our
Initiatives
PARTNERSHIPS
Partnerships at J4EM are rooted in a deep commitment to working with the most marginalized communities and uplifting their strategies for change.
We believe that those closest to the harms of carceral systems hold knowledge essential to envisioning alternatives, and we structure our collaborations to ensure that this wisdom shapes policy, scholarship, and practice. We actively encourage policymakers and scholars to engage perspectives they might otherwise lack access to, creating the conditions for genuine dialogue and meaningful partnerships. At its core, this work cultivates recognition, critical reflection, and solidarity—foundational pillars of a democratic society. Collaborating with key stakeholders and communities, we aim to motivate, inspire, and embolden participation in confronting urgent, often intractable challenges.
Liberation Live!
At J4EM, we are proud to partner with Liberation Live!, a visionary initiative that began inside Connecticut prison classrooms when students in “Readings in African American Studies” imagined turning their coursework into a night of collective art, scholarship, and resistance for their college community. What began as a single showcase has grown into a movement: live performances, a Book Garden that sends reading materials to incarcerated students whose education has been disrupted, and a newsletter linking communities inside and outside prison walls through shared texts and ideas.
At the heart of this work is the Liberation Live! Zine, created and curated by incarcerated students themselves. This quarterly publication captures poetry, essays, artwork, and testimony that expose inhumane prison conditions while centering the voices of directly impacted people as catalysts for change. The zine not only documents injustice but also declares its refusal to let these realities remain hidden. It bears witness to confinement’s human costs—not only for incarcerated individuals, but also for their families, loved ones, and communities—and mobilizes readers, policymakers, and the public toward reform. You can read the latest issue of Liberation Live! here.
For J4EM, supporting Liberation Live! means amplifying the stories, insights, and visions of those most affected by mass incarceration. These creative works do more than describe injustice; they spark collective imagination about what justice, education, and community could look like beyond prison walls. By bringing these experiences into classrooms, public forums, and policy conversations, we help build a movement where art and scholarship fuel action, insisting that society cannot ignore calls for dignity and systemic change.
Carceral Studies Journalism GuilD
The Carceral Studies Journalism Guild (CSJG) at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California, is transforming how stories of life behind bars are told and heard. With support from Yale Institute, CSJG is democratizing free speech by centering the anonymized and uncensored testimony of justice-impacted witnesses, enabling incarcerated journalists to curate an accurate historical record of mass incarceration.
This growing network of journalists—composed of incarcerated college students and graduates across multiple correctional facilities—navigates censorship, security restrictions, and the structural barriers designed to silence them. Armed with whatever tools are available, from DOC-issued tablets to limited-access laptops—or sometimes nothing at all—CSJG members embody a “by any means necessary” ethos to document and share their experiences, exposing the realities of confinement to audiences beyond the prison walls.
Through its partnership with J4EM, CSJG also contributes to the Inside Knowledge | Carceral Studies Archive, a growing digital repository preserving testimonies, essays, and creative works by incarcerated authors for scholars, practitioners, and the public. Together, this work ensures that the voices of those living through mass incarceration are not only heard but shape how history, policy, and public memory record the carceral state.
In July 2025, CSJG hosted the Inside Knowledge Journalism Symposium at Valley State Prison in partnership with J4EM, convening more than 170 participants for panels, performances, and workshops co-led by incarcerated journalists, faculty, and artists. Projects like My Teachable Moment—a first-person documentary series directed by CSJG journalist Dominick J. Porter and produced by CSJG founder Ghostwrite Mike—demonstrate the power of storytelling as resistance.
partners
OTHER INITIATIVES:
ADVOCACY
Reconceptualizing legal strategies as a means of structural repair and restoration, ensuring outcomes that are fair and effective.
REFORM
Advancing evidence-based approaches that translate into durable institutional and policy change, improving the equity and accountability of legal systems.
EDUCATION
Developing accessible research and civic learning tools that empower system-impacted communities, students, and the broader public to think critically about law, democracy, and safety.