Ed Kressy has come a long way since his days as a struggling meth addict, losing everything as he bounced in and out of jail. Through a long and winding journey, he was finally able to overcome his addiction, turn his life around, and fulfill his childhood dream of publishing a book (link below). Today, in addition to his writing, Ed is a speaker and volunteer whose work serves addicts and people with criminal histories.

Tragically, Ed's story is far from unique. Roughly 1 in 5 incarcerated people is locked up for a drug offense, with ~450,000 incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses at any given time (see: prisonpolicy.org). In this episode, we dig into:
- Ed's story about overcoming addiction
- What he hopes to accomplish with his new book ("My Addiction & Recovery")
- Tackling misconceptions around addiction
- The power of entrepreneurship to empower returning citizens
- Recommendations for those suffering from addiction today

Visit https://www.thereturningcitizen.org/ for more info

S2 E5 - Drug Crime & Addiction: One Man's Path to Success

We continue our interview with an Alabama prisoner about the end of a 10-day strike to protest severe overcrowding, poor living conditions and the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans slavery and servitude "except as a punishment for crime," thus sanctioning the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. We speak with Kinetik Justice, who joins us by phone from solitary confinement in Holman Correctional Facility and is co-founder of the Free Alabama Movement and one of the organizers of the strike, and with Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, founder and national president of The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS), a faith-based organization focusing on criminal justice reform and rehabilitation of repeat offenders. ||| Visit http://democracynow.org to watch the full daily news program, read the transcript, or search our  vast online archive. Livestream weekdays 8-9am ET. Follow Democracy Now! on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Google+ and Pinterest.

Part 2: Alabama Prison Strike Organizer Joins with Pastor to Achieve Criminal Justice Reform

Steven Teles is an associate professor of political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration." Mary Katharine Ham, senior writer at the Federalist, interviewed Teles about transpartisanship, the story of Texas's state criminal justice reform, and what the crime debate looks like in 2016.

In his book, Teles provides background on how the conservative party has changed their position on criminal justice reform, but also who influenced them in doing so. "The reason why Republicans start switching is that sense of disorder, at least where crime was concerned, went down. We had this absolutely gargantuan decrease in crime," he said. "That really created an opening for Republicans who for their own reasons wanted to change the party's position."

Emotional energy and the heat from the media covering crime stories over the last year forces conservatives into their corner Teles said. "What I worry about, especially on the police side, is there's a lot we can do to improve the quality of policing that also improves the treatment of African Americans and minorities," he said. "But it's hard to have that conversation when everyone is getting their tribal energy and emotion up."

Criminal Justice Reform and How Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration

The Returning Citizen is an inspirational storytelling platform for ex-offenders, their families, and allies.

S2 E5 - Drug Crime & Addiction: One Man's Path to Success

The Returning Citizen

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