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According to The Wall Street Journal, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the launch of a college education program for people in 10 prison facilities in New York state. Offering both associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, the program will seek to reduce recidivism rates and the overall size of the prison population. The state’s current recidivism rate is 40% — compared to an existing New York college education program, the Bard Prison Initiative, which has a recidivism rate of 4%.

According to the New York Times, Attorney General Eric Holder has called for the repeal of laws restricting voting rights for millions of people with felony convictions. His remarks came at a speech on Tuesday at Georgetown University in which he “described today’s prohibitions — which in some cases bar those convicted from voting for life — as a vestige of the racist policies of the South after the Civil War, when states used the criminal justice system to keep blacks from fully participating in society.” African-Americans are disproportionately affected by conviction-related voting restrictions and represent over a third of the estimated 5.8 million people who are prohibited from voting.

The Obama administration announced Thursday a new clemency effort that encourages defense lawyers to refer to the Department of Justice people who have been convicted of low-level, nonviolent drug offenses for early release from federal prisons. Speaking before the New York State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole unveiled the […]

Dear Friends:

The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions is a human justice policy, advocacy and training center founded, directed and staffed by academics and activists who were formerly incarcerated. It is the first and only one of its kind in the United States.

One of our first initiatives is to respond to the negative public perception about our population as expressed in the language and concepts used to describe us. When we are not called mad dogs, animals, predators, offenders and other derogatory terms, we are referred to as inmates, convicts, prisoners and felons. All terms devoid of humanness which identify us as “things” rather than as people. These terms are accepted as the “official” language of the media, law enforcement, prison industrial complex and public policy agencies. However, they are no longer acceptable for us and we are asking people to stop using them.

In an effort to assist our transition from prison to our communities as responsible citizens and to create a more positive human image of ourselves, we are asking everyone to stop using these negative terms and to simply refer to us as PEOPLE. People currently or formerly incarcerated, PEOPLE on parole, PEOPLE recently released from prison, PEOPLE in prison, PEOPLE with criminal convictions, but PEOPLE. […]

In Solidarity and Love,

Eddie Ellis
President

The National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction (NICCC) is a comprehensive database that identifies legal sanctions and restrictions imposed upon individuals because of their criminal record. The NICCC was created as a provision of the 2007 Court Security Improvement Act and is being developed in collaboration by the National Institute of Justice and the American Bar Association. It is set to be completed by April of 2014.