news
June 13, 2019
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Calls for Limiting Collateral Consequences
More than 44,000 collateral consequences exist nationwide that continue to punish people with felony records long after the completion of their sentence. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report provides actionable recommendations to the President, Congress and federal agencies on how to scale back these punishments.
publications
June 06, 2019
Incarcerated Women and Girls
Over the past quarter century, there has been a profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal justice system. This is the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to reentry that uniquely affect women.
Andres Idarraga
After his release in June of 2004, Andres Idarraga became a full-time student at Brown University studying comparative literature and economics while maintaining full-time employment. Idarraga saw his right to vote as a significant and crucial aspect to rebuilding his life and to contributing to his community.
news
June 03, 2019
Race & Justice News: Racial Disparity in Opioid Treatment
Treatment disparity for opioid use disorder, Phoenix Sheriff's Deputies halve traffic stops amidst racial bias scrutiny, less violence reporting in new immigrant destinations, and more in Race & Justice News.
news
May 29, 2019
State Advocacy News: Steps to Challenge Mass Incarceration
Many state legislatures are in the final days of session. The next few months are an opportunity for community organizers and policy advocates to reflect on recent successes and challenges in the movement to end mass incarceration.
December 01, 2017
James Inge
James D. Inge is one of 300 individuals age 60 or older arrested between 1965 and 1980 that was sentenced to life imprisonment in Pennsylvania. Learn more about his campaign to give rehabilitated seniors serving life a second chance.
news
May 20, 2019
Disenfranchisement News: Florida lawmakers pass new “poll tax” for voting rights restoration
Lawmakers in Florida pass bill creating financial barrier to rights restoration, Iowa Senate blocks voting rights constitutional amendment bill, and more in our latest Disenfranchisement News.
news
May 16, 2019
Criminal justice includes food security — we can't ban the social safety net
State that have rejected the tough on crime approach to welfare reform have improved public safety outcomes.
Dorothy Gaines
Dorothy Gaines's life changed when Alabama state police raided her home for drugs. Police found no evidence of Gaines having possessed or sold drugs, yet federal prosecutors charged Gaines with drug conspiracy.
news
May 13, 2019
Opinion: Prisoners should be allowed to vote
As extreme as is our rate of incarceration in the United States, so too are our felony disenfranchisement laws by the standards of comparable nations. As of 2016, an estimated 6.1 million people were denied the right to vote due to a current or previous felony conviction. Of this total 1.3 million were incarcerated in state or federal prisons.
news
May 03, 2019
Kids who break the law need our support. Why would Texas put them all in one big prison?
The best solution to Texas’s juvenile prison problems is to send fewer youth there in the first place and spend money on community-based alternatives.
July 26, 2017
Dr. Stanley Andrisse
From prison cells to PhD, Dr. Stanley Andrisse shares his transformation to inspire those impacted by the criminal justice system.
news
May 02, 2019
Vox: Amy Klobuchar has a plan to reverse the war on drugs — and doesn’t need Congress to do it
In an effort to scale back mass incarceration and the war on drugs, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar outlined a plan to set up a new system of clemency that would release thousands of people in federal prison with excessively long sentences, reports Vox.
news
April 29, 2019
State Advocacy News: Grassroots Strategies to End Life Imprisonment
State groups in California and New York are anchoring grassroots efforts to limit extreme sentences in support of scaling back mass incarceration.
Theresa McIntyre Smith
In 1999, Theresa Smith was arrested at an airport after she met a drug courier in Roy Mercer’s network and according to the government, identified a suitcase containing eleven kilograms of cocaine for the courier. Smith said she had been told by Mercer that the suitcase contained his nieces’ clothes. For this first-time non-violent offense, Smith was sentenced to a ten-year mandatory prison term.
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