Prisoner Rights and Resources - Inmate Advocacy Organizations

¤ Prisoner Rights and Resources – Inmate Advocacy Organizations ¤

¤ National and local resources related to inmate corrections, prisoner rights and prisoner advocacy groups. Help and support organizations for inmates, and the families of incarcerated prisoners serving time in the US federal and state prison system. Assistance for both the incarcerated, and post-incarcerated men and women.

The resources listed here are not all-inclusive, and are not affiliated with Prison Inmate Penpal. If you know of a resource which may be helpful please submit it here.

We take no responsibility for, and exercises no control over, the organizations, views, accuracy, copyright
or trademark compliance or legality of the material contained on the following websites.

¤	All of Us or None All of Us Or None is a national organizing initiative of prisoners, former prisoners and felons, to combat the many forms of discrimination that we face as the result of felony convictions. After serving time in torturous conditions, we were met at the gate with prejudice and discrimination that made our re-entry into society difficult and in some cases impossible. Many of us recognize that our prison sentence never ends as long as the discrimination against us continues.
¤	American Civil Liberties Union The ACLU’s National Prison Project is dedicated to ensuring that our nation’s prisons, jails, juvenile facilities and immigration detention centers comply with the Constitution, federal law, and international human rights principles, and to addressing the crisis of over-incarceration in the U.S. Since 1972, the Project has fought unconstitutional conditions of confinement through public education, advocacy, and successful litigation on behalf of more than 100,000 men, women and children.
¤	Amnesty International USA The official website of Amnesty International in the United States. Our mission is to protect human rights worldwide. Stop torture, defend women’s rights, abolish death penalty and defend the rights of individuals everywhere.
¤	Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents Our mission is the prevention of intergenerational crime and incarceration. Our goals are the production of high quality documentation on and the development of model services for children of criminal offenders and their families for the purpose of education, family reunification, providing therapy and information.
¤	CURE Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) is a membership organization. We work hard to provide our members with the information and tools necessary to help them understand the criminal justice system and to advocate for changes. We believe that prisons should be used only for those who absolutely must be incarcerated and that those who are incarcerated should have all of the resources they need to turn their lives around. We also believe that human rights documents provide a sound basis for ensuring that criminal justice systems meet these goals.
¤	ETC Campaign eTc is committed to Equitable Telephone Charges and formed to help advocate for changes in the prison phone system.
¤	Family and Corrections Network The Family and Corrections Network (FCN) provides ways for those concerned with families of the incarcerated to share information and experiences in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We do this through publishing, sponsoring conferences, liaisons with other agencies, and by providing consultations to organizations and agencies around the US and Canada.
¤	Family Support America Family Support America is dedicated to providing the information, support, and connections that families need to survive. Whether you have questions about child abuse, alcoholism, disciplining children, divorce, or other topics related to families, we can help. If for some reason we are unable to help, we will direct you to someone who can.
¤	FAMM Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is the national voice for fair and proportionate sentencing laws. Learn what you can do today to help reform unfair mandatory minimum sentences.
¤	Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression.
¤	Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all.
¤	Innocence Project The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
¤	Jewish Prisoner Services International Our mission is to provide direct spiritual, outreach and advocacy services for Jewish prisoners and their loved ones while concurrently working in conjunction with several major Jewish organizations and social service agencies. Assistance is rendered throughout the United States, Canada, Israel and elsewhere around the globe. Through our religious and educational outreach programs, we supply books of Judaic interest, Jewish calendars, siddurim, Stars of David, tefillin and Torahs to our incarcerated brethren. In many cases, this is the only way that prison authorities will allow such materials into their facilities.
¤	Justice Denied The Magazine For The Wrongly Convicted which publicizes cases of wrongful conviction, and how or why they occur.
¤	Legal Aid Society of New York The Legal Aid Society is the nation’s oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. Founded in 1876, the Society provides a full range of civil legal services as well as criminal defense work, and juvenile rights representation in Family Court. Our core service is to provide free legal assistance to New Yorkers who live at or below the poverty level and cannot afford to hire a lawyer when confronted with a legal problem.
¤	Legal Services for Prisoners with Children LSPC advocates for the civil rights and empowerment of incarcerated parents, children, family members, and people at risk for incarceration through responding to requests for information, trainings, technical assistance, litigation, community activism, and the development of more advocates. Our focus is on women prisoners and their families, and we emphasize that issues of race are central to any discussion of incarceration.
¤	NAACP Legal Defense Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is America’s legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarship and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans.
¤	National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) was founded in 1976 in response to the Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia which permitted executions to resume in the United States. Our mission: abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and support efforts to abolish the death penalty world wide. NCADP serves its network of over 100 state and national affiliates. NCADP provides them with technical assistance, training and strategic advice and assists in devising public policy campaigns to end, limit or repeal the death penalty, state by state. For advocates committed to ending the death penalty NCADP serves as a clearinghouse with contacts and information.
¤	National Institute of Corrections We provide training, technical assistance, information services, and policy/program development assistance to federal, state, and local corrections agencies. Through cooperative agreements, we award funds to support our program initiatives. We also provide leadership to influence correctional policies, practices, and operations nationwide in areas of emerging interest and concern to correctional executives and practitioners as well as public policymakers.
¤	National Legal Aid and Defender Association NLADA serves the equal justice community in two major ways: providing first-rate products and services and as a leading national voice in public policy and legislative debates on the many issues affecting the equal justice community. We also serve as a resource for those seeking more information on equal justice in the United States. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, feel free to contact us directly.
¤	Partnership for Safety and Justice We work with people convicted of crime, survivors of crime, and the families of both to advocate for policies that make Oregon’s approach to public safety more effective and more just.
¤	Prison Activist Resource Center PARC is a prison abolitionist group committed to exposing and challenging the institutionalized racism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism, and classism of the Prison Industrial Complex.
¤	Rights of Inmates (FindLaw) Even the most chronic or hardened inmates have basic rights that are protected by the U.S. Constitution. If you are facing incarceration, you should know your rights. If you have a family member or friend who is in prison or jail, you should know what their rights are, as well.
¤	Sex Abuse Treatment Alliance Sex Abuse Treatment Alliance (SATA) works to provide information, resources, contacts, and support to individuals, families, defense attorneys, treatment providers, public media, legislators, law enforcement personnel, and other professionals who work with or are interested in issues of sexual abuse and its prevention.
¤	Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc JDI works to end the sexual abuse of all detainees, in the U.S. and internationally. When the government takes away someone’s freedom, it has a responsibility to protect that person’s safety. All inmates have the right be treated with dignity. No matter what crime someone has committed, sexual violence must never be part of the penalty.
¤	Stopmax Campaign AFSC’s STOPMAX Campaign works to eliminate the use of isolation and segregation in U.S. prisons. Our strategies include research, grassroots organizing, public education and policy advocacy to abolish solitary confinement or reduce its use.
¤	The Safer Society Foundation Safer Society Foundation is dedicated to eliminating sexual abuse so that all of us may enjoy safer communities, healthier families and happier lives. Our work focuses on providing resources to help create safer communities through prevention and effective public policy, provide victims with healing and restitution, and provide offenders with the tools to be accountable for their actions and to work towards rehabilitation. We address sexual offending as a public health issue and support efforts to find and implement evidence-based best practices for prevention, treatment, supervision and public policy.
¤	The Sentencing Project The Sentencing Project is dedicated to changing the way Americans think about crime and punishment. The Sentencing Project is a national organization working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration.

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