Letter to Vice President Harris, Candidate for President, from Leaders Impacted by Mass Incarceration and Criminalization

Vice President Harris,

We are leaders in the movement to reform our criminal justice system and remedy the harms of mass incarceration.

We have mobilized our friends and family–tapping into the 1 in 2 Americans who have experienced incarceration in their immediate families–in many elections before. We are committed to second chances. From restoring voting rights in Florida, Louisiana, and New York to electing reform-minded governors, state legislators, and local office holders across the country who have reduced jail and prison terms and reunited families, we have witnessed first-hand the motivating power of safe and effective criminal justice reforms in driving our community out to vote.

We were moved when, in 2019, you were the first candidate to agree to attend our criminal justice reform presidential town hall held inside a shuttered prison, the only event of its kind hosted by formerly incarcerated leaders. You spoke directly to the millions of us on both sides of the prison walls who have been personally impacted by mass incarceration about your plans to prioritize safety and justice for our families.

As you ramp up your campaign for President, we ask that you meet this consequential political moment with particular care and attention as it relates to conversations and commitments around criminal justice reform.

There will be those that simplify a match-up between you and former President Trump as one between a “tough-on-crime” prosecutor and a “criminal.” We hope you will resist this language and this framing. It is both harmful to us and harmful to your campaign. First, we believe you have been and will be a criminal justice reform leader. And, also, words like “criminal” and “felon” paint with a broad brush that stains more than 70 million Americans with criminal records including the one-in-three Black men who have felony convictions. Hold Donald Trump to account for his conduct and for failing to demonstrate remorse. Describe the impacts of his actions and policy proposals but resist this outdated fear-mongering that reenforces the criminalization that locks so many of us out of voting, out of housing and jobs and freedom. This language dehumanizes us and opens the door to the ridicule and slander that has long plagued us since the Black Codes. Shouting “felon!” without acknowledging the injustices taking place daily in courts, prisons, and jails depresses the tremendous electoral potential of engaging with the tens of millions of us who have criminal convictions and the even greater number of American voters who love us.

There will be those that simplify a match-up between you and former President Trump as one between a “tough-on-crime” prosecutor and a “criminal.” We hope you will resist this language and this framing. It is both harmful to us and harmful to your campaign.

Too many of our loved ones should be home and are not. We are as urgent as ever in our work to end mass incarceration and we expect our presidential candidates to be the same.

We look forward to learning about your criminal justice reform platform. We are waiting with nothing less than freedom on the line.