‘Ban the Box’ Campaign Moves Ahead, Pushed by Formerly Incarcerated People

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At age 18, Marilynn Winn went to prison in Georgia for theft. When she was released a year later, her first action was to look for a job. She soon learned she could only get hired if she lied on job applications. Today, a nationwide movement called “Ban the Box” seeks to address this problem. It’s an effort to get government and private employers to revamp job applications to remove the question "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?"

Former Youth Inmate Overcomes the Impossible to Run for California State Assembly

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When he was a teenager growing up on the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles, Prophet Walker hardly seemed destined for success.

His mother was a heroin addict, and his neighborhood was filled with racial strife between blacks and Hispanics. But this is a story of hope and redemption, not despair, one that links the disparate worlds of Los Angeles’ ghetto neighborhoods with the glamour of Hollywood. It is the story of how Walker, with the help of movie producer Scott Budnick (“The Hangover”) and his own fierce determination, overcame his difficult circumstances and transformed his life into a success story.

The Ghosts of the Past

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JJIE recently spoke with former residents of the Florida State Reform School in Marianna, now grown men, who weeped as they told of their horrifying experiences of beatings and abuse. The school was the site of an untold number of abuses of the young residents by staff throughout its more than 100 years of operation, before it was finally closed in 2011.