Part II Celebrity Center International's 36th Anniversary Gala
Anonymous
From: Celebrity Magazine Issue 369 Oct 2005
Part II
REHABILITATION OF THE CRIMINAL
Mr. Jentzsch then retook the stage to introduce the third and final
speaker of the evening.
"Now, of course, hand in glove with criminality is immorality," he
began.
He talked about the criminal who has lost his sense of morals and just
doesn't care. While one could lock them away, the prison population
continues to grow, and while they don't necessarily affect us directly
- if even through taxes to keep them incarcerated, it does affect
everyone.
While a person could hold any view they wish as to the ethical and
moral implications of prison, Mr. Jentzsch pointed out there is one
fact that can't be avoided: "Rehabilitation hasn't been effective, and
if we don't do something, those prison rates will only climb."
He also stated there is a less seen yet more insidious byproduct of
immorality: racial prejudices, ethnic prejudices, national prejudices
and religious prejudices.
"Conflict isn't the road to peace," he stated. "And if we or others
are going to preach goodwill, and if any of us are going to be
righteous about it - then it's a fact that it begins by respecting the
beliefs of others - no matter if they aren't our own."
With that in mind, the Church sponsors and works to spread The Way to
Happiness, a non-religious moral code that guides one to learn the
virtues for oneself and the means to have kindness, compassion,
benevolence, forgiveness, love and respect for each other, without
invalidating the religious beliefs of anyone.
As its effectiveness increases with widespread distribution, the
Church sponsored the opening of the new Way to Happiness Foundation
headquarters.
"And so it stands on this night, this booklet is circulating from hand
to hand in 84 languages across 129 nations - to more than 64 million
people world over," Mr. Jentzsch said, summing up the massive
distribution. And while the work done distributing these booklets is
important, more to the immediate point is the booklet's role in
working to bring compassion where compassion seems all but lost - the
criminal.
The Church also sponsors a program that encompasses all that has been
gone over. It operates under the banner of Criminon, and it is
implemented virtually everywhere - from the maximum-security prisons
in South Africa, where after implementing our cell block
rehabilitation program, recidivism dropped to zero - to Indonesia,
where results are so spectacular that prison officials hold
graduations for thousands of inmates and are now implementing it
across every prison.
Closer to home, prisons received requests from well over 10,000
inmates, both juvenile and adult, to enroll in the Criminon program in
just the last year.
Thus it was fitting that the next speaker has also adopted the
Criminon program. He serves as the chairperson for the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges, but what really drives him is the
purpose to bring the opportunity of rehabilitation to others.
He brings a perspective to the fight against crime that most cannot
imagine, for he is also a supervisor of correctional education in one
of the largest prisons in the US - a maximum security facility with
more than 5,000 inmates.
"In more than a decade in the correctional education field, he has
established a reputation as an innovator committed to rehabilitation,
and for helping inmates gain the skills necessary for the day they are
released," Mr. Jentzsch said. "Please welcome Dr. Gary Goddard."
Dr. Goddard started off by pointing out that crime has become a normal
and even accepted part of everyday life. Unfortunately, people think
"that's just the way it is."
While the words correction and rehabilitation are used in everyday
speech throughout the field, in practice they have become all but
extinct. Criminals arc caught and locked up, and that's that.
"It has often been said that all that was being done was warehousing
inmates," Mr. Goddard stated. "And in a maximum-security prison,
warehousing can be taken pretty literally."
He went on to describe Secure Housing Units, commonly called SHU,
where inmates end up when they are a security threat to other
prisoners or staff, or generally creating all sorts of havoc in
prison.
They are locked up for most of the day in their cell. Weather
permitting, they get moved from their cells, in handcuffs, for
exercise - but this isn't every day! In order to allow for interaction
with others during the exercise period, the inmates are placed into
open-air cages, otherwise that's it for them - isolation.
"One night a few years ago, the warden called me at home and said,
'Gary, I really need some help'," Dr. Goddard said. "'We've got to get
these guys in SHU to stop killing themselves.'"
He then developed his own program to handle this, called "Out of the
Box of Negative Thinking" - anything and everything he could come up
with to give inmates some activity and some kind of motivation.
That's when he was introduced to Criminon, through a "lifer" doing the
new program. Dr. Goddard checked into it and immediately noticed that
this inmate was different. He was constantly tutoring his fellow
inmates, helping them, teaching them, handing out yellow Criminon
sign-up cards. It was a unique program, one that had come into the
prison on it's own and one whose chief disseminator was a lifer.
It dealt with literacy level and ability to study. It dealt with
drugs. It was entirely based on The Way to Happiness, and it opened
the door for a prisoner to inspect their own integrity and morals by
the simple fact that a person becomes a criminal the very moment he
loses that most precious personal commodity: self-respect.
"And this brings me back to that lifer who first brought the program
to my attention," said Dr. Goddard. "He had a terrible record in
prison - in fact he didn't even come to prison with a life sentence.
He got that due to crimes he committed once he was inside.
"Since starting the Criminon program, not only has he had a clean
record, he has signed up hundreds for the program using those yellow
cards, including his entire group of fellow lifers."
He went on to explain that this prisoner and dozens of his fellow
lifers have since been transferred to lower security prisons as a
result of their individual improved behavior and disciplinary records.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you we need to rename this
yellow card the Million Dollar Card, and I will tell you the reason
why," he exclaimed. "In California, we have a thing called the Three
Strikes Law. If someone has two previous felony convictions, on his
third conviction, he goes in for a mandatory 25 years to life."
Doing the calculations, at $40,000 a year, that can turn out to be at
least one million dollars per inmate.
"Now, think about what could happen if we got these yellow cards into
enough hands of enough inmates around the state and the nation," he
said. "Because the fact is, most of the inmates who are currently in
prison will be released."
According to Department of Justice statistics, 70 percent of those
released end up back in prison within three years - part of the reason
California has a 7.2-billion dollar budget for Corrections.
"We have no choice but to make rehabilitation a reality," he declared.
"That's why I'm a staunch advocate of Criminon - because it is
actually a doorway to a higher self-esteem... It actually works in an
offender's life to allow the individual to 'self-correct.'"
He explained that for this reason Criminon gets requests from inmates
at maximum security prisons every day, with thousands enrolled on the
program - many of them secure housing inmates.
"While I may be just one person in a single prison, it is one of the
toughest places in the country," he said. "That is why I never fail to
have a stack of your Million Dollar Yellow Cards for any inmate who
requests one.
"With Criminon's help, through the writings and vision of your
Founder, Mr. Hubbard, we can extend our reach with the promise that
together we can make this a better place for you, your kids and my
grandkids.
"So, instead of opening new prisons - we can start closing them."
He ended his speech by thanking the Church of Scientology and Mr.
Hubbard.
Mr. Jentzsch then came back on stage to conclude the evening's
speeches. He noted that while the Church works hard for what it
believes in, it's no accident that one doesn't always hear of it from
the press or otherwise. But regardless, Scientologists still do what
we do, because we care.
"We believe something can be done about it," he said. "We not only
consider it our responsibility to bring whatever help we can, we
consider it an honor and the greatest privilege in life - to help our
fellow man."
And with that, he invited all the guests to tour the Scientology
displays to find out more about what Scientology is, and the substance
that stands behind our effective solutions.
A CONCERT LIKE NO OTHER
With the speeches complete, the stage was quickly transformed for the
concert, which featured the Golden Era Musicians and guest performers.
Opening the concert was Mark Isham on the trumpet, followed by Holly
Palmer, Angelo Pagan, Wil Seabrook, Elena Roggero, Chick Corea with
Tommy Brechtlein on drums and Michael Bach on bass, Stacy Francis,
James Barbour and Isaac Hayes, who brought the crowd to its feet with
Theme From "Shaft."
After the concert, guests mingled on the grounds or went to the Garden
Pavilion, where the Rik Howard Band played live music. The dancing
went on until the wee hours of the morning.
All through the evening, displays throughout the grounds gave
additional data about the activities and programs of Scientology,
enlightening the attendees on what Scientology can do to improve
conditions in life.
As the attendees trickled out after the evening of celebration,
entertainment and enlightenment, each received materials for further
study of the answers Scientology provides, as well as the opportunity
to take advantage of the practical and workable technologies of
Scientology.
And while the celebration for this year is now over, Celebrity Centre
International is open every day, 365 days a year. The information
displays are available, as are tours. To find out more about
Scientology and the answers it provides, simply call, or better yet,
come to Celebrity Centre. Contact information is available on the
inside front cover of this magazine.
PHOTOS:
Top to bottom, left to right: Shannon Star Roberts, Kelly Hedden,
Maari Percy; Wil Seabrook; Tommy Brechtlein; James Barbour; Holly
Palmer; Mark Isham; Chick Corea; Angelo Pagan; the Golden Era
Musicians; Stacy Francis; Isaac Hayes; Elena Roggero.
Beck Hansen and Danny Masterson. Erika Christensen, Anne Archer and
Marisol Nichols. Billy Sheehan and Elizabetta Trezzi. Jennifer Aspen,
Sophia Banks and David O'Donnell. Marcus Green, Lean Remini and Edwina
Fox. Trae Carlson, Marian O'Brien and Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Nancy
Cartwright, Denice Duff and Lucy Murphy
Kelly Preston, John Travolta, Jenna Elfman, Sofia Milos and Bodhi
Elfman. Lynsey Bartilson and Rachel Miner. Rev. Solomon, Rev.
Alfreddie Johnson; Melvin "Kip" Holden, Mayor-President of the City of
Baton Rouge/East Baton Rouge Parish; and Jim Brewer. Caralyn Percy;
Adrian Dove, Chairman Congress of Racial Equality; Mrs. Joyce Dorn;
Roosevelt Dorn, Mayor of Inglewood; Ms. Renee Dorn. Dante Basco and
Tommy Savas. Back, I to r: Emily Liu, Stella Hsu, Tammy Wu, Eric Yao,
front I to r: Edwina Chen, Beatrice Lee, June Lo. Marion Ross, Tamra
and Jim Meskimen