Vera Institute of Justice
@verainstitute
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We’re fighting to secure equal justice for all, end mass incarceration, and strengthen families + communities. Find us on Mastodon: @verainstitute @mstdn .social
NYC/DC/LA/NOLA
Joined February 2010
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
Vera has been working to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems for more than 60 years—and we won't stop until they’re fair for all.
Together, we can end mass incarceration. Join our movement:
#WeAreVera
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BREAKING: NY Becomes First State in US To Provide Lawyers for Every Immigrant Detained, Facing Deportation:
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13K
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In a sweeping move, Los Angeles County has voted to completely erase $90 million worth of court debt for the families of incarcerated youth.
"Collecting fees for juvenile detention undermines youth rehabilitation and public safety."
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BREAKING: 11 Cities and Counties Across US Announce They Will Provide Lawyers for Every Immigrant Facing Deportation Proceedings:
#OurCityIsSAFE
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JUST IN: Alabama is poised to restore voting rights to thousands with felony convictions: h/t
@ConnorASheets
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We
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
need you to know that there is NO evidence linking criminal prosecution of immigrants to reduced migration:
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BREAKING NEWS: Vera Institute &
@NewAmerica
Launch Immigrant Connection Project (ICON) to Reconnect Separated Immigrant Families/Kids & Ensure Due Process.
ICON will help attorneys & immigrant parents locate & connect w/ legal providers & their kids:
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Últimas noticias: Vera y
@NewAmerica
lanzan Immigrant Connection Project (ICON) para reunir a familias inmigrantes separadas y asegurar debido proceso. ICON ayudará a abogados y padres inmigrantes en ubicar y conectarse con sus hijos y servicios legales:
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What if prisons were used not just for punishment, but to help prepare people for life after incarceration? It's time to
#ReimaginePrison
.
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BREAKING: Philadelphia City Council votes unanimously to end cash bail.
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BREAKING: Today, NYC became the first major city in the country to make phone calls inside its jails free and to ban the city from profiting from them. The legislation—which was recently passed by the city council—has been signed into law by
@NYCMayor
.
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This is
a daily
reminder that
creating hierarchies
of worth
around who
'deserves' to
be incarcerated is
a strategy rooted
in damaging
conceptions of criminality
w/ direct links to
our country's legacy
of racism,
white supremacy,
& the assumed
guilt of people of color.
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BREAKING: In new poll, 85% of Americans say main goal of criminal justice system should be rehabilitation, not punishment. 90% say barriers to employment, school, and other opportunities should be removed for formerly incarcerated people:
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In a sweeping move, San Francisco's Superior Court has completely erased $32M in court fees for 21K people leaving the justice system.
“We should be actively helping people to get their lives back on track after they have paid their debt to society."
Criminal justice system fees for 21,000 waived
David Ladd was trying to move on.
www.sfchronicle.com
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The SAFE Cities Network includes:
Atlanta GA
Austin TX
Baltimore MD
Chicago IL
Columbus OH
Dane County WI
Oakland/Alameda County CA
Prince George's County MD
Sacramento CA
San Antonio TX
Santa Ana CA
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712
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Poverty is not a crime.
Barring people with conviction histories from voting due to a lack of funds is not acceptable—it’s a modern-day poll tax. Voting and taking part in our democratic process should be a right ALL Americans have — regardless of whether they’re incarcerated.
Breaking news: The Florida House passed legislation that would require people to pay financial obligations as part of their criminal sentence before they can vote again. Bill requires repayment, even if obligation has been converted to a civil lien. The vote was 71-45
1K
3K
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A Public Service Announcement:
1. Americans do not lose citizenship when convicted of a crime, and US Constitution gives states the power to let those incarcerated vote.
2. Voting is basic to citizenship; a cornerstone of civic life. It belongs to all.
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VICTORY: The House of Reps has voted to lift the longstanding ban on Pell Grants for all people in state & federal prison.
This is a historic milestone in the effort to ensure that incarcerated students have access to postsecondary education. Next up: Senate. Let's
#RestorePell
!
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BREAKING: New report reveals that the total US prison population dropped by 1% in 2017 below 1.5M for the first time since 2004—continuing a trend of decreasing prison incarceration. Check out our latest data:
THREAD:
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It's official: Congress has voted to repeal the federal ban on Pell Grant access for people in prison!
This historic victory will make postsecondary education more accessible to incarcerated students all across the country.
#RestorePell
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.
@CardozoLaw
@MaketheRoadNY
@popdemoc
@LegalAidNYC
@BklynDefender
@BronxDefenders
@IDC4NY
@JeffKleinNY
NY now 1st state to ensure no immigrant will be detained or separated from family due to inability to afford lawyer:
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BREAKING: Yesterday, we learned DOJ is halting our Legal Orientation Program (LOP) as of April 30th. LOP ensures that all immigrants in detention are provided with essential information they need to navigate the complex legal system, serving over 50K per year.
#SaveLOP
THREAD:
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BREAKING: New Orleans mayor announced that the city’s jail pop. has reached lowest level in nearly 40 years—a remarkable accomplishment considering that a few years ago NOLA held more people in jail per capita than any other urban jurisdiction in the US.
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No one should face incarceration due to a personal health choice.
No one should face incarceration due to a personal health choice.
No one should face incarceration due to a personal health choice.
No one should face incarceration due to a personal health choice.
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BREAKING: Today, KY passed legislation banning the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women and improving their health services/treatment for addiction. The bill, supported by KY Gov. Matt Bevin, would make KY the first state in the US to do so.
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OUR STATEMENT:
We believe children belong with their families. The answer to family separation is not family detention.
We’ve known this for a while.
Vera's research shows that people don’t need to be in detention to appear in court:
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In Denver—where suicides and drug overdoses have reached an all-time high—voters passed a new tax to fund treatment for mental health and addiction. It's meant to take the response out of the hands of police and jails and focus on treatment and therapy.
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BREAKING: Denver, CO announces plans to provide access to legal representation for immigrants facing deportation, making it 12th jurisdiction to join Vera's SAFE Cities Initiative:
#OurCityIsSAFE
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Happening now: We’re at the US-Mexico border with
@Alyssa_Milano
. Stay tuned for a major immigration announcement tomorrow morning, 10:30 AM PT/1:30 PM ET.
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Last week, we reported Alabama would soon restore voting rights to thousands w/ felony charges. Today, they have:
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JUST IN: Louisiana to end practice of non-unanimous jury verdicts, a policy rooted in Jim Crow era:
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Hundreds of U.S. prisons are built on environmentally toxic sites, and people inside are getting sick.
"The water quality was so abhorrent that guards brought bottled water for their onsite patrol dogs. But the inmates still had to drink from the tap."
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Nearly 1 in 13 black Americans does not have the right to vote due to past convictions. But this disproportionate impact on black voting power is no accident.
This is how systemic racism keeps millions of black people from voting:
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This is a
tweet just to
say that the
majority of people
locked up in this country
are not held in private prisons.
Ending
#MassIncarceration
has to go further
than low-hanging solutions. Right now, taxpayers are footing the bill for a system that is failing.
#DemDebates
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JUST IN: Amidst attacks on immigrants, 12 jurisdictions convening to ensure those facing deportation have representation:
Denver
Oakland/Alameda Co
Sacramento
Santa Ana
Austin
San Antonio
Dane Co WI
Chicago
Atlanta
Columbus
Baltimore
Prince George Co MD
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Increasing access to quality postsecondary education in prison through programs like
#SecondChancePell
is a common sense solution that reduces recidivism, saves money, and boosts employment.
More on the economic benefits of
#highered
in prison:
@usedgov
is rethinking Higher Ed through innovative pilots!
See recent announcement to expand Second Chance Pell & engage more students in private sector employment through the Federal Work-Study program: ⬇️
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BREAKING: Iowa Governor Proposes to Restore Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions.
Iowa is currently one of just two states that maintains a lifetime voting ban for people with felony convictions, regardless of crime. Kentucky is the other.
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NEW: 23 states decreased prison pop. since 2010, and 13 reduced spending & saved $1.6B. All experienced crime drops.
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In a striking blow, federal judges have ruled that New Orleans' courts and judges have unconstitutionally set high bail amounts so the court could later profit from them and jailed defendants without considering their ability to pay—violating due process.
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A young father, son, skateboarder, a photographer. This is who Tyre Nichols was.
He should still be alive today.
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In AL, people convicted of minor crimes are often slapped with large court debts. 1 in 5 people whose debt originated with a broken tail light committed more serious crimes to pay their debt. The result is a cycle of poverty worsened by the justice system.
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WATCH: Thousands of US kids enter juvenile justice system for things like skipping school or running away—illegal only due to minor status.
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Mass incarceration does not work. It has not made us safer.
This new report by
@ACLU
shows just how staggering the scale of mass incarceration is and provides a 50-state blueprint for reducing the number of people incarcerated in the US by half.
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BREAKING: Florida passes
#Amendment4
, which will restore voting rights to 1.4M people who were formerly incarcerated. Learn more about how states are working to restore voting rights:
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BREAKING: Amidst raids, detention, and deportation, 6 NEW COMMUNITIES join
@verainstitute
's network to ensure due process for immigrants facing deportation:
DALLAS
LONG BEACH
NEW HAVEN
PHILADELPHIA
RAMSEY CO. AND ST PAUL
SAN FRANCISCO
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The US is one of only a handful of countries that strips voting rights from people with felony convictions even after they've served their time. A national movement is now pushing to empower formerly incarcerated people by helping to restore their rights.
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People incarcerated in NYC jails pay a collective $8M a year just to speak on the phone with their loved ones.
This is the story behind the massive push to make NYC the first jurisdiction in the US to guarantee free calls for people inside its jails 👉
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Using the German prison system as a model, a newly-opened youth correctional unit in Massachusetts, in partnership w Vera, is preparing justice-involved young adults for reentry by having life on the inside reflect life on the outside as much as possible.
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Since
#COVID19
, New Orleans released 25% of its jail population without an increase in crime.
It’s clear that protecting public safety doesn’t require jailing people, and today we have a chance to chart a bold new vision of justice in this city.
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Today, Vera + other partners announced detained immigrant New Yorkers statewide now eligible for legal counsel:
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Burlington, VT Police Chief Brandon del Pozo dares to imagine a criminal justice system that "strives to put itself out of business."
Can you imagine what our justice system might look like if more people felt this way?
#ReimaginePrison
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BREAKING: New data shows rural and small counties, not cities, are driving mass incarceration:
#RethinkJails
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Members come from 11 politically/economically/ethnically diverse jurisdictions united in belief that, regardless of whether an immigrant will stay in US, crucial way to keep our communities safe is ensuring legal representation for those whose future depends on it.
#OurCityIsSAFE
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In a major decision, New Orleans has eliminated all court fees for juvenile defendants to alleviate the financial burden placed on low-income communities—effectively becoming the first city in the South to do so, according to one group.
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You may be shocked by the college admissions scandal.
But those who've experienced the criminal justice system could tell you there's one system for the rich + privileged, and another for the rest of us.
Bank accounts shouldn't determine access to equal justice and education.
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787 people are incarcerated inside a Nashville prison currently without heating – amidst temperatures in the single digits. State officials say they don't know when they will fix the problem:
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JUST IN:
10M+ arrests are made every year in US.
That's one arrest every 3 seconds.
Mass arrests are inextricably linked to mass incarceration, which disproportionately affects communities of color.
@verainstitute
's new tool dives into arrest data:
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Women in jails are the fastest growing population behind bars. Most of them are mothers:
#MothersDay
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Jordan Neely was a dancer.
He was a New Yorker.
He was a person and a member of our community.
His death was unnecessary and today we all grieve this horrific loss.
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Hi. 👋
We
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
need you to know that there is NO evidence linking criminal prosecution of immigrants to reduced migration:
#DemDebate
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BREAKING: Today, the NYC Council passed a piece of legislation that would effectively guarantee free phone calls made by those incarcerated in the city’s jails and is awaiting the mayor's signature—making NYC the first jurisdiction in the country to do so:
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351
People incarcerated in NYC jails pay a collective $8M a year to speak on the phone with their loved ones.
This is the story behind the push to make NYC the first jurisdiction in the US to guarantee free calls for people inside its jails. via
@theappeal
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We
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
need you to know that there is NO evidence linking criminal prosecution of immigrants to reduced migration:
#DemDebate
0
136
349
"My son has been suspended five times. He's 3 years old."
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325
.
@CardozoLaw
@MaketheRoadNY
@popdemoc
@LegalAidNYC
@BklynDefender
@BronxDefenders
@IDC4NY
@JeffKleinNY
Providing public defenders can improve immigrants' chances of winning, remaining with families by as much as 1000%:
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320
BREAKING:
@BillClinton
announces
@ClintonFdn
will work w/ Vera to "reduce opioid overdoses among people who come in contact w/
#CJsystem
."
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"We have to realize that every time we lock someone up, we also lock their families up."
@johnlegend
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📢PSA: Here's a yearly reminder on using "people-first language” in our
#CJsystem
.
✅ People | ❌ Felons
✅ People | ❌ Inmates
✅ People | ❌ Convicts
✅ People | ❌ Prisoners
✅ People | ❌ Criminals
These ❌ terms are purposely used to dehumanize justice-involved people.
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#BREAKING
: Starting today, incarcerated people are eligible for Pell Grants, a crucial form of federal, need-based aid to help fund their college education, for the first time since the 1994 Crime Bill barred their access. 🎓 🎉
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We’re number one…in global incarceration.
We spend $80,000,000,000.00 per year on incarceration, but more than 50% of people who leave prison return within 5 years. We know there’s a better way – it’s past time to
#ReimaginePrison
. Join us LIVE on 10/10:
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We’re proud to stand with
@Alyssa_Milano
to ensure due process for millions of immigrants who are at risk of detention and separation from their families without access to an attorney.
You can make a difference! Donate to the
#SAFEFamiliesFund
👉
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Wow.
"The 10 states with the largest declines in imprisonment saw bigger drops in crime than the 10 states with the largest increases in imprisonment."
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The top 10 COVID-19 hotspots in the U.S. are in jails and prisons, yet we know so little about the true extent of the crisis.
Today, Congress took an important step, introducing the COVID–19 in Corrections Data Transparency Act.
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Prosecutors have a lot of power.
Many people in jail haven't been convicted of a crime & remain legally presumed innocent, often detained soley because they can't pay bail. The decision of whether to use cash bail is often made by prosecutors.
Must-watch from
@ACLU
:
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"If you’re a person of color in NY, you’re disproportionately likely to wind up in court for a minor charge.”
A new analysis of court proceedings across NYC show that nearly 90% of misdemeanor arrests and cases involved people of color.
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Women in jails are fastest growing population behind bars. Most are mothers:
#RethinkJails
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BREAKING:
@Google
announces $4M to help us reframe mass incarceration as local issue happening in
#AllOurBackyards
:
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"Today, World Population Day, is an opportunity to reflect on the startling fact that the United States makes up just 4.4% of the world’s population but holds 22% of the world’s incarcerated population."
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The US makes up just 4.4% of the world’s population, but holds 22% of the world’s incarcerated population.
LET'S REPEAT THAT ONE MORE TIME. 📢
The US makes up just 4.4% of the world’s population, but holds 22% of the world’s incarcerated population.
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URGENT: Parents who are still searching for their kids – including those deported – can now call for free through Facebook Messenger by adding as a friend.
Vera and
@NewAmerica
's Immigrant Connection Project (ICON) helps immigrant families to reconnect.
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“The US has never grappled with the legacy of slavery or Jim Crow. What would we think if 70 years after the Holocaust, 60% of the people in German prisons were Jewish? Wouldn’t we question the laws that locked them up?” —Ryan Shanahan, Vera Institute
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From working to keep immigrant families together to reforming bail policies that criminalize poverty, we’re fighting for justice.
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Thought of the day:
We should never advocate for anyone to be in solitary confinement.
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Milano highlights lack of legal representation in immigration court, calls for change: “Access to legal counsel is a bedrock American value, and is considered a fundamental right for citizens, but isn't currently guaranteed by law to all.”
#SAFE4Families
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The US bail system is rooted in slavery.
Slavery eroded presumption of innocence for whole swaths of people, created bad financial incentives around use of jail, delegated police powers to bounty hunters, and normalized payment in exchange for freedom:
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JUST IN: Vera is proud to announce our partnership with
@GlblCtzn
as we work together to end the criminalization of poverty. The US spends $22B annually to detain people in jails. No one should be jailed simply due to an inability to pay bail:
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What if police, as first responders, reimagined their roles in the fight against the opioid crisis and offered treatment, instead of incarceration?
In Burlington, VT, that's exactly what they're doing:
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Did you know that nearly 80% of women who are incarcerated in jails are mothers? When mothers become incarcerated, it has a profound effect on the entire family.
#cjreform
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BREAKING: Conservatives overwhelmingly support criminal justice reform in new poll: 'It transcends political labels'
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Reimagining US prisons isn't a pipe dream. We know it's possible—Germany reimagined its prison system after the Holocaust to uphold dignity. We can do the same.
Now, we're in Germany to learn how they did it and how we can
#ReimaginePrison
in America.
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The over-representation of black people in the justice system is no accident. It is rooted in a legacy of slavery and racist policy-making that has perpetuated a cycle of poverty and incarceration among low-income communities of color:
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"When men come home from prison, where do they go? Usually to a woman. When a woman comes home, where does she go? Nowhere."
Listen to
@holly_harris
&
@TopekaKSam
speak about restoring dignity to women in jail and afterward at
@WomenintheWorld
#WITW
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______________
| Our
#CJsystem
|
| is rooted in |
| legacy of white |
| supremacy |
| & racial control |
| spanning from |
| slavery & Jim |
| Crow to War |
| on Drugs & |
| police brutality. |
|＿＿＿_＿＿___
(\__/) ||
(•ㅅ•) ||
/ づ
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Today’s the last day of the National
#PrisonStrike
. It reminds us that our country’s fraught history of incarceration—a history rooted in racial oppression—has for too long served to dehumanize people.
It must change.
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FACT: America's War on Drugs has led to more 'years of life lost' than the deaths of American soldiers in Korea and Vietnam – combined.
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Words like ‘felon,’ ‘convict,’ ‘criminal,’ ‘prisoner,’ and ‘offender’ are designed to dehumanize people who are warehoused in our
#CJsystem
. No matter who or where they are, we should call people by their names.
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This is astounding data. 13 states – many in the South – cut prison spending and saved $1.6B. Crime dropped, too:
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New poll shows 60% of Americans believe most important consideration when sentencing an person for nonviolent offenses should be rehabilitation or treatment—indicating widespread support for criminal justice reforms. via
@FiveThirtyEight
@kathryncasteel
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In a sweeping move, Los Angeles County has voted to completely erase $90 million worth of court debt for the families of incarcerated youth.
"Collecting fees for juvenile detention undermines youth rehabilitation and public safety."
6
121
249