Save the Date for the 5th Annual Beyond the Bars Conference

March 6th & 7th, 2015
Columbia University
Featuring Michelle Alexander

The first weekend of March 2015, the Criminal Justice Caucus, the Center for Justice at Columbia University and the Beyond the Bars Fellows will host the fifth annual Beyond the Bars Conference.  Over the past four years, the conference has grown immensely, bringing together more and more people from different spaces and places to come together to think critically about how to end the injustices of our criminal justice system, and reimagine what a more just response to harm, accountability and safety could look like.  We continue to be humbled and amazed by the work of all our friends and colleagues and are grateful for your willingness to remain in community as we work towards practicing justice together. 

This year’s Beyond the Bars conference will focus on the idea of transformation.  Due to the work of so many of you, people across the country are increasingly aware of the racial, economic and social injustices that have come from what we now call mass incarceration, and what some are beginning to refer to as mass criminalization.  Individuals, communities, organizations, institutions, political bodies and more, are working on changing criminal justice policies across the carceral continuum from policing, to the courts, to the jails and prisons, and to the barriers and conditions for people returning from incarceration.   

The questions this conference will pose are: How do we work towards lasting transformative change? How do we develop a framework for changing the way our country seeks  justice that does not perpetuate the roots of the problems that have led us here? How do we create change that addresses the systemic marginalization vis-a-vis racism, classism, patriarchy and the countless other isms, while also addressing the need for individual accountability and the safety of our communities and our society? What is a transformative agenda for changing the way we seek justice?

The Justice Forum:

– Paradigms for Justice: Beyond Punishment

– Race and Justice- Past, Present and Future

To see the video CLICK HERE 

About The Justice Forum

Issues of mass incarceration and justice are complex and cut across many systems, structures, cultures and communities. As such, the efforts and dialogues around changing the current criminal justice system must also cross disciplines, structures, cultures and communities.  The Justice Forum provides a space for leading thinkers in justice work from a variety of disciplines and experiences to collectively examine some of the most critical justice issues today. The Forum seeks to create a space for cross pollination of ideas and perspectives and contribute towards the efforts to rethink our current policies and practices in criminal justice.

Dr. Fania Davis will return to Columbia University Dec 3rd to speak at The Justice Forum as well meet with educators from across New York City to discuss the impact and implementation of restorative justice in schools. Dr. Davis is a long-time social justice activist, a restorative justice scholar and professor, and a civil rights attorney with a Ph.D. in indigenous knowledge. She is the Founding Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) and has taught Restorative Justice at San Francisco ‘s New College Law School and Indigenous Peacemaking at Eastern Mennonite University‘s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

She will be speaking at The Justice Forum – Paradigms for Justice: Beyond Punishment with several other leading thinkers including Danielle Sered, Dr. James Gilligan, John Valverde and Dr. Michelle Fine to critically examine the utility of punishment in our society and discuss alternative approaches to justice, accountability and safety.

We recently had the chance to sit down with Dr. Nabila El-Bassel,  who is a Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, the Director of the Social Intervention Group (SIG), the Director of the Columbia University Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA).  Dr. El-Bassel, along with Dr. Lisa Metsch (Mailman School of Public Health), will serve as a Lead Investigator on an interdisciplinary training program supporting HIV and substance abuse prevention in the criminal justice system.  An announcement of the program can be seen here.  

What motivated you to focus on pursuing funding for this T32 training program for pre- and post-docs?

One major goal of my role as a faculty, researcher, and director of two research centers at the Columbia University School of Social Work has been to invest in the next generation of students, researchers, and faculty. I have made this role a major focus of my career at Columbia and have been involved in the training and mentoring of junior faculty, pre- and post-docs for over twenty years.

The T32 training program is an amplification and extension of what I have been doing at CUSSW for two decades. I strongly believe that the investment in the next generation of faculty, pre- and post-docs will make a strong impact on education and research and improve and increase the faculty and researcher pipeline. The T32 training grant is funded by NIH/NIDA for 5 years to enhance and guide, through mentoring, the careers of pre- and post-doctoral fellows who are interested in conducting bio-socio-behavioral HIV and drug abuse prevention, treatment, and care research in the criminal justice system.

The program includes training on health disparities and policies affecting mass incarceration, a critical problem in many states. The training program places a distinct emphasis on improving the lives and health of individuals in alternatives-to-incarceration programs and under community supervision, including those in diversion programs, probation, community and drug courts. What I am especially excited about is that this training program:  1) focuses on criminal justice issues, 2) addresses major health issues affecting people in the criminal justice system (drugs, HIV, and other health consequences of drug use), 3) involves a multidisciplinary collaboration between the School of Social Work and School of Public Health, specifically Professor Lisa Metsch who is also a principal investigator on the program with me and Dr. Elwin Wu, 4) promotes collaboration with a large number of faculty within and outside Columbia University who serve as trainers and mentors, and 5) emphasizes a concrete collaboration with a number of community organizations focusing on criminal justice issues.

Why did you choose to focus on criminal justice and in particular community supervision programs and on drug use, and HIV?

Currently, 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., and the number of adults under correction supervision has recently peaked at over 7.2 million– a three-fold increase since 1980. Over the past decade, the criminal justice system has been recognized as an epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the U.S. Approximately 25% of all HIV-infected Americans pass through the U.S. correctional system annually, with New York State prisons and jails bearing the highest HIV prevalence rates in the nation.  Recent research suggests that the majority of HIV infections among incarcerated individuals are acquired in their home communities; low levels of transmission have been identified in prisons. The elevated rates of HIV/STIs found among individuals under community supervision have been attributed to their high prevalence of injection and non-injection drug use, as well as other unsafe practices such as exchanging sex for money or drugs, risky sexual partner networks, and high partner turnover.  Unfortunately, there remains a significant lack of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for drug-involved individuals in general, but particularly for those under community supervision. Also, HIV services and treatment are not sufficiently delivered in the correctional system, especially in community supervision programs. The curriculum, training and research conducted by faculty will provide outstanding training opportunities for the next generation of fellows to conduct research in the criminal justice system.

How do you define the multidisciplinary nature of this training program and whether this program fits with Columbia University’s mission?

This training program is a collaboration between Columbia University’s School of Social Work and the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The multidisciplinary collaboration builds upon research and education underway at both schools and brings together 32 faculty members who will participate across campuses and mentor the fellows. Our collaboration will have an impact on criminal justice curricula not only at the Schools of Public Health and Social Work, but university-wide, and will attract new faculty and students to our schools.

Trainees require skills to develop and implement innovative intervention prevention strategies and treatment modalities to fight these overlapping problems. Many federal, state, and local agencies, as well as universities and their schools of Criminal Justice, Public Health, Social Work, Nursing, and Public Policy have increasingly recognized the great need to rethink approaches to punishment, public safety, and alternatives to incarceration. Government and academic institutions will be looking to hire intervention scientists who can develop, implement and evaluate new and innovative approaches to address these issues

The training program is well positioned at Columbia, given its geographic location in New York City, which ranks extremely high amongst cities that have the greatest rates of incarceration and community supervision of racial/ethnic minority groups, as well as the highest rates of HIV and drug abuse. Moreover, Columbia University has recently identified enhancing its criminal justice curriculum, research, and training as one of the university’s top priorities and has created and funded a university-wide criminal justice initiative that is led by Professor Geraldine Downey,  xxxx and other faculty.

How is this program connected to the Center for Justice at Columbia University?

I see the training program is an integral part of the new Center for Justice . Drs. Metsch,Dr. Wu and I all plan to integrate this training program with the Center’s work. I am committed to the Center for Justice and I have been involved in it since its inception and serve as the co-chair of the executive committee.

When we worked on the T32 application, we worked closely with the Center and the faculty who are affiliated with it. The community-based criminal justice organizations that are affiliated with the Center also play a significant role in the preparation of the training program. Our T32 fellows will be also will be engaged in the Center’s activities. It is a marvelous opportunity for the fellows to be part of such a rich university-wide, multidisciplinary center and to participate in the initial phases of the development of the Center. They will greatly benefit greatly from it.

For more information on this T32 training program please visit cjhdt32.columbia.edu or email [email protected]

The Center for Justice at Columbia University is humbled and excited to present the inaugural cohort of the Beyond the Bars Fellows.  The Beyond the Bars Fellowship provides students and community members with an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of mass incarceration and social change and to collaborate in planning the annual Beyond the Bars Conference. This interdisciplinary leadership program brings together a diverse group of Fellows from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to develop their leadership skills in justice work.  

Our current Fellows come from many schools across Columbia (Social Work, Public Health, Teachers College, Law, Barnard and Union Theological), other colleges (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, SUNY Purchase) and a variety of different community and government organizations (Fortune Society, Education Inside Out Coalition, Department of Corrections, MADE Transitional Services, Brooklyn Defender Services, National Lawyers Guild and the Bronx County Reentry Task Force).  We are honored to be working with such a powerful group of people and look forward to seeing the work of the Fellowship grow.  

For more information about the Fellows: Beyond the Bar Fellowship Bio’s

Join the Center for Justice at Columbia University and our colleagues and friends from across New York City for a performance of Bryonn Bain’s Lyrics from Lockdown.  The show will be followed by a post performance discussion about arts and activism in the era of mass incarceration.

To purchase tickets please visit http://www.millertheatre.com/events/lyrics-from-lockdown

About Lyrics from Lockdown

This unbelievably true story begins when Brooklyn’s own hip hop theater innovator andspoken word champion, Bryonn Bain (60 Minutes, The Village Voice, BET’s My Two Cents), is wrongly imprisoned in NYC jails — while studying law at Harvard. Weaving together the voices of over 40 characters into a one-man tour de force, Lyrics From Lockdown, executive produced by Gina and Harry Belafonte, is receiving extraordinary reviews around the world. A groundbreaking multimedia production, this critically acclaimed show uses a live band and video DJ, fusing hip hop, theater, spoken word poetry, rhythm and blues, calypso and classical music, to tell a provocative story exposing racial profiling and wrongful incarceration in a nation imprisoning more people than any other in the world.

Call for Proposals – Justice Curriculum Development Grant

With support from The Heyman Center for the Humanities, The Center for Justice at Columbia University invites proposals for the development of new curricular offerings on issues of justice and mass incarceration.

The Center for Justice aims to develop courses that can be offered within current disciplinary structures, as part of existing majors and concentrations, but that bring significant interdisciplinary content into these offerings.

There is consistent and growing student interest in issues of incarceration and justice in relation to a diversity of fields including sociology, history, comparative literature and society, ethnic and race studies, public health, education, arts, political science, psychology, women and gender studies, social work, law, African-American studies and more. This call is for courses that provide a basis for interdisciplinary dialogue and discussion with a view to developing a greater understanding of the current justice system and generating new ideas and solutions.  Courses are encouraged to be interdisciplinary and may be team-taught.

The Justice Curriculum Development Grant competition is open to tenured or tenured-track professors and Core Lecturers in any discipline.  Successful applicants will receive a $3000 research allowance to be used for the development of the course.  If the course is team-taught, the instructors will split the award.  Tenured faculty must use the entire award to support research for the course, including hiring a graduate student to provide research and/or teaching assistance; $500 of this award may be used to reimburse tenured faculty for the purchase of books and other research materials.  Awardees must commit to teaching the course within two years of the start of the grant.

Eligibility

Tenured or tenure-track faculty and Core Lecturers at Columbia University; exceptions may be made for team-taught courses, where one instructor only is tenured/tenure-track.

Submission

Please submit your proposed course (application information below) and a full CV to Cameron Rasmussen, Center for Justice Program Manager ([email protected]) by or before October 31^st, 2014. A committee comprising members of the Centers Executive Committee  will evaluate all submissions. Awards will be announced by December 1^st, 2014.

Award

Successful applicants will receive a $3000 research allowance to be used for development of the proposed course and the teaching of the course within two years of receiving the grant.

Terms of the Award

Awardees will be required to make a presentation about their courses at a workshop hosted by the Center and the Heyman Center for the Humanities.  In addition, courses will be featured on the Center for Justice website, acknowledging the support of The Heyman Center.

HOW TO APPLY 

Please submit an application no more than three pages with the following information:

Name
Email
Phone #
Academic Position
Department
Subfield(s)
Proposed Course Title
Semester to be offered (e.g. Spring 2015)

1)    One paragraph course description suitable for the course bulletin, include any prerequisites.

2)    Rationale for proposed course in terms of its role in the development of the study of justice and incarceration.

3)    Instructors past and current courses taught at Columbia

4)    One page course description the includes the following:

–       Main topics and the sequence in which they will be covered

–       Course objectives, specifying specifics students will gain

–       Examples of assigned readings and other course materials

–       Description of assignments on which student assessment will be based

If you have any questions please contact Cameron Rasmussen at [email protected]

We are very excited to launch our newest program, the Beyond the Bars Justice Leadership Fellowship program.  We are now accepting applications for both Columbia and Community Fellows.

About the Fellowship 

The Beyond the Bars Fellowship offers students and community members the opportunity develop a deeper understanding of mass incarceration and social change and to collaborate in planning the annual Beyond the Bars Conference. This interdisciplinary leadership program brings together a diverse group of Fellows from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to develop their leadership skills in justice work. Fellows will gain a foundational understanding of the causes and consequences of mass incarceration, an understanding of a variety of methods of social change and become part of a community of people working together for change. In addition, Fellows will work together with the Center for Justice and the Criminal Justice Caucus to organize the annual Beyond the Bars Conference on mass incarceration.  The Fellowship is made up of both Student and Community Fellows bringing together the University and the Community to learn and work collaboratively towards change. 

What You Will Gain

• Leadership Development:Participate in regular seminars, 1-2 per month, and develop both your understanding of justice issues and your capacity to enact change.
• Organizing Experience:Work collaboratively to organize the annual Beyond the Bars Conference
• A Community of Mentors and Colleagues: The Fellowship is an experiential learning community that will support you as you develop your understanding and skills in justice work.

Commitment

The Fellowship requires that all Fellows participate in the monthly leadership programming, attend the spring retreat, and attend and actively participate in conferencing organizing meetings and activities. Credit may be available for Columbia Fellows depending on their school/departments ability to work with the Center for Justice in receiving credit.

Eligibility Criteria

Fellows

Columbia Fellows

• Current Columbia student enrolled at least half time in an undergraduate or graduate program
• Demonstrated interest and commitment to justice
• Commitment to fulfill all requirements of the fellowship
• Applicants who have been impacted by the criminal justice system are encouraged to apply

Community Fellows

• Community member not enrolled at Columbia University
• Demonstrated interest and commitment to justice
• Commitment to fulfill all requirements of the fellowship
• Students from other colleges and universities may apply
• Applicants who have been impacted by the criminal justice system are encouraged to apply

Selection Process

Applications for the Fellowship will be reviewed by a selection committee including Center for Justice faculty and staff.

Application Period and Timeline

The priority application deadline is September 8^th.  Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through 9pm September 20^th. Interviews with finalists will be held the weeks of September 15^th and September 22^nd and selected Fellows will be notified by September 29^th.  The Fellowship will begin October 7^th.

Application Materials

• A 1-2 page cover letter including; why you are interested in becoming a Beyond the Bars Fellow, what you hope to gain from the Fellowship, and an assessment of your strengths and challenges.
• A resume

Tentative Calendar

*  Most seminars and conference planning meetings will be in the evening from 6:30 – 8:30.

Fall

August 21^st: Application Period Opens

September 8^th: Priority Application Deadline

September 22^nd: Application Period Closes

September 29^th: Accepted Applicants are notified

October 7^th: Fellowship Begins

October 7^th: Introduction to Fellowship / What is Justice?

October 14^th: Conference Planning Session 1

October 21^st: Seminar #1 – Understanding Mass Incarceration – Causes and Consequences

October 28^th: Conference Planning Session 2

November 11^th: Seminar #2 – Understanding Power, Privilege and Oppression in Justice Work

November 18^th: Conference Planning Session 3

December 2^nd: Seminar # 3 – Methods of Change

Spring

January 24^th: Daylong Fellowship Retreat – Organizing for Change / Conference Planning

January 27^th: Conference Planning Session 4 – all conference planning meetings for the spring will be arranged according to need

February 10^th: Seminar #4 – What Does Leadership in Justice Work Look Like?

February 24^th: Seminar #5 – Exploring Justice Paradigms: Beyond Retributive Justice

March 6^th and 7^th: Beyond the Bars Conference

March 24^th: Seminar #6 – Closing and Reflections

Questions

If you have any questions about the Fellowship or the application, please email Cameron Rasmussen at [email protected].

Recently our own Cheryl Wilkins sat down with Marlon Peterson of the Fortune Society and Vilma Donavon of the Fortune Society to talk about their experiences in the criminal justice system on Fortune Society’s on going series “Both Sides of the Bars.”