NEWS ARCHIVE 2019 and 2018
Ventura Training Center Provides Parolees Path in Firefighting
Spectrum News 1, By Tanya McRae Camarillo,Dec. 26, 2019
U.S. Supreme Court leaves in place ruling barring prosecution of homeless
Reuters, by Dec. 16, 2019, Andrew ChungThe Hidden Cost of Incarceration
Why people are freezing in America’s prisons
Rural justice systems low on pretrial resources leave some to languish, die
The hidden scandal of US criminal justice?
Rural incarceration has boomed
While big cities are finally putting fewer people in jail, small towns and rural counties are locking up more people than ever
How College In Prison Turns Around Lives And Saves Taxpayers Money
Algorithms were supposed to make Virginia judges fairer. What happened was far more complicated
Since you asked: Is it me, or is the government releasing less data about the criminal justice system?
Patrisse Cullors, LA Reform Jails Tackle Mental Health, Mass Incarceration with Mental Health Matters Summit + Day Party
The Root, Jay Connor, 11/15/19Los Angeles County Works to Transform Criminal Justice Through Collaboration
For My Incarcerated Clients, There Is No Winning
The Marshall Project, Oct. 17, 2019
Nearing His Legislative Deadline, Governor Newsom Signs 2 Dozen Crucial Criminal And Juvenile Justice Bills
Two Prosecutors Were Shaped by 1980s Los Angeles. Now They Have Opposing Views on Criminal Justice.
California Lawmakers Approve Ban of For-Profit Prisons and ICE Jails
Also read about it in The Guardian and
Opinion: NYC Should Learn from LA Before Building New Jails
LA County May Soon Create A Civil Justice Defense Program To Address The Collateral Consequences Of Incarceration
Seattle Has Figured Out How to End the War on Drugs While other cities are jailing drug users, Seattle has found another way.
We asked 3 prisoners about the movement to give them voting rights
VOX,L.A. County Will Explore Possibility of Separating Youth from Probation
Gov. Newsom grants pardon to Susan Burton, who assists women returning to society after prison
Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Leads Campaign To Shut Down 'Death Trap' Jails In Los Angeles
We must stop sentencing people of color to death in Los Angeles County
The Daily News,
Priscilla Ocen, July 22, 2019
Across the country, people of goodwill increasingly recognize that death penalty is a racist, immoral system that is broken beyond repair. Yet, it appears that Los Angeles County has yet to get the message.
Governor Newsom Announces Regional Leaders & Statewide Experts who will Advise on Solutions to Combat Homelessness
Services for the Homeless in South LAKPCC’s Take Two with A Martinez
California inmates can legally possess marijuana after Prop. 64, court saysBSCC Board Awards $96m In Prop 47 Grants
America’s Growing Gender Jail Gap
In California, Agreement On New Rules For When Police Can Use Deadly ForceGov. Newsom’s Revised Budget Features Significant New Reform-Minded Criminal Justice Spending
OVERCORRECTIONL.A. County can safely release and treat thousands of mentally ill inmates. So do it
How close is L.A. to building 10,000 houses for homeless people? Here’s a breakdown
The First Amendment Shouldn't Shield Deputy Cliques, Tattoos From Scrutiny
Prosecutors move to clear 54,000 marijuana convictions in California
LA Times, By ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
APR 01, 2019
Necessary?
Prosecutors move to clear 54,000 marijuana convictions in California
LA Times, By ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
APR 01, 2019
California at a Crossroads: Ending Youth Trauma by Closing Violent DJJ Institutions
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, March 20, 2019
Maureen Washburn
In January, in one of his first acts as Governor, Gavin Newsom pledged to “end youth imprisonment in California as we know it” and called for a radical reorganization of the state’s troubled youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
What Our Community Can Learn From Portugal’s Experience Decriminalizing Drugs
California bill to ease pathway for former inmates to become firefighters
After Incarceration, Former Prisoners Face a Tough Journey Home to Find Work, Reunite with Family and Begin Again
The next step for justice reform: Ending the ban on federal Pell Grants for eligible students behind bars
The Hill, 03/20/19
Rap Sheets Haunt Former Inmates. California May Change That.
Is It a Jail? Is It a Hospital? Vote of County Supervisors Exposes Chronic Confusion and Corruption
Justice not Jails, Feb. 17, 2019
By Peter Laarman
Changing the name from “Consolidated Care Treatment Facility” to “Mental Health Treatment Center” actually accomplishes very little and raises more questions than it answers. Read more
In landmark move, L.A. County will replace Men’s Central Jail with mental health hospital for inmates
By MAYA LAU
LATimes, FEB 13, 2019
Los Angeles County supervisors narrowly approved a plan Tuesday to tear down the dungeon-like Men’s Central Jail downtown and build at least one mental health treatment facility in its place.
Plan to create an L.A. County womens' jail in Lancaster faces serious opposition
LA TIMES By MAYA LAU JAN 08, 2019
A controversial women’s jail project that has been in development for years is now facing serious opposition from key stakeholders who are demanding more therapeutic alternatives for women in Los Angeles County’s criminal justice system. Read the article
L.A. County needs to seriously rethink the Mira Loma women's jail
By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
JAN 02, 2019
The criminal justice system was built for men — men’s bodies, men’s psyches, men’s problems. But the fastest-growing contingent of jail and prison inmates is women. They are housed in institutions not built with them in mind and are guarded by officers untrained to meet their needs and challenges. Read the editorial
Congress and President Trump Consider Bi-Partisan Criminal Justice Reform Legislation, The First Step Act,
Here's what it does: (From the Marshall Project)
Measure H Helped 10,000 Homeless People Into Permanent Housing, Officials Say
By NBC Channel 4, City News Service
A half-cent sales tax passed by Los Angeles County voters nearly two years ago to fund homeless programs has been a significant success...
Read More
Immigrants facing deportation, drug offenders and a former state lawmaker receive pardons from Gov. Jerry Brown
LA Times
by John Myers and Jazmine Ulloa, Nov 21, 2018
MacArthur Foundation awards millions to cut jail populations
AP
By Claudia Lauer, October 24, 201
CALIFORNIA WILL OFFER PAROLE FOR 4,000 'THREE-STRIKE' PRISONERS FACING LIFE SENTENCES
Pacific Standard
Emily Moon, October 19, 2018
The latest ruling comes as a success for advocates of criminal justice reform.
‘Keep California Safe’ initiative fails to make the November 2018 ballot
By SAL RODRIGUEZ |OPINION | Orange County Register
July 2, 2018
The much-hyped Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018 has failed to make the November 2018 ballot.
Prop. 47 Lessened Racial Disparities in Drug Arrests
Ballot Measure to Counteract the ‘War on Drugs’ Cut Arrests Across California
By Laura Kurtzman on June 21, 2018
Now, a study out of UC San Francisco has quantified the effects of the ballot measure, which was at the leading edge of a national movement to reduce incarceration rates and change the criminal justice approach to substance use disorders.
Fixing some of California's tough-on-crime mistakes of the past
San Diego Union Tribune
May 25, 2018
Who overpacked California’s prisons? It was first-term Gov. Jerry Brown, when he signed into law the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act in 1976. And it was the Legislature’s Democratic majority, who’d sent Brown the act in the first place and then tried to outflank tough-on-crime Republicans by adding one sentence-lengthening provision (or “enhancement”) after another. Read more
California Lawmakers Want to Make it Easier for Returned Citizens to get job Licenses
California prison inmates are offered training in automotive repair, cosmetology, construction and other fields as part of their rehabilitation. Then, when they get out, state licensing boards often bar them from those professions because of their convictions.
Two Important editorials by the LA Times last month:
Marijuana is now legal in California. Continuing to punish prior offenders is cruel and unnecessary
Marijuana is now legal under California law, but hundreds of thousands of Californians have criminal records for possessing or selling the drug
Read the full editorial
Don’t let this Probation Department overhaul proposal sit on the shelf
By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
FEB 13, 2018
Read the full editorial
California's top court strikes down 50-year sentences for juveniles
By MAURA DOLAN
FEB 26, 2018
The California Supreme Court decided Monday that juveniles may not be sentenced to 50 years or longer in prison for kidnapping, rape and sodomy.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state high court said a 50-year sentence for minors was "functionally equivalent" to life without parole. (read more)
Slavery is alive and kickin'
Pacific Standard Magazine
LEE V. GAINES, NOV 27, 2017
Across the country, minor pot infractions disproportionately affect people of color. Newly enacted legislation in the Golden State is working to ease those penalties.
LA Times Editorial
NOV 20, 2017
One of the broken promises of the criminal justice system is that a person who completes felony time in prison or jail will leave with a clean slate and a chance to start over. It doesn't work that way. Liberty once lost is rarely fully restored...
Photographer Brian L. Frank captures the lives of men on the fire lines and at home in prison conservation camps.
In response, the state's fire agency, CALFIRE, has mobilized more than 11,000 firefighters.
Of those, 1,500 were inmates from minimum security conservation camps run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where they are trained to work on fire suppression and other emergencies like floods and earthquakes.
Mike Males
Published: October 30, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO – October 30, 2017 – A new research report released today from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice examines local trends in California’s property crime from 2010 through 2016, a period marked by major justice system reform, including Public Safety Realignment, Prop 47, and Prop 57 (read more)
By Bruce Western and Vincent Schiraldi | July 20, 2017
The Crime Report
In our nation’s expanding discussion about eliminating mass incarceration, advocates, researchers and the media are missing a major contributor to incarcerated populations and a partial deprivation of liberty in its own right.
Mass supervision through probation and parole. (read more)
Prop. 47 got thousands out of prison. Now, $103 million in savings will go towards keeping them out
June 9, 2017, SACRAMENTO, CA – Yesterday, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) announced $103 million dollars in grant awards for community diversion and treatment programs across California. Demonstrating the largest reallocation of prison budget funds to community-based programs, this is a historic opportunity for California to lead the way in ensuring effective treatment, diversion and reentry services for individuals most impacted by our criminal justice system.
The Morality of Government Spending: Who Decides What Gets Funded?
BY BRIAN BIERY
Budgets are moral documents. As a society, we demonstrate our values by what we spend our money on. So when governments draft budgets they show what is important to bureaucrats and politicians, but what if their perspectives are not aligned with the public? And how do we insert what we value into the process?
People with Records Deserve a Fair Chance to Secure Employment
Survivors of Violent Crime Raise Their Voices in California to call for a new Approach to Criminal Justice
By JAZMINE ULLOA
APR 17, 2018
As the state has rolled back sentencing laws through legislation and voter initiatives, a growing victims' rights movement is pushing for alternatives to incarceration, with greater investment in rehabilitation services and a reevaluation of what it takes to make communities safe.
Read more
Officials mishandled coronavirus outbreaks at Lompoc and Terminal Island prisons, lawsuits claim
LA Times, May 17, 2020
By Alex Wigglesworthstaff
The American Civil Liberties Union on Saturday filed a pair of class-action lawsuits on behalf of federal prisoners at Lompoc and Terminal Island, claiming officials mishandled coronavirus outbreaks at the facilities that have infected a combined total of 1,775 inmates, killing 10.
Read more
‘We are terrified’: Coronavirus outbreak reported at Chino women’s prison
May 17, 2020 Gabriel Valley Tribune
By Jonah Valdez
The women sat anxiously inside their prison cells at the California Institution for Women in Chino as a guard roamed about their cell block, yelling out an ominous announcement.
A knock on a cell door, the guard said, meant that they tested positive for the coronavirus. They would be told to gather their things and prepare to be isolated for an indefinite amount of days.
Screams filled the air. Women began to hurl questions at the guards.
Los Angeles needs a new approach to justice: George Gascón
Los Angeles Daily News, May 16, 2020
By George Gascon
Let Our People Go
A letter from inside Marion Correctional Institution is the voice of those locked in cages and discarded during this pandemic.
NYTimes, May 13, 2020
By Michelle Alexander, Contributing Opinion Writer
California’s Jail Population Has Plummeted during COVID-19
PPIC, May 8, 2020
Joseph Hayes, Heather Harris
When the COVID-19 crisis began, state and county governments recognized that overcrowded jail conditions could pose unacceptable health risks for inmates and staff. As the crisis has unfolded, all counties have taken steps to decrease their jail populations. Some have made steeper reductions than others, and some of the measures that have facilitated these reductions—reducing pretrial detention and setting bail at zero for many crimes—may have longer-term significance as California considers whether to eliminate money bail.
3 more inmates die at Chino prison as coronavirus infections continue to spread
LA Times, May 8, 2020
By Richard Winton, staff writer
As an outbreak of the coronavirus continues to rage inside the California Institution for Men in Chino, three more inmates at the prison have died, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Friday.
Authorities nationwide are reporting an uptick in fatal opioid overdoses during social distancing.
The Daily Beast, May. 03
Kate Briquelet,Senior Reporter
Authorities nationwide are reporting an uptick in fatal opioid overdoses during social distancing.
People freed from prison during coronavirus may face big risks on the outside
The Conversation, April 27, 2020
by Daina StanleyI strongly support humane measures to reduce the risks to incarcerated individuals, correctional and medical workers and communities. But historical injustices, systemic inequalities and harsh criminal justice ideologies and practices often create barriers to safe community re-entry, particularly for the most vulnerable individuals in prisons.
My research highlights complexities that must be confronted before individuals can be safely released to the community. I have seen far too many individuals released from custody — often despite the best efforts of correctional caseworkers — to precarious circumstances.
The Coronavirus Is Hitting Our Nation's Prisons and Jails Hard.
And It's Exposing a Crisis That Existed Long Before the Outbreak
Time Magazine, April 22, 2020
By Joyce White Vance
The news from the nation’s prisons and jails is increasingly grim. On Sunday, there were reports that 1,828 people incarcerated at Marion County Correctional Facility in Ohio, 73% of its total population, have tested positive for COVID-19. One staff member has died and another 109 have tested positive. Similar reports are coming in from federal and state facilities across the country. But this crisis in our criminal justice system isn’t due to the coronavirus. Rather, the pandemic is exposing a pre-existing crisis in our prisons that we are long overdue to fix.
Read more
New Data: Second Chance Pell Continues to Open Doors for More Students
The Vera Institute's Think Justice Blog, April 21, 2020
By Margaret diZerega and Ruth-Delaney
Amid Pandemic, State Releases Thousands of Prisoners — But Will They Have Support at Home?
KQED By Marisa Lagos
April 13, 2020
By the end of today, the state will have released 3,500 nonviolent offenders early from state prison, and local jails have already let thousands more low-level inmates go — but advocates for prisoners are worried that those coming home amid a global pandemic won’t have the tools to succeed and stay healthy.
Let’s make sure that coronavirus doesn’t make hiring inequality even worse
Cal Matters, By Jessica Quintana
April 11, 2020
California Makes Major Bail Change To Slow The Spread Of Coronavirus In Jails
Preventing Community Spread of COVID-19 in Sites like Jails and Emergency Shelter
Why Jails Are So Important in the Fight Against Coronavirus
Coronavirus Pandemic: Santa Rita Jail Inmate Tests Positive; 77 New Cases In Alameda County
L.A. County presented with ambitious plan to change its justice system to system of care
CalMatters, by Kelly Lytle
Arizona Dept. of Corrections whistleblower discusses health risks of working in prison during pandemic
California’s State Juvenile Justice Agency Freezes New Detention Commitments
March 25, 2020, by Jeremy Loudenback, Senior EditorWhy Hasn’t the Number of People in U.S. Jails Dropped?
Historic County-Community Partnership Takes The Vote Behind Bars In LA County
Witness LA, by Taylor WalkerHow Jackie Lacey’s and George Gascón’s time in office shapes the L.A. County D.A.'s race
Florida loses appeals court ruling on felon voting law
Debating Measure R:
Mass Incarceration, Then and Now
What Would a World Without Prisons Be Like?
5 arrested in $3.2 million Southern California sober living home fraud scheme
Sacramento Kings and Incarcerated Individuals Come Together For First NBA 'Play For Justice' Event at Folsom State Prison
2019 was the year L.A. County finally said ‘no’ to new jails
LA Times, By The Times Editorial Board
Dec. 26, 2019
California Is Letting Thousands of Prisoners Out Early. Its Housing Crisis Is Keeping Them From Starting Over.
Where Prisons Are A Last Resort
Appeals Court Upholds California’s Revamped Felony-Murder Accomplice Law
Los Angeles unveils first ever bridge housing project for trans women
Voter Registration Outreach - Getting Inside California Jails
Criminal justice reform targets court fines, fees
Parolees Help Battle Saddleridge Fire as Part of New Reentry Program in Ventura County
October 14, 2019,How Far Will California Take Criminal-Justice Reform?
Read the Story
The 1619 Project
A Visit with My (incarcerated) Mother
I Host a Popular Podcast. I’m Also in Prison.
September 26,2019, Rahsaan Thomas
Contra Costa to consider waiving certain court fees
September 13, 2019, By Annie Sciacca
The moratorium would include probation report fees, public defenders’ fees and fees for alternative custody programs such as electronic monitoring and work alternatives to jail. Fees would be waived for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
Los Angeles County Votes To Stop Construction Of New Jail-Like Facility, Adding Momentum To National Abolition Movement
The Intercept
Read moreCalifornia Governor Promises More Changes to “Biased, Random” Justice System
Restoring Pell Grants To Prisoners Benefits Us All
Detroit Free Press
August 16, 2019, Greg Handel and Margaret diZerega
Prison Systems Can Respect The Religious Rights Of Muslims.
Ex-Cons Find Second Chances Easier to Get in Tight Labor MarketReentry and Opportunity Center Improves Outcomes for Probation Clients
Why Los Angeles Could Be the Setting for the ‘Most Important D.A. Race’ in the U.S.
In Los Angeles, only people of color are sentenced to death
LA County Supes Expand Innovative Program Proven To Break The Wash, Rinse, Repeat Pattern Of Mental Illness, Incarceration, And Homelessness
Counties rarely collect fees imposed on those formerly jailed. So why keep charging them?
How Private Equity Is Turning Public Prisons Into Big Profits
An Ex-Prisoner of America’s Drug War Speaks Out: It’s Not Over Yet21 more studies showing racial disparities in the criminal justice system
The Washington Post, April 9
By Radley Balko, Opinion writer
First major drug distribution company, former executives, criminally charged in opioid crisis
California Death Penalty Suspended; 737 Inmates Get Stay of Execution
NYTimes, By Tim Arango
March 12, 2019
Gavin Newsom’s death penalty moratorium could turn the abolitionist tide in California
By THE LA TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
MAR 13, 2019
The Case for Expunging Criminal Records
Fed Up With Probation’s Ongoing Failure To Spend Juvenile Justice $ Millions On Proven Programs For LA County’s Kids, The Supes Make A Radical Move
Teaching in America’s prisons has taught me to believe in second chances
More mothers are ending up behind bars. Meeting the needs of their children is becoming a bigger priority
The next step for justice reform: Ending the ban on federal Pell Grants for eligible students behind bars
The Hill, 03/20/19
Police accountability in Los Angeles is heading backwards
1.5 million felons can now vote in Florida because of these men
California must double-down on prison rehabilitation
CALMatters Guest Commentary | Feb. 24, 2019 | By Adnan Khan
The State Auditor recently issued an audit of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s in-prison rehabilitation programs with a conclusion that these programs did not reduce recidivism rates. Read more
Anti-recidivism efforts falling short, audit says
Report suggests state prisons aren’t meeting ambitious goals on inmate rehabilitation.
Why California’s Default Mental Institutions Are Now Jails and Prisons
Justice Not Jails, Feb. 8, 2019 By Jocelyn Wiener
Read the article
Pepper Spray Is Used Too Often To 'Subdue Youth' In LA's Juvenile Justice System
Black women punished for self-defense must be freed from their cages
The Guardian, Thu 3 Jan 2019
Mariame Kaba
Black women have always been vulnerable to violence in the US. We have to address the systemic and cultural issues that contribute to this...
Read the article
How the FIRST STEP Act Became Law - and What Happens Next
The making of a historic criminal justice reform bill
Brennan Center for Justice, January 4, 2019
Ames Grawert, Tim Lau
Last month, the FIRST STEP Act was signed into law - a major win for the movement to end mass incarceration. Read the article
Jerry Brown Becomes Most Forgiving Governor In Modern CA History
By CALmatters, News Partner | Dec 27, 2018
In keeping with eight years of holiday tradition, Gov. Jerry Brown issued 143 pardons this week. Since 2011, he has pardoned 1,332 inmates.
Prop. 47 spared offenders from prison, but they may find county jail harsher
San Francisco Chronicle Nov. 23, 2018, By Kerry Rudd
Why Is Karl Taylor Dead?
Our prisons are our mental wards. One fatal case in New York shows where that can lead.
The Marshall Project, By TOM ROBBINS, November 27, 2018
The Scanner: Alameda County to drop criminal justice fees; the problem with pot DUIs
In historic upset, Alex Villanueva beats incumbent Jim McDonnell in race for Los Angeles County sheriff
LA Times| NOV 26, 2018 | By MAYA LAU
Women Ignored in Incarceration Reform
Justice Not Jails, October 21, 2018
Women are the fastest-growing population in U.S. jails, but the effect this has on families has been largely ignored, a New York conference was told Wednesday.
Implementing long-term, meaningful solutions for women and families remain too few and far between, experts said at a three-person panel unveiling a new initiative aimed at reforming criminal justice system to better serve women.
Today It Locks Up Immigrants. But CoreCivic’s Roots Lie in the Brutal Past of America’s Prisons.
The renewed fortunes and the hidden history of the for-profit prison industry.
SHANE BAUER
By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARDJim Crow’s Lasting Legacy At The Ballot Box
The Marshall Project
JENNIFER RAE TAYLOR 08.20.2018
Denying voting rights to people with felony convictions has roots in racist laws.
How young is too young for jail? California doesn't have an answer, but it should
LATimes Editorial Board, AUG 11, 2018
When is someone too young to go to jail? Even if it’s a juvenile jail or a so-called probation camp, surely such institutions are not the right place for 8-year-olds, no matter what crimes they may have committed. But how old is old enough? Is it 9? 10? What’s the age threshold for jail?
No, Prop 47 didn't de-criminalize misdemeanors
by THE LA TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD, JUL 18, 2018
Prisoners who risk their lives during Calif. wildfires shouldn't be shut out of profession
Katherine Katcher, Sonja Tonnesen and Neeraj Kumar, Opinion contributors Nov. 3, 2017
They are skilled. They sacrifice for $1 per hour. But once inmates finish their sentence, laws bar them from the job
To build, or not to build, a new L.A. County jail
By THE LATIMES EDITORIAL BOARD, June 16, 2018
Hundreds of people pack the Hollywood United Methodist Church on this blustery January evening to hear from Johnson and other leaders of JusticeLA, a group formed to fight what members are calling the planned expansion of the Los Angeles County jail system. Read more
04/21/2018 Asha Bandele of the Drug Policy Alliance interview on MIC:
"Prince could still be alive today if America didn’t shame people for using drugs." Asha talks about some of the things learned on a recent trip to Portugal. Members of LARRP were on that trip.
Inmates who learn trades are often blocked from jobs. Now something's being done.
NBC News May 26, 2018
Half the states bar ex-cons from getting the occupational licences they need to re-enter the workforce. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say it doesn't make sense. Read more
Los Angeles Activists Join Delegation to Portugal March 19-22 to Learn from Country’s Groundbreaking Drug Decriminalization Policy
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: March 19 – 22
CONTACT: Troy Vaughn, troyvaughn@lareenry.org
Press Release
Voter Registration Makes Inroads in Unexpected Territory: County Jails
LA Times, FEB 26, 2018
By MICHAEL LIVINGSTON
Read the article
Vice News Tonight Features LARRP, Drug Policy Alliance, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Public Defenders Office Expungement Clinic
Don't Stop Now:
California Leads the Nation in Using Public Higher Education to Address Mass Incarceration - Will We Continue?
Corrections College of California Report
Scores of Californians have spent the past three years laboring to accomplish the unprecedented: bringing together our enormous criminal justice and public higher education systems to build a new generation of college students and graduates.
The reasons why are clear - higher education reduces recidivism, changes lives, and builds stronger communities. We can no longer consign incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women to ending their education with a GED; they, like all of us, deserve the opportunities that hard work and a college degree create.