A Strategy to End Long-term Restrictive Housing
The practice of restrictive housing—where a person is held in a cell for 22 to 24 hours per day with minimal activity or human interaction—has come under increased scrutiny from researchers, advocates, policymakers, the media, and corrections agencies themselves. Recognizing this, corrections departments around the country have begun exploring ways...
An initiative to disrupt the American prison system.
Architecture and design has a role to play in creating a reimagined prison: a place that heals, invests in human dignity, and restores communities. This video was created by architectural firm Mass Design Group for Vera's Reimagining Prison project.
Annual Report 2018
Annual Report 2018
The Vera Institute of Justice is working to radically transform incarceration in America by replacing punishing practices with an approach that prioritizes compassion, true accountability, healing, restoration, opportunity, and hope. Learn more about our commitment to human dignity in our annual report 2018.
Vera president with Deray McKesson of Pod Save the People
Reflecting upon lessons learned from a study tour of prison systems abroad, Vera President Nicholas Turner and Deray McKesson of Pod Save the People discuss the possibilities and realities of transforming America's prison system.
On October 10, 2018, the Vera Institute of Justice and staff and residents of the T.R.U.E. unit at Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut convened to Reimagine Prison in the United States. The event, and coinciding report release, culminated the work of Vera’s Reimagining Prison project, launched in June 2016 at historic Eastern State Pe...
Prison in America causes individual, community, and generational pain and deprivation. Built on a system of racist policies and practices that has disproportionately impacted people of color, mass incarceration has decimated communities and families. But the harsh conditions within prisons neither ensure safety behind the walls nor prevent crime an...
In serious cases, overheating can lead to death. In 2011, ten people incarcerated in Texas prisons died from heat-related causes—setting off a series of lawsuits that ended with the state agreeing to place permanent air conditioning amenities inside units. In the last week of July 2018, as temperatures in the South reached over 100 degrees, nearly ...
