PHILLY’S GUN VIOLENCE SOLUTIONS ARE LOCKED UP IN PRISON WITH THE SOULS WHO RESEARCHED AND DESIGNED THEM
As of 8 June 2022, approximately 220 homicides by gun and approximately 997 nonfatal shootings have occurred in the City of Philadelphia, the fifth largest metropolitan area in the United States. The City’s police force is pulled helter skelter from one end of the city to the other end responding to homicides by gun and nonfatal shootings that occur daily. Resources are being stretched dangerously thin. Cacophonous cries for an end to gun violence reverberates through traumatized neighborhoods.. Where are the solutions? Solutions for the causative factors of gun violence are In prison. Locked up with the souls who designed them. One such soul is a model prisoner and inside-out Reentry, Criminal Justice Reform, and Social Justice Thought Leader James Muhammed Taylor (www.jamesmuhammedtaylor.com) at SCI Phoenix in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. To souls on the “inside”, he is a Mentor, Teacher, and Father Figure. For souls on the “outside”, Mr. Taylor is someone whom community stakeholders look to for solutions-based strategies to address the myriad of challenges that marginalize their communities. Challenges like gun violence, the “school-to-prison” pipeline, recidivism, street crime, and lack of access to positive male role models and legitimate real-life employment and career options for at-risk youths and young adults.
Mr. Taylor who celebrated his 80th birthday in December 2021, is serving his 51st year of a life without parole sentence, and recently filed a commutation application. Throughout his 51 years of incarceration, he has steadfastly transformed the lives of other incarcerated souls and positively enhanced his institutional environment. As one of the leading members of an “inside-out” Criminal Justice Reform, Reentry, and Social Justice think tank — SCI Phoenix LIFERS, Inc. (www.lifersincpa.org), Mr. Taylor created “People Advancing Reintegration” which was originally named “People Against Recidivism” to establish pathways to successful reintegration for formerly incarcerated souls. He designed and co-facilitated a successful 16–20 week curriculum — Day One Parole Preparation — — through which incarcerated souls learn effective personal leadership, external motivation, internal motivation, personal financial management, resumé development, how to create a Written Plan of Action, and are provided with job hunting skills and interview preparation skills. In 2016, Mr. Taylor’s vision — “People Advancing Reintegration” morphed into People Advancing Reintegration-Recycle Works (https://par-recycleworks.org), a 501(c)(3) non-profit electronics recycler with an annual revenue of US$1,000,000 in Philadelphia that employs Returning Citizens. James Muhammed Taylor’s expanded vision for People Advising Reintegration is a gun violence free, crime free, and business-driven Reentry Zone that will address gun violence, recidivism, the “school-to-prison” pipeline, and poverty by providing Returning Citizens with housing, jobs, vocational and entrepreneurial skills training, clothing, transportation, and food. At the same time, at risk youths and young adults who are the epicenter of gun violence in the City of Philadelphia will receive mentoring that will positively transform their decision making, mindset and behavior and vocational and entrepreneurial skill training through the Project Pipeline Prison To Youth/Reclaiming Their Lives As Men Initiative, a component of the Reentry Zone.
For decades, Mr. Taylor who serves as Chair of SCI Phoenix LIFERS, Inc.’s Commutation Committee along with his colleagues who are members of this nationally recognize “inside-out” Reentry, Criminal Justice Reform, and Social Justice think tank, have quietly researched, designed, and co-implemented solutions-based initiatives that positively impact the quality of life within communities they once inhabited. Mr. Taylor elaborates:
“So, who are the Men of Phoenix? What have we done? Let’s talk about some of the roles we have played. People Advancing Reintegration — PAR — as a self-help initiative, has dealt with reentry effectively for 30 years. It has produced a solid course for release preparation with PAR-Recycle Works (https://home.par-recycleworks.org) which is now providing jobs for our people upon release. We can expand job opportunities for Men within that business. It came from the prisoners of Phoenix representing the entire prison population of Pennsylvania! LIFERS, Inc. Seeking Parole Eligibility Through Legislative Change — it came from us! LIFERS, Inc. Public Safety Initiative’s (PSI) Mentoring Project for At-Risk Youth — the Men of Graterford — Phoenix did that. It came from us! The Fathers And Children Together Experience is a solid initiative addressing the needs of our children from a self-help perspective. We did that from the mindset of the Men in Phoenix. It came from us and can be greatly improved upon within the external business-driven Reentry Zone envisioned as a necessary public safety initiative. Real Street Talk has continually reached out to the young men entering the institution as potential foot soldiers against crime and gun violence in our neighborhoods with a mind towards business development. We did that! It came from the Men at Phoenix! Pipe Line To Prison Youth/Reclaiming Their Lives As Men provides participants with a full range of reentry support to get on their feet through direct action. The Men of Phoenix did that! It came from us! And then there is the Man Up initiative which advocates that we take a stand for doing the right thing for ourselves where we stand, right now, and upon our release being responsible for bettering the community. The training phase of our work is complete. It is time now to put these initiatives to work independently of each other, yet being compatible in service in the community within the business-driven Reentry Zone selected for West Philadelphia as a model of self-sufficiency. . This model will lead the way to future growth for the struggling poor of our community. Our initiatives represent a collective transformative movement, backed by direct action every step of the way. This idea has been shared with significant supporters on the outside who believe the business-driven Reentry Zone coming from us is needed in the community and would work.’
Mr. Taylor articulated his solutions-based initiatives that address many of the causative factors of gun violence in his role as a presenter and co-facilitator for the SCI Phoenix LIFERS, Inc. — Senior Policy Advisors Presidential Campaign Criminal Justice Reform Conference Call convened on 17 February 2020 with, among others, the National Policy Director for the Pete Buttigieg Campaign Presidential Campaign. Buttigieg now serves as the United States Secretary of Transportation under the Biden Administration. Taylor also presented solutions for resolving recidivism, street crime, and mass incarceration. The recipient of the Pennsylvania Prison Society’s Prisoner Of The Year Award, Mr. Taylor is the holder of an Associate Degree in Business and Accounting from the Pennsylvania Business Institute, Mr. Taylor served as a tutor in the Prison Literacy Project and completed a correspondence course in Short Story Writing offered by the Writer’s Digest School. During his incarceration, he was granted escorted leave twice — to receive “The Prisoner Of The Year Award” from The Pennsylvania Prison Society in recognition of his establishment of People Advancing Reintegration (https://home.par-recycleworks.org/) — and to speak at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences on behalf of Educating Children for Parenting (www.ecparenting.org). For nine (9) years, Mr. Taylor taught “Thresholds, A Problem-Solving & Decision Making Course”.
A problem solver who has amassed a body of written work and solutions-based initiatives that spans 51years, Mr. Taylor is equipped with well-honed communications, entrepreneurial, business management, and research skills. He is a man who arises each morning and greets each new day with one question: “What shall I create today?” For 49 years, he has created pathways for healing, redemption, and transformation for countless souls “on the onside”.
Imagine what Mr. Taylor and his colleagues who are serving life without parole sentences will do for the city they will return to — a city whose citizens are in desperate need of peace, healing, and transformation!
