The Time Has Come For Change.

Hey, I’m Brendan. I’m the owner and operator of Bee’s Knees Print Studio.

If you’re reading this, it’s because you were linked here from the pre-order I’m doing to help support The National Bail Fund Network.
I’m glad to have you and I hope you’re doing well.

I’d like to address the decision to fund The National Bail Fund Network in an honest and open way, and the only way for me to do that is by being open and honest myself.

The reason I chose to support The National Bail Fund Network specifically is because I have personally experienced the criminal justice system and police brutality, as well as witnessed systemic racism, and a lack of accountability from the people we have placed in positions of power and influence.

First of all, I’d like to state clearly that in no way am I dismissing the role white privilege has had in putting me where I am today. I’d like only to convey to you that although I do not exist specifically in a community of color, I feel that I have a somewhat different set of experiences and impressions than most people I know, and I’d like to share them with you.

In 2009, I was involved in a serious car accident. Although I was completely sober, I was operating my vehicle in an extremely reckless way and that behavior resulted in the passenger of my vehicle being severely injured, and me being charged with a handful of felonies by the state of Colorado.
As someone with no financial means, I was at the mercy of the First Judicial District of the state of Colorado, and my only support system was the that of the Public Defender’s office of Jefferson County.

I was charged with a total of six felonies and pressured by both parties to accept a plea bargain for the highest charge, Vehicular Assault, with the knowledge that not doing so would put me at risk of serving up to fourteen years in prison. I was told years later that with reasonable outside counsel, I would have most likely not been charged or convicted in the first place because the whole ordeal was basically just a traffic incident.

After pleading guilty to Vehicular Assault, I was sentenced to two years in jail, about a thousand hours of community service, and criminal restitution that reached more than seven figures. I was remanded to the custody of Jefferson County where I began serving my sentence, which would basically be reduced by half assuming my behavior was acceptable. I was allowed to work during the day and return to custody in the evening, assuming I could find a job outside the facility.

The reason I’m giving you this information is because I want you to know that although I never saw the inside of a prison, I was in custody for over a year in the Jefferson County Jail, and spent every moment in that custody under the direct supervision of Jefferson County Sheriffs who had complete control over every single one of my actions.

Not correctional officers, not case workers, not probation officers. Actual active Sheriff’s Deputies, which were on-duty police officers.

During that period, I was assaulted numerous times by the staff of that facility in ways that have left lasting physical and emotional scars.
I saw multiple people be harassed regularly by those officers, two of whom chose to take their own lives in custody, which I can only assume was a direct result of their treatment.
I was made to walk with no clothing across multiple booking rooms and detention areas.
I was forcefully cavity searched on multiple occasions.
I was physically restrained, placed in choke holds, humiliated, and screamed at.
I was forcefully deprived of sleep.
I was denied access to food, showers, hygiene supplies, phone calls, mental health support, and medications.

Keep in mind, all this was happening while I was leaving that facility for 12 hours every day to go to work at a call center in Denver. They packed all this fun into the twelve hours that I actually spent in the facility.

My point is, I received the kid’s gloves treatment during my time in Jefferson County. The majority of the inmates I spent my time with were people of color who received much worse treatment than I did on a daily basis. As a white, heterosexual male, I got off pretty fucking light here, and this treatment was just standard protocol. I wasn’t filing complaints, I wasn’t sneaking in contraband, I wasn’t starting fights. I was usually reading or watching TV.

Hopefully, that’s descriptive enough for you to imagine how protesters and activists are treated once they’re behind closed doors with the people they’re protesting against.

When I finally finished my time at Jefferson County Jail, I was released to a ten year probation sentence. Aside from one person who was genuinely helpful and compassionate in that office, every single probation officer I’ve ever encountered has entered my house without permission, threatened my freedom with violations and revocations, required me to provide urine samples for drug tests in open office environments in full view of other people, and monitored every move I’ve made. I spent ten years in those circumstances, and I’m happy to say I completed my probation in 2019 and am a free man again.

I’d like to remind you here that I received preferential treatment as a white person in these situations. Imagine what a person of color must experience in the same circumstances.

In closing, I’d like to ask you to consider this:
For eleven years, my life did not matter. It did not matter to those keeping me in custody, those employing me as a felon, or those creating the laws we follow.
I’m 30 years old. That’s a third of my life.
I take 100% responsibility for my actions and although I would have chosen a different path for justice, I was willing to do what I had to do to be accountable for those actions.

People of color in this country do not have the luxury of only not mattering for a third of their life. All lives do not matter right now, and that is a fundamental injustice.

Until they do, brave people standing up to those in power are the only defense we have as a society from racism, tyranny, injustice, and loss of life.

I am lucky enough now to own and operate my own business. It may never make it to the Fortune 500 list, but I am putting food on my table by providing a quality product and service to amazing people, and right now that’s enough.
Because I don’t have a big pile of money laying around to give to the cause, my best option now is to offer you incentive to support The National Bail Fund Network at a time where amazing people all over the country are being wrongfully imprisoned for simply requesting that their voices be heard to inform meaningful change.

The only way we as a people have any hope of surviving is if we all work together to change the world that has been taken away from us, piece by piece.

The Time Has Come For Change.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via social media, or with one of the many contact forms available on my website.

Thank you,
Brendan Byrne
Bee’s Knees Print Studio