In the News
2021
NY Cannabis Law is National Blueprint for Pot Expungement (June 2021, Law360)
Open Letter Urges City Council to Pass Fair Chance for Housing Act from Harlem to Hollis (June 2021, Harlem World Magazine)
New York’s Inflexible Parole System Hindering Second Chances, Advocates Say (May 2021, Zenger News)
Biden Falls Short on Criminal Justice Reform in First 100 Days (May 2021, Law360)
Senior Spotlight: [Pinkerton Fellow] Jesse Funtleyer `21 Aspires to Become a Mental Health Counselor, Helping At-Risk Youth and System-Impacted Individuals (April 2021, John Jay College)
Alumna Nakia Greene ’18 Reflects on Her Journey to Academic Excellence and a Career with the Institute fro Justice and Opportunity (April 2021, John Jay College)
‘I Felt I was being Renounced By My Own Community;’ Report Aims to Help People Helm Unregulated Criminal Background Checks (March 2021, New York Daily News)
How Tenant Screening Reports Make It Hard for People to Bounce Back From Tough Times (March 2021, Consumer Reports)
A Hedge Fund’s Bet on Criminal Justice (February 2021, The New York Times)
Incarcerated Students With Life Sentences Are Missing From Inclusion Conversations, Advocates Say (February 2021, Diverse Education)
How Background Checks Harm Formerly Incarcerated People (January 2021, Listings Project)
‘Background Checks and Blocked Opportunities’: A Guide to Navigating Reentry (January 2021, The Crime Report)
Ashland University’s prison program sits at the center of national controversy (January 2021, Open Campus Media)
*This piece also appears in Craine’s Cleveland.
2020
How Trump Made a Tiny Christian College the Nation’s Biggest Prison Educator (December 2020, The Marshall Project)
Biden and Nonprofits: Racial Justice (The Chronicle of Philanthropy, December 2020)
Released From Prison Early Because of COVID-19 (Vice, October 2020)
‘The Writing on the Walls’ Finds Poetry Behind Bars, Projects It Onto Buildings (NPR, October 2020)
Why Are Jail Phone Calls So Expensive? (CBS News, October 2020)
‘It’s a Scarlet Letter That Never Leaves You’: NYC Council Bill Would Help Ex-Offenders By Barring Landlords’ Criminal Record Checks (New York Daily News, October 2020)
De Blasio Administration Fails to Provide Proper Reentry Services for Those Leaving Jail Amid Pandemic, Providers Say (Gotham Gazette, October 2020)
NYCHA’s Rules Are Too Draconian (New York Daily News, September 2020)
Prison Visits Have Been Suspended for Six Months. Here’s What It’s Been Like for Families (Tampa Bay Times, September 2020)
Fair Chance for Housing (YouTube, September 2020)
Efforts to End Racism Must Include Dismantling Housing Discrimination (Gotham Gazette, August 2020) by Devone Nash, a College Initiative alum and member of the Institute’s Fair Chance for Housing Coalition
New York City’s Public Housing Rules Could Force Many Released Prisoners Into Homelessness (The Appeal, July 2020)
Both Side of the Bars | Fair Chance for Housing Before, During, and After COVID-19 (Manhattan Neighborhood Network, July 2020)
Criminal Justice Advocates Demand Incarceration-Related Housing Reform (Kings County Politics, June 2020)
Hotels for detainees? Funding for Temporary COVID-19 Program Nearing End (AMNY, June 2020)
Can College Programs in Prisons Survive COVID-19? (The Marshall Project, May 2020)
*This piece also appears in Mother Jones and The 74 Million.
Trinity Church Wall Street Provides $2.425 Million to Assist Vulnerable New Yorkers During COVID-19 Crisis (Episcopal News Service, April 2020)
As COVID-19 Ravage Florida, Incarcerated People are Still Doing the State’s Hard Outdoor Labor (The Appeal, April 2020)
2019
With Push from Cuomo and Funding from Vance, New York College-in-Prisons Program is Flourishing (Gotham Gazette, December 2019)
How to raise the quality of prison education programs (University Business, October 2019)
John Jay Research Directors Tackle Tough Criminal Justice Issues (John Jay College News, September 2019)
After Inquirer probe, Philly jails will release prisoners earlier and with all of their belongings (The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 2019)
Silverman: Philadelphia’s leadership needs to adopt a culture of continuous improvement (Philadelphia Business Journal, August 2019)
Teaching a Writing Workshop at Otisville Correctional Facility (John Jay College News, August 2019)
Each night, Philly jails release scores of inmates without returning their IDs, cash or phones (The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 2019)
Bianca van Heydoorn and Aviva Tevah appointed to city’s new Office of Reentry Partnerships (Generocity, August 2019)
Repeal of 1990s policy could transform prison education in New York (Times Union, August 2019)
Who’s Helping The 1.9 Million Women Released From Prison And Jails Each Year? (WitnessLA, July 2019)
The Prisoner Reentry Institute Celebrates Its Annual College Initiative Graduation (John Jay College News, July 2019)
Manafort’s Detour From Rikers (The New York Times, June 2019)
A $1.5 million grant aims to expand educational and reentry programs for currently and formerly incarcerated people (NYN Media, June 2019)
With $3.3 Million in New Funding, Mellon Foundation Increases Investment in Funding Prison Education and Re-entry Programs (Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, June 2019)
John Jay College’s Prisoner Reentry Institute Receives a $1.5 Million Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (John Jay College News, June 2019)
Mellon Foundation Awards $3.3 Million for Prison Education, Reentry (Philanthropy News Digest, June 2019)
Andrew Mellon Foundation Awards $3.3 Million to Prison Education Programs (Insight into Diversity, June 2019)
The Prisoner Reentry Institute Celebrates Its First Navigator Certificate Graduation (John Jay College News, June 2019)
How a Top Foundation is Betting Big on Prison Education and Reentry (Inside Philanthropy, June 2019)
Senior Spotlight: Brenneis Nesbitt `19 Envisions a Career in Law (John Jay College News, May 2019)
BMCC Symposium Highlights Educational Opportunity for Justice-Involved Students (BMCC News, May 2019)
Barbering Behind Bars: Using A Community Cornerstone For Criminal Justice Reform (Huffington Post, April 2019)
John Jay’s PRI Advocates to Expand Alternative-to-Incarceration and Reentry Services in New York State (John Jay College News, February 2019)
2018
Ann Jacobs says prisoner parents need contact with their children (Radio New Zealand, October 2018)
Letter: Alison Wilkey: Second chance for people benefits our entire society (Providence Journal, October 2018)
Hickman’s Farms Builds Reentry Housing for Arizona Employees Coming out of Prison (KJZZ, August 2018)
Training The Brain To Stay Out of Jail (The Marshall Project, June 2018)
NYC Agency Uses Brooklyn Gang Raid to Encourage Evictions of Entire Families from Public Housing (In Justice Today, January 2018)
Kicked to curb by NYCHA (Letter to the Editor, NY Daily News, January 2018)
2017
A House for Women Leaving Prison Sits Empty (The New York Times, December 2017)
Programs Let Inmates Earn University Degree While in Prison (VOA Learning English, December 2017)
Female Inmates In Indiana Pitch Plan To Rehab Empty Houses — And Their Lives (Cape and Islands, November 2017)
Getting ‘Life,’ by Saving My Life (Women’s eNews, November 2017)
Returning Inmates Need ‘A Place to Call Home:’ Study (The Crime Report, October 2017)
Second Chances: The Funders Bringing College into Prisons (Inside Philanthropy, October 2017)
Formerly Incarcerated Woman Builds Hope in the Bronx (Medium, October 2017)
Breastfeeding Behind Bars: Do All Moms Deserve the Right? (Huffington Post, September 2017)
How a New York Police Official Targets Thoughts to Fight Crime (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, August 2017)