We join the many voices of sadness about the passing of Eddie Ellis who inspired so many including ourselves with commitment, inspiration and generosity of spirit. He believed in the role of formerly incarcerated people in educating others and NuLeadership has always been an inspiration in our work; he gave his time to young people, always being willing to help others become leaders;  He was firm, he was gentle, he saw the big picture and reframed it often, always growing, taking us with him; he saw the individual and always had time. We heard his voice while in prison and out of prison- On the Count- and we will hear his voice as we move forward, keeping his legacy of commitment alive.

Statement from the Center for Nuleadership on Urban Solutions
http://centerfornuleadership.org/2014/07/statement-from-the-center-for-nuleadership-on-urban-solutions/

Funeral Service Information
http://centerfornuleadership.org/2014/07/funeral-service-information-for-eddie-ellis/

Sincerely,
Cheryl Wilkins & Kathy Boudin
Center for Justice, Columbia University

On June 3rd and 4th, the Mass Incarceration and Public Health Initiative at Mailman School of Public Health, with support from the Tow Foundation, hosted “Opportunities for Action: A Public Health Approach to Incarceration” a conference focusing putting a public health lens on incarceration.

Videos of the Keynote Address from Bryan Stevenson and the many panel discussions throughout the day conference are available streaming online.  Click here to watch the videos.   

For a full agenda of the conference click here.

The Justice Initiative, the Criminal Justice Caucus and the Criminal Justice Initiative: Supporting Children, Families and Communities are incredibly grateful to everyone who attended, contributed and helped to organize this years conference.  This was the biggest Beyond the Bars conference yet with more then 900 people joining us on Friday evening and over 450 people attending a variety of panels and workshops on Saturday.  Every year this conference continues to grow and the conference would not be what it is without everyone’s contributions.  We want to say a HUGE thank you to all who make Beyond the Bars the amazing conference that it is.

Friday night began with an incredible performance by the youth at Impact Repertory Theater followed by brief welcoming comments from New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and New York State Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell. The great Bryonn Bain and Co. blessed the stage with their performance of excerpts from his powerful show, Lyrics from Lockdown.  This was followed by powerful and engaging talks from Angela Davis, Fania Davis and Beth Richie. A big thanks to our wonderful host, Soffiyah Elijah, for weaving the night together! So much was said and we look forward to sharing the video footage of the evening with you as soon as its ready.

Saturday we were joined by close to 80 different speakers throughout the day, beginning with two panels in the morning addressing how we might transform systems; the education system and the criminal justice system, bringing together panelists from a variety of fields and backgrounds.  The afternoon followed with two blocks of workshops covering a wide range of issues, some of which included solitary confinement, immigration, policing under Bratton, the roles of faith-based communities, higher education and the criminal justice system, aging people in prison, reproductive rights in prison, children and families affected by incarceration, and comparing other countries prison systems.  The day left us deep in thought about all of the work that needs to be done, and with a sense of hope that there are so many people interested and engaged in working on issues of mass incarceration.  Video footage from the two panels on Saturday morning will also be available and we will share as soon as its ready.

Video footage of the Friday night Kick Off Event and Saturday morning panels are below 

Friday Night Kick Off Event (Full Video) 

[youtube width=”550″ height=”344″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFNBT-WywZ8[/youtube]

Friday Night Kick Off Event – Angela Davis Keynote

[youtube width=”550″ height=”344″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oejh2DrK6g[/youtube]

Friday Night Kick Off Event – Fania Davis Keynote

[youtube width=”550″ height=”344″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHfdkeL59cc[/youtube]

Friday Night Kick Off Event –  Beth Richie Keynote

[youtube width=”550″ height=”344″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4UODm-yhLQ[/youtube]

From Dean Linda Fried’s Op-Ed in the Huffington Post
6/2/2014

Putting a Public Health Lens on Incarceration

The United States is facing an epidemic of incarceration — people in jail or prisons — demanding national attention and a systemic response. Ernest Drucker, my colleague and a professor of epidemiology as well as family and community medicine, classifies incarceration as an epidemic because it is a situation with widespread and rapid onset over 35 years, it affects a disproportionately large number of people within a population, and its spread and adverse effects are felt even by those who are not incarcerated. Like other epidemics, incarceration is contagious and has the potential to benefit from preventive approaches. An example of that contagion is, as Drucker has demonstrated, that exposure to prior cases increases transmission risk. In particular, the children of incarcerated people have lower life expectancy and are six to seven times more likely to be imprisoned themselves.

A public health concern warrants a public health response. We need to address the conditions for its spread, prevent its adverse impacts on children and families, and identify more effective ways to stop our “school to prison pipeline” by creating the conditions for positive trajectories for every member of the most vulnerable communities.

For the full article Putting a Public Health Lens on Incarceration

A Public Health Approach to Incarceration: Opportunities for Action Conference will be livestreamed on June 3rd and 4th. Leaders from public health schools across the country, practitioners, researchers, community leaders, and outspoken national figures will convene in New York for a high-level forum that seeks to apply a public health lens on incarceration. The two-day meeting, “A Public Health Approach to Incarceration: Opportunities for Action,” will focus public policy and research on persistent societal, economic, and human rights problems that result from incarceration and the toll it continues to take on population health, as well as opportunities to prevent incarceration risk.

The conference will be livestreamed at the link below
(excluding breakout groups)

A Public Health Approach to Incarceration Livestream

You can learn more about the conference and nationwide initiatives to address mass incarceration through public health.  

Schedule of Events 

Equal Justice Initiative’s Executive Director and renowned lawyer and justice advocate, Bryan Stevenson, will deliver the keynote address at Mailman’s upcoming conference on mass incarceration and public health, A Public Health Approach to Incarceration: Opportunities for Action.  The keynote address, entitled Injustice and Mass Incarceration: A Threat to Public Health will open the two day conference on June 3rd. While the conference is invite only, the keynote address will be open to the public.  For more information and directions to RSVP go to:

http://ji.columbia.edu/event/injustice-mass-incarceration-threat-public-health/  

We were fortunate to film all of the Reducing Incarceration: Endless Punishment, Long-Term Sentences, and Aging in Prison — or Release and Reentry Symposium.   The video footage of all four panels is below starting with the first panel.  A full program of the symposium is available here Reducing Incarceration Program. 

Panel 1: Living Conditions for the Aging and Elderly Inside Prisons  

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg4jN9JXVQ0[/youtube]

Panel 2: Barriers to Release 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-HkmEYOSvk[/youtube]

Panel 3: Successful Reentry of Returning Citizens 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiwmWgba528[/youtube]

Panel 4: Potential Strategies, Moving Forward 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobk_4kiN7U[/youtube]

The Reducing Incarceration: Endless Punishment, Long-Term Sentences, and Aging in Prison — or Release and Reentry Symposium was coordinated by the Justice Initiative’s Policy Working Group in collaboration with the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign, the Correctional Association of New York, the Osborne Association, the Be the Evidence Project and the Florence V. Burden Foundation.

The Justice Initiative’s Policy Working Group is led by the Initiatives Policy Director Samuel Roberts, PhD (Associate Professor of History & Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University) and its members for this symposium included Mujahid Farid, Liz Gaynes, Soffiyah Elijah, Tina Maschi, Laura Whitehorn, Skye Ross, Ariane Davisson, Victor Pate, Calisher Perry, Cameron Rasmussen and Samuel Streed.

All of us at The Justice Initiative are extremely thankful to everyone who helped to organize the symposium, to all of our esteemed panelists and moderators, to all of the attendees who joined us throughout the day and all of those contributing towards this work.

The symposium was really quite spectacular bringing together in conversation people from different disciplines, experiences and affiliations including those directly affected by incarceration and aging, community organizations and advocates, government officials and employees, clergy and academics.  The day started with a warm welcome from JI Policy Director Samuel Roberts and an overview of the issue from the Correctional Association’s Executive Director Soffiyah Elijah.  The first panel opened with a recorded narrative from Ms. Rose LaBorde who has been visiting her son in upstate prisons for the last 30 years.

The first panel addressed the conditions inside prisons for those aging in prison followed by the second panel looking at the barriers and challenges to release.  The third panel discussed the challenges and needs for aging returning citizens and the day concluded with a engaging panel discussing possible strategies and solutions.  A copy of the program can be viewed and or downloaded here: ReducingIncarceration_ProgramFINAL 

We look forward to sharing the video footage of the entire event (coming soon!) and we will be publishing a white paper later this summer.  For more information about how to get involved or learn more about these issues check out our co-organizers.

Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign
The Correctional Association of New York
The Osborne Association
Be The Evidence Project
The Florence V. Burden Foundation

Photos from the Day

Reducing Incarceration: Endless Punishment, Long-Term Sentences, and Aging in Prison – Release and Reentry

The symposium will be livestreamed the day of the event for those are not able to attend in person. Please click the link for livestreaming:

Reducing Incarceration Livestream 

This symposium, titled “Reducing Incarceration: Endless Punishment, Long-Term Sentences, and Aging in Prison — or Release and Reentry,” is an event planned by the Justice Initiative at Columbia University, with the co-sponsorship of the Correctional Association of New York, the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign (RAPP), the Osborne Association, the Be the Evidence Project of Fordham University and the Florence V. Burden Foundation.

The symposium will be held on Friday 28 March, 2014, 10am-5:15pm at the Mailman School of Public Health Mailman Auditorium (722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032). It is part of a larger campaign calling public and official attention to the problem of long-term sentences, the need for reform in parole policies and practices, the aging prison and re-entering population, and the individual and societal costs of the current punitive system.

Schedule of Events

Welcome – Samuel Roberts, Columbia University, Justice Initiative
10:15 – 10:20

Opening Remarks – Soffiyah Elijah, The Correctional Association
10:20 – 10:30

Panel 1, Living Conditions for Aging and Elderly Individuals Inside Prisons
10:30 – 11:45
Brian Fischer, Formerly of the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
Karen Murtagh, Prisoner Legal Services
Will Bunting, American Civil Liberties Union
Larry White, Hope Lives for Lifers Project
Mrs. Rose LaBorde
Moderated by Elizabeth Gaynes, The Osborne Association

Panel 2, Barriers to Release
12:00 – 1:15
Mujahid Farid, Release Aging People in Prison / RAPP Campaign
Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch
Ed Hammock, NYS Parole Board
Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project
Moderated by Kathy Boudin, Criminal Justice Initiative: Supporting Children, Families, and Communities

Panel 3, Successful Reentry of Returning Citizens
2:30 – 3:45
Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, NYC Department of Health and Human Services
Gloria Rubero
Sandra Pullman, Office of the New York State Attorney General, Civil Rights Bureau
Elizabeth Gaynes, The Osborne Association
Tina Maschi, Fordham University, Be the Evidence Project
Moderated by Annette Dickerson, Formerly of the Center for Constitutional Rights

Panel 4, Potential Strategies Moving Forward
4:00 – 5:15
Danylle Rudin, Florence V. Burden Foundation
Reverend N.J. L’Heureux, Jr., Queens Federation of Churches
Soffiyah Elijah, The Correctional Association of New York
Lynn Cortella, NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
Clinton Lacey, Department of Probation
Moderated by Tina Maschi, Fordham University, Be the Evidence Project

Where: Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health (the Mailman Auditorium of the Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 West 168th Str.)
When: Friday 28 March, 10am-5pm

The Justice Initiative, the Criminal Justice Caucus and the Criminal Justice Initiative: Supporting Children, Families and Communities are incredibly grateful to everyone who attended, contributed and helped to organize this years conference.  This was the biggest Beyond the Bars conference yet with more then 900 people joining us on Friday evening and over 450 people attending a variety of panels and workshops on Saturday.  Every year this conference continues to grow and the conference would not be what it is without everyone’s contributions.  We want to say a HUGE thank you to all who make Beyond the Bars the amazing conference that it is.

Friday night began with an incredible performance by the youth at Impact Repertory Theater followed by brief welcoming comments from New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and New York State Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell. The great Bryonn Bain and Co. blessed the stage with their performance of excerpts from his powerful show, Lyrics from Lockdown.  This was followed by powerful and engaging talks from Angela Davis, Fania Davis and Beth Richie. A big thanks to our wonderful host, Soffiyah Elijah, for weaving the night together! So much was said and we look forward to sharing the video footage of the evening with you as soon as its ready.

Saturday we were joined by close to 80 different speakers throughout the day, beginning with two panels in the morning addressing how we might transform systems; the education system and the criminal justice system, bringing together panelists from a variety of fields and backgrounds.  The afternoon followed with two blocks of workshops covering a wide range of issues, some of which included solitary confinement, immigration, policing under Bratton, the roles of faith-based communities, higher education and the criminal justice system, aging people in prison, reproductive rights in prison, children and families affected by incarceration, and comparing other countries prison systems.  The day left us deep in thought about all of the work that needs to be done, and with a sense of hope that there are so many people interested and engaged in working on issues of mass incarceration.  Video footage from the two panels on Saturday morning will also be available and we will share as soon as its ready.

To see and or download the program from saturday click here 2014program-foronline-FINAL-revised

We look forward to the continued progress of all of those doing this work and to continuing the dialogue and engagement on these issues.

Photos from Friday and Saturday