On Wednesday, November 5, leaders from the MA FreeHer campaign, led by Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, came to speak with NUSL students about their work resisting a 350 million women’s prison project in MA and their concurrent efforts to free women through existing (clemency, parole, diversion) and proposed pathways (Elder Parole, Survivor’s Act, Drug Decriminalization). The conversation ranged from the work of building grassroots power to specific ways that litigation and legislation can be used to advance their work. They also discussed the work of “Reimagining Communities,” which is community-centered work aimed at addressing the root causes of incarceration. FJAH leads this work through their universal basic income program, their participatory defense work, and their community pantry and hydroponic garden, and transformative justice work.

Students were both perplexed by the condition of incarcerated women in Massachusetts and inspired by the campaign’s efforts to resist the prison project. Great connections were formed and NUSL NLG hopes to be able to contribute to the good fight. If you are a law student that would like to get involved, please email caplan.mic@northeastern.edu.