Skip to Content List

  • Skip to primary content
  • Skip to footer content

Site Navigation Lists

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions
Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • EN
    • EN
    • ES
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
Unger report offers path to safely reduce incarceration and save taxpayer dollars

Featured in
Baltimore Justice Report

Next Article
OSI's Evan Serpick moderates panel on criminal justice reform

Baltimore Justice Report

Unger report offers path to safely reduce incarceration and save taxpayer dollars

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Content Social Share Links

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

A new Justice Policy Institute report details the experiences of 235 people released from Maryland prisons after serving more than 30 years and found that, with specialized reentry programming, this aging population can safely return to communities. The report reflects the work of a five-year Open Society Institute – Baltimore investment and the creation of “The Unger Clinic” at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.

If policymakers heed the lessons of the report, The Ungers, 5 Years and Counting: A Case Study in Safely Reducing Long Prison Terms and Saving Taxpayer Dollars, it could result in a significant reduction in the prison population and a substantial cost saving to taxpayers.

As JPI describes, the landmark court case, Unger v. Maryland, offers powerful lessons for policymakers and stakeholders interested in tackling mass incarceration. The 2012 case centered on remedying improper jury instructions and applied to a cohort of people who had been sentenced prior to 1981. The decision resulted in the potential release of 235 people from Maryland prisons who had served more than 30 years, and their release story created a natural experiment from which other states can learn. What makes the Unger decision particularly unique is that private philanthropy, through the Open Society Institute–Baltimore, provided specialized reentry programming to be made available to those individuals upon release. In the six years since the decision, we have learned a number of important lessons. These include:

  • We can safely release people who have committed a serious, violent offense.
  • Public safety will not be greatly impacted when rethinking our approach to violence.
  • We need to emphasize the importance of reentry.
  • Incarcerating the geriatric population is associated with increased costs with little public safety benefit.
  • The Unger group and others sentenced to long prison terms were deeply impacted by racial discrimination.

Read the Baltimore Sun story about the release.

 

Related Content

Audacious Thinking: Summer 2011

This issue of Audacious Thinking shows how a good idea can grow. The work of the Baltimore Urban Debate League, a longtime OS…

Read More

Post navigation

Previous Article Previous OSF President responds to reports Facebook tried to link critics to Soros
Next Article Next Article OSI’s Evan Serpick moderates panel on criminal justice reform
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube

Subscribe to our mailing list

OSI Logo

Open Society Institute-Baltimore
Bold Thinking, Strategic Action, Justice for All.

© 2025 Open Society Institute-Baltimore
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions

OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.

This website is available for historical purposes.  It is no longer being updated.

Skip to top of page