Corrections, education including information about incarceration, education, social justice and criminal justice, women, arts work in prisons and the prison industrial complex

recent additions:

The Second Chance Act of 2007 - federal legislation designed to ensure the safe and successful return of prisoners to the community, passed by the US Senate, March 11, 2008.

Hard Road Home - An Independent Lens film documenting the work of  Exodus Transitional Community in East Harlem, and its work with men and women re-entering communities.

mapping, from the Providence Plan:
Cost to Incarcerate 2006 Sentenced Population -  the amount per neighborhood it costs to incarcerate the population sentenced to the Adult Correctional Institute in 2006, based on the address of residence in Providence. In 2006, 1,198 Providence residents were sentenced to the Adult Correctional Institute.

From the Educational Testing Service's Education Research Update: Locked Up and Locked Out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population - study describing "the rising prison population and its characteristics, examines the status of prison education programs and their impact, and describes programs that try to help ex-prisoners reenter society. (Policy Information Report. Authors: R.J. Coley and P.E. Barton)"

Participatory Literacy behind Bars: AIDS Opens the Door, Kathy Boudin, Harvard Educational Review, Volume 63:2 (Summer 1993)

The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice -  "examines the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities at-risk for contact with the courts or already involved in the juvenile delinquency system. We provide professional development and technical assistance, conduct research and disseminate resources in three areas of national significance:  prevention of school failure and delinquency,  education and special education for detained and committed youth, and  transition services for youth returning to schools and communities."

Prison Voices - "an inmate-written book, made to encourage reading and writing in prisons.  Within these pages twelve convict-authors reveal the dramatic details of their lives and their struggles."  Read more about the Prison Voices project here (scroll down to John Howard Society).  Teachers' guide now on line at http://www.nald.ca/clr/prison/cover.htm.

Writing by supermax inmates and their families from prisoncentral.org.

Ed Griffin - writer and educator Ed Griffin shares his writing and that of participants in creative writing workshops he teachers at Matsqui Prison, a medium security prison in Western Canada.

activistscholarshiplists.riseup.net  - unmoderated listserv for academics dedicated to putting their scholarly work at the service of progressive movements, including anti-racist, feminist, environmental justice, economic justice, disability rights, anti-globalization and immigrant rights movements.  Postings on roles, dilemmas, costs, pedagogies and methodologies of activist scholarship are welcomed.

There's more to justice than prison - Alexander Provan profiles efforts to support reentry and otherwise address policy reform in Rhode Island and across the country.  Providence Phoenix, April 15-21, 2005.

Prisoners of the Census: Electoral and Financial Consequences of Counting Prisoners Where They Go, Not Where They Come From (PDF)
posted 04/12/05.  Article in the Pace Law Review plotting electoral and financial consequences of the Census Bureau's practice of counting urban prisoners as residents of rural prison towns.

The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry, from  Prison Policy Initiative.

Changing Minds: The impact of college in a maximum-security prison with thanks to Andy Nash - multiauthor study of positive impact of college on incarcerated women.

Correctional Education Programs For Adults with Learning Disabilities - form Linkages, Fall, 1996

Corrections Education -  Focus on Basics, Volume 7, Issue D September 2005

Corrections Education - (A Sister Site to the Michigan Adult Learning & Technology Center's Site) "address the challenge educators face in the corrections field when instructing students with English as their second language. ...The decision was made to offer resources on the three main areas of education that best answer this problem.  These areas are Education in Corrections, English as a Second Language (ESL), and General Education Development (GED)."

NALD Corrections Collection - resources from the Canadian National Adult Literacy Database

Correctional Education Association

Corrections Education resources from Hudson River Center for Program Development

Correctional Service of Canada - including listings of programs and relevant resources.

Education Not Incarceration - a group of teachers, parents, students, and community members outraged by the current cuts in education funding.

The Fortune Society - "Staffed primarily by ex-prisoners, The Fortune Society is a not-for-profit community-based organization dedicated to educating the public about prisons, criminal justice issues, and the root causes of crime. We also help ex-prisoners and at-risk youth break the cycle of crime and incarceration through a broad range of services."

[see also the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Soros Foundation, whose Open Society Institute undertook the study described in the article]

Imprisoned intellectuals - a conference held at Brown University April 13-14, 2002 with links to related scholarship and writings.

Prisoners, literacy practices and politics - Stephen Black.  A literacy worker's analysis of corrections education and literacy over a span of year.  

Correctional Service of Canada: Women Offender Programs and Issues - descriptions of programs for incarcerated women and well as full-text online reports re: women, violence, abuse and incarceration.

Interview with Susan Rosenberg upon her release from prison - Deomcracy NOW! radio broadcast, January 23, 2001.

Evolution of Activists:  Prison Women's Writings as Change Agent for their Communities -  Irene C. Baird
Abstract: Within the context of a Freirian/humanities adult education program for incarcerated women, 1972 militant  women's poetry serendipitously precipitated the emergence of an activist perspective among "repeaters" for effecting change  within their community, confirming theoretical constructs regarding the development of a confident, meaningful "voice" for  social engagement.

Justice Now -  Justice Now works with women prisoners and local communities to build a safe, compassionate world without prisons.

Not Part of My Sentence: Violations of the rights of women in custody -- Amnesty International report describing violations of the internationally guaranteed human rights of women incarcerated in the United States

Prison Activist Resource Center on women

Understanding Prison Health Care - women's health

Unlocking Options for Women: A Survey of Women in Cook County Jail
On October 31, 2001, 60 members of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless  conducted in-depth, one-on-one surveys with 235 of the 1,117 women detained in Cook County Jail. The majority of women surveyed were homeless upon entering the system and only 8 percent report having a home to go to upon release. Women surveyed were survivors of child abuse; sexual assault and domestic violence at two and three times the national average. Many women have substance abuse histories or emotional and mental health problems, possibly linked to prior experiences of abuse, for which they could not access treatment and care. 34 % of women surveyed were regularly involved in prostitution either for a survival need such as a place to stay and a meal, or to satisfy an untreated addiction. These women are even more likely to be survivors of violence and face increased rates of detention. 29 percent of women said they had an application denied or were cut-off from government assistance in the 12 months prior to entering jail. The most common reason for being denied or cut-off was missing an appointment with a caseworker. As one woman stated, "If I was getting the benefits that I needed, I wouldn't have been in the situation to commit the crimes." A copy of this study, Unlocking Options for Women, can be obtained at http://www.chicagohomeless.org. or contact Samir Goswami at 312-435-4548.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930 - editorial projects of primary documents addressing the history of women in reform movements in the U.S.  http://womhist.binghamton.edu

Amachi: Mentoring Children of Prisoners in Philadelphia  from PUBLIC/PRIVATE VENTURES  - A unique partnership of secular and faith-based institutions, Amachi recruits volunteers from congregations to mentor children of prisoners.  Looking at the role of the church in community, the report explores the implications of the Amachi experience for policymakers, funders, and others interested in starting similar programs.  Amachi is a West African word that means “who knows but what God has brought us through this child.

from National Public Radio:
A Youth Spent in Prison - Following the Story of Jeremy Armstrong, Imprisoned Since Age 16

A Nation Behind Bars - coverage from the Washington Post, Sunday, April 13, 2003; Page B06

Mothers in Jail - September, 1999, Connect for Kids

Family Ties, through Prison Walls - March, 2005, Kris Dickon, Connect for Kids

Parents and Children:   1.5 million U.S. children have at least one parent in jail - overview of  article "Nearly 1.5 million American children have a parent who is in a state or federal prison -- in line with the nation's record prison population, a U.S. Department of Justice study finds. Many of these parents report that their children have not visited them..." with additional relevant links.

A Journey of Discouragement and Hope: An Introduction to Arts  and Corrections  by Grady Hillman. A reflection on pboth disheartening and promising trends in arts and corrections over the past several years; (one of a number of writings on arts and corrections at Community Arts Network

Maintaining Humanity: Grady Hillman talks about arts programs in correctional settings - 1996 interview

C.D. Wright: Poems born in prison - In "One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana," poet and Professor of English C.D. Wright portrays voices and stories of incarcerated persons in three Louisiana penal institutions. Of the state prison at Angola - The Farm - Wright says, "If not for the wire and the guardhouse, you could think you were at a college."

Community Arts Training- resources for utilizing arts in community work, as well as specific links to arts and corrections

HANDKERCHIEF ART FROM PRISON - "Thousands of inmates in prisons across the United States  mail drawings and paintings done on handkerchiefs to loved ones on the outside  every day. Folded and enclosed in  envelopes which are often decorated as well, handkerchiefs depicting cartoon  characters, religious themes, tattoo  patterns, dedications to friends who have  passed, depiction’s of prison life and  visions of places outside the prison walls become an integral vehicle for affirming the  artist’s existence to the outside world." Artworks on 100 handkerchiefs from artists in Connecticut's prisons are on view in "Handkerchief Art from Prison," an exhibition at Hygienic  Galleries in New London, Conn., through May 21, 2000.  [note: this exhibit had been removed from the site; but check the existing link to its archives]

If not art, then what?  - on arts programs in Pennsylvania,  California and New York, three states that provide arts programs for their inmates.

The Medea Project- theatre for incarcerated women; part of the San Francisco-based arts organiziation Cultural Odyssey

The Penal Lexicon -   information on matters concerned with prisons, criminal justice and penal affairs. Primarily the focus is on prisons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  Includes information on arts, women and other aspects of prison work and education.

Prison, Art and Some Myths -   PERSIMMON BLACKBRIDGE,  LYN MACDONALD, and MICHELLE CHRISTIANSON

Prison Creative Arts Project of the University of Michigan, "committed to original work in the arts in Michigan Correctional Facilities. Our purpose is to enhance creative opportunities for inmates and to bring them the benefits and skills that come with each art. We attempt to provide the best possible and most
positive programs, and we work closely with each facility to ensure that this happens."

Rhode Island  Training school  http://www.brown.edu/Departments/IESE/Projects/RITS/
and connected work at AS 220 http://www.as220.org/as220/weblog/access/bss.html?seemore=y

Martina Jackson's Shakespeare in Jail program, Suffolk County House of Correction
Shakespeare in Jail, part two

The Orange in the Orange : A Novella & Two Stories by Fielding Dawson, Jan 1995 - author draws on his experiences as facilitator of prison writing program

"Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin"  by writer Judith Tannenbaum,  September 2000 from Northeastern University Press. "As invigorating as it is tragic, the book takes the reader inside the northern California penal facility and into the lives of the men who live there. In her preface, available this month in the Reading Room on the CAN Web site, Tannenbaum talks about how prison arts programs work and what is expected of them, and about the joys and challenges of asking incarcerated people to 'shape their deepest vision into word, image, sound or movement, thus encouraging the birth of creative expression in another human being.'"

Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing-A PEN American Center Prize Anthology Bell Gale Chevigny (Editor), et al / Hardcover / Published 1999

Prison Writing : In 20th-Century America H. Bruce Franklin(Editor), Tom Wicker / Paperback / Published 1998

Amnesty International's Prison initiative

Article19.net - Working for a Human Right to Communicate.

The Gatekeeper: Watch on the INS by Alisa Solomon Detainees Equal Dollars - The Rise in Immigrant Incarcerations drives a prison boom, The Village Voice,  August 14 - 20, 2002  (see also other archived articles by Solomon re: incarceration and immigration)

Jails and Prisons - compilation of articles from the Nation

JUSTINFO, published the 1st and 15th of each month, highlights information from the NCJRS sponsoring agencies
and is organized by topic and type of resource.  Go to the April 15, 2003 issue to learn more about Justice Info, and to subscribe.

Every Mothers Son - "In the late 1990s, three victims of police brutality made headlines around the country: Amadou Diallo, the young West African man whose killing sparked intense public protest; Anthony Baez, killed in an illegal choke-hold; and Gary (Gidone) Busch, a Hasidic Jew shot and killed outside his Brooklyn home. "Every Mother's Son" tells of the victims' three mothers who came together to demand justice and accountability."

Legislative Changes on Felony Disenfranchisement  From: THE SENTENCING PROJECT
This new report documents significant reform of felony  disenfranchisement laws in recent years. From 1996 to 2003, eight  states have removed barriers to voting for persons with felony  convictions, seven of them for ex-felons. The study finds an  estimated 471,000 persons are now eligible to vote in the most
heavily impacted states and indicates a strong movement nationally  toward reform of these laws.

Prison Reform Unity Project

Terror and torture - Hendrik Hertzberg, in the New Yorker, March 24, 2003

Terrorism and the constitution : sacrificing civil liberties in the name of national security  -  excerpts from the text by by David Cole and James X. Dempsey,  The New Press, 2002  [review, with relevant web links]

Critical Resistance  seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe.

CURE - Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, a non-profit nationwide organization dedicated to the reduction of crime through the reform of the criminal justice system. We are a prison and jail reform advocacy group headquartered in Washington, DC with chapters or affiliates in most states of the union.

Debt to Society - Mother Jones Magazine and Justice Policy Institute (July 2001).  Comprehensive analysis of corrections practice, health, education and policy.

Disproportionate Minority Confinement Resource Center -  project of the University of Iowa School of Social Work, with a mission of promoting family-centered, culturally responsive practice across human service systems through research and evaluation, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination.

Mass Imprisonment and the disappearing voters - Open Society Institute Forum focused on the impact of felony  disenfranchisement laws in the United States. Moderated by Marc Mauer—a panel of criminal and social justice experts debated the issue of mass imprisonment and whether people convicted of felonies who have served their time should have the right to vote.

New Inmate Population Figures Demonstrate Need for Policy Reform  [July, 2003] from THE SENTENCING PROJECT -  2-page  analysis of new Justice Department figures, which show a 2.6% rise in the national prison population, documents that a number of states have enacted sentencing and drug policy reforms in recent years, but that these have not offset the long-term impact of other harsh sentencing policies.  The SENTENCING PROJECT is an independent source of criminal justice policy analysis, data and program information for the public and policy-makers

Mumia Abu-Jamal - numerous sites focused on writings, alerts and information on the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal

The Prisons Foundation - "nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the arts and education behind bars and to working for law  and prison reform. We publish a bimonthly periodical entitled, Freedom Now! which is popular among men and women in prison and those who  care about them."

Prison Issues Desk - part of the Prison activists' resource center, committed to exposing and challenging the institutionalized racism of the criminal injustice system and to further developing anti-racism as individuals and throughout our organization.  Also includes subscription to listserv.

prison | release - Spring 2002 Alumnae Magazine of Sarah Lawrence College focused on programs in prisons and their participants.

The Center on Crime, Communities and Culture - The Open Society Institute Criiminal Justice Initiative

Crime and Justice Electronic Data Abstracts --DOJ BJS [.zip, .wk1] from the Bureau of Justice Statistics

Rehabilitating Criminal Justice -  including "new support for creative diversion, treatment, parole and re-entry policies" - articles from The American Prospects Special  Report on Criminal Justice Reform

SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN PRISONS - 80% of the 1.7 million men and women behind bars are seriously involved with drug and alcohol abuse and the crime it spawns.

The National Center on Institutions and Alternatives - mission: "to help create a society in which all persons who come into contact with human service or correctional systems are provided an environment of individual care, concern and treatment. NCIA is dedicated to developing quality programs and professional services that advocate timely intervention and unconditional care."

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data

BEHIND BARS: DOC puts budget squeeze on inmates by Steven Stycos, Providence Phoenix, December 5 - 11, 2003

Corrections Connections - online resource for corrections news and information; industry site

Corrections Corp of America - CCA, corrections management, investment opportunities.

google search:  Corrections Corporation of American  "cca + prisons", including numerous articles from numerous sources (e.g. Corporation Watch, and,: Prisons for Profit - December 99 article by Shirley Pasholk describing the increased use of prisoners as below-minimum-wage workers and even as strikebreakers by U.S. corporations).  Also see Christian Parenti's Lockdown America and Vijay Prashad's Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses , in which "Prashad examines the contradictions of the American economy. He assesses a range of related issues:the oft-vaunted US economy, propped up by the rising debt of poor and middle-class workers; welfare policies that punish those attempting to escape the grip of debt  and poverty; and a prison industry that regulates and houses the unemployed, as well as a reserve army of laborers."

Private prisons on the rise   "As state governments eagerly transferred prisoners to the private sector, the country's largest for-profit prison company became known as "a theme stock for the nineties." That was before the stabbings, killings and escape of five convicted murderers from an overcrowded CCA facility in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1999. Inmates sued and won a $1.65 million settlement. The for-profit experiment seemed in peril. Luckily for CCA and other private prisons, the Bush Administration came running to the rescue." (from The Nation).

Wackenhut  "Year after year, The Wackenhut Corporation delivers unrivaled business services to a growing list of commercial, industrial and government
organizations."  What exactly do they do

Rhode Island Training school  http://www.brown.edu/Departments/IESE/Projects/RITS/

The 2003-2004 Wayland Faculty Seminar - Incarceration, Narrative and Performance

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