Movements Against Mass Incarceration - Incite at Columbia University

Active Project

Movements Against Mass Incarceration

The United States is home to one of the world's largest prison populations, both on an absolute and per capita basis. Moreover, this population has increased dramatically—by roughly five times—since 1980.

In response, a growing national conversation has attempted to address the sentencing laws, drug policies, racial disparities, systemic inequalities, and other factors that have contributed to mass incarceration. Among the most important change agents influencing the national conversation on prison and jails are incarcerated people themselves, who act by developing political visions, organizing networks, building and influencing institutions, and educating and challenging non-incarcerated publics.

Headed by David Knight and supported by a three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation, Movements Against Mass Incarceration will create a first-of-its-kind archive that centers the political ideas and movement-building of incarcerated people. The project will focus on movements led by Black and Brown people who have experienced incarceration, in addition to allied individuals and organizations outside of prisons. In doing so, the project will work toward several goals, including creating go-to historical source materials, facilitating fellowships and participatory opportunities wherein individuals and organizations can create derivative works from the project's source materials, and resourcing movements that can be supported from preserving and sharing movement histories, including their own.

“The cost of silence is a lot more compared to the price I'll pay if I speak up. And so I've got to speak up.”

Teresa Njoroge
0
Incarcerated mothers visit with their families at a Christmas party at Rikers Island. Photo by Viviane Moos/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images.

Between December 2023 and March 2026, the Movement Lab will conduct oral history interviews with 200 organizers, activists, and politically oriented artists who are directly impacted by incarceration. To conduct this work, the Lab is partnering with five grassroots social-change organizations in five US geographies.

Explore the project

0
0
0
0
0
00
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Timeline

  • During this phase, the project secured and trained personnel, worked with partners to develop interview procedures, and conducted the initial interviews.

  • During this phase, the project is developing the first phase of its digital archive, conducting 75 additional interviews, and beginning to commission creative works.

  • During this phase, the project will conduct an additional 100 oral history interviews, award an additional tenseed grants to project participants to launch independent projects, commission additional creative works for public exhibition, and provide continued support to partner organizations.

Related News

More Projects

  • go to Hey Neighbor
    Hey Neighbor
    Connecting communities from all five boroughs of New York City around storytelling and portrait photography. Part of Assembling Voices
  • go to Organizing for New York
    Organizing for New York
    Conducting the first comprehensive study of organizers across social justice struggles in New York City. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • go to Boca Chica, Corazón Grande
    Boca Chica, Corazón Grande
    Against environmental and economic threats, documenting the history and geography of Boca Chica Beach through the eyes and memories of its community members. Part of Assembling Voices
  • go to Sojourners for Justice Press
    Sojourners for Justice Press
    Connecting emerging and established Black publishers with alternative techniques, networks, and knowledge production—as well as each other. Part of Assembling Voices