10TH ANNUAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR EACH DAY | SEATING FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE | SOME LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE
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About the Event
The Beyond the Bars conference is now 10 years old, as is Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow. During this ten-year period, the movement challenging incarceration and criminalization has grown significantly—in part due to the role of currently and formerly incarcerated and directly impacted people. On the other hand, the total number of people in jails and prisons in the United States has decreased very little over this time. Other trends include an increase in incarceration of people who are undocumented and the criminalization of activism. The organizers hope that Beyond the Bars 2020 will be a generative space to explore strategies that can help further the goal of transformative change—both in the lives of individuals affected by mass incarceration and in the criminal legal systems that have devastated so many lives and communities.
The conference begins Thursday evening, March 5, at MIST Harlem, and runs all the way through the afternoon of Sunday, March 8, with grassroots organizing workshops at the Social Work Building. Highlights include conversations with movement leaders such as Angela Davis and Soffiyah Elijah, plenaries, and film screenings. See the registration page for details.