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From a Prison Garden Sprouts Real Growth

Hannah Wallace

July 27, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

Lettuce Grow teaches gardening skills to 200 incarcerated people per year in 16 Oregon prisons and juvenile detention centers. The teaching includes college-level courses and hands-on gardening on prison grounds, which then yields hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables for prison kitchens. Graduates of the program commit many fewer crimes than the average ex-prisoner and have found work after prison at nurseries and in other horticultural pursuits.

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For girls with mothers in prison, a summer camp offers much-needed support

Amna Nawaz

July 21, 2021 |

PBS NewsHour |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

For three days each summer, the Girls Embracing Mothers (GEM) camp near Dallas gives girls an escape from their daily reality of being denied a normal relationship with their incarcerated mothers. Founded by a lawyer whose own mother was incarcerated, GEM combines typical summer-camp fun with trust-building exercises. During camp and afterward, the girls become part of a community of peers who understand each other's trauma – which puts them at higher risk of dropping out of school, mental health problems, and homelessness – in a place where they need not feel shame for their mothers' status.

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Many in Jail Can Vote, but Exercising That Right Isn't Easy

Matt Vasilogambros

July 16, 2021 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago's Cook County Jail enabled 2,200 incarcerated people to vote in the November 2020 election by opening the jail to voter registration drives, civic lessons, distribution of voter education materials, two weekends of early voting, and four polling places inside the jail. Most people held in local jails nationwide are eligible to vote but usually don't, due to lack of awareness, intentional barriers, and logistical hassles. Cook County helped people exercise their rights and provided them with education to improve their reentry to society after prison.

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The ‘prison' with no fence: Go inside a Charlotte women's center changing lives for good

Devna Bose

July 08, 2021 |

The Charlotte Observer |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte's Center for Women uses a rehabilitative approach to incarceration, letting up to 30 women at a time live in a group home that provides both therapy and connections to employment. Women with one to three years left on their sentences can apply for a spot in the residential work-release program. They and their families – most are mothers – get the counseling they need to adjust to a better life once the residents get released. The women say the small freedoms they are granted in the home, plus the respect and help they get, do for them what prison never could in changing lives.

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Back to Life

Tanya Hendel

June 30, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Belarus, Gomel

People Plus has begun to fill a vacuum left by the Belarus prison system's lack of reentry services aimed at giving people a better chance to succeed after prison. The NGO provides its "resocialization" counseling for incarcerated people in the six months before their release. In its first six months, the program counseled more than 1,000 people, helping prepare them to find housing and jobs and avoid substance abuse, which in many cases proved successful. Its peer counselors stay in contact with clients after prison through meetings and online forums.

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Clearing a Path from Prison to the Bar Exam

Allen Arthur

June 21, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The Formerly Incarcerated Law Students Advocacy Association at City University of New York's law school mentors people whose criminal records serve as a barrier to pursuing a law career. FILSAA is part of a movement to nurture law-practice dreams and make them a reality by knocking down those barriers, including restrictive use of states' "character and fitness" requirements to become licensed to practice. Before that step, mentors can help people prepare for the LSAT and succeed in law school. Advocates say that lawyers with lived experience can serve clients better by earning their trust more readily.

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College-in-prison programs have many benefits, but barriers to access abound

Tamar Sarai Davis

June 21, 2021 |

Prism |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Middletown, Connecticut

College-in-prison programs like Wesleyan University's Center for Prison Education have a track record for improving incarcerated students' lives, lowering crime, and making prisons safer. But a number of factors compromise the number and effectiveness of such programs. Many fewer programs exist since incarcerated students were denied Pell Grants beginning in the 1990s. A 2015 program aimed at making financial aid more accessible poses a number of logistical hurdles. Prisons themselves can be inhospitable environments for attending classes and independent studies.

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The Everglades Experiment: Florida's First 'Incentivized' Prison Redefines Punishment

Ryan M. Moser

June 21, 2021 |

The Crime Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Miami, Florida

Two years into an experiment in "incentivized prison" management, Florida's Everglades Correctional Institution is considered the state's safest prison. An incarcerated journalist reporting from inside writes that by rewarding good behavior instead of only punishing bad behavior, the prison has expanded the classes it offers incarcerated men who can participate if they have a trouble-free record for four years. Separating men from the general population based on their desire to work toward their own rehabilitation and success once they leave prison has reduced stress and violence in the prison.

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Some U.S. states have higher vaccination rates inside prisons than outside.

Ann Hinga Klein

June 01, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Three state prison systems have vaccinated incarcerated people at far greater rates than in the general public thanks in part to educational meetings with experts that helped overcome natural distrust. In California and North Dakota, town-hall-type meetings gave incarcerated people opportunities to ask questions about safety. Kansas prisons gave incarcerated people priority in the vaccination program, and provided them and their families with information. Other possible factors increasing compliance included peer pressure and the ease of getting vaccinated within the prisons.

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Utah Co. jail has largest jail industries program nationwide, providing jobs and hope for inmates

Sydney Glenn

May 28, 2021 |

KSTU-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Spanish Fork, Utah

Nearly 10,000 people incarcerated in the Utah County Jail have found paid work in the community during their jail terms thanks to the sheriff's Jail Industries program. While the incarcerated people get to keep just 20% of their wages, and only people with low-level offenses may participate, about 70% who go through the program get offered permanent jobs when they're released, thanks to employers' satisfaction with the workers. Having a decent job is a critical factor in preventing future criminal offenses. Jail Industries graduates have shown lower than average recidivism rates.

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