IAHR September 2022 Newsletter

A lot is happening at IAHR! Our annual event, "Human Rights at the Prison Door will take place at Adas Israel Congregation on October 27. Please remember to RSVP!

You will find a report from Rabbi Feinberg IAHR's legislative plans for the fall and winter as well as a letter from an incarcerated man at North Branch Correctional Institution.

The September Newsletter concludes with two reports. One is from our friends from the Prison Policy Initiative reporting how many people are released from state prisons annually. The other is an inspiring video called "Rehab City" from Stanley Hallet, dean emeritus of the School of Architecture at Catholic University. Mr. Hallet has a vision of correctional institutions whose mission would be rehabilitation. I found it inspiring. 

4th Annual Human Rights at the Prison Door Event
Report from Rabbi Feinberg
Letter from Prison:North Branch
PPI: How Many People are Released from Prison Annually?
Rehab City


Fourth Annual Human Rights at the Prison Door

Click Here to RSVP

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Report from Rabbi Feinberg 

Much has been happening this summer. Here is a brief report on our efforts to end prolonged isolation in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. 

End of Isolation Tour

IAHR was one of many sponsors of the End of Isolation Tour: "The Box." The Tour presented "The Box", a play about the brutality of solitary confinement in 10 different cities. We promoted the play in Baltimore and the District of Columbia. Attendance of the play was very good in both venues. We are grateful to the leadership and assistance that Natasha White (IAHR director of community engagement in Virginia), Kimberly Haven (IAHR legislative liaison), and Brittney Floyd (IAHR Data Entry Specialist) provided. If you missed seeing "The Box", you can read about it at the End of Isolation Tour website.

Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement

During the last session, the Virginia Legislature passed legislation directing the Virginia Department of Corrections to conduct a study of prolonged isolation (solitary confinement) in its prisons. The legislation also directed the Department to include representation from the Coalition. Since July, five members of the Coalition have been meeting with representatives of the Department to hammer out how the study should be conducted. There was agreement that incarcerated people who have been in solitary should be interviewed. But there has been much disagreement on the details such as the questions that should be asked, the number of questions, and under what conditions the incarcerated people should be questioned. We will much more to report in the October newsletter.

Maryland Coalition on Solitary

The Maryland Coalition on Solitary includes representatives from the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR), Jews United for Justice (JUFJ), Disability Rights-Maryland, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), and a number of IAHR supporters and pen pals. Several members of the group met with an advisor to the Wes Moore campaign. The campaign seemed very interested and supportive of our legislation. This month the Maryland Coalition will be reviewing a draft of the legislation. 

The legislation which will be sponsored by Delegate David Moon and Senator Susan Lee proposes to limit solitary confinement to 15 consecutive days within a 90 day period. Other details about the bill will be forthcoming later this fall. The next meeting of the Coalition will be via zoom on Thursday, September 15 at 1 p.m. If you would like to attend the meeting please contact Brittney Floyd for the zoom link. 

Unlock the Box Coalition in the District of Columbia

Unlock the Box which is a national organization funding different state initiatives to end solitary confinement has funded an effort to end solitary at the DC Jail. The DC Justice Lab is heading this initiative. They have organized a large coalition of non-profits and individuals including returning citizens. They have written a solitary bill and there will be a hearing on the bill before the DC Council during the last half of October. More details about the October hearing in the October newsletter

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Letter from Prison: North Branch Correctional Institution

14100 Mc Mullen Hwy SW
Cumberland, MD 21502

Ms. Marcus:

I am writing this letter in reference to the conditions and psychological tool Administration Segregation has taken on my life and family.

In brief, I have been incarcerated for 12 years, serving an 80-year sentence.  My mental state over the last few years has become increasingly agitated. I would say depressing, but I don’t know what that feels like, I only know good thoughts and bad, good days and bad days.

The Officers at North Branch Correctional Institution (NBCI) create the problems that plague the institution. I have been on Admin for 5 years, for altercations with other inmates. Every month I go for Admin. Seg.(administrative segregation) Review in which my Case Manager, Ms. Johnson, tells me my status ain’t change, (it) remains Admin Seg. Due to enemies.  I’ve asked what is the plan for me and basically, up to this point, there is no plan.  I’m told I have to wait until my enemies get in trouble in order for me to go on the compound, then they will place my enemies on (in) Ad. Seg. The problem is I have more than one enemy, NBCI says, which makes it nearly impossible for my enemies to get in trouble at the same time.  So basically I’m just stuck on (in) Admin (segregation) in limbo. ¶

I am not familiar with writing ARPs. I did write IGO (inmate grievance office) about being classified as Max II. Basically, they say NBCI is the only prison in Maryland that can house Max II inmates.  For the last few years, I’ve been asking to be transferred or sent out of state to no avail.  Admin is taking its toll on my mind, body, and family.  I’m caged 23/1 a day, but I rarely come out of my cell.  The last five years have been increasingly difficult.  I feel trapped and targeted by the Administration, have no access to a full phone call and rec privileges, legal library, and family visits which I am becoming further behind, isolated, and feel like I don’t want to be around anyone or sometimes Hopeless.  I want the same as any inmate, to be on the compound.  I’ve been fighting this fight since day one and (I am) a firm believer in human and civil rights.  NBCI has immunity to do and violates human and civil rights (.

In closing my only wish is to improve my living conditions and stop unjust punishment in hopes, that NBCI will stop using the Administrative process and Max II criteria as a form of Alternate punishment.

Thanks for caring.

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Prison Policy Initiative: Since you asked: How many people are released from each state’s prisons and jails every year?

The number of people going through reentry each year vastly exceeds the resources available to them in most communities.

by Wendy Sawyer, August 25, 2022

The key role of reentry programs and services in the success of people released from prisons and jails cannot be overstated. People returning to their communities from even relatively short periods of incarceration often have acute needs related to health, employment, housing, education, family reunification, and social supports – not to mention challenges obtaining essential documents like birth certificates, Social Security cards, and driver’s licenses or other identification. The service gaps between these predictable needs and the resources available to people in the critical time period following release contributes directly to both early deaths and the cycle of re-incarceration (“recidivism”) for far too many people.

In 2019, we wrote about the extreme gap between needed and available reentry services for women, who report a higher need for services than men, but who are frequently overlooked in reentry programs targeted at the much larger population of incarcerated men.

Since that publication, journalists, advocates, and service providers have reached out asking about the total number of people released from prisons and jails in their state each year. While these are numbers you might expect would be easy to find, they aren’t published regularly in annual reports on prison and jail populations by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In fact, the annual data collected by the federal government about local jails (the Annual Survey of Jails) cannot generally be broken down by state; only the more infrequently-collected Census of Jails data can be used to make state-level findings.

map showing the number of people released from state prisons in

each state in 2019

Click here to read the rest of the article. 

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Rehab City

Stanley Hallet is dean emeritus of the School of Architecture at Catholic University. He has thought long and hard about how to turn correctional institutions into places that rehabilitate instead of just punishing people. He believes that the design and structure of a prison is essential to making it a healing place that can help incarcerated people make different decisions for themselves. I urge to view this 22 minute video that Mr. Hallet produced. The video is truly inspiring and gives us a way to dream and hope.  Here is the link to the video. 

 https://vimeo.com/645396460

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Blessings,


August 2022 Newsletter

We are very excited about the upcoming performances of "The Box" by the End of Isolation Tour. Those performances will be in Baltimore on August 17 and 18 and in the District on August 20 and 21. Tickets are on sale now from $20 to $50. Please make an effort to attend one of these performances.  

Our upcoming "Human Rights at the Prison Door" will be on October 27.

We have included a special letter from prison which highlights how IAHR works behind the scenes to help incarcerated people receive appropriate medical care.

We are also bringing you a special report from the Prison Policy Initiative on where people in Virginia Prisons come from. 

Finally, we urge you to support our mid-year appeal by making a donation as soon as possible.  

End of Isolation Tour: August 17-21
Save the Date! 4th Annual Human Rights at the Prison Door-October 27
Letter from Prison: Sterling Fisher-Bey
New Data Reveals where people in Virginia Prisons Come From
End Solitary: Support IAHR


End the Isolation Tour Is Coming Soon!

End of Isolation Tour will be in Baltimore on August 17 & 18 and in D.C. on August 20 and 21

Many of us are now coming out of isolation, but prisoners are not. For many of us, our fundamental beliefs have shifted during the pandemic, but many policies and structures remain the same. IAHR is a proud  supporter of the End of Isolation Tour which uses legislative art to impact unjust policies and structures.  

In July, The End of Isolation Tour (EIT) is launching a national, 10-city tour, presented by The Pulitzer Center, to bring immersive, transformative theater to communities across the country on the frontlines of imagining a world without prisons and the torture of solitary confinement. EIT centers around The BOX: a play about solitary confinement written by a survivor in collaboration with other survivors. Nearly half the cast are survivors of incarceration and torture. This tour is how we get these stories into the hands of people who are penning laws. It is how we connect survivors with legislators all across the country. 

Nearly ten years ago, I collected stories from people trapped 

in the hellish deep end of prisons across the country

Now, in a cruel twist of history, there could not be a more powerful 

moment to bring these stories back.” 

~ Sarah Shourd, 

End of Isolation Tour founder, playwright of The BOX, and survivor

We invite you to join us in our support of this powerful project as we prepare for EIT’s tour bus to arrive in Baltimore at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum on August 17 and 18 and in D.C. at the Anacostia Playhouse on August 20 and 21. 

Click Here to Order Tickets!

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4th Annual Human Rights at the Prison Door

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Letter From Prison

Over the last seven years, Gay Gardner, a founder of IAHR and currently IAHR's Special Advisor on Virginia, has corresponded with hundreds of incarcerated men and women in Virginia's prisons. This correspondence reveals thousands of allegations of inadequate medical care and human rights abuses. Below you will find a letter from Mr. Sterling Fisher-Bey who is incarcerated in a Virginia State Prison. In the letter Mr. Fisher-Bey acknowledges IAHR's assistance in helping him receive medical care for a serious condition.

From: STERLING FISHER-BEY

Date: 6/24/2022 11:22:27 PM

To: Gay Gardner 

Greetings Ms. Gardner, First Off, I Hope You Are Well Upon Receiving This Brief Missive And All Whom You Care For And Keep Close To Heart Also. I Don't Mean to try Your Patience But I Had To Send This Email So You Would Know How Very Important Your Assistance Really Was To Me.

I Was Called Over to Medical Yesterday, June The 23,2022 By Doctor O. Soon As I Came into The Room He Began Apologizing For The Mix Up And Lack Of Attention To My Medical Needs. I Stayed Calm and Collected And Listened To Him Speak.

He Took Me Through "All" Of My Paperwork And Showed Me That "HE" Had Not Dropped The Ball On Me; It Was The Other Staff's Responsibility, A Mrs. W.  Seems As If The Internal Strife Behind The Scenes Is Causing The Inmate Population To Suffer. When We Suffer, "The Angels Come Out In Battle Array." (SMILE) Again He Just Kept Apologizing Shaking My Hand. Finally, We Get Down To Brass Tacks And He Informs Me That The Spot On My Lung Isn't Cancer. The Pains In My Lower Back are Not From A Nerve Issue. What I Have Is A Rare Condition That Isn't Commonly Seen. "MORGAGNI HERNIA"[1] Is What It Is. And It's A Fatal Condition That's Often Misdiagnosed As Pneumonia. The Background Is Too Exhaustive To Write But It's A Very Interesting Read.

The Spot Was in fact A hole In My Lung That Allowed My Intestine To Enter Which Caused My Back Pains And Could Have Killed Me. I Kept Complaining That My lungs Would Not Fill Up With Air And I Could hardly Breath. I Was Told That If I Was Talking Then I Was Breathing. Little Did Anyone (notice) That This Condition Kills By Strangulation/ Suffocation. Had You and Your Organization Not Stepped In, I Hate To Even Think What My End Might Have Been. Doctor O. Said That My CT Scan Results Took So Long To Return Because The Doctors Didn't Know What To Look For. It Took 7 Days Before The Results Came In.

Click here to read the rest of Mr. Fisher-Bey's letter

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Prison Policy Initiative

Where people in prison come from:
The geography of mass incarceration in Virginia

by Emily Widra and Kenneth Gilliam  Tweet this
July 2022

One of the most important criminal legal system disparities in Virginia has long been difficult to decipher: Which communities throughout the state do incarcerated people come from? Anyone who lives in or works within heavily policed and incarcerated communities intuitively knows that certain neighborhoods disproportionately experience incarceration. But data have never been available to quantify how many people from each community are imprisoned with any real precision.

But now, thanks to redistricting reform that ensures incarcerated people are counted correctly in the legislative districts they come from, we can understand the geography of incarceration in Virginia. Virginia is one of eleven states that have formally ended prison gerrymandering (while another three states have addressed the practice through their state redistricting commissions), and now count incarcerated people where they legally reside — at their home address — rather than in remote prison cells. This type of reform, as we often discuss, is crucial for ending the siphoning of political power from disproportionately Black and Latino communities, to pad out the mostly rural, predominantly white regions where prisons are located. And when reforms like Virginia’s are implemented, they bring along a convenient side effect: In order to correctly represent each community’s population counts, states must collect detailed state-wide data on where imprisoned people call home, which is otherwise impossible to access.

Using this redistricting data, we found that in Virginia, some of the state’s largest cities — Norfolk and Richmond — are sending the highest numbers of people to prison, but it is smaller cities — like Martinsville, Petersburg, Franklin — and less populous counties — including Buchanan, Lee, Dickenson, and Brunswick counties — that are missing a larger share of their population to incarceration. And a deeper dive into the data shows that even within cities there are dramatic differences in rates of incarceration between neighborhoods, often along racial and socioeconomic lines. These data show that — big or small — every community in Virginia is harmed by mass incarceration.

In addition to helping policy makers and advocates effectively bring reentry and diversion resources to these communities, this data has far-reaching implications. Around the country, high incarceration rates are correlated with other community problems related to poverty, employment, education, and health. Researchers, scholars, advocates, and politicians can use the data in this report to advocate for bringing more resources to their communities.

Click here to read the full article. 

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End Solitary: Support IAHR

Momentum is building for Interfaith Action for Human Rights’ campaign to end torture in our region’s prisons and jails. Increasingly bold voices are being raised in our media, our places of worship, and our legislatures demanding change. As a result, the General Assembly in both Maryland and Virginia passed IAHR-initiated legislation in 2022 that brings us closer to ending inhumane solitary confinement. We and our allies have again proven that citizen action can make a critical difference in ensuring human rights! 

But the more than 100,000 incarcerated people in our region need us to finish this fight and continue opposing all the many unconscionable abuses in our region’s prisons.  I hope that you will consider making a generous gift to help us sustain our momentum. Whatever the amount of your gift, we deeply appreciate your support.

IAHR Mid Year Community and Partner Recap
Video edited by IAHR vice-chair Kimberly Jenkins-Snodgrass

Ending systemic abuses is not enough. IAHR will intensify its focus in the coming year on building support for transforming the penal systems in our region from their current cruelty and futility to a focus on rehabilitation and recovery. Nearly 250 IAHR Pen Pal volunteers will continue to correspond with DC residents imprisoned in federal institutions thousands of miles from home providing, as one incarcerated person put it, “a shining star in my darkness of times.”

We continue to make great progress. The embedded video gives you a taste of the progress we have made over the last seven years.

The need, however, clearly remains. Please help us by making your contribution by clicking here or send your check to Interfaith Action for Human Rights, P.O. Box 55802, Washington, DC 20040.

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Justice with Healing, 

Rabbi Chuck Feinberg


IAHR July 2022 Newsletter

This month the IAHR Newsletter highlights the action of Gov Youngkin and the Virginia Legislature to amend HB 5148 which denied freedom to over 500 incarcerated people just two weeks prior to their scheduled release. 

We are also highlighting two special upcoming programs: the End of Isolation Tour's Production of "The Box" in August in Baltimore and the District and the online debut of the film on solitary, "Torture in Our Name on July 14.  

We are also bringing you a special report from the Prison Policy Initiative on where people in Maryland Prisons come from. 

Finally, we urge you to support our mid-year appeal by making a donation as soon as possible.  

Gov Youngkin Amends HB 5148
End of Isolation Tour-August 17-21
Torture in Our Name-July 14
New Data Reveals where people in Maryland Prisons Come From
End Solitary: Support IAHR


Gov Youngkin Amends HB 5148

In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed HB 5148 that changed the calculation of time served for inmates. Instead of having all inmates serve 85 percent of their sentence, some criminals would receive “good time credit” automatically and only need to serve approximately 60 percent of their sentence.

As the Department of Corrections began examining the data, thousands of criminals were going to be released between July 1, 2022, and August 30, 2022. Some offenders were excluded from earning these credits based on their underlying offense. Many of those being released have been identified by Department of Corrections as being a high-risk of violent recidivism. How the Department made this evaluation has not been made public.

On June 17, the Governor Youngkin's amendment to the HB 5148 earned sentence credit bill was approved by both the House and Senate denying mixed charges eligibility to be included in the earned sentence credit law. This meant that this budget line item would remove an estimated 556 inmates from eligibility for release on July 1. Two weeks before their expected release, 556 were denied their expected freedom from incarceration. This was a cruel and unnecessary act motivated by fear. 

A  rally is set to protest the action of the Governor and the Legislature  for Saturday July 9th From 10am -1pm at 5701 Springfield road Glen Allen, Virginia. This is a moment for the families and advocates to focus on voting power in order to achieve more victories. 

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End of Isolation Tour

End of Isolation Tour will be in Baltimore on August 17 & 18 and in D.C. on August 20 and 21

Many of us are now coming out of isolation, but prisoners are not. For many of us, our fundamental beliefs have shifted during the pandemic, but many policies and structures remain the same. IAHR is a proud  supporter of the End of Isolation Tour which uses legislative art to impact unjust policies and structures.  

In July, The End of Isolation Tour (EIT) is launching a national, 10-city tour, presented by The Pulitzer Center, to bring immersive, transformative theater to communities across the country on the frontlines of imagining a world without prisons and the torture of solitary confinement. EIT centers around The BOX: a play about solitary confinement written by a survivor in collaboration with other survivors. Nearly half the cast are survivors of incarceration and torture. This tour is how we get these stories into the hands of people who are penning laws. It is how we connect survivors with legislators all across the country. 

Nearly ten years ago, I collected stories from people trapped 

in the hellish deep end of prisons across the country

Now, in a cruel twist of history, there could not be a more powerful 

moment to bring these stories back.” 

~ Sarah Shourd, 

End of Isolation Tour founder, playwright of The BOX, and survivor

We invite you to join us in our support of this powerful project as we prepare for EIT’s tour bus to arrive in Baltimore at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum on August 17 and 18 and in D.C. at the Anacostia Playhouse on August 20 and 21. 

Click Here to Order Tickets!

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Torture In Our Name



Click here to register for the Zoom Link

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Prison Policy Initiative

Report shows every community is harmed by mass incarceration

June 27, 2022

Today the Prison Policy Initiative and Justice Policy Institute released a new report, Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Maryland, that gives an in-depth look at where people in Maryland state prisons come from. The report also provides 9 detailed data tables — including neighborhood-specific data for Baltimore City and Montgomery County — that serve as a foundation for advocates, organizers, policymakers, data journalists, academics, and others to do their own analysis of how incarceration relates to other factors of community well-being.

The report shows:

  • Every single county — and every legislative district — is missing a portion of its population to incarceration in state prison;
  • No city is harmed by mass incarceration as much as the city of Baltimore. It is home to 9% of the state’s residents, but 40% of people in its state prisons.
  • Smaller and traditionally under-resourced Eastern Shore communities are particularly hard hit by mass incarceration; and
  • The worst impacts of mass incarceration are often concentrated in specific neighborhoods that are already systematically under-resourced. For example, over a third of the people from the city of Baltimore in state prison come from just 10 of the cities 55 neighborhoods.

Data tables included in the report provide residence information for people in Maryland state prisons at the time of the 2020 Census, offering the clearest look ever at which communities are most impacted by mass incarceration. They break down the number of people locked up by county, city, town, zip code, legislative district, census tract, and other areas.

The data show the counties with the highest state prison incarceration rates are Wicomico, Dorchester, and Somerset, all with incarceration rates greater than 500 people in state prison per 100,000 residents. For comparison, Montgomery County has the lowest prison incarceration rate, at 61 people in state prison per 100,000 residents, roughly 10 times lower than the highest counties.

“The nation’s 40-year failed experiment with mass incarceration harms each and every one of us. This analysis shows that while some communities are disproportionately impacted by this failed policy, nobody escapes the damage it causes,” said Emily Widra, Senior Research Analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative. “Our report is just the beginning. We’re making this data available so others can further examine how geographic incarceration trends correlate with other problems communities face.”

A previous analysis from the Prison Policy Initiative and Justice Policy Institute showed a strong correlation between high rates of incarceration in Maryland and high unemployment rates, long commute times, low household incomes, decreased life expectancy, and other markers of low community well-being.

The data and report are made possible by the state’s landmark 2010 law that requires that people in prison be counted as residents of their hometown rather than in prison cells when state and local governments redistrict every ten years. Maryland was the first state in the nation to end the practice of “prison gerrymandering,” which gave disproportional political clout to state and local districts that contain prisons at the expense of all of the other areas of the state. Since then, more than a dozen states and 200 local governments have taken steps to end the practices. In total, roughly half the country now lives in a place that has taken action to address prison gerrymandering.

Click Here for the Full Report

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End Solitary: Support IAHR

Momentum is building for Interfaith Action for Human Rights’ campaign to end torture in our region’s prisons and jails. Increasingly bold voices are being raised in our media, our places of worship, and our legislatures demanding change. As a result, the General Assembly in both Maryland and Virginia passed IAHR-initiated legislation in 2022 that brings us closer to ending inhumane solitary confinement. We and our allies have again proven that citizen action can make a critical difference in ensuring human rights! 

But the more than 100,000 incarcerated people in our region need us to finish this fight and continue opposing all the many unconscionable abuses in our region’s prisons.  I hope that you will consider making a generous gift to help us sustain our momentum. Whatever the amount of your gift, we deeply appreciate your support.

IAHR Mid Year Community and Partner Recap
Video edited by IAHR vice-chair Kimberly Jenkins-Snodgrass

Ending systemic abuses is not enough. IAHR will intensify its focus in the coming year on building support for transforming the penal systems in our region from their current cruelty and futility to a focus on rehabilitation and recovery. Nearly 250 IAHR Pen Pal volunteers will continue to correspond with DC residents imprisoned in federal institutions thousands of miles from home providing, as one incarcerated person put it, “a shining star in my darkness of times.”

We continue to make great progress. The embedded video gives you a taste of the progress we have made over the last seven years.

The need, however, clearly remains. Please help us by making your contribution by clicking here or send your check to Interfaith Action for Human Rights, P.O. Box 55802, Washington, DC 20040.

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