Jay Jordan Was Incarcerated At 18. Now, He’s Transforming the Criminal Justice System.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2023

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, CEO and activist Jay Jordan tells his story. We begin in Stockton, California (13:31), where he came of age on the heels of the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill (16:33) before being arrested at eighteen (19:47). In stark contrast to former President Trump’s arraignment (3:17), Jordan then details his experiences navigating the judicial system (24:15), his years in prison (28:30), and stints in solitary confinement (31:55).

On the back-half, Jordan reflects on the end of his seven-year sentence (38:28), the limitations of living with a criminal record (47:22), and how he found purpose in advocating for people like himself (54:52). To close, he shares his groundbreaking work with Alliance for Safety and Justice (1:07:46), including a new, transformative California law (1:13:04), and a philosophy by Maya Angelou that guides him today (1:18:24).

To learn more and support, visit https://asj.allianceforsafetyandjustice.org/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm joined by CEO and activist Jay Jordan. He's the head of the Alliance for Safety
0:49.7	and Justice, a multi-state organization that aims to address America's incarceration
0:55.5	epidemic through crime prevention, community health, and support for crime victims.
1:01.2	According to the latest data from the Prison Policy Initiative, the U.S.
1:05.3	imprisoned more people per capita than any other nation.
1:09.5	We do this while making up only 5% of the global population, holding nearly one quarter of all
1:16.6	prisoners in the world, 38% of which, by the way, are black, despite representing only 12% of US residents.
1:26.0	And that's just the beginning of this story because there are another 803,000 people on parole
1:32.0	and another 2.9 million people on probation.
1:37.3	In this country, one in five people have a criminal record, one in five, a record that continues to follow them long after they've served their sentences,
1:48.0	a record that creates back-breaking barriers to housing, fields of employment, and so much more.
1:55.0	And it's because of our prison industrial complex
1:58.0	that Jay Jordan has committed his life to this work,
2:02.0	to dismantling a system designed to disenfranchise,
2:05.0	a system that, as you'll hear in this conversation,
2:09.0	is in desperate need of repair.
2:11.0	You may have recently seen Jordan tell parts of his story in The Guardian or on a recent
2:17.0	episode of the problem with John Stewart.
2:19.7	Many have turned to Jordan in the aftermath of former President Trump's arraignment to offer insight into
2:25.0	insight into the judicial process.
2:27.1	But Trump's case is not really a window into the process.
2:31.2	It's a window into the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.