Angola: The entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary - The placard says "Louisiana State Penitentiary" and "Warden Burl Cain"

‘The World Has Turned a Blind Eye on What’s Happening to Prisoners’

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I've seen far too many times how crisis and death unite people, but that unity and common thread that binds all people together is often very short lived, even in a place like Angola. Ranking officials, like Major Bellamy, says "Its us against them," during roll call. Of course other security, who perhaps take offense to that statement, always share their anger, frustration, and anxiety. But when the Coronavirus hit Angola, especially here in Ash dormitory, things began to change very quickly. The usual communication between security and the offender population changed instantly.

Durham: 2 tall young men and a short middle-aged women stand together in front of a brick building.

North Carolina’s Raise the Age Law Highlights How Schools Handle Discipline

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“We don’t know how many students are casualties of a racist system, in which they are punished for being in their bodies, for being brown and black kids, and we’ve got to do something,” said Fatimah Salleh, mother of two former students at Durham School of the Arts (DSA) in Durham, N.C. “If we are not really aggressive about it, then it will be the way America has always deemed it to be.”

juvenile justice staff: a young woman in a prison cell

Staff, Youth at Enormous Risk of COVID-19 in Correctional Facilities

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(This column is dedicated to the memory of Paul DeMuro, who passed earlier this week from a non-COVID-19 related illness. Paul was a longtime leader and mentor to so many in the work to reduce incarceration and improve the lives of young people and families in the justice system.)

On April 1, Kenneth Moore, a youth development representative at Washington, D.C.’s juvenile justice agency died of COVID-19. Kenneth was the first correctional officer in the nation to succumb to the virus. Today, many more staff and youth inside correctional facilities are sick and dying. I had the privilege of helping lead the District’s juvenile justice agency, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), between 2005 and 2010.

homeless: Person in jean jacket climbing stairs; tray of filled brown bags on landing

New York Homeless Youth Feel Lonely, Stuck, Isolated

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First he lost his job as a shift manager at McDonald’s. Then the movie theater, the bowling alley, all the places he spent time in began to close.

clemency: Vector illustration of a man in jail

New York Case Underscores Coronavirus Urgency Around Clemency

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As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases inside New York prisons continues to rise, the Legal Aid Society of New York recently announced 20 emergency clemency applications for inmates with medical conditions that put them at high risk for complications from the virus.

planning: Young man as a logistics apprentice in training

How to Plan Now to Keep Juvenile Justice Ahead of the Curve

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Over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve heard a lot about curves. Graphs show terrifying projections of how infection rates will spike and strain our health care system if we don’t take dramatic steps to slow the virus’ spread.

California: Young woman picking up garbage in bag at beach

Plunging Youth Crime Is Opportunity For California

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The massive, 82% plummet in youth arrests over the last quarter-century has devastated California’s youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).