March 12, 2021
Welcome to the University of Oklahoma Carceral Studies Consortium Newsletter. The Carceral Studies Consortium strives to build a community for intellectual exploration that includes faculty, staff, graduate students, community members, practitioners, and organizers.

Carceral Studies is concerned with the independent function and nexus of the political and social systems that organize, shape, sustain, and entrench practices of punishment, surveillance, incarceration, and harm.
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Carceral Studies Conversations Podcast
"The Afterlife of Incarceration" with Dr. Reuben Miller
On this episode, Dr. Reuben Miller discusses how people are made invisible and what effect that has on them and society. Miller also delves into the issues of legal and cultural citizenship, the afterlife of incarceration as a system of control, and the racism that inhibits progress on the carceral state. Miller is an Assistant Professor in the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. His research examines life at the intersections of race, poverty, crime control, and social welfare policy. His new book, Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration (2021), is based on 15 years of research and practice with currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, their families, partners, and friends.

Today's News
According to new research from researchers at University of Birmingham and Utrecht University published in Annals of American Association of Geographers, prisons with more green space have lower levels of violence and self-harm. Researchers mapped green spaces in prisons (e.g., trees, lawns and shrubbery) in England and Wales, and they compared that information to available data about incidents of self-harm, prisoner assaults on staff, and violence between prisoners. “The study is significant,” the announcement states, “since it demonstrates that the beneficial effects of nature contact, already recognised in other institutional contexts such as hospitals and schools, are also to be found in prisons.” Lead researcher Dominique Moran concludes: “inclusion of green space should be a key design element for new prisons, and existing prisons should convert existing outdoor areas to provide more green space wherever possible.”

Deanna Van Buren, one of just 500 licensed Black architects in the country, is the co-founder and executive director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, an architecture and real estate nonprofit in Oakland, CA whose mission is “to end mass incarceration by building infrastructure that addresses the root causes of what can entangle individuals in the criminal justice system, be it poverty, racism or disparate access to education and resources.” DJDS works on spaces and buildings across the country that foster restorative justice and community building, such as Restore Oakland, a community hub in East Oakland in which youth nonprofits operate, eviction and tenants’ rights counseling occurs, and a living wage restaurant provides job training. 

The American Physical Society, a major scientific organization with over 55,000 members, announced that it will consider a city’s policing record when choosing sites for its annual meetings. These annual meetings bring cities thousands of visitors and an influx of money. The first major scientific organization to take such a stance, the APS will consider: “whether city police are trained in de-escalation measures; whether an independent body exists to investigate shootings and deaths in police custody; and whether a city provides open data on the use of force by its police, as well as demographic information about the targets of that force.” Ximena Cid, chair of the physics department at California State University, notes that BIPOC scientists must be more cautious of their surroundings, especially when traveling, which “weighs then into the mental capacity of being present at a conference and being engaged with your scientific community.”

Although police have been using facial recognition technology across the U.S. for nearly two decades, Massachusetts’ legislature is one of the first to regulate the use of such technology. Concerns about the use of facial recognition arise from issues of both privacy and accuracy. Massachusetts, unlike other states, took an approach that wasn’t all-or-nothing: “The state managed to strike a balance on regulating the technology, allowing law enforcement to harness the benefits of the tool, while building in protections that might prevent the false arrests that have happened before.” The new bill mandates that officers obtain permission from a judge to have a search, yet still the officer can’t run the search themselves. Instead, the officer must have someone from the state police, the F.B.I. or the Registry of Motor Vehicles perform the search. This law comes after a multi-year campaign in the state led by Kade Crockford of the ACLU, which used public records to illuminate abuses and the lack of oversight. 

In this article, student journalist Jana Hayes analyzes publicly available Norman Police Department data from 2016-2019 and describes that Black people in Norman are three times likelier than white people in Norman to have had contact with police. This places Norman higher than the national average (two times as likely). Concerns relating to police bias have long been an issue in Norman, a former ‘sundown town.’ The Norman Police Department recently partnered with OU’s School of Social Work to analyze Police Department data and identify the causes of disparities and recommend policy changes.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to make phone calls in county-run jails and juvenile detention facilities free. The county’s jails had previously charged up to $0.33 per minute for phone calls and $2 for voicemails. In addition to the high cost-per-minute, fees are added for services such as putting money into an inmate’s phone account. A portion of those fees ($2.8 million per year) had gone to funding the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department division of inmate services. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who introduced the proposal, argued that “All of those human connections are just so vital,” especially for children of jailed parents. San Diego County will become the second California county to make jail phone calls free, following San Francisco.

Virginia’s lawmakers have modernized laws around HIV exposure by: “repeal[ing] the felony criminal ban on blood, tissue or organ donation by people with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; mak[ing] HIV-testing for people convicted of certain crimes, including prostitution and drug charges, optional rather than mandatory; and strik[ing] down a statute making failure to disclose HIV-positive status before sex a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months jail time.” State Senator Jennifer McClellan, who introduced the bill, argues that criminalization laws are ineffective public health tools. She further argues: “They target and stigmatize people who are HIV positive, even though being HIV positive is itself not a threat to public safety. It makes people less likely to disclose or get tested.”

The Million Book Project’s goal is to curate 500 seminal works of poetry, literature, history, and social thought to be placed in prisons throughout the United States as “Freedom Libraries” and to establish literature ambassadors within each state that will visit facilities and mentor incarcerated people. In this interview with MBP’s founder Reginald Dwayne Betts, he explains: “the Million Book Project is principally an argument that books matter, that books are pathways to freedom.” Betts continues: “If we’re going to put people in prisons, then we should have Freedom Libraries in every prison with them. We should have a beacon of freedom that they see on a regular basis. Books invite people to self-reflect, to imagine different worlds.”  

Over 130 books have been sent to the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in a book drive organized by OU Carceral Studies Consortium board members Emma Colven, Anthony Levenda, and Olivia Robson. Roxie Kirk, who oversees the EWCC library, said “[The books] have been unbelievably helpful during this stressful time. I can’t thank you enough. The women have been devouring them.” The wish list--hosted by independent bookstore Powell’s--remains open for those able to donate: http://bit.ly/taftbookdrive

In a 3-1 decision, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to advance Julius Jones’ commutation application to the second stage of the commutation process—an in-depth review of the case. If the board votes for commutation in the second stage, the application is then forwarded to Governor Kevin Stitt for the final approval or denial. Jones’ case has received widespread national attention. Jones has been on death row for nearly two decades and has continued to maintain his innocence. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater both advocated for the Board to deny Jones’ request. 

Announcements & Opportunities
"Ideating for Convergent Research in Trauma & Advancing Well-Being" (Online)
Led by Dr. Connie Chapple and Dr. David McLeod

March 22, 2021 | 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CT

Join Connie Chapple (Sociology) and David McLeod (Social Work) of the OU Carceral Studies Consortium and CFE in a workshop to jump-start ideas for future collaborative proposals related to trauma & advancing well-being among women, children and families. During this session, OU researchers will exchange ideas across disciplines and begin brainstorming collaborative proposals for external funding. Faculty from arts, humanities and STEM disciplines with an interest in engaging social justice work are encouraged to attend to learn more.
"Abolitionist Pedagogy Workshop" (Online)
Workshop Led by Dr. Sabina Vaught

March 26, 2021 | 1:30-2:30 pm CT

Dr. Sabina Vaught, founding chair of the Carceral Studies Consortium and Professor and Inaugural Chair of the new Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading at the University of Pittsburgh will offer an Abolitionist Pedagogy Workshop on March 26, 2021.
Carceral Studies: Federal Funding Workshop (1 of 2)
Led by Lewis-Burke

April 16, 2021 | 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CT

Led by Bill Ruch of Lewis-Burke, this will be an overview of federal funding opportunities that may be of interest to consortium members. Bill will focus on Department of Justice funding streams

Carceral Studies: Federal Funding Workshop (2 of 2)
Led by Lewis-Burke

April 30, 2021 | 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CT

Led by Beeta Rasouli and Kari McCarron of Lewis-Burke, this will be an overview of federal funding opportunities that may be of interest to consortium members. Beeta and Kari will focus on NSF, NIH/HHS, NEH/NEA funding streams.
Carceral Studies Student Work Prize

Submissions Due May 1st, 2021

The Consortium is pleased to announce a Carceral Studies Student Work Prize. OU students may submit an original essay or creative work produced as part of any course in any discipline during the 2020-2021 academic year that deals with the topic of Carceral Studies, broadly conceived. Submissions are due May 1st, 2021.
NEH's Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant

Proposals Due May 18, 2021 and Sep. 28, 2021

On March 4, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) released its solicitations for the Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants program, which provides matching funds to organizations in order to increase humanities capacity through capital expenditures or endowments. The program offers two solicitations which each fund different project types: The Capital Projects and The Digital Infrastructure.

ABOUT
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The Consortium Newsletter will offer a roundup of a few selected articles that reflect today’s news, organizing, and thinking related to the carceral state. We understand that freedom work is built on education and engagement. Education requires an understanding of contemporary issues informed by their historical context. We hope that these curated articles will help you analyze the issues that we face and understand the community that we strive to construct.

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Land Acknowledgment

The University of Oklahoma is on the traditional lands of the Caddo Nation and the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes. This land was also once part of the Muscogee Creek and Seminole nations. It also served as a hunting ground, trade exchange point, and migration route for the Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Osage nations. Today, 39 federally-recognized Tribal nations dwell in what is now the State of Oklahoma as a result of settler colonial policies designed to confine and forcefully assimilate Indigenous peoples.
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The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. ou.edu/eoo