Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc.
Stopping the revolving door . . . .
Neither imprisonment or the life after should mean the loss of all the rights and attributes of citizenship.
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Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. Stopping the revolving door . . . . Neither imprisonment or the life after should mean the loss of all the rights and attributes of citizenship.
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Photographs from: Citizens' Fourth Annual Awards Program October 2010
Policy Recommendation to increase higher education Opportunities for people in prison Fact Sheet on Muslims in NYS prisons
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Mika'il and Wanda DeVeaux
About us Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. was founded in 1992 initially to address the needs of family members who had incarcerated loved ones. The organization was incorporated in 1996, initially providing supportive counseling to the wives and family members of the incarcerated, cultural programming in various New York State prisons and delinquency intervention programming for youth. The Internal Revenue Service determined that Citizens was exempt from Federal Income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Mission Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. works to achieve the restoration of all the rights and attributes of citizenship among people in prison or jail and those who have been released in collaboration with other community and faith based organizations at each of the overlapping phases of the community integration process. This work includes advocacy on all levels, preventive efforts targeting at-risk youth and efforts to the strengthen individuals, families and personal relationships affected by experiences with the criminal justice system. Vision No person imprisoned or those released following confinement should lose the rights and attributes of citizenship. Each sentence for a crime committed is a temporary measure aimed at meeting certain societal goals and must ultimately be aimed at reintegration into the community. No person should be perpetually punished. Values We value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. Our work is predicated upon genuine care, concern and respect for those in prison, those at risk of incarceration and their families. Our success is rooted in integrity, teamwork, faith, professionalism, creativity and the quality of our service. We sincerely desire that those in prison not have their lives and minds permanently stained by crime or the criminal justice system, hoping that following encounters with the criminal justice system we may assist in their transformations and engaging the society in which we all live as productive citizens. The Key to Success Loss of citizenship rights . . . inhibits reformative efforts. If . . . (we) are to reintegrate an offender into free society, the offender must retain all attributes of citizenship. In addition, his respect for the law and the legal system may well depend, in some measure, on his ability to participate in that system.* Citizens must be there to help formally incarcerated people take their places in society and with their families. The assistance we give those who attempt to redeem themselves says something about all of us. If we are required to punish, then we are required to make whole following its administration.
*Jeremy Travis, Invisible punishment: An instrument of social exclusion, in Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, March Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind, editors, The New Press, New York, 2002 |
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