Marcus
A justice reform advocate, Marcus Bullock is the founder and CEO of Flikshop, an organization utilizing technology to keep families connected to their incarcerated loved ones. For less than a dollar, users can upload photos and messages that Flikshop transforms into postcards sent to facilities nationwide. We talked with Marcus about creating Flikshop, the importance of connection during incarceration, and adjusting to a digital world post-release.
What impact does Flikshop have on incarcerated individuals as well as their family and support networks on the outside?
We launched Flikshop because we wanted to figure out ways to keep communication strong while people were incarcerated. Mail call is the one moment in the day – no matter what facility you’re in – where everyone is hoping and praying that there’s someone on the outside who cares enough about them to send something in the mail.
Here outside of prison, we live in a space where folks can upload a photo onto any social network; if we don’t get a certain amount of double taps on that photo, we feel uneasy, like we’re not included inside of the community we’re building. Folks in prison can be forgotten about, so we want to build that sense of inclusivity. We know that if we do a good job keeping them connected while in prison, they’re a lot less likely to reoffend and go back when they’re out. At Flikshop, our ultimate goal is to leverage tech, family communication, and second chance hiring opportunities to reduce recidivism here in the United States.
For people who are not incarcerated, we have the privilege of instant connection – I can send a text that will be received in less than a second. It’s as if this lack of immediate communication further adds to the punishment.
Absolutely. There are tons of people in your life who you feel connected to as a result of that. Sometimes it’s a text, a DM, an email, or phone call. But when someone you love is in prison, you have none of those. You can accept a collect call, or you can hopefully go visit them. There is no easy email and there’s no texting or social media networks. So these folks are typically relegated to the shadows and forgotten about; we wanted to help solve that problem.
We learned it was important for folks to not feel the shame and embarrassment of wanting to connect with their incarcerated loved ones, because there are millions of people who have someone incarcerated around the country. We had to figure out a way to begin to erase the stigma for those folks who we knew needed to connect back to their family members.
The work you do is so critical because it allows incarcerated folks to remain connected to the people that love them, which is so important to being human. You’d hope that facilities would recognize that.
Yeah. I think the majority of them recognize that more so now. For years, corrections has only been about punishment. There weren’t really any rehabilitation efforts pushed strongly across the board. There were specific state agencies, wardens or sergeants that took the job knowing they wanted to help people come back home and be members of their communities. But because of the history of prison and corrections, there are others that think, “lock them up and throw away the key. Any glimpse of humanity that may peek through the windows, close the shades on that.”
I think that part of trying to overcome that issue is having someone like myself, the CEO of the company, being comfortable and strong and bold enough to stand in front them and say that the only reason I had any level of success after prison was as a result of my family connections, specifically my mom, who was there for me when I was in prison. Let’s be more progressive in our thinking so we can allow others to have that same possibility when they come home as well.
Can you tell me more about the Flikshop School of Business?
I get really pumped talking about the Flikshop School of Business. It allows our returning citizens to enroll in classes that teach them skills to succeed in tech and entrepreneurship spaces when they get home. More times than not, there’s this sense of imposter syndrome when folks come home from prison or jail. It’s like, “how do I do this? How do I feel like I belong in this community? How do I contribute to my household, to my network of peers?”
The Flikshop School of Business hosts three week programs where returning citizens come in and we introduce them to the tech industries, specifically teaching hard skills they can use to enter the gig economy. But also some of the soft skills we forget about when folks go to prison and they’re released. One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about this is that I went to prison as a kid and came home an adult. I hadn’t even had a long conversation with someone of the opposite sex for almost the last decade of my life. How do we prepare people to feel comfortable going into working environments like that? We wanted to help answer that question with the Flikshop School of Business.
In an increasingly digital world, it must feel so unfamiliar for folks reentering. Building those tech skills sounds critical for so many reasons.
We definitely take it for granted. When I went to prison, there was no internet. I came home, and there was Google – the entire world had changed. Sometimes I asked myself, how are folks going to return back after they’ve been gone for a significant amount of time? Technology advances so quickly that not only will you come home and not know how to use any of these tools, but you’ll also feel intimidated by them, which is even worse.
And you feel boxed out again, right? You feel boxed out during incarceration, and then you come home and feel boxed out again. What kind of community do you belong to? That’s important for us to figure out.
Do facilities offer any training for incarcerated folks on what to expect post-release? Or how to use any of the tech that’s so prominent?
I’m excited about the facilities that are being more thoughtful and intentional about introducing prerequisite reentry skills before someone comes home. When I was getting released, there weren’t a ton of reentry programs. But nowadays, that conversation has shifted. They’re asking themselves, how are we thinking about reentry? What kind of programs should we create? What are the dated vocational tracks we offer that won’t transfer to scale when they come home?
I was incarcerated at a facility where folks were responsible for putting the lining on wooden chairs. It’s a whole other talk show to talk about jobs in prison. But the skill of learning how to make chairs or wrap them in fabric didn’t translate to anything when I came home. These dated occupations or vocational tracks offered in prison are not as supportive as they should be. I think states are starting to recognize that and there’s a shift happening in the reentry sector.
Can you tell me more about the Flikshop Angels Program, which allows people to purchase Flikshop credits that are donated to justice-impacted families?
We wanted to give our community the opportunity to participate in these reentry programs, these new ways of thinking about community. Folks will tell me, “Marcus, I don’t know anyone that’s in prison but I really believe in second chances. I believe that folks coming home should have an opportunity to succeed after incarceration. Since I can’t use Flikshop, is there another way I can support you?” The answer is yes; I would love for you to become a Flikshop Angel. You can purchase Flikshop credits that we give to family members who typically don’t have enough resources and have to decide between buying food for their family or sending photos to their loved one. We want to empower them by giving as many free Flikshop credits as we possibly can, our Flikshop Angels allow us to do that for as little as twenty bucks. More times than not we’re giving those credits to family members who have children with an incarcerated parent. That’s one of the things that I’m really, really proud of that we do here at Flikshop.