Attica prisoners and guards | Peggy Vance, E. Nowak, Jemar Kelley & Donovan Jackson | TEDxAttica

Attica is definitely not known for teamwork between its prisoners and guards. However, this talk given by two incarcerated men and one correctional officer tells of a popular program at Attica where they work together to mentor and help at-risk youth. I am a photographer and letterpress printer living on a farm in upstate New York.
Shooting with film and printing in a dark room remain my favorite way to create photographs. My work is varied; I have shot weddings, in prisons, my family, home interiors, around the world and especially around this farm. I work primarily with a Leica M7 and a Holga. For events, including weddings, I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II as well.
I have been printing on a Chandler & Price for over two decades. The letterpress branch of Beech Tree is my effort to encourage handwritten communication for every occasion -- for gratitude, for congratulations, for mourning, for keeping in touch. The paper is usually from Italy but I recently began working with a heavier card stock. Collections change seasonally.
A correctional officer for 30 years, Mr. Nowak looks forward to working with his son as he begins his own career as a correctional officer at Attica. A whiz at everything automotive, Mr. Nowak enjoys building race cars and driving them and with his son fixing cars throughout their neighborhood. Mr. Nowak is a first lieutenant in his local fire department, where he works with the Boy Scouts of America Explorer Program. Here at Attica, he serves on the Fire Brigade Team, is an expert on SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus), a member of C.E.R.T. (Crisis Intervention Response Team), the Youth Assistance Program, and a certified drug tester for NARC. He has worked a locksmith fixing cells, doors, gates and locks and as a fabricator building objects for the facility from steel. In his spare time, Mr. Nowak loves to hunt and fish. Above all, he is devoted to his family and his wife of 31 years.
With much work, Jemar Kelley has left his negative influences behind. While in prison over the last 20 years, he has completed multiple substance abuse programs as well as aggression replacement training. He has learned to think in terms of intelligent options and consequences before deciding upon a course of action. He is a man who checks and constantly renews himself, realizing that life is a continuous growth process, requiring adjustment, ever evolving and changing. He is deeply committed to mentoring youth recognize their own negative behaviors to help them avoid making the same bad choices he made that will lead them down a road of poverty, incarceration, and or death.
At 42 years old, Jemar is the proud father of two intelligent daughters. His oldest is enrolled in college to be a medical assistant. His youngest has received acceptance letters from 18 colleges and graduated from high school with honors. She is enrolled in college to be a business administrator.
Donovan Jackson was raised by his preaching mother and teaching grandmother where church and school were mandatory. A well-known rebel, he embraced an opposite path in life where he majored in bad decisions and choices. When he got tenured at Attica, he made great strides to shake off all he learned at the university of knuckleheads. At 33, he now spends his time at Attica mentoring at-risk youth, counseling his peers, and spreading his infectious smile to others. He is devoted to his wife of 9 years and their four daughters. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@omoowobhd]

Great idea & I congratulate & encourage the participants of that program. HALLELUYAH!!!

[@martinlally2666]

Surely since these guys look well reformed they should be working with the youth before they end up in prison. Incarcerated for another 30 years seems madness. The American justice system is messed up it doesn't leave a chance for people to change.

[@melindasmith1507]

My Brother did a Great Job!

[@bdb3350]

Q) Why did the state cancel the youth deterrent program y writing no contact with inmates that POS law?
A) The state needs those at risk teens to become future inmates. After all, how else do you expect prisons to be over maximum capacity?

[@bigtimersclub]

Love ya kelly! Good man! Free my Fren! 🙏

[@scottcameron853]

Both guard and inmate are growing up in prison.

[@scottcameron853]

Both roles are crimes against humanity.

[@TheMoonEcat]

Peer education works. Why do I say peer? Because these guys have been there and the kids already headed down their road may be able to avoid making their mistakes. It won't help hearing from some counselor or some teacher that is perceived to not be where they been. The youth only pay attention to those they know have been there which is why programs like this should exist. We should try to save the youths from having the life inmates have and help them be good members of society.

[@Bigbankbee]

👏👏

[@idk-v]

its no way this youtube page has 39.7 million subs & everything being posted about jails has the least of the views something isn't right

[@mimisliveboutique3543]

Why do many of the prisoners there have sentences or 50 years?

[@elwandorowell4588]

Damn Nino you was made for public speaking 💪

[@justincarroll542]

Better solution don't do wrong attica prison is no joke people I went to school across Trax their

[@geoffreyshively6955]

What about the horrors of attica? The brutality, prisoners in solitary for years, the real skeletons in the closet?

[@deliacohen]

This talk is about a program where officers and inmates work together to help kids. Yes, despite the giant divide between officer and prisoner, these extraordinary individuals are managing to work together for a greater good.

[@scottcameron853]

Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes. Reliving trauma that you had no control over or part of is how you create prisoners.. or slaves..or citizens. It's a form of trauma based mind control.

[@Damesplace]

Dehlia, You should talk to me....You have no idea

[@Damesplace]

But Eddie is a good man and not the problem.

[@Damesplace]

I worked here for 15 years, Gaslit

[@richarahm.taylor3977]

I wanna cry

[@polvera777]

This was all for show.
It looks good and sounds good but you will never see the reality of prison. The men speaking know that and the men in the audience know it as well.

[@BenDover-bj5ly]

my sister was a guard at Attica years ago.... she told me some tales of some of the inmates and how they would try to con or game a guard.... she retired from there.. and went to Wi. and worked as a jailer there... until she retired permanently..A lot of my high school class mates were prison guards at Attica during the riots... I missed being a guard when my father forgot to call me and tell that the prison wanted to interview me in person.... I was p.o.ed. at my father... but, I think maybe he saved my life... I know that the guards who were killed during the riot were picked out to be killed by the inmates....There was a guard named Quinn as I recall, that was on the inmates hit list... he was one of the first to be executed by the inmates... he was used as a "battering ram" to get thru a door..I watched outside from a distance, as the State Police used helicopters to distract the hostage takers as they, the state police broke in the prison yard to free the hostages...

[@rhodie.]

Quinn wasn't executed by the inmates, he was beaten severely on the first day of the riot then was saved by other prisoners and was escorted out and taken to the hospital where he later passed.

[@Powerule23]

Quinn wasn't executed. He died as a result of being assaulted. Perhaps the end result is the same, but the intent for execution is absent.

[@Donmoore26]

I’ve been there with these same brothers I was serving an 3 to life off of that bid I did Ten years flat we do change yur sister probably was acting just like the rest of the co’s

[@dominickraimo2411]

This is why YAP is so important.