Last Tuesday, more than 270 formerly incarcerated and convicted people met in Los Angeles in advance of the International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Their mission? Continue building a new front in the movement to end over-incarceration. The days of policy and advocacy organizations reaching out to people who have done time when they need a spokesperson or someone to hold a sign at a rally are numbered, they say. Instead, it’s time for people with records to be decision-makers and leaders in their own right.
A 14-point platform guides their work, and a provocative question called out from the cover of the program for last week’s gathering: “Am I a human being if most rights are denied me and most privileges are inaccessible to me as a formerly incarcerated and/or convicted person?”
Check out the rest over at Loop21.
More »
Subscribe to our feed