Reports and Resources

Resources and Organizations

Partnership for Safety and Justice Prisoner Support Directory

• Updated annually by PSJ, the Prisoner Support Directory contains national and northwest regional resources for incarcerated people. We also offer a Transitions Directory for people in Oregon looking for support in their transition out of prison.

• How to Advocate for an Inmate with Mental or Emotional Needs is a brochure with resources and information for family members of incarcerated people with mental illnesses. View a print version of the pamphlet.

• The Prison Activist Resource Center has a national Prisoner Support Directory of resources for incarcerated people.

• Oregon CURE organizes support groups around Oregon for family members of incarcerated people. Several useful publications are available on their web site.

• Read Multnomah County's Measure 11 brochure.
• Read Washington County's Measure 11 brochure.

• The National Directory of Programs for Women with Criminal Justice Involvement lists programs and resources in all 50 states for women involved in any stage of the criminal justice system. Created by the Women's Prison Association and National Institute of Corrections.
• The Portia Project provides legal assistance (primarily child custody, innocence, and family law) to women incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and on post prison supervision.
• Childhood Disrupted: Understanding the Features and Effects of Maternal Incarceration is a report by Volunteers of America outlining ways to support mothers and children during and after incarceration.
• Children on the Outside: Voicing the Pain and Human Costs of Parental Incarceration is a 2011 report from Justice Strategies that documents the devastating impact of parental incarceration on children.

• Critical Resistance is a national grassroots organization committed to ending society's use of prisons and policing as an answer to social problems. Their website also has resources and publications for prisoners, former prisoners, and their families.

• FAMM is a national organization that works to reform state and federal mandatory minium sentencing laws. They produce a useful resource Frequently Asked Questions about How to Find and Work with a Lawyer

• Created by the National Lawyers Guild and Center for Constitutional Rights, the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook is a free, comprehensive resource for filing federal civil rights complaints.

• The American Civil Liberties Union has created several fact sheets for prisoners including Know Your Rights sheets on mail, the Prison Litigation Reform Act, healthcare, and more.

• PLN is the resource for prison-related journalism in the U.S.

Reports and Publications

• Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies, a 2011 Justice Policy Institute Report,  examines how private prison companies are able to wield influence over legislators and criminal justice policy, ultimately resulting in harsher criminal justice policies and the incarceration of more people.
• Finding Direction: Expanding Criminal Justice Options by Considering Policies of Other Nations is a 2011 report created by the Justice Policy Institute. It compares and contrasts the criminal justice policies and social, economic, and governmental structures of five countries – Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Finland and Germany – to the United States.
• State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America's Prisons is a 2011 report from the Pew Center on the States comparing recidivism rates across state prison systems.
• Surviving Prison in California: Advice By and For Transgender Women is a 2011 publication by and for transgender women and supported by the TGI Justice Project.
• One in Thirty-One: The Long Reach of American Corrections is a 2009 report from the Pew Center on the States detailing the expansion of America’s criminal justice system.
  
• Collateral Costs: Incarceration's Effects on Economic Mobility is a 2010 report from the Pew Economic Mobility and Public Safety Performance Projects examining incarceration, income and social mobility.

• A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management. This is a handbook for managing prisons within a human rights framework. Written by the International Center for Prison Studies in Great Britain.

• Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime Rates, from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, reviews a wide range of programs across the country and concludes that Washington could save money and promote public safety by investing in a variety of programs rather than in prison construction.

• From Victims to Survivors to Offenders
• Pathways to Prison
• Survivors of Abuse in Prison
• When the Victim is Jailed
  
• Sexual and Physical Violence Among Girls in the Juvenile Justice System
• Adolescent Girl's Offending and Health-Risking Sexual Behavior: The Predictive Role of Trauma

Other Information

• The Oregon Department of Corrections web site contains statistics on Oregon's prison system, DOC rules and policies, contact information for superintendents and administrators, and other useful information.