Law & Policy
This system requires some people accused of crimes to pay money to be released from jail while awaiting trial.
What is cash bail?
This rapper, known for hits like Dreams and Nightmares, became a prominent advocate for criminal justice reform after his experiences with incarceration and probation.
Who is Meek Mill?
This country has the largest incarcerated population in the world.
What is the United States?
This approach to justice focuses on repairing harm and addressing the needs of victims, responsible parties, and communities.
What is restorative justice?
During the Gift Game, this is the most common gift that incarcerated individuals choose to receive.
What is a Get Out of Jail Free Card?
These laws require judges to impose at least a certain amount of prison time for specific offenses.
What are mandatory minimum sentencing laws?
This influential civil rights leader spent several years incarcerated in Massachusetts before becoming one of the most prominent voices of the Civil Rights Movement.
Who is Malcolm X?
From 2022 to 2023, the imprisonment rate for this group increased by 4.1%, more than double the 1.9% increase for men.
Who are women?
This City of Boston office helps formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reintegrate into their communities by connecting them with resources such as housing, employment, and support services.
What is the Mayor's Office of Returning Citizens?
PAO first started volunteering at MCI-Framingham through this Boston College department.
What is the Theater Department?
This amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime following a conviction.
What is the 13th Amendment?
This political activist and scholar spent approximately 16 months in jail awaiting trial in the early 1970s before being acquitted of all charges. She later became a leading voice for prison abolition.
Who is Angela Davis?
Approximately this percentage of U.S. adults have had an immediate family member incarcerated for at least one night.
What is 45%?
This directory is a compilation of services in Greater Boston available to individuals who were previously incarcerated.
What is the Coming Home Directory?
This officer at MCI-Framingham has a love-hate relationship with PAO volunteers.
Who is Officer Nash?
These sentencing laws increase penalties for people convicted of multiple offenses, sometimes resulting in life sentences.
What are three-strikes laws?
In 2025, this student became the first participant in Boston College's Prison Education Program to graduate on campus.
Who is Nurudeen Alabi?
Black Americans make up approximately this percentage of the U.S. prison and jail population, despite representing only 14% of U.S. residents.
What is 42%?
In Massachusetts, most eligible misdemeanor convictions can be sealed after this many years, helping returning citizens reduce barriers to employment and housing.
What is three years?
MCI-Framingham, the oldest operating women's correctional institution in the United States, was founded in this year.
What is 1877?
This 2018 piece of legislation reshaped federal incarceration by expanding rehabilitation programs, addressing excessive drug sentences, and allowing for the earlier release of some incarcerated individuals.
What is the First Step Act?
This group of women incarcerated in Massachusetts became known for advocating for the recognition of battered woman syndrome as admissible evidence in court, helping challenge how the legal system treated survivors of domestic violence who fought back against their abusers. A documentary was also made about them.
Who are the Framingham Eight?
The United States spends at least this much annually on its systems of incarceration.
What is $445 billion?
Founded in 1997, this Massachusetts nonprofit operates the College Behind Bars Mentoring Program, connecting incarcerated college students with volunteer mentors who provide academic and emotional support.
What is Partakers?
An incarcerated individual at MCI-Framingham said this phrase when a PAO volunteer showed up wearing the same color as her.
What is "Me and my twinninem"?