Think Outside The Cell

#CLOSErikers » VIDEO: #CLOSErikers NOW Mayor de Blasio! “Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly failed to confront a human rights atrocity right in his own backyard. To live up to his own progressive values of justice, fairness, and equality, he must take action and close Rikers now,” said Glenn E. Martin, President and founder of JustLeadershipUSA. “New Yo...

Follow Jarrett Adams over the next three days....

Exoneree argues first case as Wisconsin Innocence Project attorney MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) --- Decades after a 58-year-old man was convicted of sexual assault, he's back in court. This time hoping to prove his innocence.

If you haven't been following the life story and journey of friend Jarrett Adams, you can learn about him here. This is a man who has rededicated the agony of injustice and converted it into deliberate, mindful, educated service. He is focused, disciplined and determined...but most of all he is generous and kind.

Learn more about Jarrett and his contributions.

Man exonerated of crime argues first case as Wisconsin Innocence Project lawyer A Wisconsin lawyer is about to argue his first case in court for a man who he believes was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault. And the lawyer knows all too well what it feels like to be accused of doing something you’ve never done.

As the President of the United States shapes his criminal justice, mass incarceration policy and reentry legislation, the documentary short "The Long Shadow of Incarceration's Stigma" continues to be at the heart of the discussion and debate.

What's at stake over the next four years economically, socially and culturally for the United States?

Since its release in 2012, the film has been seen at every Bureau of Prisons facility in the United States. It's been screened at juvenile detention centers, libraries, halfway houses, state prisons, documentary centers, universities, YMCAs, film festivals and private sector companies nationwide.

If you'd like to host a "Long Shadow" event and invite the generous subjects of the film to discuss their experience please contact Supervising Producer Kimberly Soenen directly at [email protected].

Let's keep the conversation going.

Visit the website and watch the film trailer here>

Long Shadow The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.

Hi. I hope this note finds you well. I’m getting in touch to ask that you please donate to a parole reform campaign I’m helping to lead. It is a campaign that is dear to my heart because it honors the humanity and value in us all. With very little time left in our fundraising drive, we really need your immediate support. Please read on:

Growing up in photos. Year after year, that is the primary way that thousands of release-ready parents behind prison walls in New York State must experience their children.

Why? Because year after year, that state’s parole board unjustly denies parole to these parents and thousands of other release-ready men and women who have clearly earned the opportunity to return home.

The New York Times describes it as “New York’s Broken Parole System.” It is a system that thrives on backend mass incarceration.

We are excited that we have a realistic and meaningful legislative opportunity to reform this system—and to ultimately reunite families and rebuild communities devastated by parole abuses and mass incarceration.

But we need your help to get there.

Please take a moment to visit our fundraising page on IndieGoGo and learn more about our efforts. If for some reason the link doesn’t work, please go to parolereformnow.org and click on the DONATE button at the top of the homepage. That will take you to our IndieGoGo page and info about our campaign.

Support this important campaign by—
• Donating money
• Spreading the word to family, friends and other networks
• Posting our IndieGoGo link to your website, Facebook and other social media pages
• Blogging, Tweeting—and any other way you think would bring us closer to our goal

Tools you can use to help us are on our IndieGoGo page.

By making a contribution, you can also receive great perks.

If enough of us get behind this campaign, we can strike a mortal blow to New York’s broken parole system and mass incarceration. We can bring deserving parents home to their children and communities.

If we do nothing—
• Thousands of freedom-worthy men and women will continue to languish behind bars
• Their families will struggle and often fall apart
• Too many of their sons and daughters will become ensnared in the criminal justice system
• The communities they call home will remain bereft of parents, husbands, wives, tax-paying citizens, potential leaders
• Poor neighborhoods will become poorer in so many ways
• In the end, we will all be poorer.

Please donate!

Hi. This is powerful. And simply lovely. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/opinion/san-quentins-giants.html?emc=edit_th_20141025&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=67829469&_r=0

‘San Quentin’s Giants’ At one of California’s most notorious prisons, baseball teams take the field.