The Toughest Love for Nearly 50 Years, the Delancey Street Foundation Has Offered an Alternative to Prison
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Dedicated to the memory of Kent Russell Prison Legal News PUBLISHED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER VOL. 31 No. 10 October 2020 ISSN 1075-7678 Dedicated to Protecting Human Rights The Toughest Love For Nearly 50 Years, the Delancey Street Foundation Has Offered an Alternative to Prison. But Does the Celebrated Program Really Work? by Julia Lurie, Mother Jones he headquarters of the Delancey On a third-floor wall hang dozens of locations nationwide and more than $119 TStreet Foundation occupies a piece of framed photos of “hot shots who like us”—a million in the bank. Delancey’s facilities prime real estate near the base of San Fran- who’s who of California’s Democratic elite defy the stereotype of a gloomy halfway cisco’s Bay Bridge, tucked between luxury and celebrities of a certain vintage, posing house: There’s a Mission-style former hotel condominiums and ritzy waterfront eater- with Delancey’s co-founder and CEO, in Los Angeles, a ranch in New Mexico, ies. The 400,000-square-foot, four-story Mimi Silbert. With her big auburn hair and and a turreted manor in New York. Resi- complex looks like a Disneyfied Mediterra- infectious smile, she’s pictured with Hillary dents, most of whom live in the California nean villa, with red tile roofs, flower boxes, and Bill Clinton, Kamala Harris, former facilities, stay for a minimum of two years and sun-filled windows overlooking the Mayor Willie Brown, Colin Powell, Tony while working for—and eventually man- bustling waterfront. Inside are 177 dorms, a Blair, Clint Eastwood, and Jane Fonda. The aging—the program’s many enterprises, pool, a movie theater, and an unpretentious grip-and-grins are a tribute to Delancey’s which include moving companies, catering restaurant known as a hangout for local reputation as one of the nation’s highest- services, and bustling eateries. The program dignitaries. Rep. Nancy Pelosi described profile self-help organizations, known for is predominantly funded by profit from its the facility as “the living room of the city.” bringing countless lives back from the brink. businesses; residents receive free room and The photos are also a testament to board. During the holiday season, Delancey the 78-year-old Silbert’s influence. Pelosi runs dozens of Christmas tree lots, inviting INSIDE has likened Silbert to Mother Teresa and customers to “Buy A Tree Save A Life!!” recently called her “the queen of redemption Over nearly half a century, more than From the Editor 14 in all of America.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein 23,000 people have completed the program. COVID: Overcrowding in PA Leads to Outbreak 16 once urged “anyone, anywhere in the United Yet as Delancey has become a beloved States that has an interest in replicating a fixture in San Francisco and a model for NY: Female Prisoners Accuse Jail of Discrimination 20 program to rehabilitate American drug ad- rehabs and prison diversion programs House Passes Bill to Protect Attorney-Client Emails 22 dicts that works to go to San Francisco, to around the world, it has been subject to call Mimi Silbert.” California Gov. Gavin little oversight or scrutiny. Interviews with Private Prisons Lose Critical Financial Support 24 Newsom became close with Silbert during dozens of Delancey graduates, lawyers, MI: $80 Million Settlement Over Juvenile Sex Abuse 28 his own efforts to get sober more than a de- judges, and criminologists paint a picture cade ago. “I never went to rehab,” he told the of an eccentric program with a number of Criminal Justice: Trump v. Biden 32 San Francisco Chronicle. “I went to Mimi.” long-standing practices that are rarely dis- CA: Psychiatrists Decline Prison Work Even for 300K 38 Delancey is a bit like a kibbutz where cussed in public. New participants are cut people go instead of prison. With the excep- off from the outside world and required to CA: Lawsuit by Mother of Decapitated Prisoner 42 tion of Silbert, the program is run entirely spend hours doing monotonous jobs. They 11th Circuit: Ex-Felons in FL Must Pay Fines to Vote 46 by people recovering from addiction, and must participate in “Games,” in which they former prisoners, nearly all of whom were receive and dish out intense criticism, often GA Jail Settles Opioid Withdrawal Death for 420K 52 sent to the program by judges as an alterna- in the form of yelling and cursing. Until a Lawsuit Over TX Prisoner’s Death Can Proceed 60 tive to incarceration or as part of probation few years ago, residents were required to or parole. Since it was founded in a cramped stay awake for two-day sessions; sometimes News in Brief 62 apartment in the early ’70s, it has grown those who nodded off were awoken with a into an operation with 1,000 residents in six spritz of water. They work long hours for Prison Education Guide $49.95 Christopher Zoukis ISBN: 978-0-9819385-3-0 • Paperback, 269 pages Prison Education Guide is the most comprehensive guide to correspondence programs for prisoners available today. This exceptional book provides the reader with step by step instructions to find the right educational program, enroll in courses, and complete classes to meet their academic goals. This book is an invaluable reentry tool for pris- oners who seek to further their education while incarcerated and to help them prepare for life and work following their release. 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Address _______________________________________________________________ City _____________________________________ State _____ Zip _______________ Prison Legal News PO Box 1151 • Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460 Dedicated to Protecting Human Rights Tel 561-360-2523 • www.prisonlegalnews.org October 2020 2 Prison Legal News The Toughest Love (cont.) waterfront headquarters, where she lives. Prison Legal News “Drop out of school? They all dropped out a publication of the of school for the most part. Violent? We Human Rights Defense Center no pay, sometimes at events for the politi- go for violent people instead of just taking www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org cians who praise the program. Delancey somebody who just made a mistake. We’re doesn’t offer mental health services and it happy to take them. They too can change.” EDITOR Paul Wright forbids psychiatric medications. In private Yet Delancey’s critics say it’s often pre- conversations, some public defenders in sented as the only alternative to prison for MANAGING EDITOR Ken Silverstein San Francisco liken the program to a cult. people facing long sentences. “Delancey’s EDITORIAL ASSISTANT There is loads of anecdotal evidence of considered the be-all and end-all: If you Betty Nelander the program’s successes, but there is little can’t make it there, then you don’t deserve COLUMNISTS scientific evidence to support Delancey’s to be out any longer,” said Sangeeta Sinha, Michael Cohen, Mumia Abu-Jamal tough-love methods, some of which were who was an attorney in the San Francisco CONTRIBUTING WRITERS inherited from the notorious rehab group Public Defender’s Office for 15 years, until Anthony Accurso, Douglas Ankney, Synanon. Even though nearly all of Delanc- 2017. In 2006, her client Leyon Barner Bill Barton, Kevin Bliss, ey’s residents come through the criminal was sent to Delancey in lieu of a long sen- Dale Chappell, Matthew Clarke, justice system, no state or local agency tence. Barner buckled under the program’s Michael Fortino, Derek Gilna, oversees the program, and its recidivism relentless demands. “You have isolation, Scott Grammer, Ed Lyon, Chad Marks, David Reutter, rates haven’t been studied in three decades.