I need your help.
I co-founded the Prison Policy Initiative to put the problem of mass incarceration — and the perverse incentives that fuel it — on the national agenda. Over the last 17 years, our campaigns have protected our democracy from the prison system and protected the poorest families in this country from the predatory prison telephone industry. Our reports untangle the statistics and recruit new allies.
But now, more than ever, we need your help to put data & compassion into the conversation.
Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
But now, more than ever, we need your help to put data & compassion into the conversation.
Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Board of Directors and Advisory Board
Board of Directors*
- Elena Lavarreda, President
- Nora V. Demleitner, Director
Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
2016 Interview - Daniel Kopf, Treasurer
Reporter, Quartz
2016 interview - Bernadette Rabuy, Clerk
*Organizations for identification purposes only.
Advisory Board*
- Andrew Beveridge, Sociology, Queens College
- Alec Ewald, Political Science, University of Vermont
- Lucius Couloute, Sociology, Suffolk University
- Alex Friedmann, Prison Legal News
- Barbara Graves-Poller, NYC Law Department, Appellate Division
- Ruth Greenwood, Senior Redistricting Counsel, The Campaign Legal Center
- Joseph “Jazz” Hayden, plaintiff, Hayden v. Pataki
- Dale Ho, Director of Voting Rights Project, ACLU
- Daniel Jenkins, democracy activist, plaintiff, Longway v. Jefferson
- Eric Lotke, attorney, researcher and author
- Bruce Reilly, Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People's Movement
- Brigette Sarabi, Partnership for Safety and Justice
- Jason Stanley, Professor of Philosophy, Yale University
- Heather Ann Thompson, Professor of History, University of Michigan
- Janice Thompson, Midwest Democracy Network
- Brenda Wright, Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action
- Rebecca Young, Attorney
- Angela Wessels
In memory
- Nils Christie, Criminology, University of Oslo, Norway
- Jon E. Yount (1938 - 2012), organizer of Mixon v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
*Organizations for identification purposes only.
Recommended Reading:
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
Legal Resources for Incarcerated People
The internet's first always-up-to-date list of organizations that provide legal services and resources for incarcerated people, organized by state.
Exploitation in the criminal justice system
Companies and correctional facilities exploit captive markets. We expose them.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.