{"id":1285,"date":"2013-11-27T14:16:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T18:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=1285"},"modified":"2017-12-09T20:04:51","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T01:04:51","slug":"thanksgiving2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2013\/11\/27\/thanksgiving2013\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 has been our best year yet! Can you support us for 2014?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/reports\/PPI_Annual_2012-2013.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/reportthumbs\/2013-report-thumbnail-250w.png\" alt=\"2013 Annual PPI Report\" width=\"250\" height=\"323\" class=\"reportcover right\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As we head into Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends, here at the Prison Policy Initiative we&#8217;re taking this opportunity to celebrate how much we&#8217;ve achieved in the past year and express our enormous gratitude to our colleagues and supporters who make it all possible. As our new <a href=\"\/reports\/PPI_Annual_2012-2013.pdf\">annual report<\/a> shows, this year we&#8217;ve accomplished more than ever on a growing number of campaigns. Here are some highlights: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Our work to end <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonersofthecensus.org\">prison gerrymandering<\/a> sparked <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonersofthecensus.org\/legislation.html\">legislation in eight states<\/a> and passed in <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonersofthecensus.org\/news\/2013\/03\/20\/hb1339\/\">two<\/a>, more than 200 local governments have <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonersofthecensus.org\/news\/2012\/11\/26\/200\/\">solved the problem on their own<\/a>, and the issue got news coverage in hundreds of <a href=\"\/news.html\">articles and editorials<\/a> including a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/09\/27\/opinion\/prison-based-gerrymandering.html\"><i>New York Times<\/i> editorial<\/a>. And the Census Bureau, which encourages states to engage in prison gerrymandering by counting incarcerated people at correctional facilities, is finally signaling that it is <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonersofthecensus.org\/news\/2013\/09\/13\/clay-hearing\/\">open to changing the practice<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>This year we took on the exploitative prison phone industry, releasing two <a href=\"\/phones\/\">reports<\/a> and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udt2izzOCRE\">video<\/a>, and co-coordinating a petition that changed the pace of the movement for fair phone charges for the families of incarcerated people. In August, after ten years of inaction, the Federal Communications Commission finally <a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/08\/09\/fcc-ruling\/\">voted<\/a> to <a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/11\/13\/fcc-register\/\">regulate<\/a> the industry so that families will no longer have to pay $1\/minute to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones.<\/li>\n<li>We also stepped up to the plate to <a href=\"\/postcards\/\">bring an end to the latest harmful fad in local jails: banning letters from home<\/a>. Our groundbreaking <a href=\"\/postcards\/report.html\">report<\/a> on why banning families from writing to loved ones in jail is harmful and counterproductive was called &#8220;required reading&#8221; by the National Institute of Corrections, and helped a grassroots campaign in Santa Clara California <a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/08\/09\/santa-clara\/\">halt the local sheriff&#8217;s letter ban proposal<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>Our work to reduce the harm of over-broad geography-based sentencing policies helped win some important victories this year, including a <a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/10\/08\/ma-sjc\/\">legal victory for improved sentencing practice in Massachusetts<\/a>, and <a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/08\/23\/englewood\/\">overturning a counterproductive banishment ordinance<\/a> in a Colorado city. <\/li>\n<li>Our <a href=\"\/research.html\">Research Clearinghouse<\/a> of empirical criminal justice research is larger than ever, and our <a href=\"\/resources\/legal\/\">Legal resource list for incarcerated people<\/a> continues to offer up-to-date information to those who need it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, we&#8217;ve been busier than ever this year to expose and ameliorate the broader harm of mass incarceration. But none of this would be possible without the support of a core group of individual donors and a handful of committed foundations. Can you <a href=\"\/donate\/\">make a tax-deductible donation to support our work<\/a> so that we can take full advantage of this incredible momentum in 2014? <span class=\"pullquote\">Every gift we receive before the end of the year will be matched by a generous group of donors, so your gift will go <i>twice<\/i> as far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><p>And finally, please stay in touch with us this year! You can <a href=\"\/contact.html\">drop us a line<\/a> at any time, we&#8217;ve added two new e-newsletters you can use to keep track of what we&#8217;re up to (sign up for one or all at at <a href=\"\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\">http:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org<\/a>), and you can follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PrisonPolicyInitiative\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PrisonPolicy\">Twitter as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your partnership in this movement!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From ending prison gerrymandering to protecting families from exploitative prison phone companies, 2013 has been a watershed year for the Prison Policy Initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[11],"class_list":["post-1285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6689,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions\/6689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}