Trump seems poised to reverse the previous administration’s stance on phasing out private, for-profit prisons. In the weeks and days leading up to the inauguration of Donald Trump, he made several statements about privatization — and his team is full of privatization supporters. From public television, to Veterans Affairs to prisons — there are many
New initiative aims to foster understanding and discussion on the topic of mass incarceration through the lens of history and current events. In 2014, the Colorado College history department embarked on an initiative called the Social Issues and Historical Context Initiative, with the goal of demonstrating the connections between history and current issues and events.
By Christopher Zoukis The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit focused on racial and economic policy, in conjunction with Forward Together and a dozen other community and civil rights organizations recently released a study which surveyed hardships experienced by former prisoners and their families. The study examined the experiences of over 1,080 current
Yoga and meditation have a host of benefits for prisoners. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that within five years of release, 76 percent of prisoners released in the U.S. re-offend. Breaking this cycle requires radical reforms in rehabilitation methods, and some surprising approaches are showing promising results — downward dog and mantra chanting. Educational
In the last five years, Georgia has been successful in making badly needed, sweeping changes to its criminal justice system under the direction of Republican Governor Nathan Deal. The state has come a long way from where stood in 2009 when a Pew Research Center study indicated that one in 13 citizens were involved in
In what the American Civil Liberties Union hailed as a groundbreaking step, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced with great fanfare in August that it planned to stop using private prisons. The announcement followed the release a week earlier of a report by DOJ’s inspector general finding private prisons generally have higher assault and use
Community members can provide valuable links to the outside world, a support system during and after incarceration, and assist in delivering much-needed resources like education to help with successful re-entry. Twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population is located in the United States, and most — 95 percent — of those incarcerated will eventually be
The Alabama prison system has been targeted in numerous lawsuits claiming denial of inmate rights. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a statewide probe on whether conditions in Alabama’s 14 prisons for men violate the rights of inmates. The investigation is under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons
In an unusual turn of events, a former prisoner was appointed to Connecticut’s Parole Board. While ex-prisoners are typically not considered parole board members, state officials decided that Kenneth F. Ireland was a qualified candidate. In 1989, when he was 18 years old, Ireland was convicted of raping and murdering Barbara Pelkey, a mother of
15,000 book titles have been have been banned from Texas prisons. Every year, the American Library Association declares the final week of September “Banned Books Week,” commemorated in many libraries with displays designed to highlight often-overreaching censorship of school and public libraries. This year, however, a far-flung wave of stories in many publications highlighted a