In the AIANY Architecture for Justice Committee's ongoing series on “Reimagining Justice” we are exploring the way back home: what happens after incarceration.
Through sharing their own lived experience in the US criminal carceral system, three formerly incarcerated panelists will set the stage for a deeper investigation into the challenges and hurdles faced by citizens upon their return home. The panelists are working on advocacy and activism where they help returning citizens navigate the trials and tribulations they once faced themselves. They are creating a more equitable community through investment in social entrepreneurship programs, second chance hiring, and mentoring programs providing a path forward to a life of social contribution.
Women in particular are facing different and harsher obstacles in society. While nationwide, the number of people in custody has been trending down, the number of women in custody has been rising steadily. We will have a closer look at how women are facing not only the time lost during incarceration but also the harsher biases upon return home, and how to address these inequities.
Introductions:
Andre Voss, AIA, Project Manager and Senior Associate, DLR Group
Speakers:
Hector Guadalupe, Founder and Executive Director, A Second U Foundation
Jerome A. Loach, Supervisor, The LEAD (Lived Experience Activating Dialogue) Fellowship, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (Hidden Lives Illuminated)
Ivy Woolf Turk, Certified Professional Coach, Workshop Innovator/Facilitator, Meditation Practitioner, Keynote Speaker, Social Activist, Champion of Freedom
Moderator:
Shaun Leonardo, Artist & Co-Director, Recess Art
About the Speakers:
Hector Guadalupe is Founder and Executive Director of A Second U Foundation. "After spending 10 years in federal prison," says Guadalupe, "I came home with a passion for fitness, in shape, and hungry for work. I also came home to a lot of closed doors, and people not wanting to give me a chance, but I persevered and built a successful personal training business. I decided to help people that came from the same situation as myself, who needed an opportunity. Our entire program is based exactly on how I became successful on my own." A Second U Foundation works to make sure that people coming home are not defined by their sentence, but given the tools they need to be successful. The organization offers skills and guidance, while providing a community to support formerly incarcerated people as they create careers and rebuild their lives. A Second U Foundation is proud to be a part of their process.
Exonerated after serving over a decade in prison! Jerome A. Loach is a motivational speaker, activist, and a leader in the community who currently serves as the Supervisor for Education and Partnerships at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (Museum). He studied psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and is a Minster in African Spirituality as well as a licensed barber manager. Loach has volunteered with organizations like Stop the Violence, Get Out the Vote, and Mothers in Charge. He is also a member on the DA’s office Racial Injustice committee. He has spoken at many Universities and appeared on many forums, as well as spoken on panels at the American Alliance of Museum (AAM) and the Association of African American Museums (AAAM). He has appeared on CNBC, ABC and Fox news, The Clay Cane Show on Sirius, and the Wrongful Conviction podcast. He has also received awards for his service and dedication from A Gift from God Ministries, Inside-Out program at West Chester University. Loach is also the owner and CEO of L&A Finest Venue, a restaurant, cigar lounge and sports club. In 2019, he created the animated short film Justice as part of Eastern State Penitentiary's Hidden Lives Illuminated, and in 2022 he created the LEAD Fellowship for returning citizens at Eastern State Museum. Loach is also a proud member of the Prince Hall fraternity.
Ivy Woolf Turk was imprisoned in her outwardly successful life long before she was actually sentenced to five years in Danbury Federal Prison. By the time she walked out of her seven-by-seven-foot cube for the last time after living there for 47 months, she realized that it shouldn't take a stint in federal prison for a woman to find her worth. And although federal prison gave her nothing, it certainly took a lot away. It took her home, her business, her reputation, and her place in her family. She was isolated, humiliated and degraded. And even though she was surrounded by 200 suffering strangers, she was so very alone. With no other way to grieve her overwhelming losses, she found herself turning within. And it was there that she found the real riches in her life. She states, "It was like Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz floated down into my cell in her pink bubble to teach me that 'I had the power all along.' Yet, for my whole life, I didn’t know it."
Shaun Leonardo is a Brooklyn-based artist from Queens. His multidisciplinary work negotiates societal expectations of manhood—namely surrounding black and brown masculinities and related notions of achievement, collective identity, and experience of failure. He joined Recess in 2021 as Co-Director, helping guide the organization’s continuous evolution as an engine of social change. His performance practice, anchored by his work in Assembly—the organization’s diversion program for court-involved youth—is participatory and invested in a process of embodiment. He received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, is a recipient of support from Creative Capital, Guggenheim Social Practice, Art for Justice, and A Blade of Grass, and was recently profiled in The New York Times and CNN. His work has been featured at institutions including the Guggenheim Museum, the High Line, and the New Museum.
AIANY Architecture for Justice Committee
