If governments actually care about getting people off the streets, they must invest in their community — not incarceration.
Learn more about the Housing First approach👇
Instead of throwing people behind bars, here’s what actually works: Housing.
Housing First programs offer housing with no strings attached. It recognizes housing as the first step in responding to homelessness, rather than something to work toward.
We know that arresting people doesn’t set them up for success. In fact, just a single day behind bars can derail someone’s life – and unhoused folks are especially vulnerable to the lingering effects of incarceration.
Graph showing that unhoused people are less often jailed for "violent" charges compared to others, and more often jailed for charges related to survival behaviors
Graph showing that of those who are jailed, unhoused people are more likely to be booked into jail multiple times in a year
This means that even for minor nonviolent offenses, more people who are experiencing homelessness are getting swept into the system – where they’re more likely to languish behind bars and be re-arrested in the future.
The reality is that in the U.S., the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased significantly. At the same time, more cities have adopted cruel laws that criminalize being unhoused.
Just 3 months ago, a NM mayor said, “you simply cannot arrest your way out of” homelessness. But that’s exactly what his admin is trying to do.
Arresting people for sitting on a sidewalk–basically just existing while homeless–doesn't make anyone safer.
If you're interested in learning about the history and current state of prison labor, our friends at @boltsmag.org put together an informative breakdown 👇
Chart titled: Prison labor - Usually mandatory and often unpaid
Across the US, incarcerated people earn just pennies per hour (or LESS) to keep prisons running without real say in the matter
This exploitation is allowed thanks to the 13th Amendment's "exception clause," which allows slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime
Graph showing that the vast majority of incarcerated workers have work assignments that help keep prisons running
Today is Employee Appreciation Day, and we're thinking of the thousands of incarcerated people who are exploited every single day to keep prisons going.
For incarcerated people, #books are power are hope. #Bookbans are acts of oppression. Challenging them requires understanding them.
3/18. 1p EST. 👇🏽
@themarshallproject.org hosts a virtual event teaching you how to investigate book bans.
Graph showing that policies blocking ICE access to jails have kept immigration arrest rates lower in some states.
What's the difference between states like Florida, where ICE arrests are sky-high, and states like Illinois with much lower rates of arrests? It's all about police & jails.
Arrest rates out of homes, workplaces, etc are similar – but reining in sheriffs makes all the difference.
NEW: As we've seen the raids & ICE surges, everyone has had so many questions. 'what can states do?' 'what can cities do?' 'what can one ask a sheriff, governor, zoning board, to do?!'
you sent us a lot of your questions.
we just answered 9 of them. i learned a ton myself, i think you will to.
Bad Omens: Reform rollbacks in Washington D.C. are a warning sign for state-level advocates (via @prisonpolicy.org)
https://pulse.ly/lt1bpizuh3
Infographic with text: Since 2017, funding for immigration policing & detention has increased by, while funding for libraries has only increased by 22%
A reminder as lawmakers vote on DHS funding:
In less than 10 years, funding for immigration policing and detention swelled by 171%.
“Who wants to get a major case over having extra tampons? And that sounds really ridiculous to people on the outside, but I mean, that would happen."
In prison, cruel policies punish people for having a period, and menstruation is treated like misconduct:
Flow chart showing that individuals and families pay more $5.6 billion in telecom services and commissary costs each year.
This exploitation is happening across the U.S.
Last year, it cost families $5.6 billion to keep in touch with their incarcerated loved ones via call/messaging, as well as to provide $$$ for commissary.
The U.S. cannot keep letting prisons & telecom companies get away with this.
Screenshot of text: "Complaints have surfaced about overly cropped images during video visits, calls costing 10 cents per minute (up from 6 cents in a move advocates said was not announced), video visits at 16 cents per minute and 5 cents per minute for perusing and streaming video content. The costs can quickly balloon - two hours of daily streaming costs an estimated $2,184 a year, out of reach for most who are incarcerated."
Families rely on these video calls to keep in contact during a traumatic time – and they aren't cheap.
In NV, as quality has gone down, the price has skyrocketed, now costing almost 2x as much while lining the pockets of telecom companies and prisons.
thenevadaindependent.com/article/neva...
Screenshot of a video call out of a NV prison. Source: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-inmates-and-families-say-tablet-program-is-more-predatory-than-practical
On the left is what video calls in an NV prison used to look like. On the right is what they look like now: Ridiculously framed, cropping out everything but someone's face
Another example of incarcerated folks being exploited by horrible tech that wouldn't fly in the free world:
The image is a call to action with the text: "CALL your members of Congress! Call the capitol switchboard and ask for your Senators or Representatives. Use this call script…" It includes the National Immigrant Justice Center logo.
![This image contains a script for a phone call to a senator or representative. It reads: "Hello, my name is [your name], and as a constituent I urge [Senator or Representative name] to oppose any legislation that expands immigration detention and gives ICE or Border Patrol more money to detain and harm our community members." The phone number (202) 224-3121 is at the top. At the bottom, there is a logo for the National Immigrant Justice Center.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:keijnig54v5rx3mlzucl3gf3/bafkreiakknmemsk3gfv2xikkoakiyj3x6zh7zotgodatmvwtg5rf6nsx5a)
This image contains a script for a phone call to a senator or representative. It reads: "Hello, my name is [your name], and as a constituent I urge [Senator or Representative name] to oppose any legislation that expands immigration detention and gives ICE or Border Patrol more money to detain and harm our community members." The phone number (202) 224-3121 is at the top. At the bottom, there is a logo for the National Immigrant Justice Center.
THIS WEEK the House is again voting on more funds for ICE & Border Patrol. Our pressure has been working! Tell Congress to reject more funds to terrorize our communities.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Call (202) 224-3121 & send a message to your Senators & Reps now: https://immigrantjustice.org/StopICE
What if we sent help, not handcuffs, to someone in crisis?
Join us 3/25 to learn how communities are responding to mental health and substance use crises with care instead of jail.
Register here → safetybound.org/demands
While the U.S. has made public health strides in treating HIV, vulnerable folks–like Black men and people in the criminal legal system–have been left behind. Stripping away treatment does not make anyone safer.
Learn more 👇
Screenshot of text: "The biggest change took effect in Florida on Sunday, when officials cut off benefits for at least 16,000 residents living with H.I.V. The state also will no longer cover Biktarvy, the most widely prescribed H.I.V. medication."
And now, 16,000 people living with HIV in Florida will lose access to treatment.
For them, the stakes of this public health failure are even higher.
U.S. map showing that most states still have laws criminalizing HIV on the books, as of 2023.
Take a look at a state like Florida. It has one of the highest in-prison HIV rates and some of the most oppressive HIV-related laws.
In 2018, more than half of the people with prison sentences for HIV-related crimes were Black.
These twin epidemics are no coincidence, and in the Deep South, the alarming parallels are even more obvious.
Graph showing incarceration and HIV infection disparities for Black men.
HIV disproportionately impacts communities that are already marginalized by poverty, inadequate resources, discrimination — and mass incarceration.
Black men in particular are overrepresented in the number of people with HIV *and* in the number of people behind bars.
Tens of thousands of people in the U.S. are losing access to HIV treatment. And at the same time, most states still have laws that criminalize HIV.
The consequences of this policy failure will be dire and ripple through vulnerable communities.
Graph showing that people in state prisons disproportionately report having disabilities
From hearing to vision-related disabilities, incarcerated people have much higher rates of disability compared to the general US adult population.
#WorldHearingDay
People are uniting together, uplifting their shared values to welcome people and keep everyone safe, calling on businesses to take a stand, and demanding ICE out of their communities.
🔗Learn how to fight back against detention warehouses in our new warehouse toolkit: bit.ly/noicewarehouse
Keep in mind that Texas has one of the biggest carceral systems in the world – and it still cannot supply clean drinking water, a basic human right, for folks behind bars.
Read the full story here 👇
Screenshot showing cost of water at the TDCJ commissary. Source: https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/bfd/Commissary_Price_List.pdf
Incarcerated people in one TX prison are warned by some staff & doctors to "drink bottled water" because the tap water is too risky.
...except a water bottle from commissary is completely unaffordable when you make $0 per day, as incarcerated folks in TX do.
