://www.pewcenteronthestate…

•Vermont Incarceration rate grew 80% (1996-2006) vs. 18% national increase

•23% more growth projected 2007-2018

•Cost estimate as high as $206M

•Property and drug offenders are more than half of 2000-2006 felony prison growth – (NOTE: Property crimes are generally addictions driven; This percentage is counting felony offenses only; what happens to the percentages when misdemeanors are included? A rise to 80% and higher!)

•77% substance abusers; only 13% treated http://www.ussc.gov/AGENDAS/20…

Notable quotes:

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 from the U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, In the OPENING From PATRICK LEAHY:

During “2005 to 2006; Violent crime in Vermont rose nearly 10 times–let me emphasize that, 10 times–the national average”

and from PETER WELCH:

What I’ve learned is….Rutland is not at all alone in this struggle with drugs and the violence and the crime that is associated with it. It really does extend to all corners of the State.

From BRIAN DUBIE: February 18, 2008;

I was shocked when the plant manager told me that 7 out of 10 people who interview for jobs there fail the company’s drug test. Last Friday, I learned that a Franklin County company sees the same rate of drug test failure among job seekers. We know that education, deterrence and treatment of drug abuse are a big part of the solution. Drug abusers need compassion and help.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/C…

Living in Vermont, given the recent discussions concerning drugs and crime on our streets and in our neighborhoods, isn’t it time to plan a different response toward those people we seem to view as disposable?  Chasing them from one neighborhood or area and into another is not solving a problem.  Neither is incarcerating hundreds and hundreds of our population.

Addiction and the consequence of logic will result in the realization of human potential.  Here in Vermont, this potential exists for thousands.  It is said that no one succeeds alone and that no man is an island; I therefore (and logically) conclude that no one fails alone, either. We are all accountable to some degree for sticking to an archaic notion of what corrections really means, or should mean. If we are not demanding of change, then no change will come.

We must keep those with drug and drug related crimes out of our prisons and into treatment and educational and training facilities.  We can’t afford to see people as disposable, as the cost for doing so goes far beyond the projected 206 million in real money, not to mention real and deserving lives. Even if the totality of loss could be counted in dollars, 206 million is just the beginning. We have no meaningful results to show for all the money being thrown into the system as it currently exists.

Not looking to be criticized or accused of being naive, perhaps it’s a bad idea to introduce a prison called Halden, in Norway, but I can’t help but feel a stinging wake-up slap in the face when I read about Halden and realize the stark difference not just in the system they have, but in the attitude of those who are in their system, both inmates and employees.  These are the attitudes that bring hell and damnation to anyone in this country who would agree or approve of a focus on human rights and rehabilitation, but they are attitudes and actions that work.  The guiding principles of their penal system is that repressive prisons do not work and treating prisoners humanely and recognizing their potential makes the defining difference between their system and ours.

“We want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people.”, says the person in charge of the newest prison.  They focus on human rights and respect and they don’t see that as “unusual”.  It is said that although our country tracks recidivism differently, even an imperfect comparison shows that their system works.

I understand that change is difficult, and I certainly do not have all the answers, but I do know there is an answer and it exists somewhere within the words that have been written or quoted here, and within rare and amazing people like Richard Dyer.

Besides being committed to advocating and representing people like himself, Richard Dyer speaks on a regular basis at drug and alcohol programs, schools and juvenile seminars to kids and adults from all walks of life about what hope and opportunity look like.

Help spread the hope..and bring the change we sorely need.  Bring Richard Dyer to Vermont.