NYU Law’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights Awarded $811,000 Grant to Advance Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative

Major award by the Mellon Foundation will support the development of a first of its kind digital archive to illuminate the role hundreds of jailhouse lawyers play in advancing justice in and out of prison across the U.S.

New York, NY - February 15, 2023: Today, the Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (JLI), a project of the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law, announced $811,000 in grant support for Flashlights, a first of its kind digital archive to grow recognition for the profound impact incarcerated advocates play in advancing justice for themselves and their peers inside and outside of prison. Flashlights is supported by a generous award from the Mellon Foundation’s newly announced Imagining Freedom Initiative.

This grant will support JLI to work in partnership with Zealous, an organization harnessing the power of storytelling for social justice, to create a digital archive of letters, poems, and artwork written and created by jailhouse lawyers. These artifacts showcase the extraordinary knowledge, humanity and resilience of these incarcerated advocates, while also illuminating the extreme violence they endure for engaging in legal work.

For millions of people in the US, the law is often out of reach, impenetrable, or a threat. This is especially true in prisons, where over 2 million people are ensnared in America’s mass incarceration system without meaningful access to legal support, resources, or community. As a result of this injustice, incarcerated individuals experience prolonged detention, a lack of awareness about their rights, and remain isolated from their peers, families, and outside organizations. Upon release, these inequities feed into cycles of incarceration, poverty, and economic immobility.

Jailhouse lawyers are incarcerated individuals who teach themselves the law to fight injustice and build community for themselves and their incarcerated peers from within and across prison walls. The JLI was founded by former jailhouse lawyer Jhody Polk who has built a national network of over 500 current and former incarcerated advocates in 48 states and Puerto Rico. Together this movement is working to ensure everyone in prison can understand, use, and shape the laws that impact their lives.

“From engaging in legal advocacy to shaping policy or building community within prisons—our members are gaining the agency and skills to challenge their convictions, defend their parental rights and other critical protections, and demand improved conditions from within prison walls. For those returning home from incarceration, the knowledge and agency fostered by JLI empowers our members to seek dignified employment, educational and social opportunities for themselves and their communities. We see this as a critical factor to breaking the cycle of mass incarceration and building safer, more just communities, inside and out of prison”, said Jhody Polk.

Core to the mission of the Bernstein Institute at NYU School of Law is to raise the visibility of jailhouse lawyers as essential members of the legal ecosystem, and detail the ways they fight for justice, despite extraordinary challenges and restrictions.

“For too long, the loudest voices against mass incarceration have come from outside prison walls. With the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, Flashlights calls on the public to shift their gaze and listen directly to those living through and fighting against injustice on the inside. Told through a powerful collection of letters, poems and art, this project will prompt a dialogue across distances, where we witness jailhouse lawyers sculpting community with each other, and sharing their struggles, demands, and vision for collective recovery with the outside world,” said Sukti Dhital, Executive Director of the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law.

The grant will also support the expansion of JLI’s national membership and provide resources to convene feminist circles in and out of prison to illuminate the experiences of women-identifying jailhouse lawyers.