CURRENT CAMPAIGNS

original.png

#EndTheException

Ending the exception IN THE 13th AMENDMENT THAT ALLOWS SLAVERY AS PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which purported to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude, included an exception for criminal punishment. As a result, slavery is still legal and normalized in our prisons and jails.

Incarcerated people work for private corporations, state-owned corporations, and correctional agencies, making an average of $0.86 a day. In seven states, incarcerated people earn nothing for the majority of jobs. Those who refuse to work can be beaten, denied visits and calls, put in solitary confinement, and denied parole.

We must pass the Abolition Amendment to end the exception. No slavery, no exceptions!

 
P.%2BCortez%2B3B%2B-%2BArt.jpg

Connecting Families

FIGHTING TO MAKE communication free for Families with incarcerated loved ones

Families struggle to stay connected with their incarcerated loved ones due to the high cost of prison and jail communication. In fact, one in three families dealing with incarceration goes into debt trying to stay in touch, and 87% of those carrying the burden of the costs are women, largely women of color. The bottom line is that prison phone justice isn’t just a criminal justice issue, it’s also an economic justice, racial justice, and gender justice issue.

Connect Families is a network of prison phone justice campaigns across the country striving to make prison and jail phone calls free. Since 2018, the Connecting

WINS

  • August 2023: Massachusetts passes budget to make all prison and jail communication free.

  • May 2023: Minnesota passes bill to make prison phone calls free.

  • May 2023: Colorado passes bill to make prison phone calls free.

  • September 2022: California passes bill to make prison phone calls free.

  • June 2021: Connecticut passes bill to make all prison communication free.

  • May 2021: Los Angeles passes ordinance to make jail phone calls free.

  • March 2021: San Diego passes ordinance to make jail phone calls free.

  • April 2020: Federal CARES Act makes phone calls in federal prisons free.

  • June 2019: San Francisco includes free jail communication in the city budget.

  • July 2018: New York City passes bill to make jail phone calls free.

 

We Deserve Better

DEMANDING public institutions stop investing with private equity prison profiteerS

In recent years, private equity firms and their investors — pension funds, foundations, university endowments, and other institutional investors — have substantially increased their investments in the prison industry with catastrophic impacts. Private equity firms have bought up many of the nation’s largest prison service providers and significantly limiting competition in correctional telecom, healthcare, and commissary markets, among others. While private equity firms enjoy operating in relative secrecy, many of their investors must answer to the public. Our We Deserve Better campaign ensures they do.

WINS

 
Empire_State_Building_Observatory_manhattan_nyc_Julienne_Schaer_055_3f39d2d1-61fd-4d1b-b931-8590bf4c63a7.jpg

Zero Profits

PROTECTING NYC residents FROM exploitation due to CONTACT WITH THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM

For years, New York City, like many other cities, has generated revenue off of the people incarcerated in its local jails and the communities that support them.

Zero Profits is a coalition of New York City-based organizations challenging criminal legal policies that facilitate wealth extraction from our community. Currently, we are working on legislation that would end the unnecessary universal recording of jail calls that underpins the prison telecom industries rationale for costly rates.

WINS

  • April 2019: New York City passes bill to eliminate credit card fees for bail.

  • July 2018: New York City becomes first jurisdiction in the country to make phone calls out of a correctional institution free.

 

Death for Profit

ENDING CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW EXECUTION PROTOCOLs

Over the past decade, the growing inaccessibility of lethal injection drugs and public outrage over brutally botched executions have moved some states to suspend or end the death penalty, but others have begun exploring new execution protocols instead. Alabama contracted corporations to help the state develop a nitrogen gas protocol to execute people on death row. Working with local faith leaders, national partners, investors, and business associations, we are fighting to terminate these murderous contracts. Sadly, Alabama conducted the first-ever execution by nitrogen gas in January 2024. We are continuing our work against the corporations involved to ensure that the use of nitrogen gas does not expand.

WINS

PAST CAMPAIGNS

Coins-iStock.jpg

Defeating Fees

DEFENDING New yorkers AGAINST COSTLY ONLINE prison MONEY TRANSFER FEES

In July 2018, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYS DOCCS) announced a new online money transfer service provided by JPay, a private vendor, which charged exorbitant fees. Working with a coalition of directly impacted advocates and allied organizations, we fought to to eliminate money transfer fees.

WINS

  • August 2018: NYS DOCCS renegotiated its contract with JPay, lowered money transfer fees between 2% and 41%, and made the form for free money transfers available online.

 
pile-of-brown-boxes.jpg

Packaging Love

PROTECTING NEW YORKERS FROM COMMERCIAL PRISON PACKAGE VENDORS

In December 2017, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYS DOCCS) amended the rules governing prison packages to prohibit families, friends, and organizations from sending packages directly to incarcerated loved ones. The new policy was piloted at Greene, Green Haven, and Taconic Correctional Facilities. We organized with directly impacted communities and other criminal justice advocates to put an end to this exploitive and cruel program.

WINS

  • January 2018: Governor Andrew Cuomo terminated the Secure Vendor Pilot Program.