​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 6, 2014–San Rafael–Ellen Barry announced in July that she will be stepping down as Executive Director of Insight Prison Project, effective August 5, 2014.  Ellen joined IPP in June of 2012, bringing her truly extraordinary experience and legacy with her. Barry, a MacArthur Genius winner, Soros Senior Justice Fellow, and former Nobel Peace Prize nominee, has worked as an advocate for prisoners and formerly incarcerated people, racial justice, and human rights for over 35 years. She founded Legal Services for Prisoners with Children--a nonprofit organization which has advocated on behalf of incarcerated parents, their children and family members--and she was executive director of that organization from 1978 to 2001. From 2002 to 2012, she worked as a consultant on criminal justice and other human rights matters through Women and Justice Issues. 

"In my two years with IPP, I have been honored to work alongside so many incredibly dedicated and talented staff members and volunteers” says Barry, “and it has been a privilege to lead an organization that does such extraordinary and transformative work with prisoners and crime survivors. While I will no longer be the Executive Director, I look forward to being a part of the IPP family for many years to come.” During her time at IPP, Barry worked to bring strong financial management structures to the organization, involvement in the national progressive, criminal, and restorative justice communities, and expansion of IPP’s transformative programs. 

"IPP was blessed to find Ellen available and willing to take the helm of a Restorative Justice organization, if only for a couple of years, and we are grateful for her service,” says IPP President, Billie Mizell. “Having followed Ellen’s work and accomplishments long before she came to IPP, I have been truly humbled to have the opportunity to work with one of the great social justice change-makers of our time. Although we will miss Ellen terribly, we know that her passion for the work will continue to give us many opportunities to work together in the future.”  

Mizell will be stepping in as Interim Executive Director, effective today, August 6, 2014. “Billie has a proven commitment to the mission and values of Insight Prison Project,” says Dionne Wilson, IPP’s Board Vice President. “Her organizational skills have benefited IPP immensely during the time she has led the Board and she is the ideal person to lead the organization during this transition. We are thrilled that she has agreed to assume the Interim Executive Director role.” Mizell has worked in the Bay Area for the past 15 years as a legal analyst, litigation specialist, and writer for numerous social justice nonprofits, as well as the State of California. She has worked on many death penalty and wrongful convictions cases. She has investigated and written about the Angola 3 case for more than a decade, often working directly with Amnesty International. She assists the Northern California Innocence Project and teaches a class at Santa Clara Law. She is also on the Board of Directors for Death Penalty Focus. She has been leading IPP’s Board of Directors since 2012.

Restorative Justice: Reconciling Face to Face (Making Contact - radio stories and voices to take action)

Victims and perpetrators sitting down face to face…it can help heal their wounds, and our society. Incarcerating our way out of crime clearly hasn’t worked, and it’s costing us billions. Meanwhile, school suspensions are reaching record highs.

Now, Institutions across US are finally starting to consider problem solving methods other than punishment. Restorative justice is gaining ground–in the schools, and behind bars.

Click here to listen to Restorative Justice: Reconciling Face to Face.

Featuring:   

• Sonya Shah, Insight Prison Project Justice Program Director
• Paul Jacobsen, Rosa Parks elementary school principal
• Mekaylah Porter, Marilyn, Rosa Parks elementary students
• Yari Sandel, restorative justice coordinator
• Helen Parker, San Francisco’s restorative practices department coach
• Nancy Potts, mother of son killed by drunk driver
• Chris Scezech, drunk driver
• Radha Stern, mother of murder victim
• Sam Johnson, San Quentin prison inmate

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How does restorative justice work in California? This segment of Your Call (KALW Radio 91.7) talks about programs in California’s prisons that bring victims and offenders of violent crimes together in dialogue. How do these programs work? And what can be gained from alternative methods of rehabilitation? Learn more about restorative justice with members of the Insight Prison Project, a nonprofit that works inside San Quentin State Prison. 

Guests:
Sonya Shah, Advocacy Director, Insight Prison Project.
Dionne Wilson, Survivor Outreach Coordinator, Californians for Safety and Justice.
Jerry Elster, Facilitator, Insight Prison Project.

Click here to listen to the complete segment of "How does restorative justice work in California" ​

Insight Prison Project's new yoga class for veterans is highlighted in The Huffington Post! This new class is designed specifically for incarcerated military veterans with a focus on applying yoga for trauma-related issues, including PTSD. 

This is an interview with Ron G. Self, founder of Veterans Healing Veterans from the Inside Out (VHV-FTIO), a program he started at San Quentin State Prison in 2012 specifically to address psychological, emotional and ethical issues of veterans related to their active duty in the military, and to explore how their personal experiences may have contributed to behavior that resulted in their committing a crime. The program offers cognitive behavioral processing and mind/body integration support and seeks to share its healing work with veterans on the outside. 

Click here to read Yoga: Incarcerated Veterans Taking Healing Into Their Own Hands ​