Prison Policy Initiative, Inc

The non-profit, non-partisan Prison Policy Initiative produces cutting edge research to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization, and then sparks advocacy campaigns to create a more just society. Our work is designed around two goals: (1) achieving real change on specific campaigns that show how mass incarceration is hurting specific communities and society in general and (2) fueling the national movement against mass incarceration with key data.

The Prison Policy Initiative fuels the movement against mass incarceration with critically needed insights and data like our National Incarceration Briefing Series (a series of reports that help the public understand that mass incarceration is both unprecedented and counterproductive) and an interactive map that offers one-click access to all the graphs and other research we've produced about incarceration in each state. We also empower grassroots groups, journalists and policymakers to fully engage in and propel criminal justice reform with our research clearinghouse (a database of thousands of criminal justice research articles) and our powerful visual data.

The full-time staff members at the Prison Policy Initiative are criminal justice researchers who know how to turn hard data into a good story that incites change. The staff are well-versed in a variety of criminal justice issues, and frequently work in interdisciplinary coalitions at the intersections between the justice system and issues such as voting rights, communications policy, or the geography of communities. Several staff members are attorneys, and the Prison Policy Initiative has contributed to defending some of the major civil rights victories of the decade. Prison Policy Initiative staff are also experienced with GIS technology and mapping, effectively using spatial data to illustrate how heavy-handed criminal justice policy compromises communities.

The Prison Policy Initiative has:
-led six states (Maryland, New York, California, Delaware, Nevada and Washington) and 200+ local governments to reject the practice of “prison gerrymandering" that gave extra representation to the legislators who had prisons in their districts and diluted the votes of everyone who did not live next to a prison.
-led the Federal Communications Commission to lower the cost of interstate calls home from prisons and jails from $1/minute to $0.11-22/minute.
-led Massachusetts to become the second state in the nation to roll back its sentencing enhancement zones law (aka school zones) that gave harsher prison sentences for drug offenses committed in dense urban areas.
-protected in-person family visits in California, Dallas, Texas, and Portland, Oregon from the predatory video visitation industry.
-catalyzed legislation in five states, D.C., and in Congress to reduce or end automatic driver's license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving.