I\u2019m super breaking my supposed rule that I won\u2019t link to the Marshall Project here because you should be following them on Twitter. You should be following them on Twitter<\/a>! And you can donate to their work here<\/a>. Anyway, check out their \u201cNext Year in Criminal Justice<\/strong>\u201c:<\/p>\n The challenge at the end of any year on any beat is to make sense of the great majority of stories that fall somewhere in the middle. What\u2019s going to \u201ctrend\u201d in 2016 in criminal justice, and what\u2019s not, and how can anyone possibly tell? Here are my best guesses organized into two categories. Themes and topics I think you\u2019ll be hearing a great deal about in 2016. And stories you\u2019ve heard a lot about this past year that might for one reason or another recede from the headlines. Y\u2019all can remind me next December about how right or wrong I was.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n more<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMiami\u2019s Notorious Jail Fights Back Against Rape\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u2026As is often the case, success in prevention uncovers more contagion. Since establishing reforms, the number of reports about sexual abuse and harassment at the jails more than doubled, from 18 reported incidents in 2010 to 41 in 2013. In 2014, the total<\/a> was 26. With changes like the ones in Miami, such spikes are not unusual, said Marcia Morgan, the executive director of Migima<\/a>, a corrections consulting firm hired by Just Detention International to evaluate the Miami jail project from 2010 to 2013. \u201cI think the bigger piece is the cultural change,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cThere was a lot of fear in the beginning that inmates will just report all the staff, so why should we educate these inmates anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n more<\/a>\u2013notable to me for the role of self-image here. Rape jokes were hilarious until it turned out that this guy\u2019s specific actual jail was notoriously unsafe, and then suddenly they were embarrassing. That change of heart is\u2026 encouraging, from a certain angle. Also \u201c\u2026Miami\u2019s system, the country\u2019s eighth largest, became one of the first large urban jails to comply with federal prison standards for protecting inmates from sexual assault. It was a \u2018monumental achievement,\u2019 a federal monitor wrote in 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWatch Alvin Ailey Dancers Rehearse a Piece About Being Locked Up\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The holiday season can trigger certain, sometimes painful childhood memories for choreographer Kyle Abraham \u2014 it was the time of year when his mother would receive a phone call from her brother in prison. \u201cOnce the phone calls ended, the sadness set in,\u201d he says. \u201cOn both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n That palpable feeling of separation helped inspire his latest work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, \u201cUntitled America: First Movement\u201d (watch an exclusive clip from a rehearsal, below). The piece is the first of a three-part modern dance series that will explore the impact of prison on families.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n more<\/a>\u2013always pleased when two of this blog\u2019s interests collide.<\/p>\n \u201cWe Owe It to Freddie Gray: Inmate \u2018Wild Rides\u2019 Must End\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The prisoner transport vehicle has been called \u201ca casket on wheels<\/a>\u201d by Baltimore city prosecutor Janice Bledsoe and she couldn\u2019t be more correct. At least 25 of my almost 100 rides as an inmate at York Correctional Institution convinced me that I was about to die. It is too bad it took the death of Freddie Gray for the prosecutors to finally acknowledge the risk prisoners in transport vehicles face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n more<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Unlikely Rise of Restorative Justice in a Conservative Upstate New York County\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n When officials in rural Genesee County, New York, decided 35 years ago it was time to replace their old jail, they wanted to build something not just better but bigger. Doug Call, an assistant county attorney, thought that was a mistake. Though he lacked a law enforcement background, Call had seen enough of traditional punitive criminal justice\u2014as an Air Force JAG officer and during the nearby Attica prison uprising nine years earlier\u2014to put his faith in sentencing alternatives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n His arguments went nowhere with county leaders, so Call took matters into his own hands. He announced a campaign for sheriff on a no-new-jail platform against the law-and-order incumbent. The lifelong Republican was no revolutionary. But he was pushing ideas that wouldn\u2019t go down easily in a deeply conservative working-class region dotted with dairy farms, small towns, and a disproportionate share of New York\u2019s state prisons. Even so, Call won the election. \u2026<\/p>\n The story of Genesee Justice explains why restorative justice has had such a hard time catching on\u2014and sheds light on whether it ever will.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n more<\/a>\u2013a solid story, equal parts inspiring and sad. (Touches on some of the issues I yapped about here<\/a>.) But in the emphasis on strict supervision, monitoring, and mandatory treatment you should hear the scrape of tools that will be used against the intentions of their designers. I guess that\u2019s as good a note to end the year on as any.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m super breaking my supposed rule that I won\u2019t link to the Marshall Project here because you should be following them on Twitter. You should be following them on Twitter! And you can donate to their work here. Anyway, check out their \u201cNext Year in Criminal Justice\u201c: The challenge at the end of any year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[106,107,533,51],"class_list":["post-10195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-no-more-cotton-pickin-prisons","tag-prayers-to-st-joseph-cafasso","tag-restorative-justice","tag-so-far-from-god-so-close-to-the-united-states"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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