Maples Adjudication Project M.A.P.
Is a Community involvement project. Potential inmates of the county jail participate in picking up trash, recycling bottles and cans to stay out of jail. They also meet in the courthouse parking lot to help citizens with all diagnoses garden and plant vegetables. The project proposed by Jason Gary Maples of Ann Arbor, MI was inspired by the COVID-19 lockdown at Washtenaw County Jail. While sitting in his jail cell, Jason Maples put his mask over his eyes to see if he could effectively navigate his cell, making coffee, using the restroom – everyday things that he took for granted. He meditated on the idea of how he could better improve the life of somebody who was never born with eyesight, or has lost it during their lifetime. The idea was of tall birdhouses that had a specific bird or animal sound at a specific interval of time to help the blind navigate a specific space. To start, he would get recyclable containers and use a hot glue gun to put braille inscribed onto the containers and tables to help navigate the course. He then called on the community to invent tools with "Alexa" installed in the tools so we could all communicate effectively towards obtaining our goals of creating a garden together. Getting inspiration from the Oregon governor regarding the "climate justice fund", he figured out a way to get it funded. With the blind, deaf, and autistic in mind, he really tried to figure out a way we could all communicate on the same level together. We all love fruits and vegetables, and people compete in the marketplace for the best fruits and vegetables. Jason Maples believed the best way to produce the best fruit was this blueprint. Secrets of gardening could be passed on through a simple handshake, a deal that was moving toward extinction, with elections being tampered with and a pandemic amongst us. We could defeat the fear of the pandemic by passing it forward – that is, food we are talking about. During the pandemic, citizens were so paranoid, using massive amounts of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Jason had the idea to put together a bacteria soap, the opposite of Dial soap, which kills all bacteria. Jason went down to the Ancient Well and pulled soil sediment from the ground in buckets and brought it to the marketplace; it was genius. When people heard of this idea, they were skeptical. Germs were the cause of the pandemic, and Jason was in the river pulling out bacteria. Jason Maples defended his proposition by telling the community that God made dirt, and dirt doesn’t hurt. They laughed at him and dismissed him as crazy, but after the bacteria from the river was like the mud masks sold in stores, but free of charge, they started to warm up to the idea that maybe a little bacteria here and there would not hurt the project. In fact, it spawned another wing of the project, The project Red Wing, where the community gathered to watch hockey games while competing with other cities on who could produce the most well-taken-care-of fruit. During wartime, people get selfish and are in fight or flight mode. With their thoughts moving at the speed of light, it was easy to forget about the populations who are most vulnerable in the situation. That's why Jason Maples decided that if war was what was going to happen to the world, he would hang with the most vulnerable and develop a strategic plan on how to have a quality of life during such times. Before the pandemic, Jason was thrown into the ring of fire, where God tested him in so many challenges that most citizens would have given up or committed suicide. Not Jason, who had not seen his 16-year-old child in 14 years and still had faith in God. Through the lessons of the Book of Job, where Satan was allowed to test Jason, sure that he would turn his face on God through all the tests that were given. As he pondered how to spread the idea of this new way of farming, he wondered about all the Nostradamus predictions, and he thought about his Mexican relatives trying to get out of a not-healthy situation in Mexico. When Jason had no money in Florida State Prison, when he served a year for grand theft auto, the "Mexicans" gave him an opportunity to work off the books doing white T-shirt laundry and smuggling onions out of the refrigerator so the guys on the unit had fresh onions for their ramen noodles. Jason was beat twice in prison by the same guard, who was corrupt. Jason did not report it to authorities until the blueprint of his project was already underway. Jason made a covenant with God that all he wanted to do in this lifetime was garden with the world, to produce the best fruit and teach lessons of forgiveness. He was strong in all faiths, all walks of life. Everyone should deserve the opportunity that he had been given. His last name, Maples, originated from "people who dwell under maple trees", which was like his gardening proposition to the world. His whole life, he never knew what "job" or career path he was going to take and was considered a loser and a disgrace to his family, who were all very skilled and went to college to become something in the world today. While his brother, Darren, was doing an accounting internship at Ford Field, where the Detroit Lions were home to, Jason was on the field moving plywood for the Monster Jam that was to come to Detroit soon. While Jason was on the ground and Darren was in the accounting boxes in the rafters, both brothers had their own vision of happiness and were working as a team, and they didn’t even know it at the time. It wasn’t until a later meeting with his brother that the two knew they were working together in the same arena. Jason believed the only way his son would forgive him for not being in his childhood all those years was to get his M.A.P. project/program off the ground. With high hopes, knowing that no amount of money would entice his son, he devoted his entire life to philanthropy, even if it meant eating out of garbage cans to survive. Jason didn’t want a fancy car; in fact, he had several DUIs and took multiple vehicles without permission. Jason walks everywhere. Before the idea of the project had come to his mind, he had traveled the United States homeless, checking out the different homeless programs and how each different providence attacked the situation. Jason saw that even veterans of war were forced onto the streets, and it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that everyone realized in order to survive, no soldier must truly be left behind – on the battlefield or at home. Jason always pondered why the people who went to war to defend our beautiful nation were treated not up to par when they got home. Jason sent the following statement to authorities of the mental health field regarding his rights: I am currently inpatient at the University of Michigan and I am requesting a court date to pull all of my psychological records to bring all of them to light in regarding to what medications work for me and the system doctors forcing me to take medications that I’ve had side effects to, and that I’m willing to participate in mental health treatment if they take into consideration what has worked and what hasn’t in my opinion. Every time I am petitioned, none of the hospitals ask to pull my records; they just come up with some random treatment and throw me back on the streets. Majority of my criminal convictions are a result of lack of responsibility on the state’s actions. In return, all I ask is the state take responsibility for prescribing these medications in the first place. I’ve already served the jail time for these offenses, and again, they still won’t listen to me when I ask to pull the records that only they can access. I have no money to do it on my own, and I’m fed up with this. They threaten court cases against me all the time, and I’m not choosing to exercise my rights and ask for a fair trial/hearing. I need a fresh start, and this is the only way I believe I will get one. I’ve been denied SSD three times, and I cannot hold a job due to my illness. I can, however, participate in community service projects such as the one I am proposing to my judge of Washtenaw County, Honorable Judge Carol Kuhnke. It’s MAP – Maples Adjudication Project. It’s where "criminals" like myself are adjudicated in the criminal justice process due to lack of responsibility on the courts part for recognizing what factors played a role in the defendant’s offense, judges and lawyers taking advantage of mentally ill patients when they need treatment rather than punishment, when a mental health patient is not fully aware of why everything is happening so fast and why the people who are sworn to protect abuse their powers in motive of obtaining a conviction rather than helping the person receive true treatment. That turned out to be a great milestone in his own treatment of his substance abuse issues. Recovery is what Jason longed for – to recover his lost relationship with his family, and a relationship with his son that he had always longed for. The project is in its beginning stages to this day, and he was granted public housing just before Christmas. Jason still believes Santa Claus is real, when a time where our culture and values are being challenged like never before. Jason asks for forgiveness everyday and is trying to move mountains in order to see/sea his son as soon as possible. He believes when the time is right, it will happen. Until then, he studies ancient Greek philosophy and loves the story of Jason and the Argonauts, where Jason obtains the golden fleece. Jason appreciates life, the simple things in life, and wishes everyone that their hopes, dreams, aspirations come true in this lifetime.
References
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