Carceral State Project 2018-2019 Symposium Series
During fall 2018 and winter 2019, the Carceral State Project laid the groundwork for the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement initiative by organizing a six-part symposium series at the University of Michigan. Each roundtable featured speakers from directly impacted populations and advocacy organizations. These conversations, designed to build bridges and reinforce connections between the campus and community, provided a valuable foundation for the Carceral State Project’s research plans and activist scholarly agenda.
The symposia consisted of six roundtable discussions: launching with What Is the Carceral State?, followed by panels on Criminalization, Confinement, Control, and Community, culminating in Beyond the Carceral State. Each panel invited five or six speakers to discuss their experiences and the general theme and was moderated by a member of the Carceral State Project’s steering committee. The extraordinary lineup of thirty Michigan-based speakers featured the voices of those most directly impacted by the carceral state and those actively working towards a more just future.
Primary funding provided by the LSA Dean’s Office, the U-M Institute for the Humanities, and the Humanities Collaboratory.
Criminalization and the Carceral State | November 7, 2018
Roundtable panelists:Erin Keith, Staff Attorney for Youth Legal Services and Empowerment, Detroit Justice Center
Maria Ibarra-Frayre, Southeast Michigan Organizer, We the People Michigan
Rev. Joe Summers, Pastor of The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
Mark Fancher, Racial Justice Staff Attorney, ACLU of Michigan
Derrick Jackson, Director of Community Engagement, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office
Matt Lassiter (chair), U-M History
Control and the Carceral State | Feb. 13, 2019
Roundtable panelists:
Monica Jahner, Program Manager and Legislative Advocate, ARRO (Advocacy, Re-entry, Resource, Outreach)
Martin Vargas, Artist, Linkage Project, Prison Creative Arts Project
Rana Elmir, Deputy Director, ACLU of Michigan
Mary King, Executive Director, Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency
Joshua Hoe, Host, Decarceration Nation Podcast
Nora Krinitsky (chair), Michigan-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Beyond the Carceral State | April 10, 2019
Roundtable panelists:
Antonio Espree, Consultant, Reproducing Strategies for Resentencing Juveniles
Hazelette Crosby-Robinson, Board President, Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency
Korbin Felder, Program Associate, American Friends Service Committee
Michael Steinberg, Legal Director, ACLU of Michigan
PG Watkins, No New Jails Detroit
Amanda Alexander (chair), Executive Director, Detroit Justice Center and Senior Research Scholar, University of Michigan Law School
What is the Carceral State? | October 3, 2018
Roundtable panelists:
Ronald Simpson-Bey, Director of Outreach and Alumni Engagement for JustLeadershipUSA
Monica Lewis-Patrick, Co-Founder of We the People of Detroit
Mary Heinen McPherson, Co-Founder and Program Coordinator of the U-M Prison Creative Arts Project
Victoria Burton Harris, Criminal Defense Attorney
Justin Gordon, U-M Alumnus and Activist
Ruby Tapia (chair), U-M English and Women’s Studies
Containment and the Carceral State | January 16, 2019
Roundtable panelists:
Asia Johnson, Bail Disruptor, The Bail Project and Detroit Justice Center
Gift Chowchuvech, Therapist, Healing & Wellness Arts
Pete Letkemann, Chair, Family Advisory Board to MDOC
Tania Morris Diaz, Staff Attorney, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
Cozine Welch, Managing Editor, The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing
Heather Ann Thompson (chair), U-M DAAS, History, and RC
Community and the Carceral State | March 13, 2019
Roundtable panelists:
Natalie Holbrook, Director of the Criminal Justice Program of the American Friends Service Committee
Kathie Gourlay, Friends of Restorative Justice of Washtenaw County
Melnee Heinen McPherson, Research Investigator, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan School of Social Work
Heather Martin, Director, Youth Arts Alliance
Aaron Suganuma, Executive Director, A Brighter Way
Ashley Lucas (chair), Associate Professor, Residential College and Department of Theatre & Drama, Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project