"Hey Don't Forget Me": From Incarceration to Transformation

Testimony: From Incarceration to Transformation

Dr. Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 1997 with a Master's Degree in Counseling and 2001 with a Doctorate of Education. He worked in the fields of education, addiction, mental health, and criminal justice for the past 25 years helping individuals and families overcome life's toughest challenges. He has worked with individuals who are incarcerated, homeless, mentally ill, and with young adults on the front lines of the national opioid crisis. He knows first-hand the devastation addiction and incarceration can have on everyone in the family and our communities. By overcoming addiction and incarceration himself, he is well known as a professional who goes the extra mile to help people who need a second chance in life!

For over 25 years, Dr. Gregory worked tirelessly helping others overcome severe problems with homelessness, addiction, neglect and abuse, and mental health disorders. As stated by one of his colleagues, “Dr. Gregory has always been extremely well respected due to his professionalism, dedication to the filed, and his strong sense of ethics and values within the community”. Because of his state-wide reputation of helping treatment centers comply with all state licensing standards and implement evidence-based addiction treatment practices, he was referred to serve as a consultant to an Addiction Treatment Center in the spring of 2015.

As a consultant, his job was to ensure the agency was in full compliance with the Department of Children and Family’s licensing standards and best practices for substance abuse providers. After meeting with the owner, he was offered an opportunity to run two addiction treatment centers. While challenging, this job offer was an opportunity to help young men and women and their families overcome one of the most devastating addictions. After passing the DCF audit which kept the facility open, Dr. Gregory worked day and night to save lives and implement evidence-based addiction treatment practices at this facility.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of regulation and oversight by the state and some “bad actors,” some of the treatment centers in Florida were engaging in fraud, abuse, and corrupt treatment practices. Dr. Gregory worked to ensure that everything done at this treatment center complied with all DCF licensing standards and best practices. He interviewed patients and staff to question and train them, updated all clinical documentation, provided evidence-based individual and group therapy, conducted weekly parent-phone education, trained halfway house owners, reviewed charts and met daily with staff. He even made the owner go to an attorney to ensure he complied with all healthcare laws. Unfortunately, his boss was secretly involved in despicable and reprehensible practices that eventually resulted in a federal criminal investigation of the facility.

Dr. Gregory states he was not aware and never involved in any of the despicable practices of his boss and others, but made a bad decision accepting the initial job offer. He admits instead of trying to fix the problems, he should have quit sooner. After working for the treatment center for just 6 months he resigned because it became clear the owner was not willing to follow clear evidence-based treatment guidelines and best practices. Trying to do the “right thing to save lives” resulted in him receiving a 38-month felony conviction and sentence in a low-security federal prison. Doing a good job as a trained professional at the treatment center was viewed by the government as enabling the conspiracy. Because of the trial penalty, he chose to plead guilty instead of putting his family through a nightmare and a possible longer sentence. He had to accept overzealous newspapers and other media making inaccurate statements about his involvement ruining his reputation and his career. Dr. Gregory learned a lot about our criminal injustice system especially for people of color.?

From the day the FBI knocked on the door, until the day he was released from the Bureau of Prisons (BOB), Dr. Gregory has accepted responsibility for his actions, expressed regret, and committed himself to change his life for the better. Thankfully, his family and friends have provided unconditional love and support and have helped him transition back into society.

Behind the razor walls and dark cells of the prison, Dr. Gregory began a challenging new chapter in his life. He has never been involved in the criminal justice system or been in a prison or jail. Determined to survive and make the best of a bad situation, he dedicated his time to working on himself, his recovery, helping other inmates and to God.

While adjusting to the everyday challenges of prison life, he got a job as an instructor in the Bureau of Prison's Department of Education to help other inmates learn new skills to better prepare themselves for jobs on the outside. He taught business courses and a custodial maintenance program where inmates were able to get certified and get hands-on training. He also was trained and volunteered to work in the suicide prevention program helping at-risk inmates. He ran groups for the psychology department, started a Friday evening AA group, and went to church regularly.

To earn extra money, he cleaned other inmates' rooms for $3.50 per room and he ironed inmate uniforms to survive. He credits family and God for helping him through his time in prison and admits this challenging experience deepened his faith and belief in the need for better rehabilitation and criminal justice reform. Daily exercise, prayer, recovery meetings, and reading books kept him focused on his goal of staying positive while incarcerated. Making just $40 per month, he always made sure he had money to pay for daily phone calls and emails to his wife who helped support him the entire time he was in prison. His incarceration almost destroyed his wife who has been disabled all her life.

Upon release from Federal Prison, he entered the Salvation Army’s Federal Re-Entry Center. The staff provided support and encouragement. Dr. Gregory was one of the first in the country to benefit from the First Step Act and was released early to home-confinement to better help his family. Still, he experienced first-hand the overwhelming challenges and stress of finding and keeping a job, reuniting with family, paying bills, and coping with the many barriers inmates face upon reentry. The only way to get a job as a felon is if someone will give you a second chance.

He admits that serving time was hard, but it was much harder for his wife and family who stuck by his side. People on the outside don't always understand the "insanity" of being involved with the criminal justice system or life in jail or prison. Like a veteran coming back from war, for people returning home after years of incarceration, the adjustment can be extremely difficult. Without the tools, skills, and opportunities many inmates return to prison. He learned first-hand in prison that we need to do a better job of preparing people for reentry. Prison and jails are a place where we need to provide more rehabilitation.?

As a result of being in prison, Dr. Gregory has decided to devote the remainder of his career to criminal justice reform. Returning citizens and families don't need more barriers and obstacles they need opportunities. They must be accountable for their actions but need forgiveness and second chances if they are going to become productive members of society. People are 10 times better than their worse mistakes. God forgives and gives multiple chances.?

Today he is focused on providing training courses for criminal justice professionals and organizations and helps to support the advancement of evidence-based practices. His recovery and time in prison have given him first-hand experience and understanding of how to help reduce recidivism and promote safer communities. As he left prison one of the inmates with a 40-year sentence for marijuana-related charges said, “Hey don’t forget me”. One way not to forget is by supporting criminal justice reform for the millions of people of color who have been incarcerated in our country who need a second chance! The children and families of incarcerated parents also need tremendous support and love!

Regards,?

Dr. Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA