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T-Shirt Gallery Used for Radical Prison Reform Plan
-- His message is simple. Buy a T-Shirt and start a new debate on prison reform in California. --
Allen Jones
San Francisco, CA (BlackNews.com) - Armed with T-Shirts, prison reform activist, Allen Jones of San Francisco intends to raise awareness and bring attention to a new approach to bringing down the population in California prisons. Many of these self penned slogans of his philosophy on how best to live life are intended to fund a billboard campaign to educate citizens on what clemency is and how we can use this process to save lives and billions of tax dollars.
"YOU CAN'T MAKE IT TO HEAVEN BY RAISING HELL ON EARTH!" one T-Shirt reads. But Jones is ready to raise prison overcrowding from hell through his many thought provoking T-Shirts at: www.zazzle.com/philoso_tz
His proposal is called California Clemency and it is a new clemency system designed to eliminate prison overcrowding permanently without risking public safety. A list of its benefits and other information including a top ten list of prisoners who should be released immediately can be viewed at: californiaclemency.blogstream.com
Much like a modern day David and Goliath, Jones has taken on a battle many see as impossible, impracticable, and improbable. That California prisons are overcrowded due in no less part to a staggering bureaucracy and the "Three Strikes Law." Jones is motivated by things he learned by just living an average life. "I once saw a man get stabbed and I knew he was a goner based on the amount of blood he lost at the scene. I later found out that the reason the paramedics continued to work on him was because they 'felt a very faint heart beat.' He lived. And that's how I live to help others. If I detect a very faint heart beat in an ex-con I will never give up on that person." But don't think Jones is naive to the point of creating a "get out of jail free card" for those bent on committing crimes.
A former Bible study teacher to juvenile offenders in San Francisco from 1983 to 1993, Jones recalls one of his statements he used on repeat offenders. "Call me crazy but God will give up on me before I give up on you." He says, "The weapon of choice for most criminals is excuses. And if you disarm them of that weapon you have a real chance of turning a life around. I disarm them by paying little attention to the zillions of excuses."
Jones views all the talk about "career criminals" as a myth. "There is no such thing as a career criminal." He says, "People reoffend because they aren't getting the proper help they need to get on track. Not because they like beating old ladies over the head just so they can go back to prison." He shook his head when a released frustrated parolee told him he was released from prison, given $200.00 and told as a condition of his parole that he cannot leave the city of San Francisco, one of the most expensive places to live in the state. "What are the chances on starting a new 'career' with a restriction like that?
CONTACT:
Allen Jones
jones-allen@att.net
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