Do I Have The Right To Feel Safe?

Click here to read our new publication and unified vision for holistic safety in corrections

The criminal legal system’s primary tool for safety has been incarceration – a system that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people, perpetuates violence, and causes reverberating harm to all communities.

Justice Initiatives focus on strategies to reduce incarceration and increase safety in all communities – including the ones behind the correctional walls – because of both the magnitude of people impacted and the collective trauma of the status quo.

People under correctional control

People working in corrections

Survivors of crime*

Magnitude

People under correctional control

1.9M

People currently incarcerated

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

6.7M

People under correctional control

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

20M

People with felony records who are still being punished after serving their sentence

Source: University of Chicago

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People working in corrections

400,000

Correctional officers

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

90,000

Correctional treatment specialists and probation officers

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Survivors of crime*

3.3M

Survivors of violent crime each year

Source: Department of Justice

Trauma

People under correctional control

99%

Of incarcerated men have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime

Source: Square One Project

People working in corrections

34%

Of correctional officers meet criteria for PTSD, 2x the incidence seen in military personnel

Source: U.S. Department of Justice National Institute Corrections

Survivors of crime*

50%

of PTSD cases in the U.S. population are due to experiencing violence.

Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

*It is important to note that these groups overlap – many people under correctional control and working in corrections are also survivors of crime

We are all affected by the trauma within jails and prisons

Stat Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Prison Policy Initiative, The Square One Project

Therefore, we take a three-pronged approach to empowering people with lived experience to help increase our collective safety

Community Investment

Investing in the people and communities most impacted by incarceration, both in their own healing as well as their hyperlocal initiatives that help mitigate the harm caused by incarceration.

IMAN

IMAN developed and piloted their first Youth Leadership Home, a safe house for young men in high-risk situations to go to when their lives depend on it

Solutions and Resources

S&R offers immediate, first response and ongoing care and support to individuals, families, communities, and organizations in the wake of gun violence, homicide, suicide, or domestic violence

Lawndale Christian Legal Center

LCLC provides community-based holistic legal and social services to minors and emerging adults at every step of the juvenile and adult criminal justice system

Storycatchers Theatre

Art can heal, and Storycatchers gives young people a chance to tell their stories and rebuild their lives when they’re released from the justice system

See All Our Investments

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System Change

Increasing present-day safety for the people confined by and working in correctional institutions and their families while we move toward the ultimate goal of reducing incarceration.