Reflections of an Activist: an Interview with Brigette Sarabi

Brigette Sarabi recently stepped down after nearly eight years at the helm of Partnership for Safety and Justice (formerly Western Prison Project) as our founding executive director. Justice Matters’ editor Kathleen Pequeño sat down with her to reflect on her work over the years.

Kathleen Pequeño (JM): I know that you’ve worked with so many groups on the issue of criminal justice reform over the years. Tell me what you think you’re going to remember the most about the organizations you’ve met and worked with?

Brigette Sarabi (BS): In this region, what stands out for me is the passion and total dedication of people who’ve taken on this work at the grassroots level. There’s an incredible tenacity. Mostly, the people I’m talking about have been incarcerated or had a loved one incarcerated and they know how important it is to work for change. They’ve jumped in without money, with no great amount of support, but just because it was the right thing to do, and they keep on doing the work because it is the right thing to do. I’m honored to have worked with so many great folks in our region. There are so many examples… let’s take Connections, in Montana: we first met them as “Con Connection” at our Utah conference in 2002. There’s Casey Rudd, a former prisoner, who started helping people with post-prison release plans, and helping people find housing. Then she expanded to include voter registration, and she’s met with DOC officials about release issues and prison conditions issues, because she knew it had to be done.

In Utah, there’s Prisoner Information Network, led for years by Marianne Johnstone, the mother of a prisoner. Here she was, a retired teacher… she could’ve relaxed a little, but she saw people returning to prison because of not getting the help they need to succeed once they’re released. She saw the families in distress, the need. She started with hygiene kits, and clothes for people being released, and rides from the prison into Salt Lake City. And then getting them registered to vote, more assistance, taking on systems that could meet their needs better, like workforce development.

Then of course, up in Washington State, there’s Justice Works!, They’re a great activist group, largely led by prisoners and former prisoners of color, and their family members. They’ve taken on a wide range of prison activism and education. Everything from legislative advocacy to a television show on cable access.

And finally, there were all the groups in Oregon, when we started in 1999, that were great to work with: Parents Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment (PACUP), “…after seventeen years…” and Oregon CURE, which is still going strong, and others. I guess the thing that stays with me the most is how incredibly generous the activists and the groups have been with each other. Maybe it’s because this is such a hard issue and we need each other—we need our allies. It was amazing to me how people came together and worked together with real solidarity.

JM: And the groups that you’re talking about, they’re all pretty small but incredibly effective.

BS: Yes, the groups in our region—and this is true around the country—they’re small, maybe one paid staff or one or two people making a modest living, and many volunteers, and it’s amazing how much they accomplish. Especially when you look at the size of the problem, and the size of the systems that they’re taking on. The departments of corrections, with thousands of employees, the legislatures, the district attorneys and the prosecution system—these are massive systems, but we have these intrepid groups of volunteers who are out there saying, “hey, we’ve got problems with this system, and we have an idea about how to change it.” And it’s amazing how much people are able to get done.

JM: And over the years, I know you’ve had a chance to meet and work with activists on this issue from all over the country. How do you think Oregon stands out compared to other parts of the country?

BS: The movement for criminal justice reform is particularly strong in Oregon—it’s strong in many states, but one of the things we have going for us is really solid relationships between grassroots activists who have been directly affected by the criminal justice system, and legal advocates, other professionals, and activists on other issues like health care and education. I think this really adds to our strength as a movement.

Now, speaking specifically of Partnership for Safety and Justice, one thing what we have that is unique is that we work with all the constituencies directly affected, including people who have survived crime and violence. I think this is a very powerful approach, and we’ve seen other groups in this movement around the country who look at this approach and say, “this makes sense.” We all know that the communities that are overly affected by crime and violence are also the communities that are disproportionately affected by incarceration. Many of us, our families include people who have been in conflict with the law, as well as people who have survived a crime against them or an act of violence. So we know we need to be involved in policy making about community safety. We have direct experience that can shape new approaches, approaches that really can create safer communities, without an over-reliance on prosecution and incarceration.

JM: What’s been the hardest part of the work for you? The most challenging?

BS: The hardest thing all along has been to go and talk with our members, especially our incarcerated members, about our legislative priorities, knowing that it’s not going to benefit many people who are incarcerated right now. There aren’t quick fixes. I think we all felt bad going into a prison talking to people there who want to see reform, saying, “It’s not going to make a difference for you, but it will make a difference for another person, for another family.” Many people would say, “We know, we get it.” They understand how difficult this work is and that it happens in small steps… they understand that change is going to take a long time. But that doesn’t make it any easier.

As an organization, one thing that I’ve seen that’s hard for both Partnership for Safety and Justice and other criminal justice reform groups is that there is just so much to be done. We’re not a single issue group: we talk about prison conditions, sentencing issues, re-entry barriers and services, the needs of survivors. So the challenge, given this large issue with all these sub-issues, is “How do we focus to be most effective?” I think we’ve gotten better at it, but it has taken years, and it’s difficult because all these issues are huge and we can’t work on all of them at the same time.

JM: Overall, where do you see the movement for criminal justice reform headed?

BS: I think the movement for criminal justice reform is strong. I think the landscape for reform is mixed, which is better than it was ten years ago, when it wasn’t very mixed—it was just bad. But we know that there has been a change in public attitudes about crime and punishment over the past several years. Not that the public wants to simply open the prison gates, but they’re much more aware of this monster we’ve created, this incarceration boom that has led to the biggest population of incarcerated people in the world. We’re seeing this change in attitude in polling, in national polls and California polls, and some polls from the east coast last year: the public wants to see a focus on prevention, on re-entry, and they don’t want to see harsh penalties for drug addiction. They see that prison doesn’t work for dealing with drug or alcohol addiction or mental illness. This focus on prosecution and incarceration has resulted in this huge and expensive system that’s not making us any safer.

States are not putting enough resources into prisoner re-entry, into education and youth services, but this year we’re seeing a real surge in prison construction, in state after state. These prison systems are growing in spite of the good, solid work of activists, in spite of the gains that we’ve made with the public, who see the problems with such a large, expensive prison system.

It’s maddening at times, and the fight ahead is pretty tough…but more and more good people are with us. I think we will see some rational, progressive change in the criminal justice arena in the next few years.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 06/Winter 07 issue of Justice Matters.