Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Pandemic Boosts Effort to Improve Inmates' Welfare

    January 14, 2021 |

    Global Press Journal |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Zimbabwe

    As part of the coronavirus lockdown in Zimbabwe, people were banned from visiting prisons, but a mobile app has allowed relatives to send supplies to those who are incarcerated via their cellphone. This newest initiative in the succession to reform the prison system uses mobile money to send supplemental goods from the prison’s tuck shop to relatives who are incarcerated.

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  • Firefighter jobs difficult to find for women fire crew after prison

    January 12, 2021 |

    Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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    Response Location: United States, Arizona

    Arizona's Inmate Wildfire Program trains incarcerated people to fight wildfires, paying them low prison wages to provide a critically needed service as wildfires grow more common. Members of the only all-female crew, from Perryville Prison, tell of their pride of accomplishment in doing a dangerous job, and of the rehabilitative benefits of the program. They also describe their frustrations when regulations often bar them from using their skills after release from prison.

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  • Revolving door in Montana corrections still turning, despite reforms

    January 04, 2021 |

    Helena Independent Record |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Montana

    A set of criminal justice reforms enacted in Montana in 2017 that were meant to reduce incarceration and reinvest some of the savings in crime prevention programs has had little effect on the prison population. The state's "justice reinvestment" program, using a model adopted in 30 other states, has failed to put plans into action, partly for a lack of public spending on programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. As a result, the prison population is tracking where it would have been had nothing been done, and recidivism remains high.

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  • These gardens ask visitors to reconsider solitary confinement

    December 23, 2020 |

    Grist |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

    Solitary Gardens is an art project that protests prisons' solitary confinement conditions. Incarcerated people connect with volunteers on the outside who plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs in beds matching the tiny dimensions of the prison cell that confined Herman Wallace for a record 41 years in Louisiana. The people inside prison imagine their garden, often with memory triggers of what they have lost, and their gardener carries out their plan. The idea is to make a place for grief, healing, public service, and public education, as the gardens in four cities teach about solitary confinement.

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  • How Cook County Jail Became the Country's First Jail-Based Polling Place

    October 30, 2020 |

    Belt Magazine |

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    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    As the first jail to serve as a polling place for the people incarcerated there, the Cook County Jail saw the highest number of votes cast in a primary election in decades during the spring primary. On two weekends of early voting for the fall general election, more than 2,000 people cast their ballots, nearly 40% of the jail's population. In jail, in-person voting has several advantages over mail-in voting, which in the past was the only option, as at all other jails. Because most people held there have not been found guilty, they are eligible to vote. Illinois also allows same-day registration.

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  • We can't vote in San Quentin prison. So we held a mock election

    October 28, 2020 |

    The Guardian |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

    Two men incarcerated at San Quentin prison tell how the men incarcerated there held a mock presidential election, despite a pandemic-related lockdown and prison officials' failure to distribute ballots that had been sent to the prison. Using handwritten ballots, the "voters," denied their actual voting rights by the state, managed to cast 176 mock votes (heavily favoring Joe Biden) by distributing the ballots during limited time outside their cells. Voting gave the men the opportunity to express their views, not just by checking a box but by adding comments on their ballots.

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  • Ballots Behind Bars

    October 24, 2020 |

    The Crisis Magazine |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Chicago Votes works to ensure access to voting for people awaiting trial in jail. In addition to registering thousands of voters, they helped pass a Cook County law designating the nation’s largest single-site detention facility as a polling place. This access enabled 1,850 people to cast their votes and about 600 people were able to take advantage of same-day registration and voting, which isn’t possible with traditional absentee ballot voting. Addressing jail-based disenfranchisement, which disproportionately impacts communities of color, gives people a voice in policies that directly impact them.

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  • Their App Sends Free Mail to Incarcerated People. Now They're Helping Prisoners Register to Vote

    October 20, 2020 |

    Next City |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Ameelio is a technology startup launched by Yale students to facilitate free communication between people who are incarcerated and loved ones. In their first six months, the group went from sending 300 to over 4,000 letters a week to facilities in the United States. Their initial goal was to provide a not-for-profit alternative to the oftentimes predatory prison telecommunications industry. Recently they began a voter registration initiative where they send registration instructions, a blank voter registration application, and ballot request form to people who are incarcerated and eligible to vote.

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  • Behind prison walls, cats and inmates rehabilitate each other through animal care program

    October 19, 2020 |

    IndyStar (The Indianapolis Star) |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Pendleton, Indiana

    In Indiana's maximum-security Pendleton Correctional Facility, the FORWARD program (Felines and Offenders Rehabilitation With Affection, Reformation and Dedication) puts incarcerated men in charge of caring for cats rescued from abuse or the streets while the cats await adoption. The men learn job skills and can feel empathy for a dependent animal, which research has shown can improve behavior both inside prison and afterward. The caregivers say their job gives them purpose and greater self-esteem. About 20 have been hired after prison by Indiana's Animal Protection League, which helps run the program.

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  • In San Diego, Black Muslims are working to expand voting access in jails

    October 14, 2020 |

    The GroundTruth Project |

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    Response Location: United States, California

    Pillars of the Community hires people incarcerated in local California jails to register new incarcerated voters and conduct civic engagement education behind bars. Pillars, a faith-based criminal justice advocacy group led by Black Muslims, registers hundreds every year, many of whom did not know they were eligible to vote and did not know how to register on their own. Those voting in 2020 will be able to vote on state referenda concerning expanding voting rights for people with felony convictions and on ending cash bail.

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