Background Check Podcast

EP 46 ”Life After Addiction and Indictment” Steve Cloward

Show Summary: Jay Dan talks with Steve about his journey from opiate addiction, to prison, to where he is now. Read more about Steve below and check out his links to purchase his course programs. After getting sober from 14-year battle with opiate addiction, Steve found himself facing a federal indictment that sent him to prison. After he lost his freedom and was released, he realized he had also lost his identity, confidence and purpose and he wasn’t sure if he’d end up losing his 20-year marriage. Steve spent most of the past decade and over $100,000 on coaches, courses, events and masterminds searching to find out why his past kept popping up poisoning his future that held him back from reclaiming his life. Steve is a "serial entrepreneur” and has grown several businesses to seven figures over the past 20 years. Steve has a huge heart and is extremely loyal. Steve is a people person, great networker who loves to bring people together. Steve has top ranked podcast, Life After Addiction and Indictment to help those who continue to scream at their past and keep tripping over their future reclaim their life through entrepreneurship. Steve knows what It’s like to lose your confidence, have doors slammed in your face or lack the knowledge to chase your entrepreneurial dreams. Steve has the experience, knowledge and relationships to help you take control of your life and secure your future. After 24 years of "co-existing" in his marriage, Steve knows what it takes to create a happy and fulfilling relationship. Steve celebrates his 31-year anniversary later this year to his beautiful wife Ann. Together they have four boys and one girl, ages 16-28.  When he's not working, Steve loves to spend time with his family in Lake Powell, Sunday night game night, golfing, traveling, riding motorcycles with his four boys and creating memories. For Steve's website and other links please visit our show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 45 ”Volunteering in Prison” Mark and Tina Wage

Show Summary: Mark and Tina met by chance in a hallway and it was love at first sight. Then, Tina got invited to go to a closing for Kairos prison ministry and that led to a new love for both of them. It’s now been 16 years and they are more in love with prison ministry and each other, now more than ever. Today we do a background check on prison ministry volunteers, Mark and Tina Wage. Mark and Tina live in Gun Barrell City, TX by Cedar Creek Lake. Tina teaches a class at the Beto unit, Battlefield of the Mind, while Mark mentors and writes as many inmates as possible.  Mark and Tina share how they met, how they got started in prison ministry, and why they still do it. We talk about challenges along the way, how covid has affected their efforts, and how long they plan on serving.  For pics of Mark and Tina and info on how to become of prison volunteer, visit the show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 44 ”Second Look Bill Means A Second Chance” Deanna Luprete-Founder of Epicenter Ministries

Show Summary: In this episode, Jay Dan sits down with Deanna Luprete to talk about her work at Epicenter and the Second Look Bill. Deanna Luprete is the Founding Executive Director of The Epicenter Initiative and runs the Aftershock Reentry program for Second Lookers. A native Californian, Deanna relocated to Houston and most recently settled in Austin to have easier access to the Capitol and Second Look advocacy efforts. Deanna grew up in a household that was centered on restorative justice, as her father was a Los Angeles parole officer turned pastor.  She has been involved in Texas prison ministry since 2005. Little did she know that eight years later her son would become incarcerated in California. It was during his incarceration that Deanna began to understand how broken the criminal justice system is both in California and Texas.  Soon thereafter, she fully devoted herself to rehabilitative programs within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. While facilitating a program in 2016, Deanna met Chon Dimas, Jeremy Gartrell, and Jorge Vasquez. All three of them were given extreme sentences in adult prisons as children (now known as “Second Lookers”). Through these three Second Lookers, she became aware of 1,300 other individuals serving sentences they were given as children during the “Texas Tough” era. With a renewed sense of hope, she established The Epicenter Initiative with a small social media presence that quickly grew. In 2017, TEI had 100 members during the 85th legislative session for the introduction of SB 556/HB 1274. At that time, Deanna partnered with Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and Lone Star Justice Alliance to compile Second Looker stories for The Second Look Book. This publication was then introduced at The Second Look Summit in Austin in November of 2017. In 2019, TEI had 1,000 members for the introduction of SB 155/HB 256. Today, The Epicenter Initiative has 2,000 active members in the free world and 1,300 TDCJ residents that are diligently working to advocate for a “Second Look” be given to youth who are serving extreme sentences in adult prisons. Deanna is dedicated to educating and encouraging residents of TDCJ, as well as equipping and empowering those returning to society. For more information, links, and pics, please visit the show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 43 ”New Name Ministries” Jon Cordeiro

Show Summary: Jon is a dear friend and we plow in the same space of reentry. He's the Executive Director of New Name Ministries and has transitional, or transformational, homes in Fort Worth and Psalm 40 Ranch in Boyd, TX.  In these home and on the ranch, live are changed, recidivism is reduced to almost zero.  Pastor Jon is a graduate of Victory Bible Training School and former Graduate Peer Consultant for Supervised Community Treatment of Portland, Maine. His former volunteer activities have included being a volunteer chaplain at the Maine Correctional Center through Gideon's and long term involvement with the Sexual Violence Collaborative of Southern Maine.   Jon is ordained in the State of Texas through Apostolic Servant Ministries and provides education and consultations with churches and national organizations on issues of residential re-entry for offenders, policies and procedures for offenders in the church and public education presentations on " Offender Sense." Jon is currently on the Board of Directors of Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, and also on the National Admin Team of Reform Offenders Laws Inc. He has given testimony twice for civil commitment trials as an expert on offender reentry for the state of California. He is co-author of Unprecedented - How Offender Laws Are Impacting Our Nation. For the website information and more about Jon and New Name Ministries, and to see pics of Psalm 40 Ranch, visit our show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck   Address for New Name Ministries New Name Ministries PO Box 11694 Fort Worth, TX 76110

EP 42 ”FLIGHT, The Dance Of Freedom” Susan Slotnick and Jay Dan Gumm

Show Summary: In this episode, Jay Dan talks with Susan Slotnick. We talked about her teaching dance in prison and how it was birthed out of a painful experience in her life. Read more about Susan below and check out the links on our show page.  For the past 25 years, Susan Slotnick has gone behind the walls at correctional facilities every week to bring the joy of modern dance to incarcerated men and boys.  Her choreography dealt with serious themes geared to inspire audiences and students toward social justice activism.  Susan was born to a mother with a borderline personality and a distant autistic father; not the best nurturing environment for a gifted child, so she rebelled, flunked out of school, and befriended those her mother would have considered undesirables.  She basically lived a life completely at odds to the one that would have ordinarily been expected.  Early experiences showed Susan how difficult life was for so many and it instilled in her a passionate zeal to help the marginalized, the forgotten and the disenfranchised.  Her life work and dance company, named "Figures In Flight," has garnered much critical and professional acclaim. Numerous feature articles about her have appeared in dance magazines, she received the Dance Studio Magazine's "Caring Heart Award," celebrated for Women's History Month as Huffington Post's "Greatest Woman of The Day," featured in two radio documentaries and featured in the documentary "The Game Changer" that won Best Documentary Short at both the Harlem and Cannes film festivals. Susan is also the author of the book Flight: The Dance of Freedom.   See videos, paintings, and more at: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 41 ”Black History Month School Projects” Richard Miles, Jay Dan, and the Gumm Family

Show Summary: In this episode we honor Black History Month by talking about our daughter's school projects. Jessa did her project on Frederick Douglass, and Jessa did her's on Jackie Robinson. My wife and helped them so we learned a lot while doing the project with them.  We also have special guest Richard Miles from episode two and how his exoneration fits into black history as well.  For more information and to see pictures and links, please visit the show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 40 ”$750K To Keep Pigs Cool?” Casey Phillips with Texas Prisons Air-Conditioning Advocates

Show Summary: I thought we’d take a break from our love stories and share what’s going on in our Texas prisons as a result of the Winter Storm of 2021 and talk with Casey Phillips from Texas Prisons Air Conditioning Advocates (TPAA). But as we are talking, I realize that the reason she started TPAA was because of love for her husband. Since then it’s grown into a large group over 2600 members on social media. For the last three years Casey and others, advocate for air conditioning in our prisons. So many men and women die each year from heat exhaustion because there’s no air conditioning in most of the units. Casey talks about the AC in the units and we also talk about the rally’s they do where they set up a mock prison cell where people can sit in it and feel the actual heat the men and women feel in prison during the summer. She also talks about the bills they are working on. We also discuss the affects of covid on visitation and how lack of visitation has had an impact on the mental health of the inmates. We also throw a little Covid vaccination talk in there too. For pics and links to info please visit our show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 39 ”Our Valentines Love Story” Jay Dan, Jessamy, Jessa, and Jemma Gumm

Show Summary: Throughout February we will air love stories that have great redemptive power and where at least one of the persons have been impacted by addiction or incarceration.  Today's episode is Jay Dan and Jessamy's love story. They walk you through the ups and downs, challenges, and sweet moments since the day they began courting each other.  For more info and to see the proposal video, visit the show page at: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 38 ”Forgiven Felons Core Values” Jay Dan Gumm

Show Summary: Jay Dan share the core values of Forgiven Felons. Core values help us set goals, make decisions, and keep us on track instead of making decisions on emotions.  Forgiveness, Education, Love, Overcome, New Life, Serve.  To hear Jay Dan expound on these values and what they mean to the organization, listen to the full episode.  For more information please visit the show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck

EP 37 ”My Covid Chronicles” Jay Dan Gumm

Show Summary: Covid hit my family hard this time. Two days before I turned 50 I tested positive and my wife eventually did too. It was a hard time to trying to balance work from home for my wife, school for the kids, and the devastating affect it had on me.  I talk about my journey and what got me through it as well as how some of our men's experiences in prison.  To watch the videos and see the birthday pic please visit the show page: forgivenfelons.org/backgroundcheck