Gary Green headshot wearing dark-framed glasses, nvy suit jacket with whit shirt and coarl tie

Meet Gary Green Our New Executive Director

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This summer Kennesaw State University hired Gary Green as executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism, publisher of JJIE.org. Green joined the CSJ from the University of Florida where he served since 2014 as digital director of the Innovation News Center and deputy news director for WUFT News, the NPR and PBS affiliates for north-central Florida. During his tenure at UF, he managed award-winning coverage — breaking news, daily and enterprise stories, investigative and long-form projects — across TV (PBS), radio (NPR), web and social media platforms. He co-founded Fresh Take Florida, UF’s state government news service, and led collaborations between the First Amendment Foundation, the National Freedom of Information Coalition and statewide news organizations. His leadership extended beyond UF, across the state as the university’s designate for the Florida Climate Reporting Network and as board trustee for six years at the First Amendment Foundation; most recently he served as vice chair of the board. “As we enter the latter half of what has been an extraordinary year with challenges many of us could never have imagined, the Center for Sustainable Journalism remains as dedicated as ever to lifting the voice of our country’s most vulnerable youth and reporting on the systemic injustices that plague their lives and prevent them from realizing their dreams,” Green said, “and while doing so, providing Kennesaw State University students experiential learning opportunities for professional development through the CSJ.”

“I am privileged that KSU offered me this opportunity to serve our students, our local community and national audiences to fulfill the mission of the university and CSJ.

South Carolina: Men standing seen from the back wearing orange uniforms with scdc inmate on back.

South Carolina Inmates, Families Charge They’re Not Being Protected From COVID

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Mark Trammell hadn't been a free man since he was a teenager, but this year he hoped that was about to change. 

Set for parole in February, Trammell was ready to go home to see his family. After more than 40 years for voluntary manslaughter and kidnapping in South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) facilities, he wanted his last moments to be outside prison walls. His stage 4 liver cancer, the result of untreated hepatitis, would make him particularly vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19. Not only would he be denied parole, but by June 6 he would die in a Columbia, South Carolina hospital from COVID-19. Though initially his death was erroneously reported to his family as related to his cancer, Trammell would be one of the first reported COVID-19 deaths at an SCDC facility.

Auburn: Parking lot for building with 2 small turrets framing entrance

Auburn Prison COVID-fighting Policies Inconsistent, Deficient, Inmates Say

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Editor's note: Several of the seven people now incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility who were interviewed requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation. Several family members requested anonymity as well. AUBURN, N.Y. — In late May came the news from Albany: The first day of family visits —  suspended due to COVID-19 — would be pushed to August. Cliff Graham, an inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility, an all-men’s maximum security prison, saw the memo, typed a message on his tablet and waited in his cell for his 15 daily minutes of Wi-Fi. 

For two months he had been confined to a cell for at least 22 hours a day. There were no more Alcoholics Anonymous courses.

sex offender: Youth sitting on floor with head on knees

State Juvenile Sex Offense Laws Are Wide-ranging, Harmful, Report Says

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Youth in Minnesota who commit sexual offenses can be held on a registry for, at a minimum, 10 years. In nearby North Dakota, the minimum is 15 years. In South Dakota it’s five years. 

What qualifies a young person for a sex offense registry varies in those states too, according to a report released today. In Minnesota “all sexual offenses” mean mandatory registration. In North Dakota it’s mandatory for felony sexual offenses and discretionary for juvenile misdeameanor sex offenses.

Alabama activists say defunding police rooted in legacy of southern organizing article video image

Alabama Activists Say Defunding Police Rooted In Legacy Of Southern Organizing

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Black freedom fighters in Alabama once changed this country.

Speaking onstage in Kelly Ingram Park on Juneteenth, Celestine Hood, a woman who witnessed radical change during the Civil Rights Movement, said Alabamians had the power to do it again.

Hood was a child in this park in May 1963, one of the young students participating in a demonstration for racial equality when Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor ordered attack dogs and firehoses on protesters. Images of children enduring that brutality enraged the world, sparking international support for the movement.

In May of this year, a video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in custody for allegedly spending counterfeit money, shocked the world again. Protests erupted in big cities and rural towns, demanding an end to police and vigilante killings of Black people.

“We had dogs and firehoses,” Hood said. “You’ve got tear gas. You’ve got rubber bullets. It’s the same fight.”

The crowd of a few hundred — Black, brown and white, young and old —nodded, raised their fists.

police: smiling man with red shirt, khaki pants leans on SUV labelled Jacksonville Police

Alabama Police Chief Discusses Whether Policing Can Be Safer For Officers, Communities

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JACKSONVILLE, Alabama — When Marcus Wood was a kid, he said, the neighborhood police hosted barbecues for his community, handing out sticker badges, teaching him and his friends to fish. “I grew up in what you would call the projects,” Wood said. “Those cops influenced my life in a very positive way.”

Today Wood, 34, is the first Black police chief in Jacksonville, a small university town. A native of Weaver, Alabama, he previously worked as an Army police officer, a National Guardsman, a corrections officer, a fugitive investigator and a trainer for the state’s police academy at his alma mater, Jacksonville State University. 

This year, as Black Lives Matter protests assembled in cities around the world in the wake of Minnesota police killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, protesters gathered for days in Jacksonville to discuss police brutality and racism in the justice system. At the time, in June, Wood told a local TV news station: “We appreciate [protesters] being a force for us, because we don’t want bad cops in law enforcement.” The comment came with the announcement of a citywide curfew.

Macon: Grass growing around empty parking lot around closed large building.

Georgia Town Can’t Save Money By Reducing Gun Violence Due to Budget Woes

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MACON, Georgia — Carl Fambro says Macon’s West Macon neighborhood has been left behind. Anchor businesses at its shopping centers — like Home Depot and the Burlington Coat Factory — have moved down the road. The few gyms and youth recreation centers that are still open have irregular hours. Several churches have left. 

In 2009, Fambro moved his business, Francar’s Wings, from a spot on Log Cabin Drive to Mercer Village, a retail and restaurant district. The restaurant stopped delivering to the old neighborhood when one of its drivers was threatened during a delivery run. 

“I gotta watch out for my folks,” he said.

Auburn: Women wearing masks, carrying bags wait on line outside building

As New York Prisons Open to Visitors Again, Mixed Emotions Run High

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AUBURN, New York — On the day she would see her father for the first time in nearly five months as he bounced among three maximum-security prisons, Julianna Bundschuh, 5, hung on the metal fence of Auburn Correctional Facility as if it were at a playground. Near her stood Kristina Abell, who arrived first at 7 a.m. Wednesday with eight boxes of food for her son. Behind Abell was a woman named Courtney who didn’t want to give her last name. She came to see her fiance and was wondering how long these visits would last. None had seen their loved ones since mid-March, when state-run prisons across New York suspended visitation due to coronavirus.

Schenectady: Man in black with megaphone wearing mask talks to small group wearing masks, holding up phones. One woman is wearing superhero-style cape.

Schenectady Groups With Similar Agendas for Police Reform, Different Strategies Struggle for Change

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SCHENECTADY, New York — After an arrest that thrust the Schenectady Police Department into the national spotlight due to another knee-to-head chokehold on a person of color, the front steps of City Hall became the backdrop for the two different responses that would follow. Schenectady NAACP President Odo Butler called for outrage to turn into policy shifts on July 11, standing next to Police Chief Eric Clifford. He was echoing a familiar sentiment in the small city of 65,000, separated from Manhattan by nearly three hours of suburban highway along the Hudson River. Clifford had already approved five preliminary police reforms days before. 

Two days later, dozens of protesters from the activist group All of Us marched up those steps and blocked all entrances to City Hall. The group had its own 13 demands, garnered through community input.

New York Advocacy Group Unveils Plan to Increase Voting Among Family of Incarcerated

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NEW YORK — The Alliance of Families for Justice revealed a yearlong project on Wednesday, aimed at educating those who are incarcerated or have incarcerated family members on the importance of voting. Over the last year, the organization partnered with The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)’s Making Policy Public project to create a large foldout poster. 

“When you receive our poster, you'll see that we focus on all aspects of the elimination of felony disenfranchisement so that someone's engagement with the criminal justice system should have no bearing on whether or not they get to exercise the franchise,” said Alliance Executive Director Soffiya Elijah. 

The Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ), which works to end human rights violations inside prisons and jails and build communities and families who are affected, worked with graphic designers Tahnee Pantig and her teammate to create the poster. 

The poster’s design is intentionally different from the way anti-mass incarceration and social justice work are usually shown, Pantig said. “Like a lot of the images that we see, representing these communities are often shown from a light that can be very dark, very oppressive, and also one-sided, and we thought it was really important to demonstrate the resiliency, the agency, the activeness of these communities, that is already there,” she said. The designers also wanted the communities to see themselves in the illustrations. 

Elijah said the organization made 20,000 posters and hopes to share them across the state. 

AFJ has a multilayered plan to challenge felony disenfranchisement, she said, beginning with getting family members impacted by disenfranchisement registered to vote. Parolees in New York state, through an executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, can now register and vote.