Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 316 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

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

Juan Moreno Haines Kevin Deroi Sawyer

October 28, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Ballots Behind Bars

La Risa Lynch

October 24, 2020 |

The Crisis Magazine |

Text |

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Their App Sends Free Mail to Incarcerated People. Now They're Helping Prisoners Register to Vote

Emily Nonko

October 20, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Behind prison walls, cats and inmates rehabilitate each other through animal care program

Jordan Erb

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
In San Diego, Black Muslims are working to expand voting access in jails

Aysha Khan

October 14, 2020 |

The GroundTruth Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Voting from Jail Is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago

Pamela Kirkland

September 21, 2020 |

70 Million |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago's Cook County Jail became the first jail in the nation in March to open a polling place behind bars, resulting in about 1,800 voters casting ballots, a sharp increase in voting by eligible voters in the jail. The polling place, combined with expanded voter-registration efforts, resulted from a new Illinois law requiring all counties to expand voting access. Outside of Chicago that means voting by mail. The Chicago experience provides a window into efforts nationwide to expand voting access to people incarcerated in jails and prisons, or with criminal records.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Digging Our Way Out of the Hole: The Safe Alternative to Solitary

Jeremiah Bourgeois

September 16, 2020 |

The Crime Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Washington's prison system cut by half the number of people held in solitary confinement by reducing its security system's reliance on the method and helping former solitary detainees transition back to the general population in a healthier way. But a formerly incarcerated journalist who spent more than seven of his 27 years in prison locked in solitary confinement says the state's disciplinary system is still rooted in an overly punitive approach to mostly petty offenses. A system based on positive incentives to good behavior exists in North Dakota prisons, modeled in part on Norway's approach.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Deradicalizing Militants the High-Tech Way

Tereza Engelová

August 26, 2020 |

HlídacíPes.org |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Czech Republic

Czech Technical University's online learning platform, HERMES, combats terrorism based on proven methods of deradicalization of former jihadists and preventing recruitment of new people to terrorism. Interactive exercises and other tools teach prison and court officials to separate radical jihadists from other prisoners. As thousands of people imprisoned on terrorism charges finish serving their sentences and are released from prisons, the programs also target community-based spread of radical thought, including with job opportunities for former prisoners.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Prison Within

Katherine Hervey

August 22, 2020 |

Raw Love Productions |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

In San Quentin Prison, men convicted of murder attend a 72-week restorative-justice circle where they tell their stories of trauma: what they suffered in their lives, and how they turned that into harm they inflicted on others. The Victim Offender Education Group enables a form of accountability and healing that being locked up doesn’t, because of the dialogue among the men and with others’ victims of violence.

Read More
Go to Original Story
This Chicago Nonprofit Supports Incarcerated Youth and Local Businesses During the Pandemic

Nicolette White

August 21, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Liberation Library, a Chicago-based nonprofit, provides books for incarcerated youth. The nonprofit fills the youths' book requests and has also partnered with five Chicago-based bookstores, where shoppers can purchase gift cards on behalf of the nonprofit. Since the onset of the pandemic, it has sent more than 1,100 books, more than double its usual number, along with card games, snacks and art supplies.

Read More
Go to Original Story