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

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  • Some 'Most Impressive' Law School Applicants Are Convicted of Serious Crimes

    August 18, 2021 |

    Route Fifty |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    Starting in 2017, California has grown more open to licensing formerly incarcerated people to work as lawyers. State licensing authorities set high barriers to entry to the legal profession in their "moral fitness" license requirements. Vague rules can effectively rule out anyone with a serious criminal record. By clarifying its standards and making the process more transparent, the State Bar – aided by efforts to train licensing officials and by the California System-Involved Bar Association to educate prospective lawyers to pass the test – the system has evolved into a model for state-led change.

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  • Prisons try incentives, education to get staff vaxxed, with mixed results

    August 09, 2021 |

    FreshWater Cleveland |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New Mexico

    While prisons generally have struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus among staff and incarcerated people, New Mexico's program to vaccinate staff has succeeded where others have failed. New Mexico prison and health officials mounted an extensive education program. COVID "command centers" offer individual counseling to answer questions. Wardens get briefed regularly and then spread new information through the staff. Outreach to holdouts convinces some to get vaccinated. The staff vaccination rate is at least 85%, exceeding the rate for the adult population overall.

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  • The Path Forward: Decriminalizing addiction through diversion

    July 29, 2021 |

    Las Vegas Optic |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Alamosa, Colorado

    In Alamosa County, law enforcement officers who believe drug abuse is at the root of a person's criminal behavior can refer that person to treatment and other services, rather than arresting and jailing them. The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, used in multiple places around the country, has helped the county jail fewer people and send more into treatment. It also has caused a large drop in arrest warrants, because case workers help people make their appointments in court and elsewhere. Now, San Miguel County, N.M., is working to adopt LEAD, though it needs more treatment facilities.

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  • From a Prison Garden Sprouts Real Growth

    July 27, 2021 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Oregon

    Lettuce Grow teaches gardening skills to 200 incarcerated people per year in 16 Oregon prisons and juvenile detention centers. The teaching includes college-level courses and hands-on gardening on prison grounds, which then yields hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables for prison kitchens. Graduates of the program commit many fewer crimes than the average ex-prisoner and have found work after prison at nurseries and in other horticultural pursuits.

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  • Austin youth re-entry program has 15% recidivism rate, compared to 75% nationwide

    July 26, 2021 |

    KXAN-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

    Jail to Jobs pays youth while they get trained for jobs in construction, manufacturing, landscaping, and cooking. The youth come from youth detention, the streets, probation, and foster care and their trainers are formerly incarcerated. Jail to Jobs, with four locations in Austin, has helped more than 600 young people find employment despite their pasts. Only 15% of its graduates have been jailed afterward, a lower-than-average recidivism rate.

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  • Can ‘Bad Men' Ever Change?

    July 21, 2021 |

    The Cut |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    Among the many restorative justice programs in the U.S., the Domestic Violence Safe Dialogue program was one of the few to arrange face-to-face dialogue between survivors and men who had violently abused women. This form of surrogate dialogue – the pairings are between strangers – helps two people who want to change but can't do it alone. After extensive preparation and led by a facilitator, the meeting gives survivors a way to hear they were not to blame for the harm done to them, and for the men to admit responsibility and help someone else in ways that traditional punitive justice often cannot.

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  • For girls with mothers in prison, a summer camp offers much-needed support

    July 21, 2021 |

    PBS NewsHour |

    Broadcast TV News |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

    For three days each summer, the Girls Embracing Mothers (GEM) camp near Dallas gives girls an escape from their daily reality of being denied a normal relationship with their incarcerated mothers. Founded by a lawyer whose own mother was incarcerated, GEM combines typical summer-camp fun with trust-building exercises. During camp and afterward, the girls become part of a community of peers who understand each other's trauma – which puts them at higher risk of dropping out of school, mental health problems, and homelessness – in a place where they need not feel shame for their mothers' status.

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  • After 'painfully slow' start, restorative justice program tries to reset

    July 17, 2021 |

    Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cheshire County, New Hampshire

    The Cheshire County Restorative Justice Program works to take low-level defendants, accused of things like shoplifting or alcohol violations out of court and into an alternative process, sparing them criminal records that would later weigh them down. The program’s goal is to push the legal system toward restorative justice, reimagining its traditional processes.

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  • Key to disrupting Denver's homeless-to-jail pipeline? Permanent supportive housing, study finds.

    July 16, 2021 |

    Colorado Newsline |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Providing permanent housing with a menu of health and social services saved the city of Denver millions of dollars and stabilized the lives of hundreds of people. A three-year controlled experiment provided various services, including substance use and mental health treatment, to 724 people who had cycled in and out of jail and the streets. The half who were provided housing in addition to the services enjoyed far fewer arrests and emergency room visits. Most stayed in their provided housing and took greater advantage of routine health care. Social impact bonds financed the upfront costs.

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  • Many in Jail Can Vote, but Exercising That Right Isn't Easy

    July 16, 2021 |

    Stateline |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Chicago's Cook County Jail enabled 2,200 incarcerated people to vote in the November 2020 election by opening the jail to voter registration drives, civic lessons, distribution of voter education materials, two weekends of early voting, and four polling places inside the jail. Most people held in local jails nationwide are eligible to vote but usually don't, due to lack of awareness, intentional barriers, and logistical hassles. Cook County helped people exercise their rights and provided them with education to improve their reentry to society after prison.

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