Category: Events

Join PLAP!

For over 50 years, PLAP members have fought on behalf of people incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons. Our members continue to virtually represent clients in disciplinary hearings and parole hearings.

We seek to empower people incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons; to train our community in client-based advocacy and instill a commitment to public interest and social justice; and to participate in conversations about incarceration and engage in efforts to promote the rights of incarcerated people.

If you’re interested in joining PLAP, join us at a new member training!

Friday, September 18, at 12:00 pm
Sunday, September 20, at 2:00 pm
Tuesday, September 22, at 6:00 pm

Registration link: bit.ly/plapnewmember

Questions? Scheduling conflict? Contact Jack Lubin at jlubin@jd22.law.harvard.edu!

Upcoming PLAP Event: “A Conversation with Jules Lobel: Public Service Litigation & Solitary Confinement.”

Here is the link to the event: http://clinics.law.harvard.edu/plap/event/a-conversation-with-jules-lobel-public-service-litigation-solitary-confinement/

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City Agrees to Pay $850,000 to End Suit Over Inmate’s 2004 Beating Death

New York City has agreed to make a large payment to settle a lawsuit claiming violence against a city inmate. Learn more here.

Teach-In TOMORROW about the link between prisons and urban violence

WHEN: Tuesday, November 15, 6-8pm

WHERE: 4th Wall Project, 132 Brookline Ave (Fenway) Boston

FREE to the Public

WHAT: Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Joyce has repeatedly stated that recent surges of urban violence are directly linked to the prison system. Despite the complexity of this violence, the media will not cover prison matters. In 2002, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections banned media from prisons, allowing the prisons to operate without independent oversight. This dialogue will look at the impact of this policy on the already vulnerable population of prisoners and possibilities for interrupting the cycle of incarceration and violence. Guest includes Conan Harris (StreetSafe Boston), True-See Allah (Nation of Islam), Charles Yancey (Boston City Councilor), Darrin Howell (Mass Uniting), Pastor Paris Cherry, John C. Williams (Brockton) and others.

TransCEND and MTPC Screening of “Cruel and Unusual”

Monday, November 14, 2011, 6:00 PM
AIDS Action Committee
75 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain (near the Jackson T stop)

Shot over three years, this high-definition documentary film tells the story of five transgender women housed in men’s prisons as they face rape, violence, solitary confinement and denial of medical care.  It challenges the viewer’s basic ideas about gender and justice through braids of poignantly graphic stories, vibrant landscape portraits and stark prison footage from across the United States.  A Transgender Awareness Week event.

For more information, visit http://www.masstpc.org/events/taw/ or call TransCEND at (617)450-1102 or -1103

From Attica to Abolition: An Evening to Honor Edwin (Eddie) Ellis

Join the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice for an evening to honor the Attica prison uprising, explore prison abolition and honor Eddie Ellis, a living legend.

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 5:00 PM
Austin Hall, Ames Courtroom, Harvard Law School
1515 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

Son of Jamaican immigrants, Ellis was born in Harlem, December 1941. At the age of twenty-five, he was director of Community Relations for the New York City branch of the Black Panther Party. In 1969, caught up in the infamous FBI operation which systematically attacked organizations like the Panthers and other radical groups, Ellis was arrested and accused of killing a man he had never before seen, had no connection to, and no motive for slaying. While serving a twenty-five year sentence in New York state prisons for a crime he did not commit (from 1969 to 1994), Ellis survived the Attica massacre and was a trailblazer for prison education. He continues to advocate for economic and social justice and is now spearheading policy reform across the nation. The event will include film clips and a panel discussion.

Hosted by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.
Panel will include:
Soffiyah Elijah, Correctional Association of New York
Edwin (Eddie) Ellis, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
Kaia Stern, Prison Studies Project at Harvard University
Christopher Stone, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Including excerpts from the film The Last Graduation: The Rise and Fall of College Programs in Prison.

For more information, visit http://charleshamiltonhouston.org/Events/Event.aspx?id=100146

Reading of The Castle: play by former inmates

Venturing Out writes,

“Originally written and performed Off-Broadway by four ex-offenders, The Castle interweaves their real life stories from childhood to crime to creating straight and sober lives filled with hope and courage. Through emotionally compelling monologues, the play conveys a powerful message about the challenges that ex-offenders face and societal treatment of people coming out of prison.

The Castle is the first off-Broadway play to be comprised entirely of formerly incarcerated actors.”

The staged reading will be performed on December 8 as part of a fundraiser for Venturing Out, a Wellesley based non-profit dedicated to developing entrepreneurship among incarcerated and court-involved adults and high-risk youth.

Tickets can be purchased here and more details can be found here.

Prisoners’ Legal Services Fundraiser and Film Screening – This Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Bingham McCutchen

Support PLS — which promotes the safe, humane and lawful treatment of Massachusetts prisoners through civil rights litigation, administrative advocacy, client counseling, and outreach to policy makers and the public — by attending their upcoming “Stemming the Tide” fundraising reception in downtown Boston. There will be remarks by by Judge Nancy Gertner, former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, and Assistant House Majority Leader Charles Murphy.

Following the reception, there will be a screening of Cindy Firestone’s critically-acclaimed documentary “Attica.”  All are welcome to attend either or both portions of the event.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Reception: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Film and discussion: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Bingham McCutchen, One Federal Street, Boston, MA

Sponsors: Bingham McCutchen, Law Offices of Howard Friedman, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Rankin & Sultan, Salsberg and Schneider, Stern Shapiro Weissberg & Garin.

For more information, and to RSVP, visit http://www.mcls.net/

Harvard Law School Book Drive to Benefit the Prison Book Program

Starting Monday, October 24, the HLS Student Bar Association will be collecting books for prisoners through the Prison Book Program all week in the Hark. For more information on the types of books needed most and to learn more about the Prison Book Program, drop by our table, visit www.prisonbookprogram.org, or email ebailey@jd12.law.harvard.edu.

October 5: FAMM national call-in day

From Families Against Mandatory Minimums:

On Wednesday, October 5, FAMM members will join other national organizations and thousands of people across the country in a National Call-In Day. People across the country will call Senate leadership – Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – and ask them to make the criminal justice system more fair, support public safety and reduce costs to taxpayers by passing S. 306, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act.

S. 306 would create a bipartisan commission to review current criminal justice policies and make recommendations for system-wide reform. We believe that any review of the criminal justice system will necessarily include a review (and rejection) of mandatory minimums.

Talking points and contact info available here.