The Nation — Civil Society Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

How Private Equity Is Turning Public Prisons Into Big Profits

“Bianca Tylek, the founder of Worth Rises, an advocacy group that tracks commercial interests in corrections, has catalogued 3,100 companies with a financial stake in mass incarceration. Her findings were released last April in a Corrections Accountability Project report and include not only the well-known, publicly traded private-prison contractors but also divisions within companies with household names like Amazon, General Electric, and Stanley Black & Decker.“

The Nation

April 30, 2019

Personalism, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesApril 30, 2019The NationComment

Prison Gerrymandering Distorts Our Democracy in the Worst Ways

“Sponsored by Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) this ‘For the People Act’ is designed ‘to expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants and for other purposes.’ It does all that. And, thanks to Pocan, it also addresses one of the great injustices in American politics—prison gerrymandering.“

The Nation

March 8, 2019

Felon DisenfranchisementPhillip ReevesMarch 8, 2019The Nation, For the People ActComment

Prison Gerrymandering Distorts Our Democracy in the Worst Ways

“Because Census data is used for redistricting at every level of government, prison gerrymandering creates distorted maps. In an era of mass incarceration, this distortion creates an even greater injustice because, as the Prison Policy Initiative explains, “counting the people in prison in the wrong place now undermines the Supreme Court’s requirement that political power be apportioned on the basis of population. The process of drawing fair and equal districts fails when the underlying data are flawed.”“

The Nation

March 8, 2019

Felon DisenfranchisementPhillip ReevesMarch 8, 2019The NationComment

Rethinking Prison, From the Inside Out

“Changing the institutional culture of incarceration could entail a social consensus that locking people up is never the ideal way to resolve social problems.“

The Nation

October 16, 2018

Mass IncarcerationPhillip ReevesOctober 16, 2018The NationComment

To Fight Mass Incarceration, We Need to Decriminalize Trauma

"'No kid is seeking anything when they join a gang,' says Father Gregory Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention and -reintegration organization in the country. 'Every kid is fleeing from something when they join a gang'."

The Nation

August 20, 2018

Mass Incarceration, Mental HealthAnthony BradleyAugust 22, 2018The Nation

What Is Prison Abolition?

"The practice of abolitionism, therefore, is about a lot more than the bars themselves. It’s about addressing community tensions, understanding why people turn to the police, and trying to break the self-perpetuating cycle of violence and imprisonment."

The Nation

July 31, 2018

Mass Incarceration, PersonalismAnthony BradleyJuly 31, 2018The Nation, Abolition

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