Harlem residents and community organizers are mourning the death of Joseph “Jazz” Hayden, a convicted Harlem drug dealer turned criminal justice reform advocate. Hayden, who died last month at 82, will be remembered at a community ceremony at Riverside Church on Feb. 24.
Hayden’s friends and family said he laid the groundwork for movements to legalize marijuana, end solitary confinement and expand voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, long before they were popular. Fellow organizers said he trained and educated many of the people who are leading those movements today.
“He would take everyday hustlers, people who went to jail, to realize that they can actually better their community, and they’re the best person to better their community,” said Five Mualimm-ak, Hayden’s godson, who himself was incarcerated before becoming an advocate for criminal justice reform. “He took people from the bottom, from when you’re in prison, to come home and take a different path.”
Hayden was born and raised in Harlem. He was arrested there for the first time when he was a teenager, Mualimm-ak said. As an adult, Hayden rose through the ranks of a Harlem drug gang and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling millions of dollars worth of heroin, according to court papers and news reports from the time.
But one day in the prison mess hall, he had a revelation, according to Mualimm-ak.
“I think it was the point that he was, like, a millionaire sitting in jail, eating normal food like any other prisoner, is when he realized, all that was for what?” he said.
So, Hayden committed to changing his life.
From prison to activism
While incarcerated, Hayden received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Mualimm-ak said his godfather organized one of the first legislative panels behind bars.
At Attica Correctional Facility in Upstate New York, he said, Hayden and his friends launched a think tank to explore ways to empower people in prison. He even helped plan the…
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