2024 Conference

On October 15-17, 2024, the Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative housed at the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law is hosting Flashlights: Jailhouse Lawyers, Legal Empowerment and Building a Just World Together, a historic convening of jailhouse lawyers in dialogue with justice allies that illuminates the power and promise of legal empowerment to advance justice from the inside out.

Rooted in legal empowerment, Flashlights makes visible the transformative possibilities that come from shifting power, knowledge, and resources to directly affected communities so they can know, use, and shape the law. In so doing, directly impacted communities activate systems, lead justice struggles, and become the authors of their own liberation. During this groundbreaking gathering, jailhouse lawyers will be in conversation with educators, advocates, artists, researchers and more as they reflect on how legal empowerment and jailhouse lawyering advances justice from the inside out. Read the full program.