The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Administrator Liz Ryan discusses sentencing reform during an event hosted by the Sentencing Project.

Watch the full webinar from C-SPAN.

Academia has an obligation to highlight the voices and experiences of cis and trans women—especially Black women, Indigenous women, and women of color. But as research around mass incarceration shifts to acknowledge the gendered and racialized realities of incarceration, I've seen my fellow academics continually ignore the ways in which women—especially Black, Indigenous, and women of color—are affected by the carceral system.

Read the rest of this story from Scalawag Magazine.

In Texas, women's incarceration rates have increased dramatically over the past few decades—over 1000 percent since 1980. Within that group, Black single women are the persons with categorically the highest likelihood of ending up incarcerated. Still, conversations about the harms incarceration causes have historically and largely been centered around men.

On June 24, the architecture and design firm HDR Inc. held what it thought would be a standard event as part of the 2022 American Institute of Architects (AIA) conference at its office in Chicago, Illinois. But the firm, which has designed more than 275 jails and prisons while billing itself as progressive and morally responsible, was met with a powerful presence of abolitionists at its doorstep during the conference.

For Breezeblock #30, editor christin hu chats with community organizers Maggie Luna, Avalon Betts-Gaston, and Sashi James about their recent action at HDR (Henningson, Durham, Richardson), one of the largest architecture firms in the world, who are responsible for designing hundreds of prisons. Together, they discuss the reasons why architects should refuse to take part in the building of prisons and what they can do instead.

Advocates gathered Sunday afternoon at an east Austin park to raise awareness about the high rate of incarceration in Texas and the United States. According to a 2021 report by the Prison Policy Initiative, Texas has the 10th-highest incarceration rate in the country.

Read the rest of this article from KXAN.

Somewhere deep in the Austin Police Department's computer database sit the personnel files of each of its approximately 1,800 officers. Those files include their disciplinary histories, which may include details about unnecessary violence or unethical conduct, Internal Affairs investigations, and the punishments meted out for misconduct. Most officers won't have much or any disciplinary history. But some, almost certainly, have multiple instances of discipline in their files.

Life after prison can prove to be quite a challenge for formerly incarcerated people, especially when it comes to getting a job. But we’re following one Texas man that’s defying the odds and sharing his inspiring story with others. Then, we sit down with Maggie Luna from the Texas Center for Justice and Equity. She explains their mission and how they’re providing hope for those incarcerated.

Read the rest of this article from Spectrum News.

Several organizations held an event Saturday in Austin to provide information and resources to people who've been previously incarcerated.

Negotiations between Austin officials and the police were breaking down in part over the city’s attempts to increase police accountability in 2018. The city’s citizen review panel disbanded. Finally, that November, the parties reached an agreement, though tensions remained. A new office was created and staffed by civilians rather than police: The Office of Police Oversight.

Read the rest of this article from Texas Observer.