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Connecting With Incarcerated Parents Is Easier With Photo Patch, an App Developed By a Teen

Vikki Law

May 13, 2020 |

Teen Vogue |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

The Photo Patch Foundation helps connect children with parents who are experiencing incarceration. Using its website or mobile app, children can write letters and upload photos, which will then be printed and mailed by the organization at no cost. The Foundation, funded by donations and grants, was created by a father-daughter duo who had experienced the issue firsthand.

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With More Releases From Rikers Due To Coronavirus Pandemic, What's The Real Impact On Crime?

Beth Fertig

May 12, 2020 |

Gothamist |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Long the target of jail-reduction advocates, New York City’s Rikers Island jail released more than one-quarter of its inmates within the first two months of a coronavirus outbreak behind bars. The early releases stemmed from a combination of factors: a strategy to limit the spread of the virus, a result of a new state law limiting the imposition of cash bail, and a significant drop in crime during New York’s social-distancing lockdown. Police complained that large numbers of those released committed new crimes, but decarceration advocates say the releases on the whole were conducted safely.

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Stifled Progress

Hannah O. Brown Becca Burton

May 11, 2020 |

The Marjorie |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Less than two years after Florida voters abolished the state’s lifetime ban on voting by anyone with a felony criminal record – a law that disenfranchised more than 10% of the state's voting-age people – an estimated 50,000 affected people had registered to vote and organizers were working to register the balance of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters. Amendment 4, the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, won widespread voter approval and initially survived an attempt by legislators to undermine it thanks to a grassroots movement organized by formerly incarcerated people.

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No COVID outbreak yet in New Hampshire prisons, jails

Rick Jurgens

May 11, 2020 |

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Through the first week of May 2020, New Hampshire prisons and jails had avoided a COVID-19 outbreak after taking only modest prevention measures. There were no deaths and no reported cases among the more than 2,400 people held in state prisons, nor in any county jails, and only a handful of prison and jail staff had tested positive. Prisons screened employees entering facilities, engaged in extensive cleaning, suspended visits, and limited transfers and programs. Though the prisons followed CDC guidelines on testing, critics say they have not tested enough to track the virus' spread.

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Mothers flourish with sister's support after incarceration

Chris Herlinger

May 07, 2020 |

Global Sisters Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Hour Children is one of several programs throughout the U.S. that focuses on employing "God-given dignity" to help incarcerated mothers maintain relationships with their children and find sustainable futures after their sentences have ended. The latter goal is achieved through the ministry's year-long employment and job-training program. Although it is uncertain how the program will proceed during the Covid-19 pandemic, for the last three years, a local manufacturing company has consistently hired alumni from the program due to their training.

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The Separation

Alysia Santo Elaine McMillion Sheldon

May 06, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Wetumpka, Alabama

Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison for women, once found to be one of the worst prisons for women in the country, has undergone major reforms to change its once-abusive culture. A key part of this has been a focus on pregnant women who are experiencing incarceration, focusing more on rehabilitation than punitive measures by offering peer support groups and substance abuse programming. Tutwiler has also brought in the Alabama Prison Birth Project, offering childbirth education and doula services if desired.

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A volunteer army has answered Colorado's need for masks. Denver's jails are one recent beneficiary.

Kevin Simpson

May 04, 2020 |

The Colorado Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Across Colorado, grassroots groups have come together to create homemade masks for the state’s most vulnerable populations to protect against COVID-19. Two of those populations are Denver’s Downtown Detention Center and Denver County Jail. Groups like Dena’s Mask Making Army, the Mask Mavens, and even some AA and sober living communities have rallied together – virtually, of course – to use their sewing skills to fill the mask needs, about 3 masks per person, for those experiencing incarceration.

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Emptier Jails Could Stay That Way

Daniel J McGraw

May 04, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland’s city jail has released close to 900 inmates in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its overcrowded facilities. And the response isn’t unique – New York, LA, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, and Houston are just a few of the other cities that have taken similar measures. While an immediate response to the pandemic, advocates say the release of low-level offenders could bode well for larger prison reforms that have been slowly taking hold.

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America's Other Epidemic: A new approach to fighting the opioid crisis as it quietly rages on

Beth Macy

May 01, 2020 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Batesville, Indiana

To close a gap in drug treatment that often denies help to people who end up jailed, a hospital employee schooled in the strong evidence of effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment cobbled together a program using Medicaid funding and the cooperation of the courts and medical community. The program is rare in rural America. Though still small, the Courts Addiction & Drug Services program ended its first year with no overdoses, and only a handful of relapses, among its dozens of participants. In a region where MAT drugs are nearly impossible to get, the program is now working to expand its services.

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Band of Others: Breaking patterns of violence

Sergio Olmos

April 27, 2020 |

Underscore |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Specialty dockets are used in some states to provide extensive follow-up and supervision to help juveniles end gang affiliations. The enhanced supervision usually includes a curfew, frequent unannounced home visits, regular courthouse meetings, and in depth mentoring. A federal grant recently made it possible for a Texas docket called Juveniles United Navigating Obstacles Successfully (JUNTOS) to also offer therapy services to at least 36 adolescents over 3 years. Gang re-entry data is scarce and there is a risk of focusing only on youth of color because the gang designation excludes white supremacy groups.

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