‘A path was necessary’
Police reentry program aims to reorient convicts to society, give a sense of hope
In the face of a life sentence, Earl Burke-Bey looked forward.
One winter night in 1981, when he was 25, Burke-Bey acted as the getaway driver for a friend planning to rob a gas station in Gambrills. It wasn’t until that friend piled into his car that he learned someone had been killed — an employee was shot four times in the head.
When he went to prison, convicted of felony murder, Burke-Bey began having “epiphanies about doing the right thing.” He dedicated himself to the Bible and the Moorish Holy Koran, found like-minded inmates and combated the “outrageously violent” setting around him with studies and volunteer work. Eventually, through an in-prison program,
Burke-Bey earned a degree in applied psychiatry from Coppin State University. He had only made it to 10th grade in public schools.
“You have to apply yourself to get help behind the wall,” Burke-Bey, now 65, said, referencing his time behind bars. “No program is going to come and get you. You have to apply yourself.”
In 2022, Burke-Bey was released. He had served 41 years in several prisons. Still looking forward, Burke-Bey contacted Annapolis Police Officer Robert Horne within a day of being on the outside — someone he heard could point him in the right direction.
Soon landing a job at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, which he has now held for nearly two years, Burke-Bey quickly became a success story for the city police department’s Positive Impact Program, an initiative designed to fend off the troubles many ex-convicts face when reentering soci
ety.
“I knew a path was necessary,” Burke-Bey said. “If you don’t come home and start right off doing something positive, then a lot of things is going to come at you. They will cause you to start making bad choices and then, it’ll only be so long before you get caught up and can’t see your way out.”
Through its reentry program, the Annapolis Police Department has provided that kind of path to nearly 100 transitioning convicts since 2020.
Largely led by Horne, the program has roots in Baltimore, where he and Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson worked together in the police department. At the time, the program was known as Get Out The Game and targeted young adults likely to reenter the drug market. Jackson became Annapolis’ top cop in 2019.
“We wanted to send the message that a life behind bars is not where you want to be,” Horne said. “There are other ways out.”
In Baltimore, Horne was able to partner with bakeries, trade programs and factories to get young convicts on their way to certifications or a job. When the police started going directly into crime-riddled areas, speaking with civilians proactively before an arrest was made, Horne said they had “immediate success” with hundreds of phone calls.
“People really wanted help,” he said.
When Jackson was sworn in to serve Annapolis, he was so impressed by Horne’s program that he convinced him to retire from the Baltimore department and bring the program with him to Maryland’s capital.
A proponent of the idea that crime is the “manifestation of social issues” — “It’s not the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other, making arguments,” the chief said — Jackson believes giving ex-convicts opportunities not only provides them with hope, but “significantly” reduces the chance they’ll offend again.
“It makes sense,” Jackson said. “If we don’t take a social approach to these anti-social behaviors, we’re just spinning our wheels. We have to give them an opportunity not to reoffend. They need to have purpose.”
Like the Baltimore initiative, which petered out once Horne left, the Annapolis Positive Impact Program doesn’t just target those leaving incarceration. Officers promote the initiative in communities with higher crime rates and people at risk of becoming shooters or victims of gun violence.
But unlike the Baltimore program, there is no specific age range the Annapolis program seeks to serve. It is available to people of all ages and areas. Police officials said citizens from Prince George’s County and Baltimore City have contacted them about the program since it launched four years ago.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” Horne said.
In different classes, participants in the Positive Impact Program have the opportunity to explore a career path of their interest. Options include HVAC training, automotive work and obtaining a commercial driver’s license. Rehabilitative paths, including drug and alcohol treatment, are also available.
All participants are guaranteed a job interview, though Horne said they are not guaranteed a position. Background checks still apply, and Horne said if someone’s criminal history conflicts with the position — an example being someone with a record of drug trafficking or abuse pining for a position involving medical prescriptions — they may be disqualified.
With his applied psychiatry degree, Burke-Bey gravitated toward the University of Maryland Medical System. He took classes in career orientation on Mondays and another on computer technology on Fridays.
Though he was told it could take upwards of a year to get a job at the hospital, Burke-Bey started volunteering three days a week, learning the building’s layout, the floors and the treatment areas, and helping bring patients to treatment. It only took Burke-Bey three weeks to get a job with patient care services.
“It was like a breath of fresh air,” Burke-Bey said. “It was involved. It was challenging, kept you active, kept you pointed toward positivity.”