July 14, 2016

Opening reception for #unconvicted draws crowd, starts conversations

OSI-Baltimore director Diana Morris. Photo courtesy of the Pretrial Justice Institute. Last night, despite soaring temperatures, a crowed packed The Living Well for the opening reception of #unconvicted, a photo exhibit documenting the plight of pretrial detainees. Many detainees spend weeks or month behind bars without being convicted of any crime because of the cash […]

Posted in Baltimore Justice Report
June 28, 2016

Punishing the Poor: The Opening of #unconvicted at The Living Well

In the U.S, nearly all arrested people are required to pay cash bail in order to be released from jail before trial, yet more than 3 in 5 inmates remain behind bars, unconvicted, because they cannot afford to pay. Please join OSI-Baltimore for #unconvicted, a photographic exhibit which documents the plight of pretrial detainees, many […]

March 22, 2016

OSI-Baltimore’s Talking About Race Series

To see listings for upcoming Talking About Race events, go here. OSI-Baltimore has been presenting this free, public series since 2009 as a way of sparking conversations about how race intersects with our lives. They generally attract crowds of about 250 people. Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America March […]

Posted in News, Race
December 2, 2015

BALT panel talks about reducing police presence in schools

Last night at Red Emma’s, the Baltimore Action Legal Team hosted a panel on reducing the police presence in schools. The event, part of BALT’s Lawyer Up series, featured Baltimore BLOC organizer Tre Murphy, Asst. Public Defender with the Juvenile Division of the Office of the Public Defender Jenny Egan, Director of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice […]

Posted in Baltimore Justice Report
November 10, 2015

OSI-Baltimore funds legal support for activists

Media Advisory Contact: Evan Serpick 410.234.1091 $50,000 grant to Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) will support the group’s community education, legal observation and representation, and bail support services to advance police reform and accountability BALTIMORE-Open Society Institute-Baltimore announced today a $50,000 grant from its Baltimore Justice Fund to the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT), a group […]

Posted in Baltimore Justice Report, Press Release
November 6, 2015

Community Fellow decries Baltimore’s broken pretrial justice system

Zina Makar, a 2014 OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow, is on the front lines of reforming Baltimore’s broken bail system. In Maryland, the legal standard for a “speedy trial” is 180 days, but many individuals are held for months or even years before going to court. Makar works as attorney at the Office of the Public Defender to challenge the wrongful […]

Posted in Baltimore Justice Report
September 25, 2015

Return criminal justice to the community

Al Jazeera America recently ran an op-ed by Laura I. Appleman, associate dean of faculty research and a professor of law at Willamette University. In the op-ed, Appleman writes about the harm done when the voice of the community is removed from the criminal justice system. This exclusion of the public, she says, “is draining […]

Posted in Baltimore Justice Report
June 10, 2015

After the Uprising: Uplift Baltimore’s Youth

The events that followed the death of Freddie Gray revealed several Baltimore fault lines, including a disconnect between younger generations who are awakening to the structural racism and inequality that limits their opportunity and established institutions that purport to make things better.

Posted in And Justice For All
September 9, 2013

Obstacles to justice

Leslie Vass spent 10 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The story he tells about how the police, the courts and entire criminal justice system failed him is alarming.

Posted in Publications