Legal resources for people in prison in Minnesota
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota
P.O. Box 14720
Minneapolis, MN 55414
http://www.aclu-mn.org
(651) 645-4097
Serves: MN
Focus area/description: American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota ("ACLU-MN") is a nonpartisan, membership-supported organization dedicated to the protection of civil liberties. It is the Minnesota state-wide affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and has more than 30,000 members. Its purpose is to protect the rights and liberties guaranteed to all Minnesotans by the state and federal constitutions. The ACLU-MN does not provide legal representation in criminal cases or post-conviction appeals.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota confirmed this listing on September 29, 2022.
These national resources may also be of help to people in prison in Minnesota:
Equal Justice Initiative
122 Commerce Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
http://www.eji.org/
(334) 269-1806 (fax)
334-269-1803 (phone)
Serves: National,AL
Focus area/description: EJI litigates on behalf of condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged with violent crimes, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct. EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment, and serves the state of Alabama and the Deep South in general, working nationally on selected issues. EJI also prepares reports, newsletters and manuals to assist advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of reforming the administration of criminal justice.
Equal Justice Initiative confirmed this listing on September 29, 2022.
A challenge to our colleagues:
We built the internet's first always-up-to-date list of legal services for incarcerated people. Can you make a similar list for a different kind of resource?
Problem: There are too many outdated resource lists floating around.
Our Solution: Have one resource list that one organization checks each year.
Our Method: Inspired by the Cincinnati Books for Prisoners group, we made a list of every legal services organization on every resource list we could find. Then we send a letter by snail mail to each organization each year asking them to confirm/update their listing. If they respond, we include them on the site for the next 365 days. All the organization needs to do is to sign the form we send them and mail it back in the enclosed envelope. If they don't respond, we keep them on our mailing list and try again next year.
This way, any incarcerated person using the list can be assured that the organization they are writing to recently did exist and was responding to mail. And if an organization fails to respond for some reason (staff turnover, postal problems, the dog ate our letter, etc.) they get another chance next year.
It's a win for everyone. We've built a database for legal services. What list can your organization edit?