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

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  • New Zealand Tries a Different Kind of Private Prison

    The privatized prison system is largely skewed against inmates, as most are funded based on the number of individuals incarcerated, creating a disincentive to invest in the rehabilitation and comprehensive treatment of inmates. But the Wiri prison in Auckland is piloting a new approach that focuses on the greater good: the government pays the prison for positive results based on recidivism rates and improved outcomes for inmates, especially the Maori minority.

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  • Pennsylvania training mentally ill inmates to help others on the cellblock

    Peer to peer programs have existed since the 1980s. These programs pair up a person with mental health illness, with one another. The concept, is relatively new in the prison systems, and is gaining traction in states like Pennsylvania.

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  • Meet a new breed of prosecutor

    Across the country, a small number of young prosecutors are changing the face of our current criminal justice system. They are moving away from the “strict law-and-order practices of the past,” and employing a more liberal approach: “eschewing the death penalty, talking rehabilitation as much as punishment, and often refusing to charge people for minor offenses.”

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  • As Philly's inmate population plummets, why aren't we saving any money?

    Reducing inmate populations doesn’t necessarily cut costs. The funding equation is far more complex. Complying with employee pension laws, offering more services to inmates, and other growing costs can replace any savings from reforms that shrink the incarcerated population.

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  • Delivering Gourmet Pizza, and Jobs Training, in Cook County Jail

    Recipe for Change is a program that teaches incarcerated people Italian cuisine skills, which is meant to help them gain employment when they reenter society. An estimated 200 people have gone through the program. Similarly, other programs are focusing on helping formerly incarcerated people gain employment.

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  • Victim families use their pain to help murderers change

    The Monterey County chapter of Parents of Murdered Children and a rehabilitative group inside the prison at Soledad, Life CYCLE, team up to hold meetings in which parents of murder victims communicate their hurt, and their children's stories, so that incarcerated men experience a new form of accountability. The dialogues, where those convicted of crimes may for the first time truly see a victim's perspective, also benefit the survivors by letting them try to produce something good from their terrible experiences. The program is credited with lowering recidivism rates substantially.

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  • New Philly mural features work by formerly incarcerated artists

    The mural at Eighth and Callowhill in Philadelphia was created by two formerly incarcerated artists. The work is part of a larger exhibition that brings attention to U.S. criminal justice reform through the artwork of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals.

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  • Can this group of former offenders swing the Philly DA race?

    How does an organization go about reducing incarceration rates, and eliminate racial bias? Hiring the people affected by the prison system: former inmates. That’s the strategy that ACLU is taking in Philadelphia.

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  • Here are the 3 steps everyone agrees we need to take to tackle recidivism

    Activists, and lawmakers have been proposing ideas for prisoner reentry, or supporting former prisoners by finding work, housing, and healthcare, in order to reduce the trend of prisoners being released, committing another crime, and returning to prison. Philadelphia, which has a high recidivism rate, is one of the cities that is already implementing solutions.

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  • Where Some of the Most Housing-Challenged Philadelphians Find Help

    Housing is one of the major hurdles former prisoners have to tackle when they get out of prison. Two judges know this, that’s why they created a re-entry program that offers prisoners numerous services. The results? “Over the past 10 years, only 13 percent of graduates and 21 percent of all participants were arrested or had their parole revoked — compared to a 41 percent revocation rate for other returning citizens in the Philadelphia area.”

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