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Taylor Moore

April 05, 2021 |

Columbia Journalism Review |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

The Empowerment Avenue Writer's Cohort pairs incarcerated writers with volunteer journalists on the outside who mentor, edit, and help the writers pitch their stories to publications. By publishing more incarcerated writers' viewpoints and first-hand reporting, and by getting those writers paid for their work, the project better informs the public about experiences inside prisons, gives free-world journalists more inside sources, and helps set up incarcerated writers for a career once they are free.

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Prison Renaissance program at San Quentin uses art to end cycles of incarceration

Jason Beal

March 26, 2021 |

KGO-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

Three men currently or formerly incarcerated at San Quentin Prison founded Prison Renaissance to connect artists and writers inside prison to audiences and potential funders outside. They produced an art exhibit that was shown digitally at the Museum of the African Diaspora. By creating a rehabilitative program on their own without prison administration involvement, the men demonstrate their humanity and talents, while also generating income for the artists.

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Hot Trash

Nigel Poor Earlonne Woods

March 17, 2021 |

Ear Hustle |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

Prison visiting rooms provide an irreplaceable connection between incarcerated people and their family and friends from outside prison. The in-person visits, despite the many rules that complicate the simple act of conversation, offer a grounding in what's happening in the lives they left behind, along with opportunities to have an intense dialogue about past mistakes and regrets. Interviews produced inside San Quentin Prison reveal the mixed blessing of video visits, the only form of contact for a year during the pandemic.

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New legal clinic concentrates on cases of women languishing in the system for crimes against alleged abusers

Annie Sweeney

March 16, 2021 |

Chicago Tribune |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Illinois

The Women and Survivors Project provides legal representation to women imprisoned for crimes that stemmed from histories of abuse. Nearly all incarcerated women have suffered violent abuse. Many end up punished for fighting back or when their abuser forces them to participate in his crimes, but their defenses often get overlooked in court. The project so far has helped free five women by getting judges or parole officials to reconsider their cases, including one woman convicted of first-degree murder. It has dozens more cases in the pipeline.

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How Norway's Prisons Have Weathered a Pandemic

Ted Alcorn

March 12, 2021 |

Think Global Health |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Norway

When Covid-19 threatened to disrupt Norway's correctional system, the country's prisons and jails were quick to pivot their practices to protect those who were incarcerated. Although it helped that the country's correctional system was already known for being "small, responsive, and humane," more protocols were put into place to allow some who were incarcerated to complete their sentence at home, while others were provided with iPads to decrease isolation while visits were restricted. So far, only 60 cases of Covid-19 have been reported throughout the entire prison system.

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How COVID Impacts Education — Prison Literature Club Adapts During COVID Lockdowns

Annakai Hayakawa Geshlider

March 11, 2021 |

Rafu Shimpo |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

An educational program called ROOTS (Restoring Our Original True Selves) taught at San Quentin prison in Marin County, California, has transformed into the Literature Club due to the pandemic and has reached other nearby prisons. The Literature Club, started by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee in Oakland, pairs people who are incarcerated with people outside, and they exchange emails to update each other on their reading progress and reflections. "More than a reading group, it’s a supportive space where emotions are openly discussed."

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Will New York allow incarcerated people to access treatment for drug addiction?

Sam Mellins

March 05, 2021 |

New York Focus |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

Medically assisted treatment is proven to reduce fatal opioid overdoses, particularly among formerly incarcerated people. When people are denied treatment in jail or prison and then resume their previous doses once they're released, they are up to 40 times more likely to die of an overdose. Only 18 of New York's county jails and fewer than one in five of its prisons provide access to such treatment drugs as Suboxone and methadone. When Rhode Island became the first state to make MAT available throughout its prisons, its overdose deaths among people recently released from incarceration dropped 60%.

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The 'Hidden Punishment' of Prison Food

Patricia Leigh Brown

March 02, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Charleston, Maine

Mountain View Correctional Facility in Maine has turned its food service into a farm-to-table experience, sourcing healthier, more appetizing meals from its own apple orchard and vegetable garden and from local farmers. Prison food is traditionally a "hidden punishment" of bland or inedible fare that has poor nutritional value. By eating locally, cooking from scratch, and training incarcerated people in horticulture and cooking skills, the prison is fostering an atmosphere that's healthier physiologically and psychologically.

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Teacher in Greece offers hope to inmates through TV classes

Elena Becatoros

February 18, 2021 |

Associated Press |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Greece, Avlona

When the pandemic shut schools down in Greece, that included the schooling system in place for those in Greece’s Avlona Special Youth Detention Center; so, the director of the school started broadcasting lessons over a TV channel. The director and his team worked together to get the station up and running and then with the young men who are incarcerated to popularize it throughout the detention center via word of mouth.

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Tech Company Aims to Disrupt Predatorial Prison Phone Industry

Shani Saxon

February 17, 2021 |

Colorlines |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A free mobile app called Ameelio opens a free channel of communication between incarcerated people and their families, to avoid the price-gouging telephone services that prisons and jails authorize to charge people exorbitant rates to talk. Ameelio's app makes sending letters with photos easier than doing it by snail mail. Nonprofits can also use the free service to communicate with clients. Ameelio, which is supported by donations and grants, is piloting a video-conferencing service.

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