Events

Upcoming Events

Date and Time: Saturday, April 1st, 2023 4-6pm

Location: First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608

Worcester No Longer 3/5ths Coalition 

Join the fight to restore the #right2vote to people incarcerated in Massachusetts and become no longer 3/5ths!

Check out our Facebook page for upcoming virtual events.

Past Events

Springfield No Longer 3/5ths Coalition

Date and Time: Saturday, February 4th, 2023 1-3pm

Location: East Forset Park Branch, Springfield Public Library, 138 Surrey Road, Springfield, MA 01118

Springfield Mass POWER Final Push

Date and Time:  Saturday, November 9th, 2019 11am-3pm

Location: Wesley United Methodist Church, 741 State Street, Springfield MA 01109
Come out to sign and collect more signatures for the petition to restore the #right2vote to people who are incarcerated in Massachusetts. We have until November 20th, 2019 to collect 80,000+ signatures to move this effort to the next stage! Let’s do it!

POWER Session Supporting Families and Children

Date and Time:  Sunday, November 10th, 2019 3-5pm

Location: Union Capital Boston, 1544 Columbus Ave, Boston MA 02119 (close to the Jackson Sq Orange Line T Stop AND parking available in parking lot)
Come out to prep testimony to support S.1379/H.2047 to protect our visits with our loved ones AND S.1372 that would make prison phone calls free. All ages welcome!

Public Hearing to Protect Visits and Make Prison Phone Calls Free!

Date and Time:  Wednesday, November 13th, 2019 2-5pm

Location: Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02133, Room A-2 (easiest to access via the Bowdoin Street entrance)
Come out to testify in front of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security to support of S.1379/H.2047 to protect our visits with our loved ones AND S.1372 that would make prison phone calls free. You will have 3 minutes to testify.

Boston Mass POWER Final Push

Date and Time:  Saturday, November 16th, 2019 11am-3pm

Location: Boston Common (at the Park St T entrance – corner of Tremont and Park St)
Come out to sign and collect more signatures for the petition to restore the #right2vote to people who are incarcerated in Massachusetts. We have until November 20th, 2019 to collect 80,000+ signatures to move this effort to the next stage! Let’s do it!

Struggle Session

Date and Time:  Saturday, October 19th, 2019 1-2:30pm

Location: 964 Parker Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Following a public hearing where 100s of supporters showed up, we will recap and debrief the public hearing on S.826/H.3358, An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration, and plan next steps to keep the Judiciary Committee accountable to us!

Public Hearing on S.826/H.3358, An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration

Date and Time:  Tuesday, October 8th, 2019 11am-5pm

Location: Massachusetts Statehouse, 24 Beacon St, Boston MA 02133, Hearing Room A-1 – access via Bowdoin Street entrance (at intersection of Bowdoin Street and Ashburton Place) – if you’re having any trouble finding the location, please call Rachel, 617-869-2773
Bowdoin Street entrance of Massachusetts Statehouse

This hearing will be an opportunity for us to testify (3 minutes per person) in support of S.826/H.3358, An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration, which would end the sentence of death by incarceration (or life without parole) in Massachusetts. Here are resources you can use to prep your testimony. We are also happy to review it. You can email it to: emancipationinitiative@gmail.com.

FB event

Struggle Session: End LWOP

Date and Time:  Saturday, September 21st, 2019 1-2:30pm

Location: Families for Justice As Healing, 100R Warren Street, Roxbury, MA 02119 (walk up the driveway)
There is legislation at the Statehouse — S.826/H.3358, An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration — that would end the sentence of life without parole in Massachusetts. Over 1000+ of our loved ones are incarcerated on life without parole, and we are committed to ending it. At this meeting we will walk through the legislative process, what the hearing will look like for this bill and how we can make our voices heard in the process.
If you have any questions, please reach out: emancipationinitiative@gmail.com or call: 617-869-2773, Rachel.

Struggle Sessions in 2019

Date and Time: Every other Thursday from 6:30-8 pm (July 25th, August 8th, etc). Inquire for details or check our Facebook page 

Location: Families for Justice As Healing, 100R Warren Street, Roxbury, MA 02119

Struggle sessions are the Emancipation Initiative’s organizing meetings against incarceration in Massachusetts and for the strong communities we want to see. All are welcome. We especially welcome formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as any family members or people who have loved ones who are or were incarcerated. We want this space to be accessible to everyone, so please let us know in advance if there is anything we can do to help you participate, including childcare!

Questions: emancipationinitiative@gmail.com or 617-869-2773.

Mass POWER Meeting!

Date and Time: Monday, May 6th, 2019 6-8pm

Location: Union Capitol Boston, 1544 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury, MA 02119

Accessibility: Open to ALL, particularly formerly incarcerated people and people with loved ones locked up. Free childcare provided. Please contact us with any questions – emancipationinitiative@gmail.com or 617-869-2773

Join us for the second meeting of MASS POWER – Massachusetts Prisoners and Organizers Working for Enfranchisement and Restoration – which was founded to restore the #right2vote to prisoners in Massachusetts. Come learn more and get involved in the fight to restore the #right2vote!

Mass POWER Kick Off

Date and Time: Monday, April 1st, 2019 6-8pm

Location: Union Capitol Boston, 1544 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury, MA 02119

Accessibility: Open to ALL, particularly formerly incarcerated people and people with loved ones locked up. Free childcare provided. Please contact us with any questions – emancipationinitiative@gmail.com or 617-869-2773

Join us for the kickoff of MASS POWER – Massachusetts Prisoners and Organizers Working for Enfranchisement and Restoration – which was founded to restore the #right2vote to prisoners in Massachusetts. Come learn more and get involved in the fight to restore the #right2vote!

The Meaning Of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences

Date and Time: Thursday, February 28, 2019 6-7:30pm

Location: Harvard Law School, Austin Hall, Ames Courtroom, 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
A book talk by co-author Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, followed by a conversation with community experts about life sentencing:

• Rachel Corey, Emancipation Initiative – Against Life Without Parole
• Sean Ellis, exoneree
• MA State Rep. Jay Livingstone, 8th Suffolk District
• Radha Natarajan, Executive Director, New England Innocence Project
• A family member of a person serving LWOP

Cosponsored by: Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice; Coalition for Effective Public Safety – CEPS; Criminal Justice Policy Coalition; Emancipation Initiative – Against Life Without Parole; HGSE Office of Student Affairs; New England Innocence Project; Prison Studies Project; Prisoners’ Legal Services; Transformative Justice Series.

Free and open to the public.

Ballots Over Bars: The Fight for a Voice

Date and Time: Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 4 PM – 7 PM

Location: Jed D. Satow Room, 5th floor of Lerner Hall, Columbia University, New York, New York

This 5-minute powerpoint presentation was delivered as part of Columbia’s third annual Graduate School of Arts and Sciences SynThesis Competition.

People incarcerated in Massachusetts have a long history of fighting to make their voices heard on the outside, from staging protests, to forming political action committees. This oral history project and grassroots campaign is a collaboration with currently and formerly incarcerated people in Massachusetts to document and learn from their creative acts of resistance in order to secure and make real their right to vote. My research explores the motivations that drive people to risk years in solitary in order to have a say in government, the history of resistance including different tactics employed, and what the future holds for this national movement to re-enfranchise people convicted of crimes. Using the power of aurality, I argue that in order to create any truly transformative change, criminal justice reform organizations and advocates must incorporate structures that recognize the agency of ‘the people they are trying to help.’

Photos and video available here: https://gsas.columbia.edu/blog/2018-masters-synthesis-competition

Ballots Over Bars: An Oral History of Incarcerated People’s Fight for the Right to Vote in Massachusetts

Date and Time: Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 5 PM – 8 PM

Location: Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York

This installation was a part of HEAR & NOW: An Interactive Oral History Exhibit, showcasing multimedia projects and stories recorded by the 2017 cohort of Columbia University’s Oral History MA program. 

From staging work stoppages to forming political action committees, incarcerated people have a long history of fighting to make their voices heard. Ballots Over Bars is a grassroots campaign and oral history collaboration with currently and formerly incarcerated people in Massachusetts who are fighting for universal suffrage. Join us to learn about incarcerated people’s creative acts of resistance and explore your own relationship to voting rights and resistance.

Listen to 9 oral history clips from Bill C, Bill S and Greg here: http://oralhistory.columbia.edu/2018-ballots-over-bars

Parole Community Forum

Date and Time: Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 1 PM – 4 PM

Location: First Church in Roxbury, Roxbury, Massachusetts

This event was co-hosted by EI and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice, CEPS: Coalition for Effective Public Safety, and Project Operation Change.

This will be a space for people on parole, people who have been on parole and their friends and relatives to share your experiences.

We will work to develop a plan of action to rectify the degrading and destructive consequences that government reactionary parole policies and methods continue to inflict on people on parole, our loved ones and our communities.

For more information,  check out the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/emancipation.initiative/photos/gm.201385957260433/761204914090591/?type=3&theater

Ballots Over Bars: Incarcerated People’s Fight for the Right to Voice

Date and Time: Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 10:50 AM – 11:50 AM

Location: Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York

This workshop was presented as part of Sarah Lawrence College’s first annual Our Liberation Summit, sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Campus Engagement at Sarah Lawrence College.

People incarcerated in Massachusetts have a long history of fighting to make their voices heard through many creative means. This oral history project and grassroots campaign is a collaboration with currently and formerly incarcerated people to document and learn from their creative acts of resistance in order to secure and make real their right to vote. Join us in constructing a chronology, listen to clips of formerly incarcerated people sharing their experiences in the fight, learn about current campaigns to restore voting rights, and explore your relationship to voting rights.

Further information available here: www.ourliberationslc.com/summit-scheduledraft/2018/1/22/ballots-over-bars-incarcerated-peoples-fight-for-the-right-to-vote

Returning the Right to Vote to Incarcerated People in Massachusetts: An Oral History and Data Analysis

Date and Time: Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 3:30 PM – 4:50 PM
Location: Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This presentation was delivered as part of a thematic panel within the penal abolition track of the American Society of Criminology’s 73rd Annual Meeting.

Dismantling The Legal Institution of 21st Century Slavery

Date and Time: Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 1 PM – 4 PM
Location: Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Club, 15 Winthrop St, Springfield, Massachusetts 01105

The Emancipation Initiative invites all Massachusetts residents to join us to strengthen the movement for criminal justice reform. We are particularly interested in hearing from those most impacted by crime and incarceration and those excluded from our political process here in Massachusetts via incarceration. We understand that the 13th amendment continues modern-day slavery, and we will not let that stand.