Supreme Hassan’s homecoming to New York City meant reuniting with family after three decades in MCI-Norfolk prison in Massachusetts. But he also looked forward to meeting his new tribe — his cohort from the REFORM Advocacy Institute, a training program for prospective criminal justice reform advocates. For six weeks, they met virtually from all over the county before culminating in an expenses-paid New York City meet-up.
“We connected, our energy permeated these screens and you could feel the emotional connection,” said Hassan. “We could feel the desire to not perform, but serve.”
The program stems from justice-reform advocacy group REFORM Alliance, which formed in 2019 to push back against draconian parole and probation laws following the re-imprisonment of rapper Meek Mill over a motorbike stunt video. But not every returning citizen boasted a public persona with proponents like billionaire Robert Kraft. Over the past six years, the organization has played a hand in passing criminal justice reform bills across the country.
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But much more work remains. The REFORM Advocacy Institute would bolster their numbers by equipping those closest to the issue, like former incarcerated individuals, with the skills to advocate for themselves. The certification program, headed by formerly incarcerated attorney Cassandra Cean-Owens, is now preparing for a third incoming class.
“We allow our participants to tell us what [they are] passionate about.” said Cean-Owens “What change do you want to see in the criminal justice system? And we provide them with the resources to do that by teaching them how to use their story so individuals can see [a] more true narrative of what this criminal justice system is about and how it’s really hurting and harming, as opposed to helping.”
Training centers around navigating both the grassroots organizing world and political sphere to push better policy regarding returning citizen rights. Participants are overwhelmingly but not exclusively formerly incarcerated or justice impacted. During the classes, elected officials and lobbyists help them communicate their personal stakes to legislators.
Cean-Owens says the programming helps enrollees approach a grand assortment of officials, as she herself was released through the CARES Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in his first term despite his stances as tough-on-crime. Yet she herself faced obstacles after incarceration, including legal barriers from traveling to the Bronx from Long Island for a baby shower.
The goal is to demonstrate how such perfunctory crackdowns on individuals on parole and probation stemming from mass incarceration do not make society safer. And such programming coincides as tough-on-crime policy is making a comeback both locally and nationally.
“You have the Black and Brown communities that were decimated, and with all of this happening, you’re going to see a greater instability in the Black and Brown community,” said Cean-Owens. “A lot of the individuals in our cohort are Black and Brown, and because they’re in our cohort, I’m hoping that they’re going to be able to advocate by educating and informing these individuals: this is not the way to go. Look at what we’re faced with right now. Look at mass incarceration. Are our streets safer?
“At a time like this, it is important for us to have REFORM Advocacy Institute because we need as many people as possible to share their stories so they can see that the policies we had didn’t work and the policies that you want to push currently may possibly be even worse.”
For Hassan, the work started while still in prison, where he developed a restorative justice network while serving a 15-to-life sentence and receiving rejections from a parole board five times after meeting his minimum sentence before he was finally released. He now shares his experiences for a living through his freelance consulting service Responsible Party Group and is enrolled at Boston College just a year and half since coming home.
But even as he champions criminal justice reform in Red Sox and Celtics country, he remains a proud New Yorker, swapping his REFORM beanie with a classic Yankees knit-cap to his hometown newspaper with a toothy grin before the interview ends.
“ I left [as a] child whose mind was not yet developed [and] I left as a criminal,” said Hassan. “I came back as a person who no longer does harm. I came back as a mature man with a developed mind who understands the consequences of his actions. And I came back as part of a peer group with very meaningful and transformative relationships.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.