Rethinking Mass Incarceration

Fall 2017

Designing a Sustainable Future: A New Economy as if People Mattered

Session Eight: Ending Mass Incarceration

Music: Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG0fS4DoGUc
Bob Dylan, "Hurricane" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfiK17FhP4g

Essential questions:

• What is Mass Incarceration?

• What are the economic impacts of mass incarcerations?

• What does a rehabilitative model look like?

Agenda Preview

 Rick’s Rap

Gathering: "A question that I have about mass incarceration is..."

Videos:

            •Robert Reich, “Mass Incarceration, “The Big Picture,” moveon.org, Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3B3di80FY&list=PLM_d2vWvHtwDtdv7G6OeEykgWfy7a4xeY&index=10

            • Michael Moore, “Norwegian Prisons,” from “Where to Invade Next?’ , 2015https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IepJqxRCZY

Speaker: Charlotte King, Chair, Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice

Closing: “Something that I learned in this session was…”

                       

Readings:
• "The Impact of Incarceration in the United States," Public Welfare Foundation, April 2017 http://www.publicwelfare.org/the-impact-of-incarceration/
• "Minimum-Maximum Sentencing Paper," Delaware League of Women Voters http://lwvdelaware.org/files/Position_Paper_Minimum_Mandatory_Sentencing.pdf
• "Reform of Delaware's  Money Bail System," Delaware League of Women Voters, 2015
• "Major Reduction in Delaware's Use of Pre-trial detention," Delaware League of Women Voters, 2015
• "Reduce the number of inmates held in solitary confinement,"Delaware League of Women Voters, 2015

Resources:
•  Charlotte King,"Statement to the Criminal Justice Commission,"Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice and League of Women Voters, October 22, 2015 http://lwvdelaware.org/files/2015-10-22Statement_to_the_Criminal_Justice_Council_10-22-15_v3.pdf

Many states can no longer afford to support public education, public benefits, public services without doing something about the exorbitant costs that mass incarceration have created.

           Bryan Stevenson, author, “Just Mercy”