The National Parole Transformation Project (NPTP) is a coordinated campaign of strategic impact litigation and community-based advocacy directly challenging the parole systems feeding mass incarceration. These systems of surveillance and control have expanded unchecked, funneling hundreds of thousands of people into prisons. Through collaboration with a growing network of advocates, lawyers and systems-impacted individuals, NPTP develops and supports local and national efforts to end the expansion of carceral systems of post-conviction supervision across the country.
The Parole to Prison Pipeline
Over 20% of the people in state prisons are there because of punitive post-conviction supervision systems. When people are released from prison, they are not fully free. They remain in limbo, subject to an ever-increasing set of stringent conditions aimed at surveilling and re-incarcerating them rather than supporting and empowering them as they try to re-enter their communities. The word of a parole officer accusing someone of violating any one of those conditions – a missed appointment, a visit from a relative, a change in employment – can land them back in prison with no judge, no jury, and in many states, no meaningful process to contest their imprisonment. What little process exists often happens in secret, with no oversight.
Failed Avenues for Release
In addition to forcing thousands of people into re-imprisonment, state parole boards across the country are failing to release people with parole eligibility to begin with, in some cases violating their own law and policies to do so. Tens of thousands of people are currently in prison who should have been released.
A Growing Network of Advocates
We can’t do this alone. We work in collaboration with community groups, advocacy organizations, system-impacted people, and local legal advocates. NPTP builds on MJC’s history of successful impact litigation to change these systems and aims to widen its network of advocates committed to challenging mass incarceration by pushing for the transformation of parole systems.
Parole Reform: Teach-In Series
Throughout the next several months, the NPTP will host a series of virtual teach-ins on parole reform efforts in various states across the country. These teach-ins will include insights and perspectives from legal and directly-impacted advocates working to advance parole reforms in their respective states. The conversations will look to illuminate the existing challenges facing criminal justice reform advocates, and how communities are responding to overcome these barriers.
Upcoming Teach-Ins
Past Teach-Ins
Texas: Fighting for Parole Reform and Transformative Advocacy
The MacArthur Justice Center’s National Parole Transformation Project hosted a two-part virtual teach-in focusing on key issues and challenges within Texas’ parole system. The teach-in features Justin Martinez, Policy Analyst & Bexar County Project Director at the Texas Center for Justice and Equity (TCJE); Helen A. Gaebler, Senior Research Attorney at the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest at The University of Texas School of Law; Jorge Antonio Renaud, National Criminal Justice Director & Director of the Southwest Region at Latino Justice (LJ); Savannah Eldrige, Co-Founder of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery-Texas and Board Chair of the Texas Incarcerated Families Association; Robert Lilly, Participatory Defense Organizer at Grassroots Leadership; Marci Marie Simmons, Community Outreach Coordinator at Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance; and Amanda Rodriguez, Legislative Director for Texas House Representative Jarvis Johnson.
Part 1: Read the teach-in transcript here.
Alabama: Movement-Building Toward Parole Reform
The MacArthur Justice Center’s National Parole Transformation Project hosted a virtual teach-in, focusing on key issues and challenges within Alabama’s parole system. The teach-in features the Smart Justice Intake Specialist, Monique DeGivenchy, and Interim Legal Director at the ACLU Alabama, Alison Mollman, and explores how they are working to advance parole reform in the state, including their recent Parole Watch initiative.
Mississippi: Understanding Parole and Prospects for Change
The MacArthur Justice Center’s National Parole Transformation Project hosted its first virtual teach-in, focusing on key issues and challenges within the Mississippi parole system and how to advance parole reform in the state. Panelists include Jake Howard, Legal Director of MacArthur Justice Center’s Mississippi office, Pauline Rogers, criminal justice advocate and founder of the R.E.C.H. Foundation, and Garrett Felber, an organizer with Study and Struggle.
Read the teach-in transcript here.
California: Barriers and Avenues to Meaningful Parole Reform
The MacArthur Justice Center’s National Parole Transformation Project hosted a virtual teach-in, focusing on key issues and challenges within the California parole system and how to advance parole reform in the state. Co-moderated by NPTP’s Community Outreach Lead Timmy Châu and UnCommon Law Director of Development & Communications Annie Roge by NPTP’s Timmy Châu, the teach-in featured Founder and Executive Director of UnCommon Law Keith Wattley, UnCommon Law Board Chair Carletha Sterling, UnCommon Law Supervising Parole Success Advocate Israel Garcia, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Co-Director of Programs James King.