Category: Social Policy

Over the past month as the Coronavirus pandemic has swept across the United States, precautions have been made to protect residents including enhancements to operational capacity of health care facilities, closing of non-essential business and the establishment of statewide lockdowns that mandate individuals to self-quarantine. Unfortunately these provisions have not extended far enough to protect […]
Written by Vincent Sherrill incarcerated in WADOC, Monroe Correctional Complex This is not a CORONATIONfor some old dusty ass monarchremnant of an oppressive pastand no College team will be CrownedNCAA Tournament Champions. This is more like a CORONACHa dedication poem or psalma platinum songsung by angelic cherubimas families place gold coinstoll for the boatmanfor those […]
We are only as safe from an epidemic as our most vulnerable are. At this time communities across the country are aware of the risks of not practicing the five habits that help to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We have been encouraged to self-quarantine and many have been “locked down” for weeks. Some […]
Being one of the first areas to have encountered Covid-19, the West Coast is ahead of the rest of the country in its response and preventative efforts. Like many states the entry of nonessential personnel into state facilities have been suspended, this includes visitation, extended family visits, social outings and work release as well as […]
In 2019, we saw unprecedented progress in the conversation surrounding felony disenfranchisement. Last year, over a dozen states introduced legislation towards ending felony disenfranchisement: eleven (CA, WA, CO, IA, MN, CT, NJ, TX, KY, TN, NM) of those states were fighting to restore the voting rights of people immediately upon their release from prison and […]
Like many states across the country, Michigan has reached a critical point in the status of its Corrections Department and citizens are fed up. The Department’s failures expand across the spectrum of corrections from financially and operatively to their regularly inadequate programming and continually degrading prison conditions. These mounting issues incite the need for deep […]
Direct Call to Action These prisoners have risked their lives as outspoken organizers to improve the conditions of Ohio State prisons and advocate for prisoners human rights. They are being threatened with being moved out of state away from their loved ones in retaliation for their political activity. The act of doing so is a […]
After decades of over sentencing and mass incarceration plaguing Michiganians, community members are taking the problem of Michigan’s criminal legal system back into their hands, the way it always should have been. At this point the state of Michigan’s Department of Corrections  is so far behind that of so many states in the process of […]
This past Tuesday was election day and as we cast our ballots across the country, people are fighting to expand ballot access to those millions of citizens impacted by felony disenfranchisement nationwide.  This isn’t a fight that just started and it isn’t one that will be ending anytime soon. In 2016, 40,000 people in Maryland had their voting rights […]
On Wednesday, October 10th, at 11:00a EST dozens of community members, including family of incarcerated people, their allies, activists and elected officials came together to advocate for critical reforms that Michigan’s Department of Corrections is in desperate need of. Attendees were asked to display an image of their incarcerated loved one on either a T-shirt, […]