Flagging a number of notable recent Inquest essays

It has been some time since I have highlighted items from Inquest, “a decarceral brainstorm,” in part because the site has been recently running essays mostly focused on policing issues.  But I noticed a number of more punishment-focused pieces, and here I will  flag a handful of newer pieces sentencing fans may want to check out:

By Paul Butler & Cristian Farias, “Returning to Freedom: A PBS series on reentry is exposing audiences to how people leaving prison grow, heal, and thrive despite their past.” By

By Joseph Margulies, “A Forgiving Society: Only by approaching each person as a member of society—rather than an outcast—will we begin to unwind the punitive turn of the past sixty years.”

By Raj Jayadev, “People-Powered Defense: Participatory defense allows families and communities to protect their own in courtroom spaces that have long robbed them of power.”

By William Kissinger, “Squinting in the Sunlight: Most reentry programs assume a person who is able to work and live on their own. Those of us who are older don’t have that kind of freedom.”

By Stephen Wilson, “Unsettled People: Prison transfers are routinely used to punish, disorient, and isolate incarcerated people, disconnecting them from family, friends, community, and all sense of place.”