NDN Collective’s Post

Advocacy and Action: Becoming a Voice for Change Post-Incarceration In the journey of transformation, especially after incarceration, becoming an advocate for change is not just a possibility but a profound opportunity. At Prison Professors, we recognize the power of advocacy and the importance of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, even for those in prison. We designed our course, "Preparing for Success after Prison," to empower individuals to use their voice effectively, emulating leaders like Frederick Douglass to overcome hurdles and become a force for positive change. The Power of the First Amendment The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from either promoting one religion over others or restricting an individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government. Join Us and Share Your Journey https://lnkd.in/gV4MkK8q

From our special series 'Beyond Bars: Unpacking carceral systems in Southasia', Haroun Rahimi writes on the history of Afghanistan’s justice and prison systems, and how they have been transformed since the Taliban takeover of 2021: Since the Taliban’s takeover of power in 2021, the Afghan government has undertaken a complete overhaul of the justice sector in Afghanistan, implementing what it considers to be the Islamic system of justice. The existing evidence suggests that the emerging Taliban justice system is likely to prioritise swift corporal punishments over incarceration, especially with regard to women. In this, the Taliban administration claims to hark back to pre-modern traditions. In reality, the system that it is building continues to retain features associated with modern incarceration, including coercion and cruelty, with punishments often meted out to peaceful protesters opposing the Taliban government, many of them women.

Learn more about the history of Japanese American Incarceration as it relates to current exhibition "Kelly Akashi: Formations" with this guest post on our blog from our community partner Densho.

According to #NYPD #data, #hatecrimes against #Jews has surged by forty-five percent in #NewYork City. The State #Senate and #Assembly need to get this critical #hatecrime #legislation across the finish line. This measure would expand the State's #bias #crime #law by making an additional 31 underlying #offenses eligible for the statute's #hatecrime penalty enhancement, including #gang #assault, #rape, #murder and #graffiti. #antisemitism #antisemite #judaism #jewish #haters #hatespeech #firstamendment #criminaljustice #victim #victimization #hamas #israel #israeli #israelhamaswar #gazawar #palestine #palestinian #antizionist #zionism #bds #attorney #lawyer #lawenforcement #fbi #inclusivity #civilrights https://lnkd.in/eX95eC8C

Ms. Slabaugh asserts "Examining this history reveals two important points: first, religious minority groups have played a central role in the progression of religious freedom in prison; and second, over the years, the standard of scrutiny for free exercise claims has not only been easily alterable but also unclear and inconsistent in its application. A glance back to the not-so-distant past confirms that “[t]he difficulties of prison administration create the potential for prisons to succumb to neglect, racism, and religious intolerance and for prison officials to curtail inmates' rights not only when necessary, but also when merely convenient.” Recent legislation, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), has significantly improved the state of religious freedom in prisons by not only offering more protection to religious minorities through a return to strict scrutiny, but also providing a more permanent and effective standard to guide courts in their efforts to balance the competing interests of state and individual. Even so, the unique nature of the prison context, the variety of free exercise issues that can arise there, and an extensive history of overlapping and conflicting legal standards has led to confusion, even today, among courts as to how exactly those standards should be applied in practice."

Dr. Khanna For Supreme Court-1st Amendment of US Constitution Part 1C -- Freedom to Assemble In this podcast on the US Constitution, Dr. Khanna and Gary Scarano review the third part (1C) of the 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof; the right of the people to freely assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress (Correction) of grievances. This wording is very specific and there was some discussion by the Founding Fathers to not include the comma after “assemble”, but they specifically wanted to emphasis that this is a single and distant right not solely attached the “redress of grievances,” but a separate right specifically related to the right for religious gatherings and political gathering to prepare a redress. So the two “rights” are connects, but they are separate. https://lnkd.in/eWUq2nMv

Ms. Slabaugh asserts "Examining this history reveals two important points: first, religious minority groups have played a central role in the progression of religious freedom in prison; and second, over the years, the standard of scrutiny for free exercise claims has not only been easily alterable but also unclear and inconsistent in its application. A glance back to the not-so-distant past confirms that “[t]he difficulties of prison administration create the potential for prisons to succumb to neglect, racism, and religious intolerance and for prison officials to curtail inmates' rights not only when necessary, but also when merely convenient.” Recent legislation, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), has significantly improved the state of religious freedom in prisons by not only offering more protection to religious minorities through a return to strict scrutiny, but also providing a more permanent and effective standard to guide courts in their efforts to balance the competing interests of state and individual. Even so, the unique nature of the prison context, the variety of free exercise issues that can arise there, and an extensive history of overlapping and conflicting legal standards has led to confusion, even today, among courts as to how exactly those standards should be applied in practice. This inconsistency is due in large part to two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. "

Does this remind anyone of South Africa from the days of old????? “To put that in perspective, in NSW, 3.2% of adults are Aboriginal and one in 29 Aboriginal men in NSW are currently incarcerated,” the Bocsar executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, said. “The mass incarceration of Aboriginal people in NSW is the direct result of government policies which have been developed without community input and which give the green light to continued discrimination against Aboriginal people in the legal system.” “This includes the extraordinary new wanding laws which have done nothing to reduce violent crime in other places they’ve been tried. Just weeks ago, despite the record-high number of Aboriginal children in custody, the government chose to pass dangerous bail laws that are the harshest in the country. The premier himself admitted that the laws will imprison more Aboriginal children, so we can expect to see this shameful record climb even higher,” she said. This is exactly how a belligerent treats the people of the occupied nations. Same here, same everywhere the manifestations of colonialism have always treated the occupied peoples. I wonder why the Queensland Police Service recently disbanded the First Nations Advisory Group when the aim of the ICPCG is “Indigenous Community/Police Consultative Groups are established to develop better relationships between police and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities in the State of Queensland, to allow police to serve these communities in ICPCGs are committed to”, maybe to push the NSW agenda??? Maybe the belligerent manifestation of colonialism is wanting to enforce its agenda upon all the peoples of the continuing pre-colonial Aboriginal Nations with whom they do not have any formal agreement to do so all the while that it is acting contrary to the Charter of the UN. Looks very much like the UN and its numerous courts are toothless tigers in all this. It was the Commonwealth of Australia that was decolonised not the geographical Australia, huge difference, there is a manifestation of colonialism left after the decolonisation of the Commonwealth of Australia and that IS the decolonised Commonwealth of Australia. Remember the sovereignty of the first-in-time pre-colonial Aboriginal and Islander Nations is neither ceded nor extinguished, and the Commonwealth of Australia cannot give nor take that sovereignty. https://lnkd.in/dTXJcSgj

We must understand when we choose incarceration to quench our thirst for justice; we are choosing to use violence as a solution. Isolating; dehumanising punitive practices have now been proven to be barbaric antiquated violent and obsolete when attempting to support people to improve or sustain changing their behaviour. You don’t change things by focusing on what is, you build a new system that makes the old one obsolete. Paradoxical theory of change! Now is the time we are ripe for an innovative evolution. #incarceration #prisonreform #changemakers #otherwordz #languagematters Justice Reform Initiative #jail #prison

✨ Thrilled to share my recent short essay on Dignity Under Confinement for the Center for Values in International Development. This piece delves into the complexities of human dignity in the context of incarceration, and emphasizes the importance of adopting acceptable standards for confinement across the globe. 📖 Read the full essay here -