Think Justice Blog

My Publicly Funded Immigration Lawyer Gave Me Hope When I Faced Fear and Despair

After the traumatic terror of being separated from her son after being detained at the border, Ana desperately wanted an attorney to help her fight deportation. She did not speak English, knew little of immigration law, and believed deportation was inevitable ...

States Should Prioritize Incarcerated People for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Incarcerated people are no less valuable than the staff of America’s jails and prisons. Yet some decision makers are moving to create an inhumane hierarchy of COVID-19 vaccine distribution that excludes them, even though they are especially vulnerable.

Leaders Must Act Now to Reduce COVID-19 Behind Bars

We can combat COVID-19 in state and federal prisons, local jails, and immigrant detention centers to protect all people and save countless lives, but it requires immediate and decisive action by federal, state, and local government officials.

America is Ready to Reinstate Pell Grants for Students in Prison

This country is ready for college in prison.

Series: Target 2020

The Tipping Point for Universal Representation for Immigrants

With attacks on the safety and dignity of immigrant communities ramping up ahead of Election Day, the threats and injustices they face have reached a tipping point. Immigrants have already been confronted with the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pande ...

I Didn’t Care about Voting until My Incarceration Showed Me How Much it Matters

Growing up, politics wasn’t at the top of the list of things I was interested in. My parents never discussed the importance of voting with me or my siblings, and it wasn’t a priority among my peers either. We talked mainly about working drug corners or what “h ...

Felony Disenfranchisement Suppresses the Votes of Black and Latinx Americans

I was released from New York State prison, after 12 years, in August 2017. Over the course of the next year, I finished a degree, found a job, paid taxes, and became an active member of my community. But I couldn’t vote. Felony disenfranchisement had stripped ...

I Was Sure I Would Be Deported Until an Attorney Informed Me of My Rights

People facing deportation have no right to legal counsel and must face the federal government alone in court if they cannot afford a lawyer. Many immigrants who are eligible to remain in the United States are expelled from the country simply because they lack ...

Universal Representation Advances Racial Equity for Immigrants Facing Deportation

As communities across the country continue to rise up to defend Black lives, the need to dismantle systemic racism—intrinsic to both the U.S. immigration and criminal legal systems—has become clear. The same prejudices that pervade the criminal legal system ex ...

Series: Addressing the Overuse of Segregation in U.S. Prisons and Jails

Women Face Unique Harms from Solitary Confinement

As with almost every other aspect of imprisonment, women have gender-specific experiences that lead to solitary confinement, also known as restrictive housing, special housing units (SHU), or segregation.

Changing Police Practices Means Changing 911

As the nation focuses on the deep, systemic problems with policing that have hindered public trust and undercut safety in many communities of color for decades, the operation of emergency response— specifically the 911 call-taking system—has come under increas ...

Series: Target 2020

Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison

For years, Vera and many of our partners from across the corrections, higher education, and criminal justice spectrum have been calling for the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for students in prison. And for good reason. The Pell ban is a relic of the ...