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The Biggest Crop in Prison Gardens: Hope

Eva Herscowitz

December 21, 2021 |

The Crime Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

A gardening program for correctional facilities is introducing incarcerees to vocational gardening and landscaping, but also provides much more than a chance to get their hands dirty. Insight Garden Program provided a “safe space” for introspection and growth, reduced anxiety and depression, and then eventually helped formerly incarcerated people adjust to life after prison with services that include housing.

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The Prisoner-Run Radio Station That's Reaching Men on Death Row

Keri Blakinger

December 20, 2021 |

The Marshall Project |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Livingston, Texas

At Texas’ Polunsky Unit, 106.5FM The Tank is a prison radio station run by and for the prison's incarcerated men, including nearly 200 on death row for whom the radio's shows form "a community center for men who can never leave their cells." The death-row prisoners, like many others in the prison, live in solitary confinement with no access to classes, jobs, or TVs. But they are allowed radios, and the prison warden allowed the creation of The Tank using donated equipment. Shows range from advice and religion to music of all sorts. All the shows are recorded as a security precaution.

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'A clear winner': How education in prison can help people after release

Paul Cuno-Booth

December 13, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Correctional education opportunities provide a number of benefits: Skills, self-esteem, job opportunities, and lower chances of going back to prison. Educational opportunities for people serving prison time decrease the possibility of recidivism by 30 percent.

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This NGO's Strategy Helps Ex-convicts Avoid Repeating Crime

Ekpali Saint

December 13, 2021 |

Prime Progress |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Benue

In the nine years since its founding, Dream Again Prison and Youth Initiative has helped more than 2,000 incarcerated Nigerians prepare for success in work and life after they leave prison. Using mental health support, vocational training, and financial aid after graduates leave prison, the program works in six prisons in an effort to combat the country's rising recidivism rate. Much of the focus is on helping would-be entrepreneurs start their own businesses rather than rely on existing businesses that may not want to give the formerly incarcerated a second chance.

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‘Something major': Wake DA partners with nonprofits to clear people's arrest warrants

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra

December 11, 2021 |

The News & Observer |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Raleigh, North Carolina

The Wake County district attorney worked with criminal-justice reform groups to hold a "warrant clinic" where people could apply to void arrest warrants that could land them in jail, with all of the financial and social costs that come with that. About 45 of 160 applicants were approved in the process, which comes with multiple conditions limiting eligibility to people facing relatively minor charges who missed court dates or had similar reasons for getting named in a warrant. The organizers hope to continue the practice, which also saves the county money.

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The Judge Who Keeps People Out of Jail

Ted Alcorn

November 30, 2021 |

The Washington Post Magazine |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Rio Arriba, New Mexico

Since 2018, Judge Jason Lidyard of Rio Arriba County, N.M., has forged a new model for a drug court. Instead of demanding abstinence from drugs as the price to stay out of jail, Lidyard uses respect and personal relationships to seek a redefinition of success: making substance abuse less deadly and less socially crippling. Violating the court's requirements to get treatment results in more help, not jail. The less punitive approach seemed to reduce overdoses until a new fentanyl surge complicated the picture. Almost all of the people who've gone through the court have avoided new felony arrests.

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Prisoners hope that education can erase a stigma

Danielle Dreilinger

November 26, 2021 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cottonwood, Idaho

Idaho's nine prisons have more than 30 postsecondary educational programs geared to helping incarcerated people get hired in career-track, technical jobs after their release from prison. The prisons focus on jobs in demand and woo potential employers with tours of their well-equipped classrooms. They also focus on education that produces certifications that carry more weight in industry. Studies show those credentials produce better odds against people returning to prison. Such programs nationwide have suffered from inadequate funding, but more federal money is in the pipeline.

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Green Jobs Offer Ex-Offenders a Career Path after Prison

Ryan M. Moser

November 18, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Miami, Florida

At Florida's Everglades Correctional Institution, incarcerated men teach a course offered through a college correspondence school that can lead to certification to work as a wastewater treatment plant operator, a well-paying green-industry job in high demand. An incarcerated journalist tells the story of how demanding lessons in chemistry, microbiology, and algebra prepare students for the state certification exam. Hundreds have taken the course and many have found jobs in the industry after prison, although many employers remain reluctant to hire people with felony records.

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Prison offers little to ease domestic violence trauma. This program tries to fill the gaps

Amna Nawaz Lena I. Jackson

November 18, 2021 |

PBS NewsHour |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

A New Way of Life gives formerly incarcerated women something that most did not get from prison: treatment for the trauma that so many incarcerated women suffered from domestic violence. As an antidote to a system geared to punishing wrongdoing without addressing its causes, New Way provides housing and supportive programs, many of which are taught by women with similar experiences. Some of the women tell their stories of lives repaired and families reunited thanks to New Way's interventions.

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After prison, the fight to be a firefighter

Lizzie Johnson

November 10, 2021 |

San Francisco Chronicle |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

One year after California legislators created a legal opening for formerly incarcerated firefighters to use their prison training to land firefighter jobs on the outside, the system envisioned by the law's supporters has failed to materialize. Felony criminal records serve as a barrier to employment in such jobs ordinarily. The law was intended to create a pathway through expunging those records for people trained to fight wildfires while in prison. A slow, poorly planned rollout and lack of tracking data means no one knows how many have benefited, though it appears few have thanks to a daunting process.

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