In this episode, Jay Dan sits down with Deanna Luprete to talk about her work at Epicenter and the Second Look Bill.
Deanna Luprete is the Founding Executive Director of The Epicenter Initiative and runs the Aftershock Reentry program for Second Lookers. A native Californian, Deanna relocated to Houston and most recently settled in Austin to have easier access to the Capitol and Second Look advocacy efforts. Deanna grew up in a household that was centered on restorative justice, as her father was a Los Angeles parole officer turned pastor.
She has been involved in Texas prison ministry since 2005. Little did she know that eight years later her son would become incarcerated in California. It was during his incarceration that Deanna began to understand how broken the criminal justice system is both in California and Texas.
Soon thereafter, she fully devoted herself to rehabilitative programs within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. While facilitating a program in 2016, Deanna met Chon Dimas, Jeremy Gartrell, and Jorge Vasquez. All three of them were given extreme sentences in adult prisons as children (now known as “Second Lookers”). Through these three Second Lookers, she became aware of 1,300 other individuals serving sentences they were given as children during the “Texas Tough” era.
With a renewed sense of hope, she established The Epicenter Initiative with a small social media presence that quickly grew. In 2017, TEI had 100 members during the 85th legislative session for the introduction of SB 556/HB 1274. At that time, Deanna partnered with Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and Lone Star Justice Alliance to compile Second Looker stories for The Second Look Book. This publication was then introduced at The Second Look Summit in Austin in November of 2017.
In 2019, TEI had 1,000 members for the introduction of SB 155/HB 256. Today, The Epicenter Initiative has 2,000 active members in the free world and 1,300 TDCJ residents that are diligently working to advocate for a “Second Look” be given to youth who are serving extreme sentences in adult prisons. Deanna is dedicated to educating and encouraging residents of TDCJ, as well as equipping and empowering those returning to society.
Memorable Quote: “I was shocked, that our society would take a child, and take their whole life away from them for a bad decision, or being charged with law of parties.” - Deanna Luprete
