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

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  • How Norway turns criminals into good neighbours

    Norway’s Halden Prison is taking a different approach to incarceration: emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment, which has led to a 20% decrease in recidivism in just two years. Over the past two decades, the country has sought rigorous criminal justice reform, which at Halden Prison means job training and certifications, yoga and other recreational activities, reenvisioning the role guards play, and spaces that look more like home than a jail cell.

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  • For-profit philanthropy: Portland labor supply business expanding to other states

    A company in Portland, Maine works to "dignify temp-work" through the employment of former convicts, addicts, and other individuals in rough transitional phases of life. The company operates as a for-profit business working for social good and facilitates a daily meeting for workers to check in with each other and form a supportive community.

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  • San Quentin Cooking Class Serves Up Chance for Better Future After Release

    Quentin Cooks, a culinary program embedded within the San Quentin State Prison, is giving inmates necessary training and support to avoid recidivism and build a career in the food industry. The program teaches culinary skills to help participants – most of whom have just 1-2 years left on their sentence – earn the ServSafe Food Handler certificate. Organizers also do industry outreach to help arrange interviews and promote participants, giving them a leg up on employment after they’re released.

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  • Washington University graduates its first class of students in prison

    At the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, 10 individuals graduated from college with Associate Degrees as part of the Washington University Prison Education Project. Each student is required to have a high school diploma in order to apply, and must complete 60 credits to earn their degree. Beyond the provided education, the program has given incarcerated participants a sense of hope for their future.

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  • How Georgia Plans To Produce More High School Graduates

    In Georgia, about half of inmates don't have a high school diploma or GED. At Lee Airendale State Prison, a charter school offers inmates a chance to earn a high school degree. “The thing about the diploma is it’s from Foothills Charter High School so when they show it, it looks just like a diploma from any accredited high school," the regional coordinator said of the unique nature of the program.

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  • #FreeBlackMamas works to bail black mothers out of jail in time for Mother's Day

    Community organizing groups around the country have mobilized to get black mothers out of prison. The initiative #FreeBlackMamas has raised over $1 million dollars in donations since 2017 and comes as a growing response against the cash bail system. Besides bailing out black mothers, the groups seek to build community and address the larger systemic issue of race and incarceration.

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  • Incarcerated Men Write the Stories of Wall City

    Partnerships between those incarcerated and volunteers from the outside are crucial. Collaborations—such as the one between the Wall City magazine, the UC Berkeley, and the San Quentin Journalism Guild—make it possible for those incarcerated to have a voice. The publication of the newspaper not only informs discourse, it also serves as a way to help rehabilitate and reengage those behind bars.

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  • Coming home: How offender re-entry programs increase job placement and decrease recidivism

    Maine's only offender re-entry program for women in Windham is on its way to replicate the success of similar programs in Texas and Nevada. Federal justice research has shown that offenders that go through re-entry programs are less likely to reoffend and more likely to hold down a steady job. The Windham program works towards this through their education program that incorporates students from local colleges as well as utilizing a collection of best practices developed by similar programs.

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  • Restoring Prisoners' Access to Education Reduces Recidivism

    A piece of bipartisan legislation was introduced to the United States’ Senate in February 2018 that would give individuals in incarceration access to Pell Grants, thus increasing their college education opportunities. While the bill was not enacted, it is part of an ongoing process of reinstating access to Pell Grants for prisoners from the Obama administration, who gave limited access in its Second Chance program. This bill speaks to the largely bipartisan cultural shift that embraces the need to invest in correctional education in order to prevent recidivism.

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  • How Norway designed a more humane prison

    Halden Prison in Norway has re-designed itself so that the look and feel of prison life isn’t an added punishment to restricted freedom. Designers took into consideration the role campus design plays in promoting or disrupting guard-inmate relations and created a campus that promotes community rather than violence and isolation. Also included was landscaping, more natural light, and the use of softer materials, like glass and wood, instead of metal and brick.

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