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Rethinking Rikers

Michael Schwirtz Neeti Upadhye Michael Kirby Smith Kaitlyn Mullin

December 16, 2017 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

In the ongoing challenge to reform New York’s Rikers Island prison complex, many have turned to Chicago’s Cook County jail as a model. While Rikers has made some reforms – including group therapy for those with mental health concerns and doing away with solitary confinement for inmates under 22 – there is more that they can do to follow in Chicago's footsteps. There, they have introduced the use of real-time data collection to map violence, made mental health care a key component of their services, and trained guards in verbal de-escalation.

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The Radio Show Bringing Prisoners Messages from Home

Ivy Brashear

December 11, 2017 |

Yes! Magazine |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

“Calls From Home” is an Appalachian radio show that allows people in prison to hear messages from family and friends. People call in the radio show, leave a message, and every Monday from 9 to 10 p.m. the messages are played over the airways making a message from home accessible to the 11 prisons and facilities within range. “The folks who are locked up here are also a part of our community. They’re the least visible parts of our community, for sure, but they are here, and I see that as part of our responsibly as a radio station.”

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Portugal's radical drugs policy is working. Why hasn't the world copied it?

Susana Ferreira

December 05, 2017 |

The Guardian |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Portugal, Olhão

After the fall of an oppressive and isolating regime, Portugal found itself utterly unprepared to deal with the rapid distribution of narcotics in the 1980s, creating a crisis that left 1 in every 10 people struggling with addiction. The country took a radical approach to rectifying opioid use through a huge cultural shift in the way it viewed and treated addicts - prioritizing support services and pioneering programs like needle-exchange and substitution therapy, and eventually decriminalizing hard drugs so that users could more easily get help, and drug rates have since plummeted.

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Why New York City Created Its Own Fund to Bail People Out of Jail

Teresa Mathew

December 01, 2017 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Bail reform is a difficult process largely out of the hands of municipalities. Charitable bail funds allow individuals who can't afford bail to be free until their trial, in the hopes of changing the bail system from the inside.

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Native American peacemaking courts offer a model for reform

Rebecca Clarren

November 30, 2017 |

InvestigateWest |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Yurok Reservation, United States, Klamath, California

A growing number of tribal judges nationwide - including Judge Abby Abinanti of the Yurok Tribal Court - are using a framework of traditional culture and an approach known as "restorative justice" to address both the need for rehabilitation of offenders and resolution for people often failed by the dominant criminal justice system.

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Participatory Defense

Thomas Fox Parry

November 29, 2017 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

While there are many factors that have contributed to the sky high incarceration rates in the United States which have left prisons bursting at the seams, one of the causes remains the simple fact that the resources of a private prosecutor vastly outweigh those of publicly-funded defense attorneys.

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Lessons learned: Hiring ex-offenders pays off, but the workers need help

Jane M. Von Bergen

November 27, 2017 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

How do you find a job when you get out of prison? For some, it’s almost impossible. But, UpLift Solutions trains former offenders, and if they pass the six week course, they get hired at ShopRite, a grocery store. For some, the program is life changing.

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When Communities Say No One Should Stay in Jail Just Because They're Poor

Amy Roe

November 27, 2017 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

Across the United States, organizations like Southerners on New ground and the Bronx Freedom Fund are posting bail for individuals facing low-level offenses who cannot afford it on their own. Such initiatives have gained in popularity because of the Black Mamas Bail-Out, a coordinated effort during May of each year. In posting their bail, these organizations are working to equitably help people of color, who are disproportionately affected by the cash bail system.

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Redina's story: A mother's troubled journey home from prison

Katie Colaneri

November 27, 2017 |

WHYY |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For Redina, and others suffering from addiction, it is hard to break the cycle. 'Women Working for a Change' is a program that tries to change addicts' thinking in order to prevent a relapse.

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Mental health court could lower recidivism, cut costs

Carlos Andres López

November 27, 2017 |

NMPolitics.net |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Las Cruces, New Mexico

For offenders with a co-occurring mental health disorder, the regular prison system is not viewed as an optimal environment. A mental health court would help lower recidivism and increase the offender's quality of life by treating their mental health issues in order to focus on the underlying issue contributing to the criminal acts.

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