How to Get Involved

Stay informed:

Join the CCE's Criminal Justice Outlook group!

Join Now (Slack)! (Prison Project and CAL have merged for 2020-2021)

Take action:

Active Engagement Opportunities

Active PEAK Inquiry Projects

Current State of the Issue at CC

Groups

Visit our student org webpage for the most current info and student leader contacts.

• Prison Project
  • Overseen by Professor Carol Neel from the History Department
  • Working alongside Collective for Anti-Racism and Liberation (CAL)
  • Student Leaders: Charlotte Blum (c_blum@coloradocollege.edu) and Eloise Kelly
    (e_kelly@coloradocollege.edu)
  • The mission of the Prison Project is prison reform advocacy and education on our campus. We believe that every person is complicit in the injustices of incarceration, so we must utilize our power and resources to make change in our community.
• Justice Watch
  • Student Leader: Emma Fowkes E_Fowkes@coloradocollege.edu, Isabelle Wagenvoord and Koray Gates
    
    
  • The goal of Justice Watch is to be the eyes and ears of the community by addressing the lack of a group that independently monitors local judges and attorneys to keep them accountable for unfair treatment. It also seeks to address a lack of awareness, on the part of students, of what goes on in the justice system at a local level. To address these problems, Justice Watch brings students to the El Paso County courthouse to monitor these legal players. This group offers an opportunity for low time commitment volunteer work that has a high impact on the community and the members involved. 

Local Organizations

• Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition
  • CCJRC has been a pioneer in a strategy called Community Reinvestment whereby state funds are provided to support community-led and community-based safety strategies. This investment is targeted to help people and communities most impacted by crime and the overuse of the criminal justice system.
  • Based in Denver, Colorado
• Teen Court
  • Colorado Springs Teen Court is a unique and highly successful approach to juvenile
    crime. This independent non-profit program provides an alternative to the regular
    Municipal Court sentencing for first-time misdemeanor offenses committed by young
    people between 10 and 18 years of age. The purpose of Teen Court is to hold youth
    offenders accountable for their actions and to assist them in making better life
    choices through relevant sentencing options.
• Positive Impact CO
  • A faith-based organization that supports formerly incarcerated adults in their
    transition back home
• Padres y Jóvenes
  • Padres & Jóvenes Unidos is a multi-issue organization led by people of color who
    work for educational equity, racial justice, immigrant rights and advocating for equal
    access to achieve a better quality of life.
  • Based in Denver, Colorado
• Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission
  • PPJPC is a voice for social justice and nonviolence in the Pikes Peak region.

Resources

Panels

• Watch the Criminal Justice Coalition Issue Panel, from Thursday, March 11, 2021.
  • Facilitated by Denise Geronimo '24
  • Panelists:
    • Sophie Cardin '22, CC Student, Leader of CAL Group
    • Juaquin Mobley, Community Works
    • Dean Williams, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections
    • Steve Handen, Chaplain, El Paso County Jail
    • Mike Siddoway, CC Faculty, Mathematics & Computer Science Department; works with the Liberal Arts in Correctional Facilities Initiative
    • Alberto Hernandez-Lemus, CC Faculty, Philosophy Department; works with the Liberal Arts in Correctional Facilities Initiative

Local Information

• As Denver Pulls Police out of Public Schools, Colorado Springs Increases Law Enforcement, by Denise Geronimo, Cipher Magazine.
• “On Racism, Policing, and Protest” on June 18th -- the reading list from panel members can be found near the bottom of this doc. (all episodes can be found here)
• The Law Enforcement Integrity bill, SB20-217, was signed by Governor Jared Polis on Juneteenth
• Information about the Law Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Commission, which will serve in an advisory role to the City Council, the Mayor, and CSPD, can be found here. Over 800 CS residents applied to join!
• Learn more about the Colorado Springs Community Response Team (CRT) in a podcast from Behind the Springs featuring Colorado Springs Police Sergeant Frederick, Colorado Springs Fire Department Sergeant Cooper, and therapist Alli Briggs.
• Learn more about El Paso County Behavioral Health Connect Unit (BHCON).

Documentary Films

• “13th,” (Netflix) directed by Ava DuVernay, provides an in-depth look at how the the U.S. prison system operates

• Listen to lawyer, activist, and founder/director of the Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson’s talk today for his thoughts on the power of reinforced identity and affirmation against injustice, relating to his work with individuals who are incarcerated and on death row. Check it out through this link.
• This is a great short video narrated by John Legend about the effects of money bail as it relates to the US criminal justice system
• Truths About the U.S. Prison System and Criminal Justice Reform Now! are both great TED Talk playlists cultivated by the platform.

Podcast Episodes & Series

• “The US is addicted to incarceration. Here's how to break the cycle” by Robin Steinberg and Manoush Zomorodi, a TedTalk Daily podcast that covers topics such as bail that are not as often understood or mentioned in the discourse around incarceration.
• The podcast series called “Justice in America” from The Appeal, featuring Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith III, “is a podcast for everyone interested in criminal justice reform—from those new to the
  criminal justice system to experts who want to know more.” The first episode? Called “Justice for the Rich, Money Bail,” this first episode talks about the major need for change when it comes to our money bail system in the U.S.
• Police reform: The Case for Defunding the Police podcast episode from the New York Times “The Daily” series
• This Land is a podcast series covering “two crimes nearly two centuries apart” that have “provided the backbone to a 2020 Supreme Court decision” made recently, in July, determining the fate of five tribes and a huge amount of land in Wyoming.
• “Confronting the American Way of Policing:” a podcast episode featuring Alex Vitale, a sociologist and police reform advocate
• 70 Million, a documentary podcast series focused on criminal justice reform

Websites, Databases & Newsletters

• #EightCantWait Campaign covers 8 steps for police reform that are grounded in research to decrease police violence by 72%; alternatively, the #8ToAbolition Campaign argues that police abolition is the only path forward to reducing violence in our communities
• National bill being drafted by House Democrats for police reform (also this article)
• An overview of why the movement is growing
• MPD 150, a Minneapolis-based organization looking to abolish police in the city and nation-wide