Twenty years ago today, on June 8, 2006, the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons released Confronting Confinement in conjunction with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. As someone who played a role in that national reckoning and now leads Impact Justice, I’ve been reflecting on what has and hasn’t changed since then.
The Commission took shape at a time — as Co-Chairs The Hon. John J. Gibbons (a Republican) and former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas de B. Katzenbach (a Democrat) write in the letter that opens Confronting Confinement — when “shame and stigma about incarceration [made] it very difficult to have honest, productive conversations about what we are doing and the results.” For most Americans, “the temptation [was] always to look away.” Over the course of a year in hearings and events around the country, the Commission attempted to change that by “bringing life behind bars fully, vividly into focus,” which felt both new and long overdue.
The United States continues to needlessly incarcerate far too many people, for far too long, in facilities that are not what those 20 diverse Commissioners agreed they could and should be: “serving our best interests and reflecting our highest values.” But most Americans no longer look away out of shame or indifference. A national awakening that can trace its roots back to the Commission and beyond has made it possible to shift from merely confronting the horrors of confinement to trying to make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives in ways no one could have imagined two decades ago.
Today at Impact Justice, we’re uplifting the long-overlooked issue of food in prison in our book Eating Behind Bars (now nominated for a James Beard Award), and providing fresh, nourishing food in prisons through our Harvest of the Month and Growing Justice initiatives. We’re working to make menopause care a priority in women’s facilities and enhancing sexual safety by operating the national PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) Resource Center. Our Inside Impact Fund makes grants directly to incarcerated people, enabling them to play a leadership role in improving their lives today, and their prospects after release. And through our Building Justice work, we’re spreading insights gleaned from countries whose approach to punishment is far more humane and effective than ours.
We’re proud to be part of the ongoing struggle to honor the dignity and potential of every person still incarcerated – efforts led increasingly, both at our organization and more broadly, by people with lived experience of confinement. Come join us.