FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: media@vera.org

New York, NY – The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) has selected the Massachusetts Department of Correction and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to participate in Designed for Dignity, a new technical assistance opportunity for corrections agencies seeking to transform their prison systems. Over the course of two years, Vera will work with the Massachusetts Department of Correction and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to create and sustain safer, more humane, and healthier environments for correctional professionals and people who are incarcerated in prison.

"We are thrilled to launch Designed for Dignity in Massachusetts and Oklahoma,” said Clinique Chapman, associate director of Vera’s Restoring Promise initiative. “Throughout the application process, the Massachusetts Department of Correction and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections consistently demonstrated their commitment to improvement, openness to change, and belief that everyone - staff and incarcerated people - deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. We look forward to working in Massachusetts and Oklahoma to make prisons safer and more humane for everyone who enters them.”

“Massachusetts has a deep commitment to ensuring our facilities are safe and respect the dignity of our and humane for staff, visitors, and our housed individuals,” said Massachusetts Department of Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, who has previously worked with Vera while at the Middlesex Sheriff’s Department. “With funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, this new initiative with the Vera Institute of Justice’s Restoring Promise team builds off our ongoing efforts to implement innovative programs that transform individual outcomes and successfully transition individuals from incarceration to community while creating a more positive work environment for our staff.”

“The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is honored to have been selected to partner with the Vera Institute of Justice’s Designed for Dignity initiative,” said Oklahoma Department of Corrections Executive Director Steven Harpe. “We look forward to using this opportunity to build a stronger Oklahoma by transforming lives in a safe and compassionate environment and offering respect and dignity to those in our care.”

About Designed for Dignity:

Over the course of two years, Vera will deliver training and technical assistance to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. System-wide changes will be driven by a workgroup, supported by Vera and comprised of correctional leadership, staff, and people who are incarcerated. Together, the workgroup and Vera will assess system-wide challenges, and consider the impact policy change, training, and budget allocations can have in addressing issues related to cultures, climates, and spaces in prisons. The workgroup will then create and implement strategic plans to address key issues and develop strategies to sustain changes made through the Designed for Dignity partnership.

Background:

Designed for Dignity is a new arm of Vera’s Restoring Promise Initiative which works with corrections agencies to reimagine housing units for young adults and realign corrections policies and practices with a commitment to human dignity. Inspired by a trip to Germany in 2015, leadership from the Connecticut Department of Correction (CT DOC), including then-Commissioner Scott Semple and then-Governor Dannel Malloy, partnered with Restoring Promise to transform the living and working conditions in their prisons for young adults and staff. Within a year, the initiative successfully designed and implemented a first-of-its-kind housing unit for young adults sentenced to state prison, now known as the T.R.U.E. (Truthfulness, Respectfulness, Understanding, and Elevating) community.

Since 2016, Restoring Promise has opened eight distinct units for young adults and partnered with six corrections agencies: Colorado Department of Corrections; Connecticut Department of Corrections; Idaho Department of Correction; Middlesex County Jail, Massachusetts; North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; and South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Designed for Dignity builds on this groundbreaking work with corrections agencies. Using Vera’s new set of Dignity Principles for conditions of confinement (outlined in Dignity Principles: A Guide to Ensure the Humane Treatment of People in U.S. Carceral Settings) as a guide, and the Designed for Dignity approach, Vera will work with agencies to implement strategies that will help meet their goals.

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About the Vera Institute of Justice: 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 project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-23-GK-05375-SCAX awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.