by Peter Wagner, October 20, 2006
The New York Times‘ Clyde Haberman cites our research in this great column Fresh Insights for Albany, Gleaned Behind Bars available only in print and to TimesSelect subscribers.
by Peter Wagner, October 14, 2006
Ben Greenberg blogs that the Census Bureau’s Own Study Says Bureau Should Stop Miscounting Prisoners, on Hungry Blues
by Peter Wagner, October 3, 2006
Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt, a new documentary film narrated by Ani Difranco, will have its New York City premiere on the October 14th at the Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y.
The film considers the controversial institution of capital punishment in America through the eyes of Stephen Bright, the nation’s leading anti-death penalty lawyer. For twenty years Bright has defended death row inmates deep in the heart of America’s “death-belt” — the Southeastern States where 90% of executions occur.
There he has built the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR), a renowned public interest law firm.The film follows Bright and the SCHR in the final days and hours, as they desperately fight to spare two clients from execution. Although both men stand convicted of horrible crimes, these defense attorneys never waiver in their dedication, and present compelling arguments against the criminal justice system that seeks to end their clients’ lives.
The event is a benefit for the Stephen Bright Fellowship at the Southern Center for Human Rights.
[Editor’s note, July 7, 2014: the full film is now available here.]
by Peter Wagner, September 18, 2006
The New York Times has issued a strong editorial A Vote for a Smarter Census declaring that “a persuasive new report from the National Research Council” makes the Census Bureau’s current practice of counting people in prison as residents of the prison town “hard to defend”.
by Peter Wagner, September 15, 2006
Prison Policy Initiative board member Barbara Fedders and Barbara Kaban have released a new report Do you know where the children are? A Report of Massachusetts Youth Unlawfully Held Without Bail, which was featured in today’s lead Boston Globe editorial Fair hearings for children.
by Peter Wagner, September 15, 2006
The New York Times quotes Executive Director Peter Wagner in Panel recommends change in how prisoners are counted in U.S. Census.
by Peter Wagner, September 14, 2006
Added press release announcing that National Academies report calls for Census Bureau to collect alternative addresses for people in prison to the PPI in the news page.
by Peter Wagner, September 6, 2006
Added Ezekiel Edwards’ article Counting Off Upstate: Just Say Moo, in The Brooklyn Rail to the PPI in the News page.
by Peter Wagner, August 25, 2006
Our worked is cited in a New York Newsday editorial We’re a long way from real democracy.
by Peter Wagner, April 27, 2006
Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA) April 27, 2006
To the editor:
Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe says his new women’s jail will be full
when it opens next year, so he wants another $6 million to add 56 more
cells. Our local leaders should say no. The new women’s jail will hold women
from all four counties of western Massachusetts.
Building bigger jail after bigger jail is not the solution to crime and it
might even make things worse. Adding extra capacity to a jail should be a
last resort, because those empty cells will reduce the pressure for judges
and legislators to consider cost-effective and rehabilitative alternative
sentences for people who pose no threat to the community.
Rather than build now, the prudent thing to do is to force Sheriff Ashe to
”make do” for a few years with the 240 cells already under construction.
Before lawmakers grant Ashe’s request, they should remember that 56 cells
will cost $2.4 million a year to operate. That money will no longer be
available to fund schools, drug treatment or other far more beneficial
programs.
Bringing more state investment to western Massachusetts is a good goal, but
dumping it into jails is the last thing we can afford.
Peter Wagner
Northampton
States fall far short of their duty to meet the health needs of incarcerated people.
The bail industry exploits cracks and loopholes in the legal system to avoid accountability, while growing its profits.
Criminal justice policy in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.