Restoring Justice with Adnan Khan (Part 2)

American Muslim Project

Part 2 of our conversation with Adnan Khan, Executive Director of Re:Store Justice.

Early on, most of us are taught the binary concepts of good & evil and told what camp we fall into. As a teen, Adnan Khan found himself parentless, homeless, a dropout, and a victim of trauma, veering off the path of his little league days. After a robbery gone very wrong, where his schizophrenic acquaintance unexpectedly killed a man, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in maximum security prison. Under CA’s felony murder rule, a jury simply had to prove his intent to rob for Adnan to become liable for the murder, despite neither planning nor committing it. Because the court acted within the context of the law, an appeal was futile. So he changed the law. Adnan shares his remarkable fight against the system with AMP.

Adnan literally grew up “on the inside”; an inmate taught him to shave. He paints a picture for us of his fellow prisoners and how he kept from going crazy. He read voraciously, starting with Blood in My Eye, earned a degree, studied Islam, and created enduring relationships bound by pain and disadvantage. With the right resources, he began to investigate the history behind imprisonment. He created FIRSTWATCH, a filmmaking project exposing what really goes on. He chaired SQUIRES, deterring youth from making similar choices. And he started a nonprofit, Re:Store Justice, with a community organizer (now his wife). Meaning he advocated/fundraised/staffed secretly from the inside, even gluing fake covers to revolutionary books. Most importantly, he worked to change the felony murder rule. After 16 years he was the first re-sentenced and released under the new bill.

In all likelihood Adnan would still be in prison if he hadn’t advocated for himself. So he's continued with Re:Store Justice, offering survivor and offender resources and holding discussions between the two (sometimes they’re one and the same). Egregious crimes are committed and accountability is important, but so is individual context and system accountability. Instead of exposing those impacted by violence to even more violence in prison, money could go to housing/recovery/health initiatives.

We discuss the historical context behind 2+ million incarcerated, and how laws disproportionately affect youth, POC, and women. Yet the system isn’t broken, he says—it’s engineered to be this way. He introduces us to the school-to-prison pipeline and one-size-fits-all sentences. Policing and prison may be responses to crime rather than deterrents, and parole just a means to return to the system. What are the main reasons for rearrests? And what could have deterred him initially?

Finally, we cover the impending COVID crisis and science behind young offenders. Check out some positive changes in CA Senate Bills 260, 261, & AB1308. Listen to those impacted, learn why they harm, and respond appropriately. Then spread the word. Re:Store Justice and @akhan1437 will help you do this.

American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.

Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble

Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt

Music by Simon Hutchinson

Hosted by Asad Butt

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