The Victimization to Prison Pipeline

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas sits down with Sommer Alexander, Texas Chapter Coordinator for TimeDone and a Reentry Peer Support Specialist with the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Drawing from her own lived experience with victimization, incarceration, and reentry, Sommer shares how gaps in support for survivors can too often become pathways into criminalization—what is known as the victimization to prison pipeline. Sommer reflects on surviving a violent stabbing, navigating homelessness, and witnessing how survivors with records are routinely denied care, compensation, and recognition. She discusses how these failures played out for her partner and for countless Texans—more than nine million people—living with old records that block access to housing, employment, and safety. From record-expungement events to community education and chapter-building, Sommer offers a grounded look at how system-impacted people are organizing to reclaim their futures. Together, Sommer and Aswad explore what real community safety looks like beyond incarceration, why most harm happens between people who know each other, and how trauma care, mediation, and economic stability can prevent violence before it happens.

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Avsnitt(30)

Cycles of Peace

For more than three decades, Chaplain Clementina Chéry has worked to transform how communities respond to homicide, grief, and violence. After her 15-year-old son, Louis D. Brown, was killed in 1993, ...

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Healing Inherited Trauma

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas sits down with trauma-informed life coach, author, and advocate Priscilla María Gutiérrez to explore the lifelong impact of generational tra...

16 Sep 35min

The Power of Choice

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas speaks with Marlee Liss—survivor, restorative justice advocate, somatic educator, and founder of Survivors 4 Justice Reform. After becoming ...

6 Maj 38min

Architects of Healing

In this episode of the Crime Survivors Speak podcast, host Aswad Thomas sits down with Juan Pablo Chavez, Organizing Director at Crime Survivors Speak and a longtime community organizer whose work bri...

4 Feb 27min

Reimagining Justice

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, Aswad Thomas sits down with restorative justice leader Ghani Songster, who spent 30 years in prison after being sentenced to life without parole as a teenager...

1 Dec 202542min

Healing is Not a Solo Act

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, Aswad Thomas sits down with California-based advocate Enako Jefferson, a survivor, mentor, and co-CEO of the Jireh Shalom Foundation. Enako’s story is one of ...

13 Nov 202529min

Hands on Healing

In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, survivor advocate and community leader Elle Travis joins Aswad Thomas for a powerful conversation about survival, systemic failure, and the urgent need for ch...

2 Juli 202533min