![]() ![]() Most of them insisted that it was there when they were born. NBA players during All-Star weekend had a hard time pin pointing the time and place that they fell in love with the game of basketball. Caught between Chicago and Milwaukee, Racine provides plenty of fast food restaurants, gas stations, and yes, a cheese store.Īn oasis off of I-94, Racine, Wisconsin offers charm and history that few take time to visit or experience. All rights reserved.Racine, Wisconsin provides relief from thirst. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ![]() ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. "Just like momentum changes in a basketball game, you have to impose your will on a situation." "We were taught by two Hall of Fame coaches that when you are passionate about something, you have to find a way to create a wave and make that wave bigger and create a current," Butler said. She also started a social action campaign called Win With Justice that is designed to call attention to the power wielded by prosecutors and their obligation to use it responsibly.īutler said it's not a coincidence that Moore and others, such as former UConn player Renee Montgomery, are active in the push for social justice reform. Maya Moore left the WNBA to wage what became a successful fight to overturn the wrongful conviction of Jonathan Irons, who later became her husband. "That's the biggest problem around our prison systems is that often people have a hard time connecting with the humanity of incarcerated people."īutler is not the first former UConn star to advocate for criminal justice reform. "This is somebody people can connect with," she said. But there will now be a review process to ensure that isolation ends.īarbara Fair, the lead organizer for the Stop Solitary CT campaign, part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said that although thousands of people have horror stories about living in solitary confinement, it's important for someone as well known as Butler to step forward. But its supporters say it includes exceptions, such as allowing officers to isolate a prisoner when that is needed to protect someone's life. Opponents of the bill say it will take a tool away from guards that helps maintain discipline in prisons. They are going to come up with ways to rehabilitate that never dehumanize people." There's going to be change on the horizon. ![]() There's going to be elected officials out there in the future that's going to care about this community in real time. "Now I look back in hindsight and I want to tell my younger self to stay hopeful," he said. He turned his life around when he got out to the point that Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun saw something in him and offered him a scholarship.īutler went on to become the Big East Player of the Year in 2002 and spent 14 seasons in the NBA, where he now is an assistant coach with the Miami Heat.īut Butler, who is also a trustee at the Vera Institute for Justice, said he'll never forget what he endured in prison and is hoping that the Connecticut legislation will serve as an example for other states. It dehumanizes you."īutler said he believes he survived because of a strong family support system. "Mentally and spiritually, it takes away a lot. "Being in those four walls and those four corners, it does something to you," Butler said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said none of the violence or other trauma in his young life prepared him for the despair of that situation. He was 15 when he got into a fight in prison and was thrown into solitary, spending 23 hours a day isolated in a small cell for two weeks. He dealt drugs and was arrested more than a dozen times before spending more than a year in prison on drug possession and firearms charges. It comes as the state is closing its maximum-security Northern Correctional Institution, which was designed specifically to keep prisoners in isolation.īutler has been open about his struggles as a youth in Racine, Wisconsin. The bill, which requires that almost all inmates be allowed at least 6½ hours out of their cells and limits the use of certain restraints, received final legislative approval early Sunday. Ned Lamont to sign legislation that would strictly limit the use of solitary confinement and other forms of isolation in prisons. The former UConn star and NBA player went to Connecticut's state Capitol on Monday to ask Gov. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserįormer NBA player Caron Butler working to end solitary confinement in prisonsĬaron Butler can easily point to the lowest moment in his life - the days he spent as a teenager locked in a solitary confinement cell inside a juvenile prison. ![]()
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