Feeling wonky – or simply seeking solid resources? Start here for facts, newsletters, and ideas:
Prison Map –– Using snapshots of the earth’s surface Prison Map asks examines the geography of incarceration in the United States. Ever wonder the amount of Earth’s surface that is covered by roads, malls and parking lots? NYU Telecommunications graduate student, Josh Begley, applied this question to detention facilities. The results are fascinating and uniquely informative.
Bureau of Justice Statistics –– The United States’ primary source for criminal justice statistics, collecting analyzing publishing, and disseminating information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
The Bail Project –– Reimagining Pretrial Justice The Bail Project is a non-profit organization designed to combat mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system ? one person at a time.
Homeboy Industries –– Homeboy Industries is the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.” Father Greg Boyle is a superhero.
National Registry of Exonerations (University of Michigan Law School) The NRE provides comprehensive data on exonerations of innocent criminal defendants in order to prevent future false convictions by learning from past errors.
Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow website and study guides –– To use The New Jim Crow organizing guide, multiple study guides, and a teaching curriculum for high school students. All of these resources are based on The New Jim Crow and can be used as companions while reading the book.
FAMM –– Families Against Mandatory Minimums is a very busy prison reform advocacy group, and an inspiration.
Prison Policy Initiative –– The research oriented non-profit, Prison Policy Initiative, works shed light on Incarceration America. It creates prison reform advocacy and is essentially a think tank, ever in study of “how mass criminalization undermines our national welfare.” PPI’s website is a great learning tool.
Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) –– Veteran film producer and justice reform activist Scott Budnick’s journey from volunteerism to volume philanthropy speaks more truth to power than a thousand well-lit press conferences.
National Prison Divestment Campaign –– Perhaps calling on all public and private institutions to divest their holdings in America’s private prison corporations isn’t your thing. But if you think it’s wrong for Wells Fargo to aggressively market programs that allow immigrants, without U.S. identification, to open bank accounts –while investing in detention corporations who lobby for ever-increasing incarceration of immigrants– here’s where to learn more.
The National Reentry Resource Center –– Everything “prisoner reentry” as interpreted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and U.S. Department of Justice through the Second Chance Act (Public Law 110-199). This is about as upbeat and user-friendly as it gets in understanding what states, tribes, territories, local governments, service providers, non-profit organizations, and corrections institutions are doing to advance the field of prisoner reentry and improve the chances for a successful transition from incarceration to civilian life.
Jails Project –– The ACLU Foundation of Southern California is the court-ordered monitor of conditions of confinement and medical services within all Los Angeles County jail facilities. “Conditions” refers to beds, change of clothing, food, gay inmate classification, recreation, showers, phones, overcrowding, protective custody, religious services, mail, allegations of violence and retaliation and other similar issues that may arise.
Right on Crime –– Right on Crime is a national campaign to promote successful, conservative solutions on American criminal justice policy—reforming the system to ensure public safety, shrink government, and save taxpayers money.
The ACLU National Prison Project – The National Prison Project is dedicated to ensuring that our nation’s prisons, jails, and detention centers comply with the Constitution, domestic law, and human rights principles.
The House I Live In –– Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki takes on the failed U.S. Drug War with a gripping film and dynamic website that links to ways to get involved. Watch the movie and take some action.
Open Justice –– A transparency initiative led by the California Department of Justice that publishes criminal justice data so we can understand how we are doing, hold ourselves accountable, and improve public policy to make California safer.