Photo: Karsten Moran for The Marshall Project

Dignity Principles

A Guide to Ensure the Humane Treatment of People in U.S. Carceral Settings

September 2023

Contributors: Rashaad Porter, Sharon Taylor, and Elizabeth Ige

The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Behind the numbers are people: the people serving sentences who must endure inhumane prison conditions; the people working in prisons who must endure unhealthy work environments; and the Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities that must endure the impact of the deep racial disparities in mass incarceration’s worst impacts. Mass incarceration grew from our nation’s history, rooted in the genocide of Indigenous people, the enslavement of Black people, and the mistreatment of immigrants and people in poverty. And the dehumanizing conditions we accept for the people working or incarcerated in prisons—isolating incarcerated people from their families and communities, mandating staff to work overtime, and limiting fresh air and light for both groups—is a direct reflection of this country’s reluctance to acknowledge these roots.

The outcomes of mass incarceration are dire. People who serve time in prison face many collateral consequences, including limited employment opportunities upon reentry, housing instability, and poor health outcomes that may worsen during their time incarcerated due to inadequate medical care and traumatic conditions. Corrections professionals also experience poor mental and physical health outcomes, with higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder than military veterans, and more than double the rate of suicide of police officers.

The design and architecture of many prisons and jails were historically focused on confinement, punishment, and control. The environment of carceral facilities is detrimental to the people who live and work within these institutions. Cells are a restrictive, harmful, and undignified space for people to inhabit. A major shift is needed to reimagine the conditions of correctional environments.

Restoring Promise, an initiative led by the MILPA Collective and the Vera Institute of Justice, envisions a world without mass incarceration, where we work to shift correctional culture to ensure that if people must be confined, they are treated with dignity. Restoring Promise partners with corrections agencies to replace punishing correctional cultures with safer, healthier approaches rooted in everyone’s humanity and centering healing, race equity, restorative practices, and family partnership. Restoring Promise’s work is done in collaboration with the people most impacted by prison: currently and formerly incarcerated people, corrections professionals, family members, victims and survivors, advocates, community leaders, and policymakers.

Since 2017, Restoring Promise has partnered with correctional agencies to create housing units grounded in dignity for young adults. Building on lessons from Restoring Promise’s young adult work, and in partnership with national organizations working in and with prison systems and jurisdictions to significantly reduce harm for all who are incarcerated, Restoring Promise has created this set of principles for ensuring human dignity behind bars to help corrections professionals, incarcerated people, and advocates—including nonprofit leaders and government officials—improve prison conditions and culture.The guidelines for physical design changes were informed by engagement with Restoring Promise’s partner MASS Design Group. Although the Dignity Principles provide a guide to create more humane environments in prisons, Restoring Promise also encourages decarceration to reduce the number of people held in prison and eliminate the racial disparities behind prison walls.

Honoring What Has Come Before—Mandela Rules

We hope the Dignity Principles serve as a bridge connecting the prison reform work of the past with the work of those currently alongside us championing dignity. Restoring Promise’s Dignity Principles emerged out of the works of countless others organizing, testifying, building evidence, striking, and championing change. They build on a legacy of people and work committed to improving prison conditions. They expand on Vera’s Reimagining Prison (2018) report and would not be possible without efforts like Confronting Confinement: A Report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (2006), which explored safety and accountability in prisons. The Dignity Principles are also an outgrowth of the years of work that went into the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Rules (2015), which engaged global leaders and established practices to ensure dignity for all those incarcerated internationally.

Recently, there is an encouraging wave of attention paid to the impact of our choices on how we incarcerate, such as in reports like Essie Justice Group’s Because She is Powerful and One Voice’s Blue Ribbon Commission Report. We will continue to update this list of resources that inspire and push the Dignity Principles.

Dignity in Motion

As the prison reform movement evolves and changes, so will these Dignity Principles. Restoring Promise wants the prison reform community—and those who work and live in carceral settings—to feel ownership of this publication and the principles within. We invite communication and commit to updating the principles as we learn more.

Restoring Promise is collaborating with departments of corrections nationwide to implement these principles, not only at the individual housing unit level, but throughout the entire correctional system.

Dignity Principles

  1. Correctional environments must be free of violence. This foundation is necessary for any improved conditions and culture to thrive. Leadership should understand the connection between safety and positive relationships rooted in care and trust among those who live and work in correctional settings.

  2. Correctional environments should reflect a commitment to human dignity. Carceral conditions—including the built environment, as well as the facility’s policies, procedures, and practices—should encourage supportive treatment. The environment should reflect the inherent value of all people and demonstrate that the agency’s priority is the health and wellness of all who live and work there. Equitable treatment and access to opportunities must include those who have disabilities or mental health conditions. All correctional settings must provide equal opportunities that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility regulations and foster gender and racial equality.

  3. A healthy correctional work environment fosters psychological and physical safety. Corrections professionals should understand their role as one that promotes human rights for all, be empowered and valued by leadership, and be supported in healing processes needed to address traumas from the workplace.

  4. Correctional environments should be a place where incarcerated people and corrections professionals are heard, respected, and included in decision-making. Accountability, not punishment, should be central to all agency policies and procedures. Equitable treatment for all people—without personal biases, discrimination, or judgment—should be a core value.

  5. Correctional environments should cultivate an atmosphere in which people can pursue personal goals and self-discovery through a meaningful and consistent daily schedule that includes workshops and educational opportunities. Correctional environments should also provide opportunities for those who are incarcerated to have a voice and choice in decisions that impact them.

  6. Correctional agencies should partner with families, community organizations, and those most impacted by incarceration in ways that acknowledge, respect, and facilitate strong connections between incarcerated people and their loved ones and support systems. Visitation spaces in correctional environments should be designed with care and evoke a sense of beauty and belonging so people using them can feel welcome and hopeful. Facilities should keep in mind not only the visitation space itself, but the experience of visitors arriving and walking to and from the space.

  7. Correctional agencies should consistently share information with the public about policies, practices, and operations, as well as conditions within facilities, to promote accountability and continuous improvement of correctional culture.

Photo: Meredith Nierman/WGBH

1. Safety

1. Safety

Correctional environments must be free of violence. This foundation is necessary for any improved conditions and culture to thrive. Leadership should understand the connection between safety and positive relationships rooted in care and trust among those who live and work in correctional settings.

Pathways to creating safety in carceral settings

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review policies and procedures related to custody and control to ensure that they align with this Safety Principle.

  • a. If restraints cannot be completely eliminated, use-of-force policies should limit their use.
  • b. Policies governing the conduct of corrections professionals should encourage positive interactions and familiarity between corrections professionals and incarcerated people.

Assess staffing structure to ensure that corrections professionals’ assigned roles and responsibilities align with the concept of dynamic security. Hire and/or repurpose corrections professionals to improve current staffing ratios.

2. Ensure all corrections professionals are trained in alignment with the concept of dynamic security so that everyone is safe; can create and maintain strong, productive relationships; and understands the purpose of their role. Implement training and development programs that encourage staff to find purpose within their respective roles. The staff training academy curriculum should cover a comprehensive range of subjects, including

  • a. communication skills and group facilitation;
  • b. family engagement;
  • c. restorative practices and accountability;
  • d. de-escalation techniques;
  • e. reentry planning;
  • f. dynamic security;
  • g. self-care and wellness strategies;
  • h. cultural competency and racial equity;
  • i. LGBTQ+ inclusion;
  • j. how to interact with people who have physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities or a mental illness;
  • k. trauma-informed care practices;
  • l. boundary setting (to include refraining from inappropriate or prohibited activity); and
  • m. sexual health.

3. Ensure that everyone has access to mental health counseling.

  • a. Provide counselors for each housing unit by either using internal staff or creating community partnership opportunities.
  • b. Provide training about and access to peer counseling for corrections professionals and incarcerated people.

4. Address physical plant components to create a safe environment.

  • a. Assess physical structures to ensure they meet architectural safety standards.
  • b. Conduct a facility audit to identify structural issues and opportunities to ensure the physical space is conducive to human dignity and healing.
  • c. Employ strategies using architectural changes to reduce the capacity of correctional facilities, thereby reducing the number of people incarcerated.
  • d. Repurpose areas of housing units to serve as intentional and productive community spaces, such as a conflict resolution room, spirituality room, study room, barbershop, library, decompression room, or computer room.
  • e. Reduce cold and hard surfaces, like concrete and steel, that contribute to sensory deprivation.
  • f. Replace bolted, steel, and aluminum furniture with soft, movable furniture like couches made of fabric and wood, to create a more sensory-friendly environment with neither sensory deprivation nor a constant barrage of loud noises.

Safety Principle resources

Photo: North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

2. Human Dignity in Carceral Settings

2. Human Dignity in Carceral Settings

Correctional environments should reflect a commitment to human dignity. Carceral conditions—including the built environment, as well as the facility’s policies, procedures, and practices—should encourage supportive treatment. The environment should reflect the inherent value of all people and demonstrate that the agency’s priority is the health and wellness of all who live and work there. Equitable treatment and access to opportunities must include those who have disabilities or mental health conditions. All correctional settings must provide equal opportunities that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility regulations and foster gender and racial equality.

Pathways to ensuring human dignity in carceral conditions

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review practices and policies with a focus on human-centered language and approaches to ensure that they align with this Human Dignity Principle.

  • a. Review all policies using administrative data to ensure that they are applied equitably, both racially and socioeconomically.
  • b. Review and update all policies to reflect people-centered language (for example, remove labels like “inmate,” and change references to “feeding” to “meals”).
  • c. Review and update procedures related to day-to-day correctional interactions that reflect the principle of normality, like searches and seizures, meal schedules, allotted eating time, community management that restricts movement, and appropriate language.
  • d. Review and update policies on personal hygiene that are unnecessarily restrictive and mandatory (for example, hair length and style) with a focus on racial justice, religious freedom, and gender identity or expression.

2. Increase wages or incentives, including work credits, for incarcerated people who are employed.

  • a. Strive for the state minimum wage for labor inside prisons.
  • b. Implement incentives to celebrate tenure milestones for incarcerated people working prison jobs.
  • c. Where possible, create paid opportunities for incarcerated students who have mandated educational requirements that do not allow employment.

3. Reduce barriers to adding money to and accessing commissary accounts.

  • a. Ensure that loved ones can make deposits to incarcerated people’s financial accounts with the use of any legal tender (cash, money order, government check, cashier’s check, or certified check).
  • b. Ensure that commissary account deposits can be submitted via mail, online, in person, or by phone.
  • c. Assess inequities within the commissary system and make adjustments based on assessment findings.

4. Provide adequate clothing.

  • a. Make undergarment items considered “seasonal” accessible throughout the year.
  • b. Create opportunities for incarcerated people to wear street clothing—for example, collared shirts. At a minimum, provide street clothing that supports human dignity for visits, meetings, court proceedings, and special occasions.
  • c. Provide clothing and undergarments consistent with gender identity and expression.
  • d. Eliminate costs related to clothing.
  • e. Provide space for people to store clothing appropriately (such as hangers in closets).
  • f. Provide tools to keep clothes clean and wrinkle-free (such as clothing irons).
  • g. Provide access to items that affirm people’s gender identities and expression (such as makeup).

5. Provide autonomy during menstruation.

  • a. Increase clothing options (including underwear and bras) and allowances, especially during menstrual cycles.
  • b. Ensure that people who experience menstrual cycles have access to and their choice of menstrual products, such as tampons, pads, liners, and other items.
  • c. Ensure clean and private bathrooms to manage menstrual hygiene discreetly and hygienically.
  • d. Ensure access to appropriate pain management options, as well as proper medical care and attention, as needed.

6. Provide everyone with nutritious meals three times daily.

  • a. Provide access to fresh, nutritious, and culturally relevant food.
  • b. Consider the quantity and sensory appeal of meals provided.
  • c. Meet recommended nutritional needs for young people, older people, people with illnesses, and those who have dietary restrictions.
  • d. Meet the medically recommended nutritional needs of pregnant people.
  • e. Meet individual needs regarding timing and amount based on autonomous and natural human interaction with food. Honor requests based on medical, religious, and ethical beliefs.

7. Involve incarcerated people in transparent discussion about physical design changes. Shift agency for decision-making to incarcerated people and groups wherever possible.

8. Increase access to natural light, quality air ventilation, and comfortable temperatures year-round.

  • a. Ensure that people held in alternative living settings (for example, restrictive housing or the infirmary) have access to the same light and ventilation as those in general population.
  • b. Routinely check all buildings for mold and all ventilation systems for dust and other airborne pathogens.
  • c. Allow people to see outside and have access to daylight by providing ample windows.
  • d. Provide regular and consistent outdoor time to all incarcerated people. Where possible, shift to a model of unregulated access rather than designated outdoor time.
  • e. Provide reliable heating and air conditioning. Where possible, allow for residents to have control over their own light, ventilation, and temperature control (for example, personal thermostats, desk lamps, and operable windows)

9. Increase opportunities for agency, allowing incarcerated people to have control over their spaces.

  • a. Allow people to personalize their living quarters with items such as bedding and blankets, musical instruments, materials that support personal hobbies, photos, art, and posters.
  • b. Allow people to select their own furnishings. Furnish housing units with soft furniture, mobility tools, mattresses (including double mattresses for people with physical challenges), pillows that are thick enough to be comfortable, and storage for personal items.

10. Review and revise policies and practices to provide incarcerated people with as much privacy as possible consistent with the security needs of the facility. Pay particular attention to all security policies and practices related to autonomy of movement, bathing, and bathroom use.

Human Dignity in Carceral Settings Principle resources

Photo: North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

3. Morale and Well-Being

3. Morale and Well-Being

A healthy correctional work environment fosters psychological and physical safety. Corrections professionals should understand their role as one that promotes human rights for all, be empowered and valued by leadership, and be supported in healing processes needed to address traumas from the workplace.

Pathways to improving morale and well-being for corrections professionals

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review practices and policies related to the work experience, work environment, and well-being of corrections staff to ensure that they align with this Morale and Well-Being Principle.

2. Provide team building and wellness days for staff who work on the same housing unit, including wellness luncheons and monthly self-care days.

3. Enhance staff access to quality supervision to support their success.

  • a. Provide staff with clear job descriptions that are reviewed annually, and recommend additional training as needed.
  • b. Mandate supervisors have frequent check-ins with their direct reports to maintain strong lines of communication, and provide staff with pertinent information and updates, feedback on performance, and resources for strengthening their skills on a path to leadership.
  • c. Create a confidential channel for communication between employees and leadership.

4. Increase professional development opportunities.

  • a. Create paths to advancement and pay increases that help retain talented corrections staff.
  • b. Establish staff engagement and training with corrections professionals and residents from other locations and states that adhere to ideals of dignity.

5. Institute and expand access to peer support groups for staff that

  • a. play an important role in debriefing after a critical incident;
  • b. celebrate and/or acknowledge staff achievements and hard work;
  • c. provide support to staff following on-the-job injury, illness, or family illness;
  • d. provide moral support for day-to-day difficulties faced on and off the job; and
  • e. organize activities to amplify the voices and concerns of line staff, lift staff morale, and encourage employee wellness.

6. Incentivize staff to engage positively with their coworkers and incarcerated people.

  • a. Publicly highlight staff behaviors that align with human-centered values and goals by, for example, acknowledging them in a team meeting, agency newsletter, or agency-wide email.
  • b. Encourage staff to participate in committees.
  • c. Encourage staff to create safe spaces for cultural healing and connection between incarcerated people and their families.

7. Create and enhance family orientation programming for new staff.

  • a. Provide regular workshops for the families of corrections professionals on how to support their loved ones.
  • b. Offer trainings to corrections professionals and their families on recognizing and mitigating stress.
  • c. Provide information to families of corrections professionals on how to access counseling and other services that will support them and their loved ones.

8. Promote informal interactions between staff and incarcerated people, fostering a sense of camaraderie through team-building events, social gatherings, and shared meals.

Morale and Well-Being Principle resources

Photo: Andre Andrev

4. Fairness

4. Fairness

Correctional environments should be a place where incarcerated people and corrections professionals are heard, respected, and included in decision-making. Accountability, not punishment, should be central to all agency policies and procedures. Equitable treatment for all people—without personal biases, discrimination, or judgment—should be a core value.

Pathways to creating fairness in carceral settings

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review practices and policies with a focus on the impartial and equitable treatment of all who are incarcerated, and work within the carceral environment to ensure that policies and practices align with this Fairness Principle.

2. Assess the built environment of carceral facilities to ensure they reflect the culture and practices of the broader community. New designs and renovations should be developed in conjunction with those who will be most impacted by the decisions.

3. Replace the current disciplinary system—for both staff and incarcerated people—with restorative practices focused on healing and repairing harm that ask three core questions: what happened, how were people affected by what happened, and what needs to happen to repair the harm and ensure it never happens again?

4. Eliminate mass or group punishment, which is counterproductive to creating safety and accountability.

5. Collect, analyze, and share disciplinary and sanctions data to increase transparency and better understand the perpetuation of biases, monitor successes, and pinpoint areas for improvement.

6. Establish a system of checks and balances that ensures that staff perform job duties in a manner that promotes equity and integrity, discourages misconduct, and creates a culture of collective accountability.

7. Ensure that separation, if employed, occurs without isolation in accordance with best practices from youth facilities, mental health facilities, and adult correctional facilities.

  • a. Use separation “only in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review.” Where possible, eliminate the practice entirely, especially isolation.
  • b. If separation is used, it should be based on a person's current behavior, not static factors like conviction or charge type, or their past behavior, HIV status, or gender identity.
  • c. When separation is deemed necessary because of a safety concern, consider the following practices:
    • i. Employ separation without isolation.
    • ii. Address root causes of harmful behaviors with positive engagement and rapport building.
    • iii. Ensure access to full days (at least 14 hours daily) of out-of-cell time with others and opportunities (at least seven hours daily) for group programming and activities aimed at addressing the reasons for separation, without restraints and with at least several other people in group spaces conducive to meaningful human engagement.
    • iv. Eliminate restrictions on people’s out-of-cell time, other than short periods of time measured in minutes or hours for immediate emergency de-escalation or to avoid extreme suffering, devastating harm, or death.
    • v. Eliminate restrictions on communications with social ties in the community, attorneys, or the news media.
    • vi. Eliminate restrictions on food and access to the commissary.
    • vii. Never prohibit family contact.
    • viii. Improve spaces used for separation so that the time spent in the separated facility does no additional harm. Ensure that all spaces in the facility have equal access to services of equal quality, regardless of disciplinary practices.

Fairness Principle resources

Photo: Karsten Moran for The Marshall Project

5. Purpose

5. Purpose

Correctional environments should cultivate an atmosphere in which people can pursue personal goals and self-discovery through a meaningful and consistent daily schedule that includes workshops and educational opportunities. Correctional environments should also provide opportunities for those who are incarcerated to have a voice and choice in decisions that impact them.

Pathways to cultivating purpose in carceral settings

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review practices and policies with a focus on creating a purpose-filled daily schedule and living environment and to ensure that they align with this Purpose Principle.

2. Create opportunities for the built environment to have flexible, adaptable spaces that allow for self-expression, healing, and discovery. Spaces should support and encourage programming that facilitates personal pursuits.

3. Expand equitable access to learning opportunities at all stages of incarceration.

  • a. Enhance support for existing resources and expand opportunities for both educational and vocational opportunities.
  • b. Develop robust relationships with community organizations to provide services and support.
  • c. Ensure equity in the type and number of opportunities available for people in both men’s and women’s facilities.
  • d. Expand gender-inclusive programming and interventions for incarcerated people, especially in women’s facilities.

4. Create opportunities to reflect and incorporate cultural healing.

  • a. Provide an emotionally safe environment for people to identify and work through causes of harm tied to social and historical experiences.
  • b. Identify ways to support alternative methods of teaching and learning through storytelling, multiple languages, cooking or food, and guest speakers.
  • c. Create opportunities to celebrate areas of growth, such as family reconnections, demonstrated leadership and support among peers, and positive relationship-building between residents and staff.
  • d. Engage local Indigenous and cultural communities (such as tribes/nations, mosques/churches, elders) by welcoming them into the carceral spaces and offering to repair relationships with the community and address systemic harms.

5. Create opportunities that can provide life satisfaction and connection to a purpose greater than oneself through volunteering and acts of service.

6. Tap into the resources, talents, and expertise of those who are incarcerated, as well as staff, for program facilitation, training, mentorship, and peer-to-peer opportunities.

7. Encourage connections and community-building with daily check-ins for each housing unit.

8. Support people’s connections to the larger community by marking holidays and celebrating accomplishments and milestones (such as birthdays and graduations).

Purpose Principle resources

Photo: South Carolina Department of Corrections

6. Family and Community Partnership

6. Family and Community Partnership

Correctional agencies should partner with families, community organizations, and those most impacted by incarceration in ways that acknowledge, respect, and facilitate strong connections between incarcerated people and their loved ones and support systems. Visitation spaces in correctional environments should be designed with care and evoke a sense of beauty and belonging so people using them can feel welcome and hopeful. Facilities should keep in mind not only the visitation space itself, but the experience of visitors arriving and walking to and from the space. Pathways to building family and community partnership

Family and Community

1. Establish a workgroup of corrections professionals and incarcerated people to review practices and policies, centering engagement and positive interactions with family and the community to ensure that they align with this Family and Community Partnership Principle.

2. Ensure that policies and practices reflect that family connection is a right, not a privilege.

3. Address and alleviate barriers to family contact.

  • a. Connecting in person
    • i. Allow everyone to spend time with their families and support systems.
    • ii. Disconnect opportunities to spend time with family from custody level, classification, or disciplinary history.
    • iii. Remove policies that ban people with a history of contact with the criminal legal system from visiting residents.
    • iv. Eliminate the practice of taking away visits and phone calls as punishment.
    • v. Broaden the definition of family to include all loved ones and support systems.
    • vi. Expedite visitation and phone list approval processes, and allow for special and emergency visits of immediate family during any approval period.
    • vii. Expand virtual communication to ensure access to family engagement for all.
    • viii. Allow people to have an unrestricted number of approved visitors on their visitation list.
    • ix. Reduce or eliminate clothing restrictions for visitors; if necessary, provide replacement clothing options for visitors.
    • x. Explore opportunities to provide transportation to the facility from neighborhoods with high concentrations of family members.
  • b. Connecting by mail or email
    • i. Eliminate policies and practices that ban physical mail and books, including for reasons based on racial, ethnic, gender, or LGBTQ+ content.
    • ii. Ban policies and practices that prevent external organizations from facilitating pen-pal relationships.
  • c. Connecting by phone or video
    • i. Provide free phone and video calls.

4. Notify family in a timely manner of information about, and any changes to, their incarcerated loved one’s safety, medical needs, and disciplinary status.

5. Foster partnerships with families by hosting family-friendly events and including loved ones in case planning, wellness workshops, celebratory events, graduations, competitions, and restorative practices. Agencies should provide the families of incarcerated residents with

  • a. regular workshops on how to support their incarcerated loved ones;
  • b. trainings on recognizing and mitigating stress; and
  • c. information on how to access counseling and other services that will support themselves and their loved ones.

6. Assess the spaces where families spend time together and make necessary improvements to create family-friendly environments.

  • a. This may include
    • i. establishing less invasive search procedures;
    • ii. creating aesthetically pleasing visitation spaces;
    • iii. improving the entire experience of parking, check-in, travel, and visitation, with a particular focus on creating a safe and friendly experience for children;
    • iv. providing toys, games, and books for parents to use with children during visits;
    • v. providing affordable, nourishing food options in visitation spaces; and
    • vi. providing opportunities for families to eat snacks and meals together.
  • b. Where possible, consider nontraditional spaces that support family and community visits, such as
    • i. family apartments that support overnight family visits;
    • ii. access to exterior spaces to have a picnic, play a sport, or take a walk; or
    • iii. kitchen or dining facilities that support making and enjoying a meal in community.

7. Support incarcerated parents’ contact with their families by establishing agreements with the state or county department of education to ensure incarcerated parents are included in academic planning meetings for their children.

8. Include family members in decision-making. For example, create space for conversations about what classes residents are taking or their medication compliance.

Partnership Principle resources

Photo: North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

7. Transparency

7. Transparency

Correctional agencies should consistently share information with the public about policies, practices, and operations, as well as conditions within facilities, to promote accountability and continuous improvement of correctional culture.

Pathways to increasing transparency in corrections

1. Establish a workgroup of vetted corrections professionals (those who have standing with both corrections staff and incarcerated people), leadership, and incarcerated people to review and adjust policies, practices, and procedures to align with this Transparency Principle.

2. Develop policies, practices, and communication strategies that encourage data and information sharing with the public, media, and legislative or governmental entities.

3. Analyze and publish data for incarcerated individuals related to race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical and mental illness, safety, deaths, and critical incidents.

4. To help the public understand the impact of incarceration on different types of communities, publish data on the number of people in the system (by race and gender) who

  • a. have served in the military;
  • b. are parents;
  • c. have been incarcerated more than once;
  • d. have been charged with disciplinary infractions;
  • e. have spent time in restrictive housing;
  • f. have submitted grievances;
  • g. are participating in educational and vocational programming; and
  • h. have jobs.

5. Collect and publish summaries of correctional employment data related to age, race, position, tenure, promotion, and retention.

6. Create an independent agency-focused review board to audit internal practices.

7. Create accountability processes, such as a public dashboard, to share internal statistics and information.

8. Create independent grievance processes for staff, those who are incarcerated, and the families of incarcerated people.

9. Work with oversight bodies, such as legislative committees, community-based organizations, and ombudspersons.

Transparency Principle resources

Photo: Andre Andrev

Acknowledgments and Credits

Acknowledgments and Credits

This project could not have happened without the directors and commissioners, corrections staff, and the incarcerated mentors and young adults from Restoring Promise partner sites: Colorado DOC, Connecticut DOC, Idaho DOC, North Dakota DOCR, and South Carolina DOC. We are grateful to them for generously giving their time to review an early draft and provide feedback. The staff’s, mentors’, and young adults’ contributions to collaborative data analysis meetings over the years that led to changes in their respective states were the seeds that grew into this document.

This project is the culmination of years of work creating housing units grounded in human dignity for young adults in prison and a reflection of the collective efforts of the Restoring Promise team—building on the labor and ideas of team members past and present. The Restoring Promise team at the time of publication included Taline Agamy, Chloe Aquart, Jan Bindas-Tenney, Brittany Brown, Rafael Brown, Clinique Chapman, Selma Djokovic, Ashley Dufour, Brandon Fletcher, Cristian Franco, Elias Gonzales, John Hart, Valdez Heron, Matthew Lowen, Iván Lucas, Stephen Matthews, Daniel Mendoza, Marissa Milian, Veronica Miramontes, Angela Parks, John Pineda, Rashaad Porter, Ryan Shanahan, Josh Somers, Ofonzo Staton, and Sharon Taylor. We are grateful for the contributions of specific past team members: Shiqueen Brown, Alex Frank, Juan Gomez, Elizabeth Ige, Mia Legaspi-Cavin, Clyde Meikle, and George Villa.

We are also grateful to Scott Semple for his tireless advocacy and support of Restoring Promise and for feedback, guidance, and facilitation skills throughout the process; to David Cloud of Amend for his innovative ideas leading to the development of the transparency principle; to Vera teammates for their support and thought partnership: John Bae, Annie Chen, Ed Chung, Ruth Delaney, Margaret diZerega, Sean Kyler, Michelle Parris, and Hadi Sedigh, and former Veran Will Snowden; to Vera’s Communication team, specifically Cindy Reed for significant guidance in the early editing process; Elle Teshima for editing; Elizabeth Allen, Ariel Goldberg, Abbi Leman, Maris Mapolski, and Ingrid VanTuinen for editorial support; Karen Ball and Megan Diamondstein for digital web design; and Jessie Knuth and Neil Shovelin for imagery curation and print design. We would like to recognize and thank the numerous partners who participated in feedback sessions on the Dignity Principles—their contributions were critical to creating a dynamic product that the field can benefit from and use in their zealous missions to fight for those who are incarcerated and work in carceral systems across this country. They are listed as follows:

  • ACLU
  • Amend
  • Black & Pink
  • Flikshop
  • Impact Justice
  • Incarceration Nation
  • JustLeadership USA
  • Maine DOC
  • MASS Design Group
  • Prison and Jail Innovation Lab
  • Tyrone Walker
  • Unlock the Box

Finally, we are grateful for the Nelson Mandela Rules and the United Nations for creating a set of standards that recognize the need to foster a more humane and just way of treating people who are imprisoned internationally.

Credits

© Vera Institute of Justice 2023. All rights reserved.

The Vera Institute of Justice is powered by hundreds of advocates, researchers, and policy experts working to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems until they’re fair for all. Founded in 1961 to advocate for alternatives to money bail in New York City, Vera is now a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change. We develop just, antiracist solutions so that money doesn’t determine freedom; fewer people are in jails, prisons, and immigration detention; and everyone is treated with dignity. Vera’s headquarters is in Brooklyn, New York, with offices in Washington, DC, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. For more information, visit vera.org.

This report would not have been possible without funding from Arnold Ventures.

For more information about this report or to provide feedback on these dignity principles, contact Clinique Chapman, associate director, Restoring Promise, at cchapman@vera.org.

Suggested Citation: Clinique Chapman, Brittany Brown, Selma Djokovic, Valdez Heron, and Ryan Shanahan, Dignity Principles: A Guide to Ensure the Humane Treatment of People in U.S. Carceral Settings (New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2023).