From Sex Offender to CEO: An Oral History of Criminalization, Redemption and System Reform

• In Event: Exploring Queer Stigma and Resilience

Abstract

Chrysanthi Leon is a professor who studies sex offender policy and the criminalization of the mentally ill; Allen Conover is a community leader who has lived it. Together, we write Allen's story to illustrate larger issues including: the experience of LGBT people in prison, victimization narratives, the criminalization of the poor and mentally ill, and specific topics such as the use of restraints, (over)medication in prison, solitary confinement and peer support. Allen was incarcerated as a teen for a sex offense against another boy. After lengthy institutionalization, back and forth between correctional and psychiatric settings, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After eventual release, Allen founded a peer-based program for people with mental illness experiencing homelessness. Despite early public outrage over a program run by a "registered sex offender" he has participated in numerous state-wide reforms. He was pardoned by the governor and removed from the sex offender registry. We use his story (including his psychiatric records and interviews with people involved), triangulated with Chrysanthi's independent research on state reforms to improve outcomes for mentally ill people in the criminal justice system, to highlight various intersections of criminalization, child welfare, and mental health.

Authors

• Chrysanthi Leon, University of Delaware

• Allen Conover, Rick Van Story Resource Center