EJUSA is thrilled to be featured in a new publication, “A Handbook for Jewish Communities Fighting Mass Incarceration,” by the Jewish human rights organization, T’ruah. The Handbook is a comprehensive guide for action from a Jewish perspective. It contains background information on various aspects of mass incarceration, from what happens when police stop people on the streets, to…
This weekend, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a segment on prisons in Germany. The German approach emphasizes healing and rehabilitation. There’s no punishment for punishments’ sake. Loss of freedom is punishment enough, and the goal is to help those who commit harm to change their lives. Corrections officers are trained in psychology, communications, and de-escalation. Even…
by Sam Kuhn, EJUSA Associate Board When my friend Erin Ellis approached me with the prospect of joining the EJUSA Associate Board, I jumped at the opportunity. EJUSA’s work to make the criminal justice system more fair, effective, and responsive is right in line with the values my work at the National Network for Safe…
There is a growing interest in reimagining the relationship between the public health and the justice systems. Our coverage of the new report, “Stress on the Streets (SOS): Race, Policing, Health, and Increasing Trust, not Trauma,” last month highlighted innovative ways that public health and criminal justice reform organizations are collaborating to do just that….
For several years, the Christian Community Development Conference has held a national prayer and advocacy day, called “Locked in Solidarity,” to highlight the injustice of mass incarceration. It is a day when their member and participating organizations hold events and prayer vigils to share lament, hope, and stories as they seek a response to the broken…
Last month, President Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, touring the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. During his visit, he acknowledged that if it weren’t for the privilege of his family support, he could have ended up inside prison walls rather than inside the White House. The visit…
In an early-May issue of The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin tells the story of one prosecutor’s effortsto combat mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on African Americans. In the story, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm comes to realize that racial disparities exist not only at the incarceration level but also in how the system…