you hey hello um so in uh your Pres presentation you talked about mass incarceration um and kind of mandatory minimum sentences and I was wondering if you could kind of expand on that andthen I've also read in some cases where judges have actually gone and visited those folks that they've sentenced um and I'm wondering if you've ever done
choice and decision. I know you talked a little bit about in regards to the male population, especially African-American men and how you saw a lot of the mental health kind of relating to incarceration . With the work that you were doing at the Justice Department, did you see it decrease in being able to provide that mental health assistance to those individuals? So at that point, we had just introduced the concept and the connection
Can you tell us a little bit about the activities at Northern California ACLU, taking on that regard? And incarceration is a pretty unwise use of resources, especially the way we've been doing it.
Talk a little bit about that. So incarceration probably played some role.
from our representative. And I'm somebody who's been organizing um in the city for over 14 years around various issues around mass incarceration , around immigration justice, around Palestine. And not once had I heard from my representative despite the numerous times that I'd reached out.
And the common themes were the impact that the justice system had had on our lives, both before, during, and after incarceration . So before incarceration , we all could name a relative, a brother, a cousin, a uncle, a father, somebody who had been involved in the criminal justice system. And then of course, having that experience ourselves was hugely impactful on our lives.
And I wonder if you could share a little bit more about that. Because these structures of incarceration are really organized around the denial of humanity. And this criminalization of being criminalized if you're a woman because you're addicted to a substance,
So you can see up here from are very complicated program diagram, that we start inside the facilities, and then we continue to work with people once they are released from incarceration . There are a few things that we do with them when they are released. One is they go through what's called "Pathways to Re-entry" where they basically get stable in the community--
And just like to give you kind of an international perspective, this is how removed the US is in terms of its incarceration rate. Meaning this is like most of Europe and such, and the US is just off the charts.
I couldn't do it without Brittany, who's here, and cut50, and everyone that I work with-- costs of mass incarceration is also the work of .org, and the leadership of Jacquelline Fuller, and Justin Steele to be able to--
And Google is partnering with Vera to do a project to illuminate and bring out how mass incarceration actually is being driven by smaller regional, smaller jurisdictions around the country, not the big cities. Actually, the big cities are doing the lot, either because they got woke or they realize they don't have the money to do it--
the big cities. Actually, the big cities are doing the lot, either because they got woke or they realize they don't have the money to do it-- to deemphasize incarceration . It's actually the smaller jurisdictions around the country, mostly in red states and rural areas, that, in the aggregate, is driving up mass incarceration .
And so you can see how my friend-- like the fact of having the snack was an enormously salient detail that turned out to increase incarceration for minorities relative to whites.
foster care, and too many times they are sent to the streets to be raised that the streets. And the cycle of incarceration continues. So this cause of women and girls is saving the families.
you directly. So mass incarceration -- so like, I was arrested at the age of 19. I was two months pregnant.
So after my four years, I came home and reunited with my son and my daughter. So my impact with incarceration has started just being an African-American woman.
So when you look at just how that law is and what is in place and what it does to our communities, on ending mass incarceration .
And those are the three big ifs. and mass incarceration and poverty and on with a long list of really serious injustices
I, for example, think about Manzanar. I think about the incarceration of American citizens in camps looking out across the eastern Sierra. To imagine being an American citizen, and because of your ethnicity, a war happens with the country that you come from, and you're forced, then,
Thank God they were there to do it. And because juvenile incarceration is incredibly expensive, $110,000 a year, this program, every dollar invested in it
And in incarceration we see a similar difference in that we see the United States incarcerates roughly three and sometimes ten times more than other countries.
An incredible incarceration rate, one that is almost at the same scale that the Soviet Union had during the Gulag days.
But our incarceration rate has exploded, it's three to four times more than it was in the '70s and that explosion has been based on many of the laws that have been passed.
It's actually about ending mass incarceration .
that are impacted by the wrongful incarceration .
Or people who experienced the incarceration as Japanese-Americans during World War II.
what some people would call mass incarceration in the United States-- the greatest possible extent that it influenced the crime decline was maybe 10% to 15%.
population and the other is percentage of crime of sentences that are imprisonment because in one case for this metric, you have an effect of prior incarceration , but people who were incarcerated in, I don't know, 1940s or something, they could get out of prison, but since people are not put in prison anymore, I think it's two different metrics.
That's one reason why the incarceration rates are going up.
Because they're also going through an incarceration period too, also.
Can you tell us a little bit about the activities at Northern California ACLU, taking on that regard? being part of that system of incarceration .
This is the corresponding map for incarceration .
So when you look at just how that law is and what is in place and what it does to our communities, so that we can end the incarceration of women and girls.
that sort of Outreach um to the folks that you've seen in your courtroom yeah that's a good question well in terms of this whole issue of um mass incarceration there are so many possible reasons for it that our prison population has exploded Ed um and uh mandatory minimum so I I have some cases
We have a challenge around mass incarceration , which you absolutely cannot separate from the larger question of how are we doing on diversity in this country.
about criminal justice reform and the mass incarceration problem that we have in this country.
in the public dialogue on incarceration , criminal records, reintegration, and reform.
When you look at wrongful incarcerations , especially Dallas, I mean, we had like 60 something people that's been exonerated,
Multiple arrests, violence during incarceration , and all these other things.
Specifically around Art For Justice and ending mass incarceration .
that it has created a whole wave of incarceration and downstream consequences, that I actually think that still haven't fully
This is the federal and state prison population and incarceration rate-- you can ignore the incarceration rate if you'd like for the time being--
So if I click over here now to look at incarceration rates, you see a really striking statistic, which is that 43% of the black men who grew up
So as you can see, all the Nordic countries use prison in quite a low rate. And they use a lot of alternatives to incarceration . They actually have a really nice system.
Can you tell us a little bit about the activities at Northern California ACLU, taking on that regard? And Michelle makes the argument that the system of mass incarceration became the next manifestation of the previous system of racial segregation
Can you tell us a little bit about the activities at Northern California ACLU, taking on that regard? Call that office and ask them to pursue policies that reduce incarceration , that promote alternatives to incarceration .
Can you tell us a little bit about the activities at Northern California ACLU, taking on that regard? live in a country that is the world's leader in incarceration .
It is not marginal. To end the human suffering caused by mass incarceration , we have to make love the focus. I am honored to present these love letters from children to their incarcerated fathers.
Also, huge incarceration rates eventually lead to more crime.
It's very important that when people come out of incarceration that they have employment and housing immediately.