– Reflections from Aleph Volunteer Bassy Frankforter It was trepidation and an overwhelming fear of the unknown that accompanied me on my visit to Danbury Federal Correctional Institute. I was entering uncharted territory, a place that has most typically been visited by men; I was walking into a prison to share some Chanukah joy and […]

When a husband goes to prison, everybody suffers. But unlike him or his children, his wife is not only traumatized. She is now also burdened with a seemingly-impossible task: to raise the children and simultaneously earn enough money to support the family—alone. With the primary breadwinner behind bars, that task is often enormously challenging and […]

[fusion_text]WASHINGTON, D.C. – Over two-hundred state and federal judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, scholars and prison officials attended the first ever Alternative Sentencing Key Stakeholders Summit in March of this year, to advance criminal justice reform nationwide.   “We heard from those on the right and left of the political divide, and it’s clear they are not […]

The mattresses had been much thinner and harder in his former prison, which lacked air-conditioning and was full of gang activity. So why did L.S. (who is currently serving time in Kansas) want to transfer back there? Because at that first correctional facility, he said, a rabbi would occasionally come to learn with the inmates—and […]