Now in its sixth year, the NLG Foundation’s Guild Grants Program continues to support NLG chapters, committees and projects by providing small grants up to $5,000 each. In the latest grant cycle, we received 31 requests for funding. 11 of the applications were for protest support expenses and infrastructure–such as LO Hats, hotline set-up, databases […]
Issues: Guild Notes Vol. 45 (2020)
Update on Jailhouse Lawyer Handbooks
We are very sorry that we are still not able to send out print copies of the Handbook at this time due to unforeseen circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are hoping that by early next year there will be a new, updated version of the Handbook to send and we will be able […]
Beyond Bars: Prosecutors Must Be Held Accountable for Their Misconduct
Jay Van Story Huntsville, TX Prosecutors who orchestrate the false conviction of the innocent are committing crimes every bit as bad as any they prosecute. They’re not using turns to accomplish their offenses, but something far more dangerous—their immense, unchecked power. Imagine a world without the terrible injustice of innocent men and women being falsely […]
Beyond Bars: See the Light
Jason Geray Tehachapi, CA Tell me what poet has made it this far, What poet was made from the dust of a star, What poet holds your attention line by line, What poet was born to shine… For the year 2020, who pictured this, Caged in a cell raising a fist, Power to the people […]
Beyond Bars: Fighting a Foreign War
Jose E. Roque Livingston, TX As I sit in my cell so very dark and dreary, Anxious to plead my case to any ear that will hear me A victim of a federal system I once risked my life to defend, Stuck in this prison industrial complex as a fly trapped in a spider’s web […]
Beyond Bars: Untitled (Artwork)
by Brian Fuller Hondo, TX
Beyond Bars: My Revolutionary Resurrection
Xinachtli AKA Alvaro Luna Hernandez Iowa Park, TX You have falsified, destroyed our history, after you stole our lands, converting us into foreigners, illegal aliens in our own homeland. But you will never erase our identity, culture, tongue, our Indigenous roots, you so fear and despise. We are a proud, noble, humble, compassionate people, but […]
Technology Nonprofit Ameelio Offers Free Communications Alternatives to Connect with People in Prison
by Ameelio Staff Our jails are filled with people who haven’t been convicted of the crime with which they’ve been charged. They’re there because they can’t afford bail. Once in jail, it can cost up to $25 for a 15-minute phone call. Such exorbitant fees prohibit people from calling family members and witnesses who can […]
Legal Empowerment Toolkit Series: A Project of the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative
The Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative (JLI) aims to ensure that jailhouse lawyers have access to effective and relevant training that equips them to meet the diversity of legal needs of incarcerated people. JLI also advocates for leadership, peer support and trauma responsive skills as a part of jailhouse lawyer training. JLI is a national project of […]
Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative: Narrative Project Call for Submissions
Jailhouse lawyers have a profound impact on the legal landscape. The work of some of the fields greatest has started to be recognized: Calvin Duncan, Shon Hopwood, and Derrick Hamilton. Still, many attorneys on the outside view the work of jailhouse lawyers with suspicion and skepticism. JLI wants to change this perception. We know how […]