Behind every prison wall is a human being. Behind every case number is a story. And behind countless incarcerated people are families searching for answers, struggling to be heard, and refusing to give up.
Prison Project exists for those people.
We believe justice should never depend entirely on a person's financial resources, education, connections, or ability to navigate a complicated legal system.
Prison Project is an independent criminal justice advocacy, education, and news platform dedicated to connecting incarcerated individuals, families, advocates, attorneys, journalists, and concerned citizens with the information and resources they need to understand the system and take meaningful action.
We believe accountability should never end when a courtroom closes or a prison gate locks.
To make justice more accessible, government more accountable, and advocacy more effective.
Turning information into understanding, understanding into action, and action into meaningful change.
How Prison Project Began
Prison Project wasn't born in a corporate boardroom, a political organization, or a university research center.
It grew from people who knew what it meant to have someone they loved behind bars.
Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, and friends were trying to understand court decisions, prison regulations, grievances, appeals, medical treatment, and a system that often seemed impossible to navigate.
We compared experiences. We shared documents. We searched for answers. We helped one another understand procedures that nobody had bothered to explain.
Sometimes we celebrated victories. Sometimes we grieved terrible losses. And sometimes we discovered that the only reason a problem continued was because nobody outside the prison knew it was happening.
What started as families helping families became Prison Project.
Over time, those conversations became a community. That community attracted incarcerated writers, former prisoners, dedicated advocates, attorneys, researchers, whistleblowers, and everyday citizens who shared a belief that people deserve fair treatment and institutions must answer for their actions.
And our purpose has continued to grow.
What We Stand For
Meaningful advocacy requires more than passion. It requires accurate information, organization, persistence, and an understanding of how the system actually works.
Independent Journalism & Public Accountability
We investigate and report on issues affecting incarcerated people, their families, and the communities around them.
Our coverage includes prison conditions, medical neglect, disability rights, wrongful convictions, excessive sentencing, prosecutorial misconduct, law enforcement accountability, prison deaths, civil rights, reentry, and failures of government oversight.
We also recognize the people, organizations, and public servants working to make meaningful improvements.
Journalism should do more than generate headlines. It should explain what happened, examine the evidence, identify unanswered questions, and help the public understand why the story matters.
Our reporting is guided by documentation, credible sources, court records, public records, and a commitment to distinguishing allegations from established facts.
We do not believe that every conviction is wrongful or that every government official acts improperly. We believe the facts deserve to be examined, regardless of where they lead.
Advocacy Education & Practical Legal Resources
One of the greatest barriers facing incarcerated people and their families is a lack of understandable information.
Legal procedures are complicated. Filing deadlines can be unforgiving. Court records may be difficult to obtain. Prison policies are often unfamiliar, even to the people expected to follow them.
Through our expanding educational resources, Prison Project works to make complicated subjects easier to understand.
We focus on subjects such as appeals, post-conviction relief, habeas corpus, ineffective assistance of counsel, constitutional violations, grievances, prisoner rights, disability protections, and access to medical care.
Our developing Advocacy Center and Motion Vault are intended to bring educational guides, research materials, practical worksheets, and curated legal resources into a more accessible environment.
Knowledge should lead somewhere.
We want someone with limited legal knowledge to understand the issue they face, identify the information they need, and begin taking informed next steps.
We do not replace attorneys or provide legal representation. We help people become better informed, better organized, and better prepared to seek appropriate assistance.
Connecting Families, Advocates & Attorneys
Too often, people working toward the same goals remain disconnected.
Families need guidance. Advocates need reliable resources. Attorneys need organized information and access to people seeking appropriate legal assistance. Incarcerated people have firsthand knowledge that deserves to be heard.
Prison Project works to bring those communities together.
Through our Attorney Network and expanding professional resources, we are developing ways to improve access to attorney information, legal research, educational materials, and opportunities for productive collaboration.
We believe stronger connections can make advocacy more effective and help valuable knowledge reach the people who need it.
Preserving Stories & Giving People a Voice
Incarceration can make people nearly invisible to the outside world.
Their experiences, concerns, accomplishments, and sometimes their suffering may never become part of the public conversation.
Through initiatives such as Faces of Injustice, personal advocacy pages, contributor stories, and our independent newsroom, we work to preserve those experiences and bring appropriate public attention to issues deserving examination.
Incarcerated people are more than their convictions.
They are parents, children, spouses, veterans, workers, writers, teachers, and members of communities.
Their families matter.
Their rights matter.
Their stories matter.
And when their stories raise serious questions about official conduct, those questions deserve careful investigation.
Rooted in Georgia. Committed to Justice Everywhere.
Prison Project has strong roots in Georgia, where much of our legal research, prison-policy education, and accountability work began.
Our expanding scope includes the Eleventh Circuit, particularly Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, along with federal criminal justice issues and significant developments across the United States.
We follow issues that affect incarcerated people wherever the evidence and our available resources allow us to contribute meaningfully.
Our ambition is not simply to become larger. It is to become more useful.
We want to create resources that families return to, research that attorneys can build upon, reporting that encourages accountability, and educational materials that help ordinary people understand their rights.
Our Commitment to Independence & Integrity
Prison Project is not affiliated with a political party, and our mission is not dependent on who holds public office.
Constitutional rights do not belong to one political party.
Neither does government accountability.