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Margaret diZerega

Margaret diZerega

Former Managing Director of Initiatives

All Work by Margaret

Opening Doors, Returning Home

How Public Housing Authorities Across the Country Are Expanding Access for People with Conviction Histories

People who were formerly incarcerated are 10 times more likely than the general public to be unhoused. Access to stable and affordable housing substantially increases the likelihood that a person returning home from prison or jail will be able to receive support from their family, find and retain employment, rebuild supportive social networks, and ...

How State Higher Ed Leaders Are Expanding College in Prison

When Jared (who asked to be identified by only his first name) began taking college classes at Turney Center Industrial Complex, a prison in central Tennessee, it was not a love for learning that motivated him—that would come later. Before Turney, Jared had been incarcerated in a private prison. “It’s not very equitable,” Jared shared, reflecting ...

Photo by Georgetown University Prisons and Justice Initiative

This Teacher Says Incarcerated People Are “The Best Students You’ll Ever Encounter”

Thomas Anderson remembers when Coppin State University (CSU) began offering college courses to people in Jessup Correctional Institution (JCI) in Maryland: sometime in 1999. Access was limited, however, and only about 20 students out of a population of more than 1,700 were able to complete a certificate for 30 credits. The CSU program ended in 200 ...

September 23, 2021

Released From Prison With No Place to Live

When Karl Fort was released from prison in July 2019, he faced the same predicament that many of the 600,000 people who return from prison every year do: he did not have a place to live. He spent the next several months in a halfway house, then living with his niece, then at his sister’s, then going back and forth between their places. Last fall, ...

August 06, 2021

College in Prison Adapts as COVID-19 Upends Education in Schools Everywhere

Over 22,000 incarcerated students have been able to access higher education through the Second Chance Pell program, but the pandemic has brought new challenges.

Daniela, who received her associate’s degree in 2014, says going to college and getting a degree while in prison gave her a second chance “to be who [she] always wanted to be.” But for decades, getting that second chance and accessing higher education has been a challenge for people like Daniela. The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiati ...

Looking Beyond Conviction History

Recommendations for Public Housing Authority Admissions Policies

Safe, affordable housing is essential for the millions of people released from U.S. jails and prisons each year. But most public housing authorities (PHAs) have admissions policies that prevent formerly incarcerated people from living there. For nearly all types of convictions, housing authorities exercise their individual discretion to set eligibi ...

Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison

These battleground state voters seem to understand that reinstating Pell eligibility for the greatest number of people in prison is a sound investment in our future. Plenty of other influential voices agree. Bipartisan momentum to get rid of the Pell ban for people in prison has been growing steadily: Since early 2019, the Association of State Cor ...

September 29, 2020

Postsecondary Education in Prison is a Racial Equity Strategy

Consider who is most impacted by mass incarceration: Black people make up 13 percent of the country’s population, but more than one-third of people in prison. Latinx people constitute 18.5 percent of the country’s population, but account for 23.4 percent of people in prison. Currently, one in three Black men without a high school diploma or GED wil ...

New Data: Second Chance Pell Continues to Open Doors for More Students

This means that students participating in Second Chance Pell programs are learning the skills necessary to play all types of roles in their communities when they return home. For example, Milwaukee Area Technical College is offering career-specific training in areas like welding. Glenville State College in West Virginia offers an array of programs, ...

Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison

These battleground state voters seem to understand that reinstating Pell eligibility for the greatest number of people in prison is a sound investment in our future. Plenty of other influential voices agree. Bipartisan momentum to get rid of the Pell ban for people in prison has been growing steadily: Since early 2019, the Association of State Co ...

October 25, 2019

“I Can’t Imagine Babies Being Kept from Their Mom”

WNBA All-Star and Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner visits a women’s jail in Phoenix

September 18, 2019

Investing in Futures

Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison

Efforts to build robust postsecondary education programs in prison have accelerated in recent years, with support from a broad range of groups from correctional officers to college administrators. This report, which is the result of a collaborative effort with the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, describes how lifting the current ban on ...

January 15, 2019

Opening Doors

How to develop reentry programs using examples from public housing authorities

A growing number of public housing authorities (PHAs) across the country are implementing reentry programs and changing their policies to help formerly incarcerated people secure housing. This report highlights 11 PHAs doing this work and examines best practices and lessons learned from their experiences—including key factors of program design and ...

September 29, 2017

"Bringing Light (Re-entry)” Groundswell © 2017

A Direction Home

In Recognition of National Reentry Week

Report to the New York City Housing Authority

Applying and Lifting Permanent Exclusions for Criminal Conduct

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is conducting an internal review of its policies related to permanent exclusions for criminal conduct on NYCHA property. Permanent exclusion (PE) occurs when a NYCHA tenant—rather than risk eviction—enters into a stipulation that those associated with the resident who have engaged in non-desirable behavi ...

February 08, 2017

Coming Home

An Evaluation of the New York City Housing Authority’s Family Reentry Pilot Program

Public housing authorities across the nation historically have barred many with criminal records from public housing residency. However, given evidence of the critical role stable housing and family reunification plays for people coming back to their communities from incarceration, some housing authorities are rethinking their practices. This repor ...

November 14, 2016

Bringing College Back to Prison

A New Role for Technology

Video Visitation in Prison

Research shows that prison visitation is integral to the success of incarcerated people, reducing recidivism, facilitating their reentry into the community, and promoting positive parent-child relationships. However, people are often incarcerated long distances from their home communities in areas that are difficult to reach by public transport, cr ...

The importance of identifying, engaging, and empowering families in juvenile justice systems

February 29, 2016

Identifying, Engaging, and Empowering Families

A Charge for Juvenile Justice Agencies

From arrest to probation, placement, and reentry, youth in the juvenile justice system deserve to have their families involved in their care. Studies show that kids in the system are much more likely to succeed long-term when they have frequent contact with their families. Unfortunately, juvenile justice agencies often have difficulty working with ...

February 26, 2016

Opening doors to public housing for people with criminal convictions

On Monday, November 2, President Obama announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released guidance for public housing and other federally-assisted housing providers on “excluding the use of arrest records in housing decisions.” The guidance is an important step in helping housing authorities reexamine the ways th ...

November 04, 2015

Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

An Implementation Guide for Practitioners on the Adult and Juvenile Standards

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General to promulgate regulations based on the standards that apply to all federal, state, and local confinement settings, including juvenile detention, l ...

October 05, 2015

Public Housing for People with Criminal Histories

Fact Sheet

Stable housing is essential to supporting a formerly incarcerated person’s successful return to his or her community. Until recently, however, most public housing authorities throughout the country have prevented formerly incarcerated people from formally returning to their homes or living with family members in public housing. In response to this ...

September 03, 2015

Keeping Vulnerable Populations Safe under PREA

Alternative Strategies to the Use of Segregation in Prisons and Jails

Incarcerated people at risk for sexual victimization need to be housed safely without losing access to programming, mental and medical health services, and group activities. The National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape emphasize that isolation be used to protect at-risk populations only when no other alternatives are availa ...

Homeward Bound

A property manager's perspective

What are your thoughts about the Family Reentry Pilot Program and what do you see as its biggest strengths? The Family Reentry Pilot Program is one of the best initiatives for family reunification implemented in NYCHA. Throughout my time at NYCHA, I have encountered individuals who have been released from jail or prison who wish to return to their ...

A place to call home

February 05, 2015

Setting an Agenda for Family-Focused Justice Reform

Juvenile and criminal justice systems are increasingly adopting family-focused policies and practices, primarily because research shows that contact with supportive family members can result in better outcomes when individuals are released and return to the community. A family-focused approach to justice reform also has important, if less apparent, ...

Piloting a Tool for Reentry

A Promising Approach to Engaging Family Members

Research shows that incarcerated individuals who maintain contact with supportive family members have better outcomes—such as stable housing and employment—when they return to the community. Yet many people who work in corrections do not know how to help individuals on their caseload draw on these social supports. This report describes the Family J ...

February 28, 2011

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