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A GOP Governor and BLM Activists Agreed on Restoring Voting Rights to Felons. Will It Last?

Kaila Philo

February 04, 2021 |

Politico |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

More than 3,000 Iowans voted in the 2020 presidential election thanks to an executive order signed by the Republican governor after a protest campaign by activists to erase Iowa's permanent ban on voting by people with felony records. But that number was just a fraction of those newly eligible to vote, due to limitations in the order and a lackluster effort to inform the public. Iowa has a disproportionately high number of disenfranchised Black citizens who could be helped by a more permanent constitutional fix. That fix has now been stalled by the choice to act by executive order.

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These local nonprofits bring books to incarcerated individuals in North Carolina

Bethany Lee

February 02, 2021 |

The Daily Tar Heel |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

Prison Books Collective and a partner organization, N.C. Women's Prison Book Project, for 15 years have collected donated books and then distributed them inside North Carolina prisons to incarcerated people who crave new reading material. Answering requests, which sometimes can be quite specific as to genre, the groups fulfill orders from their revolving supply. Combined, the groups make up to 75 shipments per week and in return hear from people inside about how meaningful the donated books are to them.

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Youth incarceration fell when California required counties to pay more for juvenile detention: New research

Clark Merrefield

February 02, 2021 |

Journalist's Resource |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

When a California law shifted the costs of incarcerating youth from the state to its counties, judges suddenly sent 40% fewer youth to state-run juvenile facilities. That reduction began a long-term trend that combined with a state commitment to evidence-based approaches to rehabilitation instead of punishment, especially for less-serious offenses. The end result is that state juvenile jails have been all but phased out of existence and California, a longtime tough-on-crime state, now has what one advocacy group considers the nation's most humane juvenile justice system.

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How New York Quietly Ended Its Street Drug War

Max Daly

February 01, 2021 |

Vice |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

From 2009 through 2019, street arrests for drug possession and sales fell by 80% in New York City, sparing hundreds of thousands of people harsh incarceration terms while defying warnings that more lenient enforcement of low-level drug crimes would wreak havoc on the city. The reforms came about because of persistent advocacy by groups opposed to racially disparate enforcement and its social harms, as well as legislative and court-imposed limits on punishment and stop-and-frisk policing. Now ticketing rather than arrest is used far more often for all types of drugs.

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St. Louis comedian shares story of redemption, reentry following prison sentence

Christine Byers

January 28, 2021 |

KSDK-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

When people emerge from long prison sentences, they can be in a hurry to put their lives back on track. But, when enrolled in a voluntary re-entry program called the Concordance Academy of Leadership, they first must go through intense mental health counseling that begins while they're incarcerated before they launch a search for a job or permanent housing. The St. Louis-based program boasts much lower-than-average recidivism rates, in part because it responds to post-release mistakes with more counseling rather than automatic punishment.

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Michigan's New Clean-Slate Law Makes State a Leader in Criminal Justice Reform

Roshan Abraham

January 27, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

A new law in Michigan will automatically expunge misdemeanors and felonies after several years, making it easier to find employment for those who have a record. The automatic nature of the expungement removes the barriers of cost and time for successfully completing the long application process. A clean slate makes it easier for people to improve their lives through better housing and higher pay, leading to lower rates of recidivism.

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How a project is training incarcerated people to become journalists

Julia Métraux

January 26, 2021 |

Poynter |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

In its first year, the Prison Journalism Project published hundreds of articles by more than 140 incarcerated writers in 28 states. The project provides journalism-skills training and then a platform for the work of incarcerated journalists. This delivers news and viewpoints that otherwise would not be heard by outsiders, spreading awareness of prison conditions and empowering often-ignored people to tell their stories.

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Almost a year after opening, Compass House provides direction amid safe surroundings

Roberta Baker

January 25, 2021 |

The Laconia Daily Sun |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Laconia, New Hampshire

Compass House provides safety and support for women, many of them newly released from incarceration, who struggle with substance misuse issues or mental illness. The transitional housing program is the first of its kind in a state that is sorely lacking in such services. Peer support and professional counseling and treatment can last a year or more. The women in the program, who are at high risk of homelessness without a refuge like Compass House, pay 30% of their income for rent, with the rest of the costs covered by a state agency.

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Inmates are learning to be their own bosses after they leave jail behind

Chase DiBenedetto

January 24, 2021 |

Mashable |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

Inmates to Entrepreneurs has graduated 1 million people from its eight-week program that teaches incarcerated people how to start their own low-capital businesses. An extension of a free online entrepreneurship course, Starter U, the program offered in-person workshops until COVID forced it to go virtual. One study shows the unemployment rate in December 2020 for formerly incarcerated people was more than 27%, more than four times higher than the general public. Inmates to Entrepreneurs was started 28 years ago in North Carolina's prison system.

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'They probably saved my life' | Former inmate says nonprofit keeps him, others out of jail

Christine Byers

January 21, 2021 |

KSDK-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis' Concordance Academy of Leadership turns the traditional approach to prison re-entry programs on its head. Rather than pushing people just released from prison to find housing and a job, the academy pays its participants a living wage while it provides them with the counseling and other support they need not to slip back into trouble. Once their lives are stable, they focus in the 18-month program on employment. The 6-year-old program improves the chances of staying out of prison by more than 40%, according to one study. Concordance is raising the money it needs to expand to other cities.

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