Women remain one of the fastest-growing groups in the criminal-legal system, yet their experiences, needs, and pathways into the system are often overlooked. In this episode, we explore the unique challenges women face and why centering women’s justice is essential to...
Paul Hyman
Both Sides of the Bars – Barriers to Quality Healthcare During Incarceration and Reentry
Reentry service providers have acknowledged that digital equity and digital life skills presents formerly incarcerated people with challenges during their reentry. In addition to this, a new phenomenon is emerging. As artificial intelligence and the “Internet of...
Both Sides of the Bars – Artificial Intelligence – Challenges and Opportunities for People in Re-entry
Reentry service providers have acknowledged that digital equity and digital life skills presents formerly incarcerated people with challenges during their reentry. In addition to this, a new phenomenon is emerging. As artificial intelligence and the “Internet of...
Both Sides of the Bars – Digital Ed. Programs for Incarcerated-Formerly Incarcerated People – July 2025
In the United States, over 600,000 people transition from prisons back into the community annually. While 82% of middle-skill jobs in the country demand digital proficiency, many incarcerated individuals struggle with digital literacy due to limited access to...
Both Sides of the Bars – College In Prison – Increased Civic Engagement After Incarceration – May 12 2025
Providing incarcerated people with a college education has equipped them with the critical thinking skills, political awareness, and advocacy tools that have increased their civic engagement post-incarceration. Considering that Black and Brown people are...
Both Sides of the Bars – Protecting Convicted People from Housing Discrimination – April 14 2025
Given the recent and abrupt erosion of anti-discrimination protections at the federal level, advocates say it is more important than ever to continue the fight for local-level laws to prevent discrimination against people with conviction records. This episode features...
Both Sides of the Bars – Women In Federal Prison System – Challenges-Opportunities for Reform – March 15 2025
The recent increase in incarceration rates among women within the federal prison system means unique challenges the women face upon their release. In this episode, guest Tanya Pierce, the executive director of Life Unbolted, discusses what reform measures are needed...
Both Sides of the Bars – Black Community Health Effect and Criminal Legal System – Feb 13 2025
Not only do various public health issues disproportionately affect the Black community, but they are exacerbated by criminal legal system involvement. Those issues include infectious diseases, substance use, mental health, homelessness, and violence. In today’s...
Both Sides of the Bars – Sing Sing – Rehabilitation Through the Arts – Dec 20 2025
Universally acclaimed by critics -- and nominated for numerous awards -- last year's film "Sing Sing" is based on the "rehabilitation through the arts" program at New York State's maximum security prison. The film focuses on a group of incarcerated men who create...
Both Sides of the Bars – Top Trends in Criminal Legal System Reform in 2024 – Dec 16 2024
In this year-end wrap-up report, an expert in sentencing reform, voting rights, and confronting racial disparities in the criminal legal system looks back at 2024 and explores key changes formerly incarcerated activists, lawmakers, and advocates took to challenge mass...
Both Sides of the Bars – Mass Incarceration Doesnt Mean Less Crime – Nov 22 2024
In the last decade, nearly all 50 U.S. states have declined in both crime and mass incarceration rates, but according to a recent report by The Sentencing Project (TSP), there's a startling disconnect between the two. This report exposes the limited impact of...
Both Sides of the Bars – The Advocacy for Americans’ Right to Vote – Oct 14 2024
Dr. Ronald F. Day, senior VP of The Fortune Society, is joined by two voting advocates: Dana Vickers Shelley, Executive Director of the ACLU of Maryland; and Bonifacio Aleman, a lead organizer at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. They discuss what are the efforts in...
Both Sides of the Bars – The Case for System Reforms to Reduce Youth Incarceration – Sep 2024
Compelling research finds that incarcerating or detaining young people is not necessary or effective. Rather, removing young people from their homes, schools, and communities, and placing them in institutions increases the likelihood that youth will return to the...
Both Sides of the Bars – Raise the Gate: The Case for Cash Assistance for People Leaving Incarceration. – Aug 2024
The period immediately following release from prison is a time of intense vulnerability for far too many people who are otherwise ready to start rebuilding their lives. Without the ability to pay for necessities like housing and transportation, or to contribute to...
Both Sides of the Bars – Supporting The Children of Incarcerated People: A National Parents Day Special. – Jul 2024
The arrest of a parent can be traumatic for many children. The removal of a mother or father from a child’s life forces that child to confront emotional, social, and economic consequences that may trigger behavior problems, poor outcomes in school, and a disruption or...
Both Sides of the Bars – Advancing LGBTQ+ Rights In the Shadow of Mass Incarceration: A PRIDE Month Special. – Jun 2024
Spotlighting the ongoing struggle to keep members of the LGBTQ+ community safe, advocates from across the country unite to challenge narratives and craft impactful solutions. Amidst rising anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric, transformative organizations and groups...
Both Sides of the Bars – How Mandatory Minimums Perpetuate Mass Incarceration & What To Do About It. – May 2024
There is widespread evidence that mandatory minimum sentences produce substantial harm with no overall benefit to crime control, according to a recent report by The Sentencing Project (TSP). Mandatory minimums are legal provisions in each state and the federal...
Both Sides of the Bars – Correction: It’s Time to Rethink Parole in the Age of Mass Incarceration – Apr 2024
The United States alone locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. And yet, apart from clichés – “paying a debt to society” … “you do the crime, you do the time” – there is little sense collectively in America regarding what constitutes retribution or...
Both Sides of the Bars – Incarcerated Women, Disrupted Families – Mar 2024
Andrea James, executive director and founder of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Serena Martin-Liguori, executive director of New Hour -- share insights into the challenges faced by incarcerated women and the...
Both Sides of the Bars – NY Gives Clean Slate – Feb 2024
In this episode of BSOTB, host Rob DeLeon – deputy CEO of The Fortune Society – and his two guests discuss the importance of the Clean Slate Act. They are Katie Schaffer, director of organizing and advocacy at Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), and Ismael Diaz...
Both Sides of the Bars – 13th Forward – Jan 2024
In this episode of BSOTB, two members of 13th Forward – Jacalyn Goldzweig, leader of the 13th Forward Coalition for The Legal Aid Society, and Wilfredo Laracuente, 13th Forward leader, educator, and formerly incarcerated advocate, discuss their current legislative...
Both Sides of the Bars – Criminal Justice Pioneer Retires – Dec 2023
JoAnn Page, president of The Fortune Society, is retiring. She led Fortune for 34 years, growing the non-profit from a staff of 20 and a budget of $700,000 to a staff of over 500 and an annual budget of more than $60 million. With that growth, she transformed the...
Both Sides of the Bars – Housing Discrimination – Nov 2023
People returning home from incarceration continue to be punished in so many ways: they struggle to find work, secure loans, gain an education, acquire needed social service benefits, and many times are denied housing.
Both Sides of the Bars – Public Safety Without Mass Incarceration – Oct 2023
With 2023 marking 50 years of mass incarceration in the U.S. -- the prison population has expanded by 500% since 1973 -- there is a clear need to reimagine the country's public safety infrastructure, according to a new report by The Sentencing Project (TSP) which...