The Promise of Justice Initiative

We are hiring for Deputy Director and Organizer at the Promise of Justice Initiative! You can view the position announcements at the link below -- and feel free to share with your friends and associates! https://lnkd.in/gdp-5RWJ

Today is GiveNOLA Day, and we are hoping to surpass our prior record of individual donors. Can you chip in a few dollars to help? https://lnkd.in/g8RphEms

We are excited to invite you to our May 7 screening and discussion of the deeply moving short documentary Prisons and Plantations: A History of Forced Labor in Louisiana. The event coincides with GiveNOLA Day and will be hosted at PJI's event space, the Industrial Gardens. Please RSVP to attend and help us spread the word! RSVP: https://lnkd.in/giTDxXDc

"A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison. Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where men are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work, for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all." PJI's lawsuit over these inhumane practices is mentioned in this excellent piece from AP. https://lnkd.in/gDYkRrHF

“The Farm Line is unambiguously coercive and exploitative,” said Samantha Kennedy, PJI Executive Director. “It’s beyond time for Louisiana to end this degrading and unconstitutional practice.” https://lnkd.in/gxtHMy4s #EndPlantationPrisons #Louisiana

We're seeking feedback from our community of supporters! This quick survey only takes about 5 minutes and will help PJI continue to work for positive change in the criminal legal system for all people. Thanks!

NEWS: The Promise of Justice Initiative and Rights Behind Bars have filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Department of Corrections and Prison Enterprises challenging the harsh and unconstitutional conditions of forced agricultural labor at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola “Louisiana’s evolution from mass enslavement to mass incarceration is undeniable,” said Lydia Wright, PJI Associate Director of Civil Litigation. “Angola’s fields were once cultivated by enslaved people. Today, the State forces incarcerated men—primarily Black men—to plant and pick plantation crops by hand, without safety equipment and in extreme heat and humidity. The State extracts this labor by threatening incarcerated men with serious harm, including disciplinary confinement, if they protest the unsafe work conditions or fail to meet arbitrary efficiency quotas. This is cruel and unusual.” Read the release here. #endplantationprisons #Louisiana #civilrights #incarceration #decarceration

"What was the point of this system? To break us, physically and spiritually. To humiliate us into submission. To control our bodies. To own our bodies. To make money off our backs." Terrence Winn is a survivor of compulsory agricultural labor at Angola. Read his full intro in our NEW REPORT on forced prison labor in #Louisiana. https://lnkd.in/gGjaY-Zx #EndPlantationPrisons