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A Hope Manifesto for Times of Resistance

Keli Goff Los Angeles Review of Books
Mandela was not just "a brilliant political tactician and legal mind, but also an exquisite writer," says reviewer Goff. These letters give us a man of high ideals whose "fight for survival" in prison adds Goff, "would have broken many of us."

Frail, Old and Dying, but Their Only Way Out of Prison Is a Coffin

Christie Thompson New York Times
Congress created compassionate release as a way to free certain inmates, such as the terminally ill, when it becomes “inequitable” to keep them in prison any longer. Despite urging from lawmakers of both parties, officials deny or delay the vast majority of requests.

What I Learned From Susan Burton, a Modern-Day Harriet Tubman

Michelle Alexander The New Press - co-published by The Nation and Portside
Reading her life story will change the way you view the world. This is not simply a story about a formerly incarcerated woman dedicated to working for justice and freedom in the era of mass incarceration. It is a story of a black woman who, as she often tells me, is “nothing special” and yet has somehow managed to transform her own life as well as hundreds of lives around her. She has emerged as a leading figure in the movement to end mass incarceration.

Protesters March to Call for Close of Rikers Island

Bill Parry Times Ledger
Eighty percent of Riker's current population of 7,600 are imprisoned on the island because they are too poor to afford bail and 40 percent should be in a mental health facility instead.

Did Slavery End in 1865?

Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Institute, talks about how slavery didn't just end in 1865, but how it evolved through Jim Crow, segregation and mass incarceration.

The Worrying State of the Anti-Prison Movement

Ruth Wilson Gilmore Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict and World Order
Social justice activist Ruth Gilmore challenges four opportunist tendencies within the criminal justice movement - with lessons for ALL progressive movements.

Violence by Rikers Guards Grew Under Bloomberg

By Michael Schwirtz and Michael Winerip New York Times
During Mr. Bloomberg’s last term, use of force by officers on inmates jumped by 90 percent, according to Correction Department data. Inmates’ advocates and public officials charged with overseeing the jails said they pleaded for the administration to address the issue.

The Meteoric, Costly and Unprecedented rise of Incarceration in America

By Emily Badger Washington Post
On Wednesday, the National Research Council published a 464-page report, two years in the making, that looks at the stunning four-decade rise of incarceration in the United States and concludes that all of its costs — for families, communities, state budgets and society — have simply not been worth the benefit in deterrence and crime reduction.
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