Today, Open Society Institute-Baltimore released a new report, “Building on the Unger Experience: A cost-benefit analysis of releasing aging prisoners.” The new report follows the Justice Policy Institute report, “The Ungers: Five Years and Counting,” which detailed OSI’s five-year investment to provide reentry services for aging prisoners in the “Unger Group,” who were returning to […]
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OSI’s Tara Huffman appointed to Maryland State Advisory Committee on Civil Rights
Wednesday, June 08, 2016Recently, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced the appointment of 16 members of the Maryland State Advisory Committee which included Tara Huffman, director of OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program. The committee serves a vital role as protectors of civil rights at the state level, advising the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about discrimination […]
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Clemency is a key tool for reducing mass incarceration
Friday, May 20, 2016Criminal justice reform advocates and community members alike were handed a win this week in Maryland when Gov. Larry Hogan signed the Justice Reinvestment Act, but an op-ed published in today’s Baltimore Sun urges the next president to act more quickly on clemency efforts at the federal level. Nkechi Taifa, Advocacy Director for Criminal Justice […]
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OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Director Writes About “Nonviolent Ways to Address Youth Violence”
Friday, May 06, 2016Tara Huffman, director of OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program recently contributed to the newsletter published by the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children, and the Courts (CFCC), Unified Family Court Connection in which she discusses four non-violent policies and practices to respond to youth violence. As […]
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General Assembly Takes Big Steps to Reform Maryland’s Criminal Justice System
Wednesday, April 20, 2016Last week, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation that, if fully implemented, will begin to bring an end to years of mass incarceration in Maryland by prioritizing drug treatment over prison, improving parole practices to better support release and reintegration, and doing away with racially unjust mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. The Justice […]
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New video latest proof that Baltimore police need de-escalation training
Tuesday, April 19, 2016“This is my house.” It was the statement 18-year-old Tionne Jones made while standing in the doorway of his home in the 1800 block of Barclay St. in the Greenmount West neighborhood. He made it last Saturday to a Baltimore City police lieutenant who asked to talk to the property owner. When Tionne told the […]
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Baltimore City students stage walkout protesting standardized testing
Monday, April 18, 2016Holding signs with messages like “Jobs Not Jail,” “Park the PARCC,” and “We are students, not test scores,” about 100 students across Baltimore City walked out of their classrooms Friday afternoon to protest the PARCC standardized test, which they call a “mechanism of institutional racism.” The walkout culminated at a rally in front of the […]
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Harm Reduction makes gains at 2016 General Assembly
Friday, April 15, 2016Even though no harm reduction-related bills passed during the just-completed 2016 General Assembly, it was still a good session for harm reduction advocates, says Scott Nolen, director of OSI’s drug addiction treatment program, in a City Paper op-ed. Del. Daniel Morhaim’s comprehensive package of bills designed to change the way we look at drug addiction—from […]
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OSI-Baltimore statement on the closure of the Baltimore City Detention Center
Friday, July 31, 2015The Open Society Institute-Baltimore endorses the closure of the Baltimore City Detention Center, a notorious facility that has, for decades, posed a serious risk to detainees, staff, family members and the broader Baltimore community. As the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services moves forward to end this shameful chapter in the state’s history, it is imperative that state and City stakeholders work together to leverage this unique opportunity to reduce unnecessary incarceration safely and to reinvest the savings to improve community safety.
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Tara Huffman on PBS NewsHour
Wednesday, May 06, 2015OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Director Tara Huffman was interviewed on PBS NewsHour about life in Sandtown-Winchester, Freddie Gray’s neighborhood. Watch the video.
