IAHR's May 2022 Newsletter
IAHR'S May Newsletter presents information of two upcoming events: a presentation by Patrice Sulton, Director of the DC Justice Lab on "Criminal Justice in DC" and information about a play, "The BOX", that will be coming to Baltimore and Washington in August as part of the End of Isolation Tour. We also have information and links to our pen pal project. Finally, we have included an important article from the Prison Policy Initiative about state prisons.
Criminal Justice in the District of Columbia
"THE BOX" and the End of Isolation Tour
IAHR'S Pen Pal Project
PPI's New Report on State Prisons
Criminal Justice in the District of Columbia
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 5:30 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.
"The BOX" and the End of Isolation Tour is Coming to Baltimore and D.C.
August 17 and 18 in Baltimore at the Reginald Lewis Museum
August 20 and 21 in Washington DC at the Anacostia Playhouse
The End of Isolation Tour is a theatrical production touring the United States, using immersive theater to make an impact.
As a means to reach audiences to enact political change (legislative art) and to engage people to promote healing through drama and artistic ritual (therapeutic theater), the END OF ISOLATION Tour centers around a play, The BOX, which underscores both the horror of solitary confinement and the humanity of people subjected to it, employing stories inspired by true events to bring awareness to the state sponsored atrocities occurring in correctional institutions across the country.
The BOX is written and directed by Sarah Shourd, who was held in solitary confinement for over 400 days as a political prisoner in Iran. After discovering the prevalence of solitary confinement in the United States, she collaborated with other survivors and together they have brought this project to life.
Click here to view a short video (less than 5 minutes) about the End of Isolation Tour.
More information about tickets for performances will be forthcoming in the June and July IAHR newsletters.
IAHR'S Pen Pal Project
Click here for more information on the IAHR Pen Pal Program.
Prison Policy Initiative
New report, Beyond the Count, uses demographic data to show the social disadvantage of people locked up in state prisons
People in prisons have endured disadvantage and poverty all the way back to childhood, the Prison Policy Initiative's new report shows.
April 13, 2022
This morning, the Prison Policy Initiative published Beyond the Count, a report that examines the most recent and comprehensive demographic data about people in state prisons and provides a groundbreaking view of the lives of incarcerated people before they were locked up. The report’s findings make clear that solving this country’s mass incarceration crisis will require policy changes that begin outside the prison walls and tackle the inequities and disadvantages incarcerated people face early in their lives.
The report analyzes data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ “Survey of Prison Inmates,” collected in 2016 and released in late 2020. The data show what many in the criminal justice reform movement already know: that the U.S. criminal justice system today locks up the least powerful people in society. Key takeaways include:
- Many, if not most, people in prison grew up struggling financially. 42% of survey respondents said their family received public assistance before they were 18. Respondents also reported uncommonly high levels of homelessness, foster care, and living in public housing before the age of 18.
- Most individuals in state prisons report that their first arrest happened when they were children. 38 percent of the people BJS surveyed reported a first arrest before age 16, and 68% reported a first arrest before age 19. The average survey respondent had been arrested over 9 times in their life.
- The typical person in state prison is 39 years old and has a 10th grade education, a fact that is most likely linked to youth confinement, which disrupts a young person’s life and schooling.
- Half (49%) of people in state prisons meet the criteria for substance use disorder (SUD), and 65% were using an illicit substance in the immediate lead-up to their incarceration, suggesting that many people who are not locked up for drug offenses are still victims of our country’s choice to criminalize substance use rather than treat it as a health issue.
The Prison Policy Initiative’s report includes more than 20 detailed data tables that allow readers to better understand the people who are in state prisons and the challenges they have faced in their lives. Beyond the Count also includes a section diving into the data on the race, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation of people in state prisons, explaining that a disproportionate number of incarcerated people are racial minorities, very young or very old, or LGBTQ. Many of the key demographic findings in Beyond the Count (such as incarcerated people’s age at first arrest) are also broken down by race or gender.
While the data in this report is about people in state prisons, it does not allow statistics to be broken out for individual states.
“What the data in our new report show is that this country is locking up the same people it has failed by not investing in things like good healthcare, housing, and education for all,” said report author Leah Wang. “What’s worse, the data show that most disadvantaged people’s encounters with the justice system begin during childhood, when they are arrested rather than given the care and attention they need as young people.”
Click here for the full report.
April 29, 2022
IAHR'S Interfaith Holiday Newsletter
We are now in the middle of the month celebrating Ramadan and we are about to celebrate, Good Friday, Passover, and Easter. To mark these special holidays which overlap infrequently, IAHR is sponsoring a special holiday edition. We are publishing short essays from Rabbi Feinberg and five religious leaders who are on IAHR's Council of Advisors. We asked each of the religious leaders to write on the connection between human rights and the message of the holiday each is celebrating.
There are three essays from Christian leaders, two essays from Jewish leaders, and one essay from a Muslim leader. We hope that these essays will add to your spiritual understanding of the three holidays and their importance for human rights.
We are also highlighting our very recent legislative success in the Maryland Legislature.
On behalf of the IAHR Board, I wish you and your loved ones meaningful and satisfying holiday celebrations.
IAHR'S Maryland Legislative Success
List of Essays
Resurrection Sunday and the Need for Criminal Justice Reform
Passover: Outrage in Action
The Observance of Ramadan in Prisons
New Life
Interfaith Perspectives on Community and Isolation
Fear of God
IAHR’s Maryland Legislative Success
Delegate Jazz Lewis (D.24th District) sponsored IAHR’s 
legislation, HB67, that would mandate the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to provide transitional services to anyone in solitary confinement six months prior to their release. IAHR has promoted the bill as safeguarding public safety as well as providing needed services to incarcerated people soon to be released.
On April 8, with Senator Susan Lee's leadership, the Maryland Senate passed HB67/SB977 without opposition. The bill is now on the Governor's desk for signature. IAHR is hopeful that the
Governor will sign the bill.
This is a significant victory for incarcerated people in Maryland prisons. No one will be released directly to the community from solitary without any guidance or access to reentry resources. IAHR will take some time to assess this legislative victory before we set our goals for next year's session.
IAHR thanks Delegate Lewis and Senator Lee for their leadership on this issue and for being the sponsors of HB67/SB977.
Special thanks goes to Kimberly Haven, IAHR's Legislative Liaison
for Maryland, for shepherding the bill through the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Resurrection Sunday and The Need for Criminal Justice Reform
Rev. Dr. Wanda Thompson, Ambassador Baptist Church
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
Passover: Outrage in Action
Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe, Temple Rodef Shalom, Fairfax, VA
The Pesach, or Passover, holiday was created to pursue two very
different imperatives: celebrating freedoms gained thousands of years ago and, at the same time, inspiring us to act on injustices that exist today. The one is easy to accomplish. The other, not so: there is little urgency garnered by reclining on pillows, drinking to four cups of wine, and singing songs late into the night, although these things make for an enjoyable and meaningful holiday.
The urgency must come from telling the story itself. The rabbis call on each person to hear the story of Passover as if it were they themselves, not their ancestors, who came out of Egypt. This is the same empathy one needs to more fully appreciate and react to injustices in our own generation.
In recent years, I have found myself comparing the bondage of the Israelites to the inhumane treatment of too many people currently incarcerated in America’s jails and prisons. The experiences of suffering within our criminal justice system may not be happening to us, but we have an obligation to see ourselves in this story as well.
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
The Observance of Ramadan in Prisons
Ramadan is the holiest month on the Islamic calendar. It’s a
period of increased introspection. Muslims deprive our bodies of water and food during the 14+ hours long fast in order to nourish and strengthen our spirit. This brief time is an opportunity to recalibrate our focus and priorities, practice increased God-consciousness, and engage in community service and charitable giving. Click here to read the rest of the essay.
New Life
The Rev. Ann Moczydlowski, Episcopal Church
In the Christian tradition, the celebration of Easter is one of new life rooted in the story of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. After witnessing his trial and horrific crucifixion, his family and other followers were left bereft, frightened, totally unsure of their future. A few years prior to his arrest, they had been captured by his message of God’s enduring and unlimited love for all, experienced power and new life through his teaching and healing ministry and now, he was gone.
But mysteriously, he came to them several days later, assuring them that loving God and neighbor was the key to experiencing new life, even in the face of suffering. We don’t know what this resurrection, this new life was to Jesus but we do know that to his followers it was everything.
He urged them to live as he had, not focused on resurrection after death, but on offering the possibility of new life for others who are suffering, through the followers’ compassion and acts of non-sentimental love. Our word solidarity speaks to his message.
Episcopal priest, Stephanie Spellers shares: “Solidarity is love crossing the borders drawn by self-centrism, in order to enter into the situation of the other, for the purpose of mutual relationship and struggle that heals us all and enacts God’s beloved community.
Solidarity is the voice that finally comprehends: ‘You are not the same as me, but part of you lives in me. Your freedom and mine were always inextricably entwined. Now I see it, and because of what I see, I choose to live differently , I will go there, with you, for your sake and for my own.”[1]
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
[1] Stephanie Spellers, The Church Cracked Open :Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community (New York: Church Publishing 2021), 107,109.
Interfaith Perspectives on Community and Isolation
Rev. Dr. David B. Lindsey, Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington
Faith traditions across the world have a variety of specific beliefs
and practices, yet they often hold major values in common. One such value is that people are designed to live in community with one another. In Jewish and Muslim traditions, this often means shared food practices and gathering together on Fridays for prayer and reflection. The majority of Christians regularly get together on Sunday mornings for worship and fellowship, whether they are Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, or part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. South Asian religious traditions like the Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian communities bring people together for meals, festivals, and holy days. Even the monastics among the world’s faith traditions who enter into solitude often enter that solitude with a community of peers, gathering in monasteries and convents. And when such solitude occurs, it is always by choice on the part of the monastic, not by force.
This core human belief in the importance of community stands in stark contrast to the practices of isolation and segregation in the U.S. prison system. The Federal Bureau of Prisons estimates that over 15,000 prisoners are in isolation at any given time. Among them, prisoners regularly experience such isolation for up to 23 hours per day. Brief breaks to shower or encounter other prisoners are often highly supervised, and when an emergency or staff shortage occurs, a prisoner who is already unwillingly in isolation may experience solitary confinement for days or even weeks. The level of psychiatric illness is already higher in the prison population than in society as a whole and segregating a prisoner in isolation can cause such stress that even a psychologically healthy person may start to evince symptoms of mental illness. All of this runs contrary to the world’s religions and their shared understanding that people are meant to live in regular connection with each other in authentic communities.
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
Fear of God
Rabbi Charles Feinberg
summons Moses and Aaron and orders them to leave Egypt. The Israelites leave in the middle of the night. The next morning Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the Israelites to the edge of the sea. Just before the Israelites sing their triumphant song of redemption and freedom, the Torah states, “the people feared God, believed in God and Moses his servant.”They saw they feared, and then they broke into song. The fear engendered the song. What did they fear about God? A key to interpreting this question is the phrase “They were walking on dry land in the midst of the sea.” This phrase occurs four different times in the narrative leading up to the song at the sea. When did they sing the song? When they were walking on dry land in the midst of the sea. Four times the Torah mentions that the children of Israel are walking on dry land in the midst of the sea or that they are coming in the midst of the sea on dry land. They feared that Pharaoh would catch up to them before they crossed the sea. They feared that they would drown and not make it to the other side. At the same time, they knew that they had to cross the sea to live and be able to sanctify God’s name. The choice they faced was death/enslavement or life/freedom-redemption. They realized that they might die trying to realize the promise of life and redemption. But they also feared whether they can sanctify God while fighting their enemies.
Can they still have compassion for the Egyptians even though the Egyptians are trying to destroy them?
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
IAHR April Newsletter
The April edition of the IAHR Newsletter includes three different reports on our legislative advocacy in Virginia and Maryland, along with a video of the special award that Natasha White, IAHR's director of community engagement, received from the National Association of Social Workers.
I urge you to read the report called Mass Incarceration: the Whole Pie. It is an annual report that the Prison Policy Institute publishes on the state of incarceration in the United States. The report includes many graphs that present visually how many people are incarcerated, where they are incarcerated, categories of crimes incarcerated people have been convicted of, and the number of crimes in each category.
Of special interest is the section called Eight Myths About Mass Incarceration. Myths about the prevalence of private prisons, drug offenses, and what constitutes a violent crime are examined and debunked.
In April, the three Abrahamic faiths will be celebrating Ramadan, Passover, and Easter. Next week I will be sending out a special edition of the newsletter on these three holidays.
IAHR'S Virginia Solitary Legislation: Partial Successes
IAHR'S Maryland Legislation: Almost There
IAHR'S Virginia Attack Dog Legislation
Natasha White Receives Special Honor
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022
IAHR’s Virginia Solitary Legislation: Partial Successes
During the 2022 Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement wrote and found sponsors for two pieces of legislation. SB108ended long term solitary confinement by limiting isolating incarcerated people to no more than 15 consecutive days within a 60 day period. Our Senate sponsor was Joe D. Morrissey who has been an effective advocate for ending prolonged isolation in Virginia Prisons.
On February 4, the Senate voted to pass SB108 by a vote of 21 to18. This was the second year in a row that the Virginia Senate voted to limit solitary confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days.
The bill was then passed over to a subcommittee of the House of Delegates Public Safety Committee. Natasha White, coordinator of the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement and David Smith, the coalition’s chairperson both spoke in support of the bill at a public hearing of the subcommittee. Members of the subcommittee did not speak in opposition to the bill. However, they had more questions that they wanted answered. They wanted a delegation of legislators to visit Red Onion, one of Virginia’s maximum-security prisons. Other members of the subcommittee wanted more time to study the issue.
By a unanimous vote, the subcommittee voted to replace the text of SB108with a substitute that would establish a work group to study the use of restorative housing (solitary confinement) within state correctional facilities and juvenile correctional centers. The group will look at length of time each inmate is kept in restorative housing and the purposes for which inmates are placed in restorative housing. As part of the study, the working group will be able to conduct confidential interviews of at least people currently incarcerated in state prison facilities and who have been placed within the last 12 months in restorative housing units.
The work group shall make recommendations of its findings, including how to safely end the use of restorative housing that lasts longer than 14 days. The work group shall be composed of at least one licensed clinical psychologist, at least three formerly incarcerated individuals, each of whom was placed in restorative housing during his term of incarceration, and at least three representatives from each of the following agencies or groups: (i) the Department, (ii) the Department of Juvenile Justice, and (iii) the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement.
The work group shall report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Public Safety and the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and 24 Social Services by December 1, 2022
While the Coalition strongly believes there is no need to commission another study of solitary confinement, we also took heart that the House of Delegates did not vote down SB108. Indeed, the Coalition has several new opportunities. By assuring representation in the work group, we will have some say in the final report that will go the Legislature. Moreover, we have another year to advocate on behalf of ending prolonged isolation (solitary confinement). During the rest of this year, we have an opportunity to build more support in key legislative districts for ending solitary.
The Virginia Coalition consists of IAHR, S.A.L.T. (Social Action Linking Together), ACLU-VA, the Virginia Interfaith Center on Public Policy, VACURE, Bridging the Gap Virginia, and many engaged Virginia residents.
Special shout out to David Smith, outgoing Coalition chairperson, who tirelessly advocated for SB108 in the Legislature and to Natasha White,Coalition Coordinator, for all her efforts to raise awareness of the issue at the Legislature and in different Virginia Communities.
IAHR welcomes McGennis Williams as the new chairperson of the Coalition. We wish McGennis much success!
IAHR’s Maryland Legislation: Almost There
Delegate Jazz Lewis (D.24th District) sponsored IAHR’s legislation, HB67, that would mandate the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to provide transitional services to anyone in solitary confinement six months prior to their release. IAHR has promoted the bill as safeguarding public safety as well as providing needed services to incarcerated people soon to be released.
On March 17, the bill was voted out by the House of Delegates Judiciary and was passed on the floor of the House the next day on March 18. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held a hearing on the bill on March 30. At the hearing there was no opposition to the bill. IAHR is hopeful that the bill will be voted out by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in the next few days. IAHR is hopeful that the Maryland Senate will pass the bill and send it to the Governor by the end of next week.
IAHR'S Virginia Attack Dog Legislation
In February, IAHR introduced into the Virginia House of Delegates HB908 that would prohibit the use of attack dogs in Virginia State Prisons. The bill’s sponsor was Delegate Alfonso Lopez of Northern Virginia. IAHR arranged for a returning citizen, Linwood Mathias, who had been seriously mauled by a dog in prison, to speak at the hearing. Linwood has great difficulty walking and standing due to his being severely bitten by a dog. At the hearing, Linwood was only given two minutes to speak about the circumstances that led to his being attacked.
The Committee voted to lay the build on the table and come back to it at next year’s session. IAHR is hopeful that we can build more support for this important legislation during the rest of this year.
IAHR commends and is grateful to volunteer, Brian Hess, for writing the legislation, persuading Delegate Lopez to sponsor it, and for being such a strong advocate.
Natasha White Receives Special Honor
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) recognizes leaders in the profession and in communities who fully embody social work values and ethics. Past award recipients have accomplished the extraordinary and NASW has been honored to recognize them.
At The Time is Right for Social Work 2022 Award Ceremony, Natasha White,IAHR's Director of Community Engagement, was awarded Public Citizen of the Year for being an individual who has gone above and beyond in her community. Here is the video of the presentation and Natasha’s acceptance speech.
Natasha also gave an extensive interview that was broadcast on PBS on a program called "The campaign to end solitary confinement in Virginia."
Click here to view the interview.
Prison Policy Initiative
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022
By Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner Tweet this
March 14, 2022
Can it really be true that most people in jail are legally innocent? How much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs, or the profit motives of private prisons? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed decisions about how people are punished when they break the law? These essential questions are harder to answer than you might expect. The various government agencies involved in the criminal legal system collect a lot of data, but very little is designed to help policymakers or the public understand what’s going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build — and as the pandemic raises the stakes higher — it’s more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the U.S. doesn’t have one “criminal justice system;” instead, we have thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, these systems hold almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,850 local jails, 1,510 juvenile correctional facilities, 186 immigration detention facilities, and 82 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.
This report offers some much-needed clarity by piecing together the data about this country’s disparate systems of confinement. It provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration and overlooked issues that call for reform.
Sections
8 Myths about mass incarceration
High costs of low-level offenses
Youth, immigration & involuntary commitment
Beyond the Pie: Community supervision, poverty, race, and gender
Click here to read the whole report
We pray for peace with justice for Ukraine!
May there be joyous and thoughtful celebrations of Ramadan, Passover, and Easter