For every 100,000 people who live in Massachusetts, 275 are incarcerated – a rate that is higher than almost any democracy in the world (source: Prison Policy Institute).

Certain politicians try to stoke fear against our loved ones in jails and prisons. But we know the truth: the criminal justice system is tearing our families and our communities apart. Holding millions of people in undignified conditions is a choice we don’t have to keep making.

We believe investing in a better, more holistic approach to public safety is how we make justice and liberty for all our reality. Until we get there, we’re fighting to immediately address the policy decisions that keep our loved ones locked up and hold us back from starting life anew once released.

Right now, members in Springfield and Holyoke are fighting to restore the right to vote for all incarcerated people, in partnership with the No Longer 3/5ths Coalition.

The right to vote is the most basic tenet of our democracy – and yet incarcerated people are systematically disenfranchised.

The coalition’s name references the 3/5ths compromise, which counted enslaved people as 3/5ths of a person when it came to voting rights. The right to vote is the most basic tenet of our democracy – and yet incarcerated people are systematically disenfranchised. Because Black, brown and poor communities are over-policed and the cash bail system favors the wealthy, most incarcerated people are Black, brown, or poor. The coalition is fighting to stop history from repeating itself.

We believe that everyone has the right to vote. We believe everyone has the right to live with dignity. Email us to get involved.