News of Interest

Selected news stories of interest to the Freedom Reads community.

The Farm-to-Prison Pipeline
VICE News December 30, 2023

A glimpse into Mountain View Correctional Facility in Maine where incarcerated people grow their own food, and the right to a healthy meal.

First Class of Incarcerated Students Earn Degrees From Northwestern University
Prison Journalism Project by Anthony Ehlers December 21, 2023

Ta-Nehisi Coates delivered the commencement address for the first class of incarcerated students to receive bachelor's degrees from Northwestern University via the Northwestern Prison Education Program.

I’d Never Owned a Computer. After 17 Years in Prison, I Finally Have One of My Own
Slate by Kunlyna Tauch December 13, 2023

A currently incarcerated student at California State University writes about the transformative effect of receiving a laptop for the first time.

About half of Michigan's "juvenile lifers" now free from prison
Michigan Radio by Lindsey Smith December 7, 2023

In accordance with the 2012 US Supreme Court ruling, nearly half of the folks previously sentenced to life without parole as juveniles in Michigan have been re-sentenced, providing a vital renewal of hope for the future.

Justice Department Making Historic Investment in Prison and Jail Reform
Brennan Center for Justice by Lauren-Brooke Eisen & Ram Subramanian December 6, 2023

The Justice Department will award $10 million to projects that aim to "transform prison cultures, climates, and spaces" in an attempt to ameliorate the conditions within carceral facilities that have led to poor outcomes for both incarcerated people and correctional staff.

How Philadelphia Disrupted the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Yes Magazine by Amanda Nemoyer & Naomi Goldstein December 5, 2023

Since its inception in 2014, the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program has resulted in a 91% reduction in school based arrests in Philadelphia; the successful program is soon to be replicated across Pennsylvania.

Women coming home from prison get little help rebuilding
WGBH by Sarah Betancourt December 5, 2023

A glimpse into the challenges faced by Boston women, particularly those with children, returning from incarceration, and the nonprofit programs attempting to help them.

Education needs to be part of prison reform
Boston Herald by Ed Gaskin November 29, 2023

Ed Gaskin, Executive Director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets in Boston, makes a case for treating formerly incarcerated individuals not as "perpetrators who should be paying back a debt to society" but rather as "victims" of an systemically unjust incarceration system.

The Beacon Prison Books Project Provides Free Books to Those Behind Bars
The River Hudson Valley Newsroom by Ryan Keegan November 29, 2023

Mark Trecka (Binnacle Books) and Laurie Dick (Beacon Prison Rides Project) collaborated to create a volunteer project connecting book requests from incarcerated people in New York to readers outside who are willing to purchase copies.

3 Classics Novels That Have Made Prison Life More Bearable
Witness LA by Eulis Campbell November 27, 2023

Eulis Campbell, a currently incarcerated reader and writer, reflects on 3 books—Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, and Albert Camus' The Plague-–that changed his life during his 18 years in prison.

After 20 years in and out of prison, a degree gave him a second chance. Now he's helping others do the same
The Boston Globe by Alexa Gogosz November 27, 2023

An interview with James Monteiro, founder of the Reentry Campus Program, a program helping incarcerated people finish their higher education and certification programs.

'Escape to another world': Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on reading in prison
The Guardian by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe November 27, 2023

Naszanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe gives the keynote speech at the Booker Prize 2023 Award ceremony in London.