Jackie Sumell shares her experience being mentored by Herman Wallace of the Angola 3. This mentorship led her to create The Solitary Gardens, a work of performance art exploring the intersection of gardening and criminal justice reform. She shares insights into how art can be used for social activism.

In this interview, Raj shares the social and economic conditions in which Silicon Valley Debug was founded. He discusses Debug as a powerful environment for the development of personal and collective agency and power in the face of grave social concerns. Although Debug addresses a variety of social issues, an emphasis on criminal justice system reform in particular arose out of a communal desire to challenge the racialized abuse of police power in the area. Eventually, this advocacy work expanded into the courtroom as well. As Raj explains, through what he terms “participatory defense,” the chosen and blood-related families of the accused or incarcerated are able to contribute to the defense and positively affect sentencing outcomes.

LaNaisha discusses her role in the Re:Store Justice organization and her personal connection to mass incarceration as a system-impacted survivor.

Liz, a volunteer with Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS), shares her experiences and thoughts on visiting and corresponding with incarcerated people at El Reno in Oklahoma.

Yukari Kane describes her time working for the journalism guild at San Quentin State Prison. She also describes the organization that she co-founded, the Prison journalism Project. She goes into depth about the experiences of incarcerated writers in and outside prisons.

Ken is a volunteer for Prison Visitation Services (PVS). He shares his experiences visiting incarcerated individuals–mostly in military prisons. He describes some of the unique conditions in military prisons. He also emphasizes the strength and importance of his relationships with the individuals that he has visited over his time with PVS.

Lori Strong details her experience working as part of Parenting with Purpose and helping incarcerated parents and their families build stronger relationships and with various aspects of life after incarceration.

Jack shares his experiences working with Prison Visitation and Support. He describes the process he had to go through to be accepted as a visitor by the prison, as well as the differences between state and federal prisons. In addition to PVS, Jack also shares his experience with donating books to incarcerated people.

The founder of the nonprofit Prison Writers, Loen Kelley, talks about her experience forming the organization and her career in journalism.

Mark is a volunteer and local coordinator for Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) in Lexington, Kentucky. In this interview, Mark discusses his experiences with PVS, as well as how his volunteer work with the organization has affected his views of mass incarceration. From his conversations with incarcerated individuals in men’s prisons over his years with PVS, Mark’s outlook on the criminal justice system has been shifted toward a more sympathetic and more merciful treatment of incarcerated individuals.