UBB Special Spotlight

Clarence speaking at our State of the Community: The Future of Prisons panel discussion

Clarence Carhee is currently incarcerated at the Monroe Correctional Center. He is a youth advocate who coached AAU Basketball for Seattle's Best Basketball Academy (SBBA), founded a youth league for 6-9-year-olds at Rainier Beach Community Center (South Shore), and ran an after-school enrichment program at the YMCA. Clarence's stated mission in life is to "change the lives of countless youth." To that end, he plans on founding his own youth center based on education and the arts when he is released.

Back in October, Clarence recently spoke at our State of the Community: The Future of Prisons, a panel discussion on transformative and restorative justice at MSU. Clarence's speech highlighted his experience in prison, how the criminal justice system needs to change dramatically, and how those changes can positively affect the juvenile offenders and children.

Here's a blurb from Clarence's speech:

"Children are our most valuable possession and our greatest potential resource. The criminal justice system must be predicted upon a plan for the maximal development of all youth and not the total destruction of their future and their future generations."

Clarence also shared with us and everyone about how he would want to change the criminal justice system:

"It is my goal to start a deferral program for juvenile offenders. A program that will give them a real chance. A chance to not have a criminal record, a chance for educational advancement, a chance for socialization, a chance for counseling and/or treatment, and a chance for employment."

We are so honored to have had Clarence as one of our guest speakers at our State of the Community event. We enjoyed listening to Clarence's inspiring words about the importance of prison education reform, and his passion for social justice. We admire his plans after being released from prison, in establishing his own youth center in promoting the arts and education.