Carmelo Anthony has already been to Cuba as a part of Vice Sports’ Stay Melo series, and now in the most recent edition, Anthony decided to visit Rikers Island after hearing about the overwhelming amount of violence in the prison. More specifically, violence towards younger inmates.
Anthony didn’t just show up, make a quick generic speech and bolt, either. He took time to see the prison in full, and speak individually to many of the 18 to 21-year-old inmates to provide words of encouragement.
Carmelo said an in interview with Vice after his visit that since he grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, Red Hook, and Baltimore, he has experience with friends and family members ending up incarcerated, and that he wanted to speak to young prisoners because he believed they still have a chance to turn their lives around when they get out if they just got a little push in the right direction.
As you can see towards the end of the video, Carmelo was pretty affected by his visit as the prison was worse than he even imagined, and he told Vice he now believes that part of the solution is to ensure that non-violent offenders don’t get mixed in with those who commit more heinous crimes.
We need to do a better job making sure non-violent offenders don’t end up in the same prison situation as highly violent repeat criminals. And we need to make sure that incarceration leads to rehabilitation.
According to recent statistical analysis of the federal prison system, “almost three-fourths (72.1 percent) of federal prisoners are serving time for a non-violent offense and have no history of violence.”
Say what you will about him on the court, or his diligent adherence to his own personal brand off it, but Anthony is also trying to use his celebrity to improve people’s lives. Never is that more apparent than with this trip to Rikers. A trip, mind you, few other celebrity athletes would make.
(Vice)
