Resources for Advocacy and Activism

At CHIP we’re constantly working to understand the system and provide resources to help folks inside and outside advocate for justice, liberation, and abolition. This list is continuously updated as we discover new resources to support those who are impacted by the criminal punishment system. We hope that these resources will not only inform, educate, and assist — but will also serve as a call to action as we tear down walls and build bridges.

Publications

Descriptions quoted from the source linked.

  • Prison Legal News
    • Prison Legal News, a project of the Human Rights Defense Center, is an independent 72-page monthly magazine that provides cutting edge review and analysis of prisoners’ rights, court rulings and news concerning criminal justice-related issues.
  • The Abolitionist
    • The Abolitionist working group is a member-based editorial collective within Critical Resistance that operates by consensus. The paper is an important forum for prisoner voices and a valuable source of news and analysis on the issues that affect prisoners and state-targeted communities across the country.
  • Turning the Tide
    • ARA-LA/PART, publisher of TURNING THE TIDE, has over 35 years of experience in antifa activism and is passionate about learning the lessons from past efforts, both successes and defeats, in order to apply them to the challenges and contradictions we face today.
  • San Quentin News
    • Today, SQ News prints 35,000 newspapers each month and distributes them to all 30+ CDCR prisons, four juvenile facilities, university and public libraries, to hundreds of donors that include individuals outside of California. It publishes the quarterly magazine Wall City, the newsletter Inside SQ News and the website sanquentinnews.com.
  • Black and Pink
    • Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and free world allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing.
  • The Fortune Society
    • The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.
  • The Marshall Project
    • The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We have an impact on the system through journalism, rendering it more fair, effective, transparent and humane.
  • Death Or Prison Podcast
    • The men on the Death or Prison program know what incarceration is and offer their personal experiences in order to tell how a second chance can become a new life. As the episodes unfold, the perspectives of the panel and their guests unlock an undeniable and enlightening path illuminated by their faith. Each week, Johnny, Elmo, Lázaro, and Raul, in partnership with Lean On Me USA, will share how they’ve found their purpose in life through the darkest of times. They will share their stories of hope to guide returning citizens, at-risk youth, and families of inmates through their most critical journey.
  • Abolition X Podcast
    • Abolition X is the podcast that brings abolition to the culture. Hosts Vic Mensa, Indigo Mateo and Richie Reseda discuss how abolition isn’t just about dismantling the prison industrial complex, but that it’s also about imagining a world based on community, accountability and healing. In every episode, incarcerated people, organizers and artists address how abolition intersects with different aspects of culture — from housing to hip hop — and leave us with a new vision of how we can treat ourselves and each other outside of revenge and punishment.
  • San Francisco Bayview
    • Exciting, thought-provoking stories and commentary on the full range of Black trials and triumphs – covering the Black economy, politics, arts, education, history, current events, health, religion – and those of other communities, along with stunning color photography, fill the website and the pages of each paper,  a paper so popular that it disappears within hours of hitting the stands.
  • Westside Gazette
    • Since the first issue rolled off the press in 1971, the Westside Gazette newspaper has maintained the professional, insightful and reader sensitive reporting that has gained the trust and respect of South Florida’s African American community.
  • Real Cost of Prisons Project
    • The Real Cost of Prisons Project brings together justice activists, artists, researchers and women and men directly experiencing the impact of mass criminalization who are working to end the carceral state. It is a national organization, begun in 2000. The RCPP created workshops, a website visited by 1,500 people a day and which includes extensive sections of writing and comix by prisoners.
  • Black Press USA
    • Black Press USA calls itself “the voice of the black community” and covers the criminal punishment system alongside a wide range of topics.

Organizations

  • Abolition Notes: Organizations Working for Abolition
    • A growing list of organizations directly and/or tangentially working towards prison abolition.
  • Between the Bars
    • Between the Bars is a weblog platform for people in prison, through which the 1% of America which is behind bars can tell their stories. Since people in prison are routinely denied access to the Internet, we enable them to blog by scanning letters. We aim to provide a positive outlet for creativity, a tool to assist in the maintenance of social safety nets, an opportunity to forge connections between people inside and outside of prison, and a means to promote non-criminal identities and personal expression.
  • Prison Activist Resource Center
    • ARC is a prison abolitionist group committed to exposing and challenging all forms of institutionalized racism, sexism, able-ism, heterosexism, and classism, specifically within the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). We produce a directory that is free to prisoners upon request, and seek to work in solidarity with prisoners, ex-prisoners, their friends and families. We also work with teachers and activists on many prison issues.
  • Exchange for Change
    • Exchange for Change offers educational and communication skills-building courses to incarcerated students to amplify and bring their voices to the outside. Through advocacy and education, Exchange for Change provides vision and understanding on both sides of the fence.
  • Lucy Parson’s Bookstore Resource List
    • The National Prisoner Resource List (NPRL) provides information about organizations that support people in prison and their loved ones. The NPRL is published by Prison Book Program in Quincy, MA, one of dozens of books to prisons programs across the country.
  • Books Through Bars
    • Books Through Bars has been sending free books to incarcerated people in six mid-Atlantic states (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) for over 30 years.
  • Books to Prisoners
    • Books To Prisoners is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster a love of reading behind bars, encourage the pursuit of knowledge and self-empowerment, and break the cycle of recidivism. We believe that books are tools for learning and for opening minds to new ideas and possibilities, and engage incarcerated individuals with the benefits of reading by mailing tens of thousands of free books to inmates across the country each year.
  • Between the Bars: Human Stories from Prison
  • Families Against Mandatory Minimums
    • FAMM’s greatest asset has always been the stories of its members. By sharing the impact of unjust sentencing and prison policies on incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities, FAMM has helped create urgency around the issue and made the problem feel real to the policymakers who have to be moved to make meaningful change. This two-pronged approach — public education and targeted advocacy — is core to FAMM’s success to date and will remain critical to its work as the organization expands its organizing efforts nationally.
  • ArtSouth: Arts Behind Bars
    • The Mission of ArtSouth is to inspire understanding and appreciation of the arts for historically underrepresented communities by providing inclusive cultural access to exhibitions, performances and educational programs. We have a central location in South Miami where we impact additional residents who benefit from our celebrated educational programs, lecture series, festivals, exhibitions, performances, concerts, drumming circles, painting parties and our monthly open house.
  • Justice Arts Coalition
    • A national network and resource for those creating art in and around the criminal legal system.
  • Die Jim Crow Records
    • Die Jim Crow Records is the first record label in the United States for prison-impacted musicians. Our mission is to dismantle stereotypes around race and prison in America by amplifying the voices of our artists. Bridging the divide between incarcerated artists and artists in the free world, DJC Records works as a radical creative collective, agency for social change, and overall art power house.
  • Angel Tree: Gifts to Children of Incarcerated Parents
    • Angel Tree Christmas™ equips churches and other organizations to restore and strengthen relationships between incarcerated parents and their children and families. Every Christmas, Angel Tree mobilizes local churches and organizations to minister to hundreds of thousands of children by delivering a gift, the Gospel message, and a personal message of love on behalf of their mom or dad behind bars.
  • National Reentry Resource Center
    • Working with Second Chance Act (SCA) grantees and SCA technical assistance providers as well as top researchers and practitioners, the NRRC curates and develops resources and tools that assist jurisdictions in implementing evidence-based, data-driven strategies to improve reentry and reduce recidivism. The NRRC distributes news and resources in reentry, funding opportunities, and events in the field via our listserv and through social media. Promote What Works in Reentry: The NRRC hosts several clearinghouse resources to support the reentry field.
  • National Prisoner Resource List
    • This list provides information about places where people who are incarcerated and their families can find. The NPRL is sent to people in prisons and jails upon request. There is no charge for it. It is also available here for families and friends to print and mail to their loved ones.
  • Second Chance Net
    • Second Chance Net is a public charity dedicated to reducing prison recidivism by establishing IT training and work opportunities for inmates and then transitioning them as seamlessly as possible into IT jobs with a future on the outside.
  • Lean On Me USA
    • In a nationwide effort to reduce both the prison population and recidivism, Lean On Me USA Inc. seeks to partner with organizations, foundations, and individuals who practice, promote, or provide leadership, opportunity, and mentoring availability to returning citizens and at-risk youth. The partnership brings under one umbrella, already functioning entities, to exploit the efficiencies inherent in a multi-provider approach powerful enough to positively make a difference in societal thinking and action.
  • Prison Policy Initiative
    • The Prison Policy Initiative’s research and advocacy is at the center of the national conversation about criminal justice reform and over-criminalization. Because essential national and state level data is often completely inaccessible, the Prison Policy Initiative’s insightful data analysis and powerful graphics help fill these gaps to bring in new supporters and help other movement leaders achieve their goals.
  • Alphabet Rockers
    • This intergenerational group creates brave spaces to shape a more equitable world through hip hop. Alphabet Rockers curates this content with the community, centering children’s voices. We amplify authentic stories and interrupt the patterns that got us here.
  • PEN: Prison Writing
    • PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. PEN America works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others.

Florida Resources

  • Chainless Change
    • Chainless Change is Florida’s first Recovery Community Organization (RCO) that caters specifically to justice-involved people. We take a two-pronged approach to ending mass incarceration:  Supporting participants and communities through the process of healing from the trauma associated with an arrest record and incarceration while organizing for systems change.
  • Immigrant Action Alliance
    • Immigrant Action Alliance is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides direct support to our immigrant community, including hundreds of people in immigrant detention centers. Immigrant Action Alliance volunteers visit with people detained at Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Glades County Jail in Moore Haven and Krome Service Processing Center in Miami.
  • Broward Legal Aid
    • Legal Aid Service of Broward County provides free civil legal services to low-income and otherwise eligible residents of Broward County. Our mission is to provide high quality free civil legal advice, representation, and education to the disadvantaged of Broward County, so as to improve the lifestyle and living conditions in low-income communities and encourage self-sufficiency.
  • Florida Justice Center
    • Florida Justice Center empowers individuals by providing legal support, community education, and removing barriers to success caused by the criminal justice system. The organization was started to address racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal legal system and to help build equity for marginalized and disproportionately affected groups.
  • Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
    • FRRC’s platform is informed by the lived experiences of returning citizens from all walks of life, political persuasions, and regions of the state.
  • Florida Justice Restoration Center
    • Justice Restoration Center is a tax-exempt organization that exists to provide trauma-informed restorative pro bono legal services and advocacy for survivors of human trafficking, as well as to advocate on trafficking-related legislation and policy matters. The Justice Restoration Center features an alliance of legal professionals who provide free legal services for survivors, along with volunteer professionals and others who are willing to assist at no cost to the survivor.
  • Florida Action Committee
    • Florida Action Committee (FAC) intends to inform the media, public, and legislators with facts versus myths about the sex offender registry and citizens forced to register. Registry schemes are proven to be harmful to society and unconstitutional. Therefore, FAC works to abolish the registry in Florida.
  • Florida Cares
    • Florida Cares Charity Corp. is a Florida Non-Profit Corporation dedicated to improving the lives of incarcerated individuals.
  • Post-Conviction Alliance
    • The Post-Conviction Alliance in partnership with Olivero Law is a provider of post-conviction and appellate legal services.  Our team consists of highly trained professionals with a passion and deep understanding of the post-conviction and appellate processes.
  • Lake Worth Interfaith Network: 28 Days of Anti-Racism
    • The Lake Worth Interfaith Network is a group of individuals and faith-based communities dedicated to promoting acceptance and understanding among our diverse spiritual traditions through prayer gatherings, education, and compassionate action.
  • Dream Defenders
    • Dream Defenders is organizing Black and Brown youth to build power in our communities to advance a new vision we have for the state. Our agenda is called hrough it, we are advancing our vision of safety and security –  away from prisons, deportation, and war – and towards healthcare, housing, jobs and movement for all.
  • Equality Florida
    • Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. Our strong presence in the Capitol since our founding over 25 years ago has allowed us to defeat or neutralize dozens of anti-LGBTQ bills since 1997. These bills included efforts to: overturn all local anti-discrimination policies, repeal all safe schools policies, expand Florida’s anti-gay adoption ban, and prohibit domestic partnership benefits and protections.
  • HUD Housing Resource Guide for Returning Citizens
    • This comprehensive guide on HUD housing for people reentering society delves deep into the problems they face after incarceration, particularly with housing. It also provides housing options and information on their rights should they be automatically denied by a landlord.
  • Attorney Brent Woody – helps folks who were sex trafficked and charged with crimes in connection with their trafficking
  • Attorney Mark Rankin – works with returning citizens accused of voter fraud
  • Homeless Resource Guide – published by BSO but not distributed broadly enough because that would go against their “business model,” according to incarcerated organizer Gary Field