Restoring Promise
An initiative to disrupt the American prison system.
Reimagining Prison
Related Work
Human Dignity and Prison Design
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.
Embracing Human Dignity
Annual Report 2018
Embracing Human Dignity
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.
Nick Turner Interview: Pod Save the People
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.
Reimagining Prison Event
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...
Reimagining Prison
Reimagining Prison Report
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...
Reimagining Prison Webumentary
Reimagining Prison Web Report
Why Temperatures in Prisons and Jails Matter
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 ...
Blog Post
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Kellie Chudzinski
Fewer People are Going Back to Prison—But that Doesn’t Paint the Entire Picture
Judging a person’s reentry success based on recidivism highlights their failures, but what about their successes?
Fewer people are going back to prison, according to a new study from Pew Trusts. The number of people sent back to state prison three years after being released dropped by nearly a quarter over a seven-year period. The study, which analyzed short-term and long-term recidivism rates, found that 48 percent of incarcerated people released in 2005 ret...
Blog Post
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Jack W. Duran
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Shawnda Chapman Brown