Criminology, Law & Society

Key Takeaway: "Federal policymakers should right a past wrong by restoring eligibility for Pell Grants to all qualified incarcerated people, thus making the projections in this report—of improved lives, a stronger workforce, and state fiscal savings—a reality."

"This Feature presents a summary of the findings from a survey of prison visitation policies in the fifty states and in the system run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The lives of prisoners and their families are deeply affected by visitation policies and, to date, there has been no comprehensive effort to compare these policies across all of the fifty states.'"

"Visiting a family member or friend who is in prison is an important way to maintain connections during incarceration and enhances the prisoner’s success both while in prison and after release. The CDCR recognizes the importance of visitation and encourages families and friends to visit as often as their circumstances allow. Nevertheless, visiting at a prison can be complicated and confusing, especially when visiting for the first time. This handbook is a useful guide for visitors, taking you
through the process step-by-step, explaining the procedures and rules, and providing information and guidance on what you will need to do to visit and what you will encounter as you go through the process."

An example of a state's department of corrections visitation operating procedure.

"Some prisons are rolling out new restrictions on inmates in an attempt to stem the flow of drugs. But critics say the policies may not be effective and unfairly target inmates and visitors while ignoring prison staff, who might also be to blame."

A private corporation markets video surveillance equipment and services to public and private carceral organizations: "Video surveillance systems are essential in providing effective security in prisons and correctional facilities. Incidents involving inmate violence, drug use, and officer misconduct are just a few examples of the unfortunate acts that can occur within prison walls. Advancements in video surveillance technology are enabling these facilities to upgrade their systems in order to provide more comprehensive monitoring and a heightened level of safety for inmates and workers."

Some of the segments possess a strange poetry. In Eastern Kentucky, where new penitentiaries squat atop the pancaked mountains left behind by coal mining, prison jobs are highly valued. What we see, however, is no less than the draining of hope from one group of citizens to benefit another.

Neither lecture nor argument, “Prison,” artfully photographed by Maya Bankovic, attempts to make the invisible visible. So when we watch a roaring mountainside fire and listen to an unseen inmate enthuse about her firefighting job, we can immediately sense the awfulness of a life where being surrounded by flames feels like a kind of freedom."

Catsoulis, Jeannette. "Review: ‘The Prison in Twelve Landscapes’ Reveals the Invisible Tentacles of Mass Incarceration. New York Times (Online), Nov 03, 2016.

"Our goals include substantially reducing the existing incarcerated population, especially among people of color, the mentally ill, and other vulnerable populations; ending cruel, inhuman, and degrading conditions of confinement; increasing public accountability and transparency of jails, prisons, and other places of detention; and expanding prisoners’ freedom of religion, expression, and association."

CRJW advocate, educate and demonstrate the critical need to mend, re-weave and re-connect the primary relationship between child-parent, families-loved ones, community in and out of prison. CRJW believes these relationships are being torn apart by crime and the criminal justice system. CRJW believes this is a factor in unsuccessful rehabilitation. CRJW promotes systemic change, promote a restorative justice agenda and works to advance principles of healing, right relationship for the common good.


The Center serves as an umbrella for three distinct direct service programs:

1) Get On The Bus — uniting children with their mothers and fathers in prison—the organization’s flagship program that unites children with their parents in prison on the Fridays before Mother’s and Father’s Days. This program mobilizes over 40 different faith communities throughout the state of California to coordinate buses. In 2009, more than 300 volunteers will help 1,000 children to Get On The Bus.

2) Chowchilla Family Express — uniting children & families with their loved ones in prison—provides free, weekly transportation to children and extended families of women serving sentences at two prisons located in the remote town of Chowchilla. The program is offered in partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in order to strengthen family bonds during incarceration, which has been proven to yield more successful re-entry.

3) Cross Over — uniting communities with women in prison —the program is a unique opportunity for any outside community to be in conversation with those who are in prison. It is a special evening, event or program providing a group of "outside" people with an ability to meet and converse with the "inside" people, in a peaceful, secure environment. The Cross Over is in a unique position to accompany people in crossing over the borders of prison walls.

FAMM's vision is a nation in which sentencing is individualized, humane, and sufficient but not greater than necessary to impose just punishment, secure public safety, and support successful rehabilitation and reentry.

As politicians promised to get “tough-on-crime”, prison beds filled, often with people with social problems like mental health or addiction issues that could be better treated elsewhere. Now, the country struggles to pay for over two million people in prison, most of whom will eventually be released. The time has come for better solutions.

Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, and secure each person’s right to a fair trial. Reprieve prioritises the cases of prisoners accused of the most extreme crimes, such as acts of murder or terrorism, as it is in such cases that human rights are most likely to be jettisoned or eroded.