jailhouse lawyer initiative
lab stories videoToo often, those impacted by the criminal legal system are called on to share their “stories” as a means to influence policy, without space for their input and expertise in the design and implementation of those policies. As a result, even though they are closest to the problem and thereby closest to the solution, they are furthest from the resources to effectuate change.
The Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (JLI) seeks to close this gap. Founded and led by Jhody Polk, a formerly incarcerated jailhouse lawyer from Florida, in partnership with NYU School of Law’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, the JLI invests in jailhouse lawyers as a core strategy to ending the cycle of incarceration. The initiative fuses legal education, movement building, participatory action research and community peace building to bring visibility to jailhouse lawyers and ensure they have the resources to know, use, and shape law. The JLI works under the framework of legal empowerment—shifting power, knowledge, and resources to directly affected communities so they can activate systems, lead justice struggles, and become the authors of their own liberation.
From engaging in legal advocacy to shaping policy or building community within prisons, jailhouse lawyers are gaining the agency and skills to challenge their convictions, defend their parental rights, and demand improved conditions from within prison walls. For those returning home, the JLI equips individuals with the navigation skills necessary for mobility—securing employment, obtaining education, and bringing knowledge back to their community. JLI supports jailhouse lawyers to become leaders in criminal legal reform, coordinating a national network of system-impacted individuals who drive change from lived experience and expertise.
(Kenya Hill)What we are all doing together in concert has more of an effect than what we can truly ever realize. It’s so exciting.
Flashlights calls on the public to listen–to shift their gaze inward into prisons and jails across the country and hear directly from those living and fighting the injustice.