After decades of sexual abuse inflicted upon women incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (EMCF), New Jersey’s sole state prison for women, the Governor’s decision to close the facility presents an opportunity for the state to reimagine justice and change the narrative around incarceration from cycles of harm to cycles of opportunity. Through interviews with Department of Corrections staff, women incarcerated at EMCF, community-based organizations, and grassroots advocates, we find that the process designed to deliver justice for women abused at EMCF is insufficiently inclusive of those harmed and insufficiently imaginative of alternatives that would bring about transformative, cultural change.
The Harvard Kennedy School Project Team is:
Stefanie Grossano
Taylor Jones
Priscilla Liu
Katie McMurray
Megan Siwek
Daniel Wohl
