Think Justice Blog

Series: Target 2020

Justice is on the Ballot

As voters, we have the power and responsibility to shape how justice is served in our communities. We elect federal leaders, district attorneys, mayors, local legislators, and sheriffs—leaders who shape how our communities ensure public safety and secure justi ...

Divesting from Policing and Investing in New Orleans Youth

City budgets are a moral statement of our priorities. Based on its 2020 budget, New Orleans prioritizes the policing and criminalization of its residents. Currently, more than 35 established police and security patrols are granted law enforcement powers by Lou ...

Centering Black Voices in the Struggle for Immigrant Rights

On Juneteenth, Black Cameroonian asylum seekers made a video from a holding cell at the Pine Prairie Detention Center in Louisiana. The men had fled persecution in their homelands and sought refuge in America, only to be detained indefinitely in a facility in ...

Series: Unlocking Potential

Transformed by Access to College in Prison

"Access to postsecondary education can have transformative power, like it has in my life, and I hope everyone in America, including those in prison, can have this same opportunity."

Series: Covid-19

Policymakers Must Lift the Veil on COVID-19 in Jails and Prisons

COVID-19 is raging through U.S. jails and prisons—places disproportionately populated by poor people and those from communities of color, especially Black and Latinx communities. In fact, the 15 largest COVID-19 clusters in the country are in jails and prisons ...

Avoiding Deportation with the Help of Publicly Funded Counsel

Ramon* was confused when he saw two strangers waiting for him in the visitation room of the facility where he had spent more than a year fearing deportation. One of them was Halinka Zolcik, a Prisoners’ Legal Service attorney working with the New York Immigran ...

Beyond the Statistics and into the Hearts of Incarcerated Students

Despite the chaos going on in the world around COVID-19 and the fact that I remain incarcerated and more isolated from my family and loved ones than ever before, I woke up today feeling that life is good.

Series: Covid-19

A View from the Inside

In Maine, reports say that the state prison population has been cut by more than 8 percent in response to the novel coronavirus, that cleaning and sanitation has been ramped up, that people are being released “early” on a Supervised Community Confinement Progr ...

What’s in a Name? A Small Step Prosecutors Can Take to Build a More Humane System

Prosecutors are supposed to dehumanize people charged with crimes. That’s what we’re taught in law school. As my professor instructed, if you’re a prosecutor, always refer to the person accused as “the defendant.” Using “defendant” distances the judge or jury ...

Series: Covid-19

A New Vision for Justice in New Orleans

In the face of adversity, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated one positive thing—that New Orleans can lock up fewer people in jail and still maintain public safety.

DACA Was Never the End Goal: Liberation Is

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision on DACA—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration law—impacted 650,000 young people, including us, four DACAmented Verans. We are relieved that the Court blocked efforts to end the program, leaving it intac ...

Series: Target 2020

Postsecondary Education in Prison is a Racial Equity Strategy

The recent protests against police violence have led to calls to divest from law enforcement and invest in communities of color. At the same time, college students across the county are grappling with how to safely pursue their education and what the implicati ...