The Marshall Project — Social and Economic Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Social and Economic Issues

Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.

Posts tagged The Marshall Project

What I Think About When I Think About Freedom

“Doing time becomes so much harder when you know you are ready to go but are unable to leave. When I am not writing, I am mostly stuck in my head. Soul-crushing depression is a constant blow from within. The outer blows are the aerial assault-like noises in this place: Guards barking over the PA, men yelling up and down the tier, keys jingling, walkie talkies crackling, gates slamming. Your brain automatically tells you what’s to come next. A guard’s round, a cell search, chow run, med run, count clear. Anxiety squeezes my belly.“

The Marshall Project

November 13, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesNovember 13, 2019The Marshall Project, John J LennonComment

Are Voters Ready to Move on From Willie Horton?

“The back-and-forth between candidates, 15 months before the 2020 presidential election, would have been unthinkable in the Democratic debates of 1988 or 1996 or 2004 or even 2012. Unthinkable for fear that a Republican president or presidential candidate would immediately pounce on these reform ideas as being "soft on crime," and thus dangerous and unpresidential. George Bush, the elder, used Willie Horton in 1988 to successfully stir up white fear of crime about his opponent, Michael Dukakis. Donald Trump has used “American carnage” and unfounded fear of the link between immigrants and crime as a primal theme.“

The Marshall Project

August 2, 2019

Mass Incarceration, PersonalismPhillip ReevesAugust 2, 2019The Marshall Project, Willie HortonComment

After Prison, I Became a Better Dad

“Sometimes when I visit classes, parents talk about having to choose between buying basic toiletries at commissary or buying envelopes to write to their children. I think: Kids don’t need society to replace their incarcerated parents, they need society to support their incarcerated parents.”

The Marshall Project

June 14, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesJune 14, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

I Thought I Knew My Father, Then I Met Him in Prison

“The next day, I was called out of class. When I got to the office, I saw the principal, two police officers and Mr. Moore. I was so scared. Not because of the cops—I just couldn’t handle letting my father down.“

The Marshall Project

June 12, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesJune 12, 2019The Marshall Project, DCComment

My First Father-Daughter Dance Was in the Prison Gym

“It’s hard for her mother and I to know what to tell her. When she was younger, she thought I lived in a hotel. Now she knows I live in a prison, where I have lived for the past 30 years. When I was just 16, I was sentenced to life without parole. I have no out date. But thanks to a special program, several other incarcerated parents and I got to spend the day playing games with our kids outside of the walls—and rules—of the prison visiting room.“

The Marshall Project

June 10, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesJune 10, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

Father and Son, Next Door Neighbors in Prison

“For almost 20 years, Michael and Kenneth have been incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center, both serving life sentences. Prison officials would not allow the Keys to be interviewed together, but in separate phone conversations, father and son talked to The Marshall Project about rekindling their relationship behind bars. At the time, they were living in cells next to one another. Their interviews have been edited for length and clarity.“

The Marshall Project

June 10, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesJune 10, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

I Taught Myself How to Read in Prison. Then I Sued the System and Won

“More than 15 years later, I’ve filed more than a dozen pleadings in court and have been awarded almost half a million dollars by two separate juries. I won my first case after three correctional officers destroyed my legal materials and retaliated against me. “

The Marshall Project

May 24, 2019

EducationPhillip ReevesMay 24, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

Let’s Make It Easier for Kids to Visit Incarcerated Parents

“We can speak up for children separated from their parents by incarceration—advocating for programs and policies that make it easier for kids to visit their parents in prison. Inmates, institutions and children benefit. Research shows visits help reduce prison misconduct and recidivism. Evidence also suggests that visits can positively affect a child’s well-being and improve the chances that families will remain intact when a former inmate reenters the community.“

The Marshall Project

May 10, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesMay 10, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

What I Learned When I Googled My Students’ Crimes

“Leaving the prison that day, I wondered what the men in my class were “usually” like. I knew that I was afforded only a narrow glimpse into their experiences, and I wondered if I knew more of their history if I would still view them the same way. So I decided to try an experiment. As a general rule, in my years of working with the incarcerated, I have never looked up the convictions of the men in my classes: I wanted to see each person as he is and could be, not reduced to his past actions. But now, I decided to do just the opposite: look up the crimes and media coverage of every single one of my students.“

The Marshall Project

May 2, 2019

Personalism, Prison ProgramsPhillip ReevesMay 2, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

Indiana Safeguards Rights of Parents in Prison

“At least 32,000 mothers and fathers nationally—none of them accused of child abuse—have permanently lost their children while locked up, often for minor crimes, according to a Marshall Project analysis that was cited in committee hearings for the Indiana legislation.“

The Marshall Project

April 25, 2019

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesApril 25, 2019The Marshall Project, IndianaComment

How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever

“In about 1 in 8 of these cases, incarcerated parents lose their parental rights, regardless of the seriousness of their offenses, according to the analysis of records maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services between 2006 and 2016. That rate has held steady over time. Female prisoners, whose children are five times more likely than those of male inmates to end up in foster care, have their rights taken away most often.“

The Marshall Project

December 2, 2018

Parental IncarcerationPhillip ReevesDecember 2, 2018The Marshall ProjectComment

Cellmates

“Lee Harris spent years in prison without hope, until an unlikely friendship led to a years-long crusade to prove his innocence“

The Marshall Project

November 2, 2018

False ConvictionsPhillip ReevesNovember 2, 2018The Marshall ProjectComment

The Victims Who Don't Count

“States set their own eligibility rules. Most deny reimbursement to victims who refuse to cooperate with law enforcement or who were committing a crime that contributed to their injury or death. States with bans—which also include Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and North Carolina—go one step further, scouring the victim’s past.“

The Marshall Project

September 13, 2018

Economic IssuesPhillip ReevesSeptember 13, 2018The Marshall Project, Florida, Ohio, ArkansasComment

Dallas County’s Secret Bail Machine

"In most places around the country, bail hearings are open to the public. The idea is that if the government is going to try to imprison you, the news media and your family and friends should be able to see what goes on and make sure it’s done fairly. Not so in Dallas County, Texas, where people accused of crimes have their bail set behind closed doors — without any family, lawyers, social workers or journalists present."

The Marshall Project

September 4, 2018

Bail ReformPhillip ReevesSeptember 5, 2018Dallas, Texas, The Marshall Project

A Turbulent Mind

"He also signed Kendra’s Law. Officially known by the euphemism Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), the law establishes a stringent outpatient regimen for those who are mentally ill and have a history of resisting therapy and a record of violent behavior. A treatment plan is imposed by court order and monitored by a case manager or “Assertive Community Team.” A patient who refuses to follow the program can be committed to a hospital for up to 72 hours. More than 16,000 New Yorkers have passed through AOT since the law took effect, and some 3,000 New Yorkers are currently living under AOT court orders."

The Marshall Project

September 3, 2018

Mental HealthPhillip ReevesSeptember 4, 2018The Marshall Project, Kendra's Law, New York

So Much for The Great California Bail Celebration

"Under the old system, defendants were given a bail amount to post, and those who could afford it could be released. Judges could order that defendants be held without bail if they represented a public threat or a flight risk. The new system includes a presumption against release for people accused of violent felonies and for those who score high on a risk assessment tool."

The Marshall Project

August 30, 2018

Bail ReformPhillip ReevesSeptember 3, 2018The Marshall Project, California

Three Strikes Didn’t Work. It’s Time to Pay Reparations

"The only way for states and the federal government to atone and begin to undo the damage is to commute their sentences, reverse their convictions, and pay these men reparations."

The Marshall Project

August 26, 2018

Opioid Crisis, Mass IncarcerationAnthony BradleyAugust 28, 2018The Marshall Project, Three Strikes, New York City

Jim Crow’s Lasting Legacy At The Ballot Box

"Felony disenfranchisement has an undeniable racial present, not just past. Black Americans constitute 2.2 million of the disenfranchised, banned from voting at four times the rate of all other racial groups combined. Its history betrays a truth the nation has continuously refused to recognize in the experience of its most intimately reviled child: enslaved Africans and their descendants"

The Marshall Project

August 20, 2018

Access to Outside WorldAnthony BradleyAugust 22, 2018The Marshall Project, Jim Crow, Right to Vote

Senators Take Aim at Bail Industry Backers

"Insurance companies form the quiet backbone of the industry, underwriting the vast majority of the millions of bail bonds written each year while undergoing little public scrutiny."

Marshall Project

August 6, 2018

Bail ReformAnthony BradleyAugust 7, 2018The Marshall Project, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown