The latest News & Blogs written by staff, incarcerated colleagues & community members
What Restorative Justice Can Teach Us About COVID-19 – And Ourselves.
From Witness LA I awaken every morning in this era of COVID-19 with a feeling of disorientation. While the pandemic is unprecedented, this feeling is not unfamiliar. In 1992, my oldest sister Wendy, a [...]
My Experience with Sickness, Quarantines and the Prison’s Healthcare System
In 2015, I had the worst sickness in my entire 16 years of incarceration. Until this day, I do not know what the virus was and what or how I had contracted it because I [...]
Our Executive Director on Aider & Abettor Podcast!
Listen here! Avi and Sajid discuss COVID-19 with Adnan Khan (@akhan1437). Adnan is the co-founder and executive director of Re:Store Justice (@restore_cal). Adnan was incarcerated at 18 for a felony murder conviction. He advocated for [...]
COVID-19 Updates from California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitations
COVID-19 Preparedness RECENT UPDATES There are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 within CDCR institutions. Effective March 17, no volunteers or rehabilitative program providers will be allowed to enter state prison until further notice. All [...]
California leaders learn from Norwegian prison system
Story by Ike Dodson from Inside CDCR Office of Public and Employee Communications Photos by Michele Casadei, UC San Francisco As they covered 5,000 miles and an ocean on an international flight on Sept. 14, [...]
From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration: Reflections on my trip to Montgomery
In November I traveled with over one hundred members of my Jewish congregation to Montgomery Alabama on a pilgrimage to two remarkable institutions created by the Equal Justice Initiative, a justice organization created by Bryan [...]
The Beltway Sniper Is Now the Center of a Debate About Juvenile Lifers
Seventeen years after his shooting spree terrorized DC, Lee Boyd Malvo’s case could pave the way for sentencing reform. Read the story in Mother Jones here.
California’s incarcerated person suicide rate is one of the worst among the country’s
“California’s incarcerated person suicide rate is one of the worst among the country’s largest prison systems, and it has risen steadily for the past four years—from 19 suicides per 100,000 people in 2015, to 26 [...]
What I learned from two (half) days in prison and how I hope it helps save my city
Written by District Attorney Kevin Rooney, about our Transformative Justice Symposium inside prison. Even for the most skeptical participants, the idea that these visitors they were meeting for the first time were unfeeling monsters went [...]
Watch the Just Mercy Trailer
We are proud partners of Represent Justice and excited for the release of the Just Mercy film trailer! “Simply punishing the broken--walking away from them or hiding them from sight-only ensures that they remain broken [...]
NowThis Exclusive: Formerly Incarcerated People Question Elizabeth Warren About Ending Mass Incarceration
In August, a group of formerly incarcerated people, including our Co-Executive Director Adnan Khan, met with Presidential Candidates to discuss justice reform. NowThis captured a part of their conversation. Watch the video here.
String Of Fatal Overdoses At Lancaster Prison Points To Urgent Need For Treatment On The Inside
We are grateful that this important issue is being highlighted. We work with the incarcerated men inside Lancaster Prison and they desperately need help and attention. This is happening too often. Read the entire article [...]
Anticipation
By James King "They're coming in the morning." No need to ask who. In prison, "they" are the guards, and since we'd been on lockdown for five days at the time, it was also obvious [...]
A”dap”ting to Humanity
By Adnan KhanWhen I was in Corcoran (a “level 4” maximum security prison), strict racial politics existed on the prison yard. Races were divided into different sections of the prison during yard time. The division [...]
Preparing For the Parole Board
By James King When I first arrived at California State Prison-Lanscaster, with a fresh thirty year to life sentence, the older guys on the yard gave me a piece of advice. Get into self-help groups, [...]
Looking, and Seeing Too
By James King At breakfast, I sit at the front of the chow hall near the front door. Two correctional officers stand near the door and watch every one who goes in or out. One [...]
Paying My Debt
By Adnan Khan When I committed my crime, I realized I owed a debt to society. And in order for me to pay that debt, I was told to do two things, serve 25 years [...]
Changing Times
John, Sha, Emile, 2018 was a really good year. Tim, Earlonne, Muhhamed, Corey... I remember, when I first arrived on a maximum security prison yard in 2005, I never saw one person go home during [...]
Can We Work this Out?
By Adnan KhanI spent my first 12 years in different prisons that offered little or no programs, groups, or classes. For more than a decade, my days consisted of going to work, going to the [...]
Is San Quentin State Prison the Future of Prison Reform?
By James King I hear it all the time. “San Quentin is unique,” “If only we could take what’s happening here and reproduce it in other prisons,” blah, blah, blah. You know what? That was [...]
“Cell” Phones
By Adnan Khan I’ve known Ben for about four years now. He’s very social, a clown at times but stays to himself or his small circle of friends for the most part. Ever since I’ve [...]
One Day, Two Stories: The Same Yet Different
A couple of weeks ago I awoke to two news stories of senseless murders. According to the first report, Samantha Josephson, a young female college student, was kidnapped and murdered when she mistakenly jumped in [...]
The Next Willie Horton
“All it takes is one” is what I keep hearing. I hear those words echoed all throughout society, from local electeds to those in the highest halls of power as I advocate for change in [...]
Restoring R. Kelly?
Recently, a friend slid me a copy of an op-ed about R. Kelly written by Dream Hampton, the creator of a recent docu-series about the famous singer, entitled Surviving R. Kelly. In her op-ed, Ms. Hampton takes note of what she perceives as a contradiction from the women...
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