Episode 50: Richie Reseda on teaching feminism to reduce recidivism

On this episode of en(gender)ed, our guest is Richie Reseda, also known as Richard Edmond-Vargas, an artist, activist, and entrepreneur.  Richie was formerly incarcerated and his experiences were featured in the CNN documentary, The Feminist on Cellblock Y. In the film, Richie is depicted using the texts of black feminist, bell hooks, to lead group lessons on patriarchy and toxic masculinity.  Richie’s work came out of a collaboration with Charles Berry which started in 2013 to educate other incarcerated men and launched in February 2014 under the name, “Success Stories.” We speak to Richie today about his experiences developing the curriculum, its success, and the Success Stories non-profit that he founded which has secured partial funding from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to support this work towards establishing a national presence in reducing recidivism.

During our conversation, Richie and I reference the following resources:

• Mark-Anthony Johnson and Patrisse Cullors, Richie's mentors
• An example of bail reform that failed a victim of domestic violence
• The impact of criminal justice reform in Cook County, Chicago in domestic violence cases
• Restorative Justice and its applicability in domestic violence cases
• Criminalization of Coercive Control in NYS and the Victim's Voice Survey
• Project Nia in NYC

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