CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM ADVOCATES JAMES LITKETT AND SHAWANNA VAUGHN MOVE POST-TRAUMATIC PRISON DISORDER INTO THE GLOBAL DIALOGUE ON REENTRY

Mr James Litkett

Ms. ShawannaVaughn

“ . . . For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it.

If only we're brave enough to be it. . . . “

Excerpted from “The Hill We Climb” (www.amazon.com) authored by National Poet Laureate< Ms. Amanda Gorman which she rendered on 20 January 2021 at the inauguration of the 46^th President of the United States The Honorable Joseph R. Biden,Jr.

         Mr. James Litkett and Ms. Shawanna Vaughn are two souls who exemplify the electrifying words excerpted from National Poet Laureate Ms. Amanda Gorman’s epic poem, “The Hill We Climb” which she delivered during the 20 January 2021 inaugural ceremony for the 46^th President of the United States The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.  Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder represents the  hill that approximately 10,000,000 incarcerated souls – Men, Women, and children – throughout our global village must climb during and after institutionalization.  Closer to home, in the United States, Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder represents an insurmountable hill to climb for 2.3 million incarcerated souls – Men, Women, and Children.  Yes, the United States incarcerates children – juveniles.  For the 600,000 incarcerated souls – Men, Women, and Children – released annually from American prisons, Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder is an invisible ball and chain they subliminally drag into their workplace, educational setting, homes, and interpersonal relationships with family members, loved ones, neighbors, and friends.   Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder is also the proverbial “elephant in the room” in the Global Dialogue on Reentry.

            Cognizant of the fact that Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder has plunged formerly incarcerated souls into the deep dark abyss of depression and is a causative factor of rising suicide and recidivism rates among Returning Citizens, Mr. Litkett and Ms. Vaughn have moved Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder into the Global Dialogue on Reentry.   Through their advocacy, Litkett and Vaughn are showing 10,000,000 souls languishing in prisons throughout our global village that “there is always light”.    Litkett and Vaughn are not only “brave enough to see the light”, but they are “brave enough to be the light” by going where others fear to tread.   Individually and collectively, they are vociferously advocating that all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated souls receive mandatory trauma-informed services –with all deliberate speed.   Why?  Do not believe those stories  you may have heard characterizing prison as merely being “just a ride down and a walk back.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Prison is pure and adulterated hell -- a spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally toxic and traumatic place..   Spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically toxic prison environments are not something that Mr. Litkett and Ms. Vaughn have read about in a book.  They have experienced it.  But their respective periods of incarceration do not define them.  Nor should it.

           So who are James Litkett and Shawanna Vaughn?  They are souls who have triumphed over adversity.  Much like the proverbial Phoenix, Litkett and Vaughn symbolize rebirth and renewal.  Mr. Litkett, a Revolutionary activist, Chaplain, and poet,  is the architect of a transformative initiative – Freeing Your Mind.  His initiative provides trauma informed care and cognitive behavior therapy that not only addresses trauma arising from years and decades of institutionalization, but also addresses traumatic childhood experiences.   The host of  a thought-provoking television series  We Rise:  Quest To Self-Determination aired on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (Channel 67) which featured luminaries such as film director and producer, award-winning actor, Civil Rights Activist and Co-Chair for Alliance of , Families for Justice (www.afipnyc.org) Mr. Danny Glover, Litkett is a Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor, holder of an Associated Arts degree in Psychology and Human Services from Marist College located in Poughkeepsie, New York, and an information technology professional with a skill set that encompasses nonprofit organizations, crisis intervention, case management, and DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). 

           “Logic and science is what I try to use to teach people how to better themselves and how to change their reaction to stress and outside influences. I not only look at what is currently going on in a person’s life, I also examine their childhood to determine if they experienced trauma in that stage of their life.  From time to time, I attend meetings with psychologists, psychiatrists, and public policy makers and I am bold and aggressive with my message.  The message I bring to the table is about the necessity for trauma-informed services and that trauma informed services will have an impact on psychological, spiritual, and emotional trauma,” Litkett explained. 

             Ms. Vaughn is the Founder and Director of New York-based Silent Cry, Inc. (https://silent cryinc.org).   Silent Cry, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that employs a holistic approach to providing resources for families of incarcerated souls and impoverished families and treatment that addresses trauma resulting from incarceration or street violence. Through Silent Cry, Inc., Vaughn works to educate legislators, mental health care professionals and providers and community stakeholders about Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder.  She is calling for all prison personnel to be trained in the basic core competencies of trauma-informed mental health care.  Vaughn is relentless in driving home the need for establishing and implementing comprehensive policies governing the provision of trauma-informed services to incarcerated souls, investments in behavioral health services that encompass screening, assessment, and clinical interventions for trauma, and making these service available on a post-release basis to souls who have been institutionalized.   Her relentless advocacy has morphed into political action that has taken the form of the introduction of historic legislation known as the “Post Traumatic Prison Disorder Shawanna W76337 Act”.  

           The historic legislation calls for the administering of mental health care to formerly incarcerated souls.  If passed by the New York State General Assembly, the legislation will mandate that New York State’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision develop individualized rehabilitation and accountability plans for every incarcerated soul that is released.  One of the key sponsors of Ms. Vaughn’s proposed legislation, Harlem State Senator The Honorable Brian Benjamin, had this to say about it during an interview conducted by Spectrum News NY1 (https://www.ny2.com/nyc/all-boroughs/Black-History-Month/2021/02/16/harlem-activist-brings-awareness-to-post-traumatic-prison-disorder-):

            "If we don’t help those who are hurting, we don’t help correct what’s going on -- when they transition back into society, we can end up starting the process all over again and we know that the recidivism rates are unacceptable,”

 

            Vaughn is a California native and the mother of two children.  She was born in prison and incarcerated at the age of 17. Her proposed legislation, “Post Traumatic Prison Disorder Shawanna W76337” is a comprehensive policy she crafted that addresses mental health reconstruction for children of incarcerated parents, inclusive to individuals requiring long term mental health reconstruction, with vendor therapies available to combat depression and suicide prevention. It is a policy that also offers a holistic approach to services rendered to formerly incarcerated souls.

 

         “America has a place for everything it does not want to face – prison..  If you have mental health needs, go to prison.  If you are poor, go to prison.  If you are Black, go to prison.  We experience trauma at birth.  I was born in Riverside, California, placed in foster care and no one ever stopped and said to me, ‘What happened to you?’  We seem to value cats and dogs more than we value humans, particularly black and brown human beings.  We are insensitive to humans  When it comes to trauma in this country, we are like the military:  ‘Don’t ask.  Don’t tell.’   What I am doing – the Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder legislation – is one drop in the bucket. I met a gentleman who told me he had spent twenty-five years in prison, and two years before they let him out – two years before he went home – they offered him mental health care.  He said, ‘What good is that going to do me when I have been here for twenty three years with no help – no therapy?’  Healing must start the moment you are snatched from your normal habitat --,” Ms. Vaughn remarked.

            “Actually, it should start when they put the handcuffs on you,” Mr. Litkett interjected.

         Mr. Litkett makes a very valid point when he surmises that healing, in the form of trauma-informed mental health services for incarcerated souls should begin the moment handcuffs are placed on them.  Being handcuffed is a very traumatic experience.  Let’s add on to that experience, years and decades of struggling to exist  in a psychologically, spiritually, and emotionally toxic environment where one may be witness to or a victim of unspeakable horrors.   This soul is not receiving trauma-informed mental health care.  It does not exist within the prison system.  Healing for this soul will more than likely not happen after he or she is released and returns to society.   So, what does the future hold for a soul who has deeply embedded psychological, spiritual, and emotional wounds which they incurred during their years or decades of institutionalization?

         :”If you mistreat, abuse, and humiliate someone who is on the inside, what do you think they will do when they are on the outside.  They are only going to do on the outside the things they have been taught on the inside.  The prison system does not correct anything.  COVID-19 has made the situation worse on the outside – especially in communities of color. There is limited funding.  There are no mental health centers available.  There are no community centers available.”

            James Litkett and Shawanna Vaughn are working relentlessly to ensure that the future for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated souls is about healing, becoming a whole soul, and learning to trust again, laugh again, and love again.  They are connecting the dots to healing and successful reentry as they move trauma-informed mental health for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated souls into the Global Dialogue on Reentry.  Want to know more about how they are creating pathways to trauma-informed healing for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated souls?  Send an e-mail to James Litkett at jlitkett@gmail.com and to Shawanna Vaughn at  silentcry.sv@gmail.com.