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Just as misalignment of the spine causes pain for a person,
misalignment of the entire basis of the current Justice System causes pain for The People.
These two truths have inspired the Backbone of Justice Project for Probation Reform.

It is because of mis-aligned "justice" system processes and procedures that
that probation officer has the (corrupted) power to exert choices on behalf of another
person against their will, leading to bodily pain and longstanding, preventable harm.
Society generally deems it psychopathic to exert a pain-causing, harming force
over another person. And at times criminal. Why is the system not held accountable?

There exists wisdom in the human body which can serve as inspiration
for how we construct our human systems.
Take the BACKBONE as metaphor for the functioning of our social systems.

Being out of alignment with a healthy natural order causes pain, gripping and rigidity.
Weakness in the overall system ensues from aspects that are under-functioning.
Exhaustion sinks in from aspects of overcompensation, immobility leads to degeneration,
and restrictions lead to learned helplessness.

This is the way, more or less, we have been living as a humanity.
We have generated a world of such imbalance.
A world we could say is out of alignment with the truth of our deeper human-kindness.
Just like a backbone, this can be adjusted. We can restore our posture as a human family.
As planetary kin all sharing one Home.

Our bodies and the body of our human systems need support to go along with
any correction taken at the most excruciating parts along the journey.
Healing is possible.
It’s the most precious gift that flows through us and flows through the whole world.

We can look to the healing process of the body of the human, as well as how the
body of our Mother Earth keeps complex living systems in balance and harmony.
And that wisdom can guide us for how to re-align the body of our human systems.
Healing IS possible.

In order to heal, we must look at the pain as well as the impingements causing the pain.
We must understand the principles which support healing of the most pained places
and the overall system, compared to principles that lead to degeneration.

OUT OF BALANCE CONDITIONS OF CURRENT JUSTICE SYSTEM

THE FACT THAT probation officers are sanctioned by "the system" to make decisions in total absence of sufficient expertise in a variety of the decision areas in which they exert their authority, such as having no medical knowledge, yet making decisions on how and with what urgency people are permitted to access medical care... IS AN OUT OF BALANCE CONDITION.

THE FACT THAT probation officers can impose life-altering decisions on people, despite a glaring lack of knowledge of the actual life circumstances of the overextended number people on their caseloads, and that this way of operating prevents people on probation from being able to freely make sound choices and taking reasonable actions in the best interest of their medical, familial, relational, residential, occupational, financial, physical, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing, and there is nobody for such an affected person to turn to in order to get another, more reasonably informed opinion... IS AN OUT OF BALANCE CONDITION.

THE FACT THAT our governmental systems have unchecked authority - and a documented track record - to do more harm to an individual during or following incarceration than that individual has ever done to any other person or to society... IS AN OUT OF BALANCE CONDITION.

THE FACT THAT probation officers are not knowledgable nor invested in best practices for child development or resiliency-building in the aftermath of having a parent serve prison time; and, that they are often ignorant and uncaring or willfully reckless about the situations that the limiting conditions of probation impose on children of families affected by shortcomings of the criminal justice system; yet, they have power concentrated almost entirely in their hands to determine the fates of children and families for timeframes of YEARS, even during sensitive developmental windows for children of justice-system impacted parents who might flourish in parenting without restrictions... IS AN OUT OF BALANCE CONDITION.

RE-BALANCING THE PROBATION SYSTEM

The Backbone of Justice Project seeks to change the predicament
of people on probation having their lives hindered or harmed by having to comply
with the limiting decisions imposed by probation officers who often lack the expertise or direct knowledge of the actual life circumstances and humane needs of the people caught up in the broken post-incarceration system by focusing on five main advocacy endeavors:

1) ADDING MULTIDISCIPLINARY ADVISORY BOARDS
to every probation district, to transfer the currently inappropriate social authority concerning reintegration needs of each person on probation from a probation officer to a more holistic and informed body of experts who can better discern individual circumstances and advise the courts accordingly.

2) ESTABLISHING A PROCESS FOR PEOPLE ON PROBATION TO SEEK ADVOCACY
through these Multidisciplinary Advisory Boards to assure that individual, family, and community safety needs are tended to, particularly to ensure they have someone to reach out to if their medical needs and basic human needs are being harmed by the system itself.

3) GRANTING THESE MULTIDISCIPLINARY ADVISORY BOARDS A VOICE
with the judge, in place of the current role probation officers play, in making recommendations regarding access to medical care and other important quality-of-life factors related to reintegration, probation status, consequences of administrative violations, or requests for early termination of probation or supervised release.

4) EXPANDING 6TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS
by extending the right to the appointment of counsel by a public defender to those incarcerated or on probation, as a continuation of the Right to Representation beyond trial and through the entirety of any sentence to be served, to reduce violations of 8th Amendment Rights during imprisonment and probation going unchecked by the Justice System.

5) INCREASING PUBLIC EMPATHY REGARDING CRACKS IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
by using Empathy-Building Tools in an Awareness Campaign aimed at the general public, policy-makers, justice-system officials and employees, and members of health and public health and social service fields, regarding the pain suffered over the violation or neglect of essential and basic human needs for people involved in the prison and probations systems, along with their families, particularly their children who are considered by researchers and writers even in the US Department of Justice itself as "hidden victims of the criminal justice system who are neither acknowledged nor given a platform to be heard." *

* https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/hidden-consequences-impact-incarceration-dependent-children

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Backbone Wisdom as clues for transforming justice:

All is interconnected

Pain is a survival gift in that it is an alarm or signal to get our attention.

If something is off in one part of a system, it signals to places it touches to spread the signal.

The presence of pain in the system is the signal that there is something out of alignment.

Without realigning the rigid structures of the system, the pain will continue.

Proper adjustments can remedy the misalignment.

Improper adjustments lead to worsening misalignments and continuing pain.

Approaching the pain with anesthetizing strategies only leads to numbing, not healing.

Capacity to feel is necessary to be able to detect if something is out of place in a system.

Soft-tissues supporting the more rigid structures are of equal importance in stabilization.

Structures such as bones are to protect vulnerable nervous system tissues from injury.

But if bone is digging into the nerves rather than protecting them, pain flares.

A healthy spine and upright body loaded with weight experiences pressure, not pain.

With more severe and chronic the misalignment more care is usually needed for change.

Rehabilitation takes a skilled approach in order to be effective.

Limiting mobility leads to downward spirals in functioning.

Restoring mobility leads to healing in tissues and the overall function of the whole body.

Healing takes time.

As we take the metaphor of The Backbone into this Social Justice work towards
such a big visionary dream of realigning our civilization, we find wisdom in starting
with the most painful places and realigning the entire system based upon principles
for healing, such as having a proper foundation, restoring mobility, building on
the strengths we have, supporting flexibility, and reducing systemic inflammation.

Undeniably, the greatest pains to be found within the current workings of the
so-called "justice" system are when people give up their lives, irreversibly.
If we are to refrain from looking away at the painful out-of-balance conditions,
in order to effect change within the most excrutiating aspects of our culture,
we must acknowledge the high rates of suicide amongst people on probation.
For women in particular, these realities and numbers ought to shake us awake into
re-humanizing efforts, to spare life itself from being tragically lost.

Click Link below to bravely read on in this examination of the most painful places...

Please consider supporting these efforts to help us make certain that the
current punitive orientation of the probation system becomes a thing of the past,
paving an emerging future for rehabilitative, regenerative, restorative modes of justice.

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