Andy was a correctional officer.
Do I Have The Right to Feel Safe?
A VISION FOR HOLISTIC SAFETY IN CORRECTIONS
Andy Potter and Ronald Simpson-Bey both spent over 25 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Andy was a correctional officer. Ronald was incarcerated.
Now they are both national leaders in the criminal legal reform movement.
Do I Have the Right to Feel Safe? is a unified vision of how to instill safety for all impacted by corrections.
Andy Potter and Ronald Simpson-Bey both spent over 25 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Now they are both national leaders in the criminal legal reform movement.
Do I Have the Right to Feel Safe? is a unified vision of how to instill safety for all impacted by corrections.
Ronald was incarcerated.
Every day, the millions of people working in and confined by correctional institutions fight to survive the trauma that occurs inside. They deserve transformative change.
Correctional administrators – along with others in positions of power – must empower people with lived experience of the carceral system. Only then, together, can we shift our vision of safety from one predicated on control to one that creates the conditions for all community members – inside and outside of correctional walls – to be and feel protected, resilient, and whole.
That is holistic safety.
How can we champion holistic safety?
Do I Have the Right to Feel Safe? identifies the five core tenets that we must address to curb violence and trauma and suggests changes related to each.
This vision also recognizes that the pathway to holistic safety can only be unlocked when we empower people with lived experience – people incarcerated, correctional staff and survivors of crime, along with their families, communities, unions, advocates, and all others impacted.

Prominent criminal legal reform leaders are championing this vision.







Let Us Go Forward, Together

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia
Do I Have the Right to Feel Safe? was a collective effort.
Our Managing Director of Justice Initiatives and former warden of Cook County jail, Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia, crafted this vision in partnership with current and former correctional administrators, correctional staff, people formerly incarcerated, and others in the community impacted by incarceration.
We hope you will join us all in the journey toward holistic safety. Please take this opportunity to:
Deepen Your Understanding
- Read Do I Have the Right to Feel Safe? to learn how we can make correctional institutions safer for everyone.
- Explore our Holistic Safety Resource Toolkit to hear more directly from people with lived experience.
Take Action