Peter Wagner to deliver Clason Speaker Series lecture at WNEU School of Law

Peter Wagner will discuss the hidden costs of mass incarceration on 2/10.

by Leah Sakala, February 6, 2014

Western New England University has released a press release detailing Peter’s upcoming Clason Speaker Series talk, “Overdosing on prisons: Tackling the side effects of the United States’ globally unprecedented use of the prison” this Monday, February 10th:

Wagner will discuss the hidden costs of mass incarceration for our democracy, our economy, and public safety. A 2003 graduate of the Western New England University School of Law, Wagner co-founded the Prison Policy Initiative in 2001, building an independent study project into a national movement against prison gerrymandering. His efforts have led to new legislation in four states including Maryland, where the law he helped write was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. Wagner’s work has been featured in hundreds of newspapers nationwide, winning editorial endorsements for criminal justice reform from such publications as The New York Times> and the Boston Globe.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!

PPI board member Sarah Walker profiled in MN Women’s Press

Sarah advocates tirelessly to improve our criminal justice system, including working on projects to end prison gerrymandering and remove barriers to participation in our democratic process.

by Leah Sakala, February 5, 2014

The Minnesota Women’s Press has published a wonderful profile of Sarah Walker, Prison Policy Initiative board member and founder of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition.

Sarah tirelessly advocates to improve our criminal justice system, and her work includes projects to end prison gerrymandering, remove barriers to participation in our democratic process, promote gender-responsive justice policy, and overcome harmful racial disparities.

Congratulations, Sarah!

Valley Advocate covers Massachusetts bill to ban shackling of pregnant women

Leah spoke with the Valley Advocate about PPI's testimony in support of S 1171.

by Leah Sakala, January 3, 2014

I spoke with the Valley Advocate for a new article on a bill to ban the routine use of physical restraints on incarcerated pregnant women after the first trimester, including during labor and delivery.

The bill was up for a hearing earlier this month, and we submitted written testimony urging the legislature add Massachusetts to the growing list of states that have rejected this inhumane and dangerous practice.

We’ll be reporting back with updates, so stay tuned!

Tell the FCC that all families need to stay in touch

We're partnering with SumOfUs to collect petitions supporting the FCC's next steps in regulating the prison phone industry.

by Aleks Kajstura, December 4, 2013

We’re partnering with SumOfUs to help you take advantage of the Federal Communications Commission’s call for comments on its proposal to extend its new prison phone regulation to in-state calls.

Last year SumOfUs members submitted 36,690 petitions, which were cited in the FCC’s recent historic ruling capping the price of interstate calls, so their help — and yours will make a great difference for families who need to make in-state calls, which still remain unregulated!

Sign the petition today and please share with your networks so that the FCC hears us loud and clear by its December 13th deadline!

WNEU Law Alumni Magazine profiles Peter Wagner

"Peter Wagner ’03 was recently honored with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 2013 Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award."

by Leah Sakala, November 8, 2013

The newest issue of the Western New England College of Law alumni magazine Perspectives includes a nice profile of Peter Wagner (class of 2003):

Peter Wagner ’03 was recently honored with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 2013 Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award. This award is granted to individuals whose exceptional efforts have led toward progressive reform of the state criminal justice system.

Peter is an attorney and Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative in Easthampton, MA. He was recognized for his tireless decade-long work to expose how the U.S. criminal justice system negatively impacts all people, even those who are not directly involved in the legal system.

171 years ago today, Dickens condemned solitary confinement

by Peter Wagner, October 19, 2013

When Charles Dickens came to the United States, he wanted to see two things: Niagara Falls and Eastern State Penitentiary. He expected to be impressed with this radical new type of prison with a solitary confinement system. Instead, he was horrified. PPI’s Leah Sakala made this graphic to commemorate this anniversary:

Heather Thompson exposes mass incarceration’s long-standing impact on U.S. democracy

"...locking up unprecedented numbers of citizens over the last forty years has itself made the prison system highly resistant to reform through the democratic process."

by Leah Sakala, October 7, 2013

Chances are, your high school U.S. History class didn’t quite tell you the whole story about how the criminal justice system has cast its shadow on U.S. democracy for centuries. Here’s a chance to get the record straight.

Heather Ann Thompson, historian and Prison Policy Initiative board member, just published a must-read new article in The Atlantic, “How Prisons Have Changed America’s Electoral Politics.”

As Heather writes,

…locking up unprecedented numbers of citizens over the last forty years has itself made the prison system highly resistant to reform through the democratic process. To an extent that few Americans have yet appreciated, record rates of incarceration have, in fact, undermined our American democracy, both by impacting who gets to vote and how votes are counted.

Of course, one of the ways mass incarceration distorts democracy is via prison gerrymandering. Heather explains:

Today, just as it did more than a hundred years earlier, the way the Census calculates resident population also plays a subtle but significant role. As ex-Confederates knew well, prisoners would be counted as residents of a given county, even if they could not themselves vote: High numbers of prisoners could easily translate to greater political power for those who put them behind bars.

The full article is absolutely worth a read. We, the people, deserve to know the whole story.

PPI’s “Unlocking Prison Phone Data” Hackathon project on NCTV

Peter Wagner and Jake Mitchell talk about their software to make prison phone justice documents on the FCC website accessible to the larger movement.

by Leah Sakala, June 28, 2013

Our Executive Director, Peter Wagner, was featured in a Northampton Community TV segment about the Western Mass Hackathon’s Unlocking Prison Phone Data project, along with team member Jake Mitchell:

The project’s website will be launched shortly. Stay tuned!

National Institute of Corrections homepage features Prison Policy Initiative report

Prison Policy Initiative's newest phone report is on the NIC homepage.

by Leah Sakala, June 24, 2013

We’re very excited to see that the National Institute of Corrections homepage is featuring our newest prison phone industry report:

PPI letter to the Editor: Don’t limit incarcerated people to postcards

Our letter explains why the Harrison County, Mississippi Sheriff's Department should cancel plans to implement dramatic mail restrictions.

by Leah Sakala, June 13, 2013

The Mississippi Sun Herald printed my letter to the editor about why the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department’s plan to ban all non-legal letter correspondence to or from the jail is a bad idea:

Starting Monday, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department plans to prohibit all non-legal mail except postcards. Such a policy would both decrease public safety and place an enormous burden on the families of incarcerated people. Also, as the courts have ruled, other jails have found that banning letters to and from home doesn’t actually cut costs.

My Prison Policy Initiative report, “Return to Sender: Postcard-only Policies in Jail,” finds postcard-only policies jeopardize critical social ties to families and friends, hindering re-entry and increasing the chances that people will commit more crime in the future. These policies also stifle important family communication and raise the price kids and other family members must pay to stay in touch.

If the sheriff’s department wants to increase public safety, it should immediately cancel the proposed postcard-only mail policy. The friends and loved ones of incarcerated people need to be allowed to maintain the connections that keep communities safe and families intact.

Check out our page on postcard-only policies in jails for more information on this harmful trend, and to learn how people around the country are fighting for the right to write letters.