We work to dismantle the prison industrial complex and end the exploitation of those it touches.
As a nation, we spend more than $80 billion annually to incarcerate 2.2 million people in facilities whose deplorable conditions, subpar treatment services, and ineffective programs engender recidivism. We spend another $100 billion on the courts and police who fill their beds. But the social costs of our failing criminal legal system, such as the harm done to people, families, and communities, ar
e far higher. And these costs are not distributed evenly—their burden is carried largely by those we already detrimentally marginalize: low-income communities of color. But, adding insult to injury, over the past few decades, private, public, and illicit actors have found various ways to financially exploit our criminal legal system and those it touches, victims and prisoners alike. From bail to probation and construction to commissary, these actors have commercialized each segment of our punishment continuum and built an industry that depends on stripping people of their liberties. In doing so, they have converted the justice-involved and their communities into cash machines, capitalizing on crime to create a legal form of human trafficking that targets those our social structures have failed. Our system is now laden with public, private, and illicit actors whose financial incentives conflict with the criminal justice goals of reducing crime and incarceration. Compensated based on volume, these actors are motivated to help expand the criminal legal system and increase government spending rather than contract the system and cut their share of the payouts. To protect their financial interests, they purchase power through legislative lobbying and campaign financing and wield it to protect the legal structures that support their growth. These efforts create an invisible, but fortified barrier to building a criminal legal system that is truly rooted in justice. Thus, while well-meaning reformers struggle to decriminalize drugs, promote alternatives to incarceration, or reduce sentences, their efforts are thwarted by the oft-ignored imbalance of economic and political power between affected communities and those who profit from their victimization, criminalization, and incarceration. Recognizing the intentional obfuscation and abuse of this power, we must reject the perceived legitimacy of the legal, political, and social frameworks these actors shape that artificially celebrate incremental criminal justice reform to avoid radical change.
The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any independent democracy in the world. With these egregious incarceration rates come equally egregious exploitation. We fight to dismantle the prison industry and end the exploitation of those it targets. Join us at WorthRises.org.
NEWS! The Swiss National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP), a governmental business and human rights watchdog, just accepted our complaint against Swiss banking giant UBS for its investments in private prison operators CoreCivic and GEO Group. What follows may create major waves!
Did you know that 1 in 3 families with an incarcerated loved one go into debt trying to stay connected? This shouldn’t be a reality for anyone. Join our fight to keep families connected today at connectfamiliesnow.com
This November, voters will be voting on ending prison slavery in both California and Nevada. We urge voters in these states to take to the polls on November 5th to .
Today, on Labor Day, take a minute to read the stories of the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated workers who fight for labor rights is centuries behind ours. Incarcerated people are still fighting for the basic human right to be protected from slavery. Visit the letter archive at endtheexception.com/letters to read their first-hand accounts working under the exception in the 13th Amendment that allows slavery as criminal punishment.
Thanks to an exception in the 13th Amendment, which allows slavery to be used as punishment for a crime, about 800,000 incarcerated people are forced to labor for just pennies an hour –– if anything at all –– in state and federal prisons across the U.S. Follow to join the fight to end this horrid reality.
NEWS! Since 2021, over 200 incarcerated people have written to the campaign. They have shared their experiences with slavery. Today, we are launching an archive of their letters. Visit endtheexception.com/letters to read their stories.
We have seen a troubling uptick in the harmful language being used by both major political parties this election season. We encourage everyone––political figureheads included––to embrace person-centered language that doesn’t work to stigamatize people. Here’s a quick guide as to how to talk about people who are incarcerated. Share it with your friends and family.
Today we honor the birthday of Howard Zinn, born on this day in 1922. Zinn was a scholar, professor, historian, and activist who highlighted the realities of the United States through his lifetime of work.
BREAKING! Learning that AL has scheduled its next nitrogen gas ex*****on, we joined faith leaders to deliver 5,000 petitions to Allegro, the gas mask manufacturer, demanding they stop supplying it. They called the police.
Tell Allegro what you think at worthrises.org/gasex*****ons
BREAKING! Learning that AL has scheduled its next nitrogen gas ex*****on, we joined faith leaders to deliver nearly 5,000 petitions to Allegro, the gas mask manufacturer, demanding they stop supplying it. They called the police.
Tell Allegro what you think at worthrises.org/gasex*****ons
The first corporation to max out on donations to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is a private prison owner and operator. The prison industry is deeply invested in his election.
WE’RE HIRING! We’re looking for a Director of Research to lead our research portfolio and team. Visit worthrises.org/jointhefight to learn more and apply!
Not the right role for you? Check out our other roles.
In this powerful op-ed for , 13-year-old Maggie shares how her life has been impacted by being denied visits with her father who is incarcerated and joining the lawsuit. She also shares what she hopes for all children with incarcerated parents.
Advocates have recently filed a lawsuit that seeks to force Texas to fully air condition its state prison system. With heat reaching up to 120 degrees in some prisons, incarcerated people are suffering and dying. Their only option for reprieve is to purchase a fan from the commissary, but they are so overpriced that they become out of reach for many who are forced to work for the state for no wages. It’s a vicious cycle of inhumanity. We stand with those who filed suit!
In 2023, Minnesota became the fourth state in the country to make prison calls free. Gov. Walz publicly and privately supported free prison calls unequivocally, proving that supporting criminal justice is politically viable. We hope to see more Governors in states across the country follow his lead.
A recent feature examines the history and realities of prison slavery in this country, specifically at Angola where incarcerated people have sued over forced labor conditons, and the fight to end it. Click the link in our bio to read the full piece!
James Baldwin would have turned 100-years-old today. We remember him for his piercing observations and condemnations of the United States and the ways in which this country treats the most vulnerable––especially the Black community.
: Despite popular belief that most incarcerated people are held in private prisons, only 8% actually are. The issue of carceral privatization is largely about services, like communications or healthcare, across the system.
Do you know the difference between jails and prisons? (Lots of people don’t!) Despite being used synonymously, jails and prisons are entirely different.
At Worth Rises, we believe that the public should know each and every corporation engaged in the carceral system. That’s why we manage the largest database of corporations that do business with corrections and immigration detention in the U.S. Learn more and explore The Prison Industry Corporate Database at data.worthrises.org.
From the use of compounding pharmacies to circumvent bans on ex*****on drugs to what’s at stake in the November elections, focus must be kept on the death penalty in this country.
If imagining a “safe and just world” makes us “extreme,” so be it, especially since we also have reasoned arguments to support all our recommendations. We imagine a better world, we fight to make that world a reality, and we’ll never apologize for that. Join us at WorthRises.org.
BREAKING: Huge WIN! Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates prison and jail calls, voted unanimouslly to adopt new rules that will force prisons and jails across the country to more than halve phone and video call rates! For the 1 in 3 families with incarcerated loved ones going into debt to stay connected, the FCC’s new rules will be life-changing.
As states across the country adopt harsh new sentencing laws, private interests are celebrating, telling investors that they soon expect more people in their prisons — and even higher profits. This piece by highlights Tennessee’s nefarious utilization of private prisons and how everyone involved is cashing in on it.
Our Minnesota Connecting Families bill that made prison calls free last year accidentally omitted access for 700 people in civil commitment who were not in the custody of the corrections department. We want to make sure we always include everyone, so we went back for them and won.
Worth Rises Executive Director joined ’s Doug Lasdon on their podcast, “Beyond the Box” to discuss who is profiting off of prisons. Swipe through for an excerpt from their conversation and make sure to listen to the full conversation whereever you stream your podcasts!
WE’RE HIRING! We’re looking for a Director of Policy Campaigns & Government Affairs to lead our policy campaigns portfolio and team. Visit worthrises.org/jointhefight to learn more and apply!
Not the right role for you? Check out our other roles.
This 4th of July, remember that the United States is far from the “land of the free”. Take action in the spirit of freedom at EndTheException.com.
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NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt recently covered the egregious practice of replacing visits with expensive video calls in jail across the U.S. Watch as a sheriff admit they did all for the money.
Thank you to @vanlathan for the shout out on @higherlearning! Click the link in our bio to listen to the full episode!
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate held a hearing on prison labor. Listen to Terrance Winn testify about the 25 years he was forced to labor at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, beginning when he was just a teenager. You can watch the full hearing at shorturl.at/x0Uat.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed HB989 into law which will make it more difficult for banks to drop or avoid clients such as private prisons.
Our Executive Director @BiancaTylek spoke at a congressional hearing today that examined over-criminalization and its impact on marginalized communities. When asked by Rep. Thomas Tiffany if slavery still exists in the United States, she answered clearly: “Yes. It’s not just that it exists in practice, but that, in the 13th Amendment, there is an exception that reads ‘except as punishment for a crime,’ which means, by law, slavery is still allowed.”
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