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

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  • Law & Disorder: Progressive Prosecutors Hope to Dismantle Mass Incarceration

    Across the United States, individuals and organizations are seeking to shift the criminal justice system through District Attorney elections. From online communities like colorofchange.org, which seeks to support grassroots election efforts, to individuals like Minnesota’s Mark Haase, who is running on a platform of diversity and inclusion, to the Texas Organizing Project that wants to empower Black and Latinx communities, each of these missions seeks to create more equity and transparency in the criminal justice system.

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  • Glasgow was once the ‘murder capital of Europe.' Now it's a model for cutting crime.

    Glasgow used to be known as the murder capital of Europe. But police began tackling crime as a public health issue and partnered with doctors, social workers and educators, while also increasing stops and searches of potential offenders and getting harsher sentences passd for carrying knives. Perpetrators get help with education and jobs and the city has seen a 60 percent drop in homicides, but some experts caution that other factors could contribute to that decline.

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  • Rethinking Alaska's only maximum-security prison

    At Spring Creek Correctional Center, top officials are instituting new programming for inmates in the hopes of creating a culture of respect and innovation, while decreasing recidivism rates. Some of the new initiatives at Spring Creek include classes in business and art, support groups for those trying to stay sober, mentorship for inmates obtaining their GED, and a discussion group on ethics and morals. What makes all of these unique? They’re all prisoner-led.

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  • In Iowa, A Commitment To Make Prison Work Better For Women

    At the Iowa Correctional Institution For Women officials are shifting how they deal with inmates, who have been punished at higher rates than inmates in men’s prisons for things like being disruptive. It’s part of a trend in 15 states called gender-responsive corrections that recognizes the role of trauma in many women’s lives and that they are less likely to be violent. It means more freedom to move around, no full strip searches and fewer punishments for minor violations.

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  • How to make prisons more humane

    A North Dakota prison looks to Norway's prison model that focuses on prisoner rehabilitation rather than punishment. By giving offenders responsibility, private space, and access to the outside world, these prisons have found lower rates of recidivism and more success with rehabilitation.

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  • Unequal Discipline Audio icon

    In 2017, Illinois passed a bill to re-establish the Women’s Correctional Services Division in response to the disproportionate level of discipline handed out to female inmates and in an effort to create more trauma-informed practices. An initial audit showed declines in discipline and there is now mandatory training for correctional officers on working with female inmates. But the main reform champion retired after the law passed and the state wouldn’t provide updated data on discipline.

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  • Changing the environment in Iowa's prisons to change results for women Audio icon

    The Iowa Correctional Institution for Women has reformed how inmates are treated, adapting approaches informed by gender and past trauma. A new campus provides private counseling suites and a mental health unit, larger cells with light controls and a visitation area with play space and a garden so women can engage with their children. Disciplinary policies have also shifted toward building women up for returning to society rather than automatic discipline for small infractions.

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  • A small state with big ideas on rehabilitating female prisoners

    Across the United States, women statistically receive a higher rate of disciplinary tickets for minor infractions compared to their male counterparts. In Vermont, however, where corrections falls under the Department of Human Services, employees of the correctional facilities are trained in gender-informed practices to better suit their responses to women and men offenders.

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  • Bringing Arts and Culture into the Work of Public Safety and Criminal Justice

    A collaboration between artists, lawyers, and community members has resulted in expungement clinics that clean or clear criminal records in a manner that is legally binding and emotionally therapeutic. Clinic attendees are invited to literally shred their records and are then presented with a blank piece of paper made by co-op members—many formerly incarcerated people themselves—representing a new start.

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  • To Help Young Women in Prison, Try Dignity

    Inspired by prisons in Germany that emphasize personal dignity, Connecticut is shifting its corrections department's focus with two programs for young offenders. The one for women matches 14 inmates with older incarcerated mentors who help develop programs of classes, counseling and planning for post-release life. Officers are trained to address trauma and say they feel a new sense of purpose, but it's an expensive and labor-intensive program so it's unclear how it will fare after this pilot phase.

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