Soros Justice Fellowships

Justice Now

Arguments for the maintenance of the prison and the supposed impossibility of imagining a world without it—that it is too much a part of the economic and social fabric of the nation to be eliminated—resonate with similar arguments made about slavery in the 19th century. The normalization of the institution of the prison over the past 200 years in the United States and the increasing exportation of the model globally have stagnated the public's imagination about how we might address social problems without resorting to punishment and confinement. Cassandra Shaylor will write a book that provides policymakers, activists, and the general public with practical, viable alternatives to prisons that contribute to safer, more democratic communities.

Shaylor is an attorney and activist based in Oakland, CA. She is the co-founder and co-director of Justice Now, a prison organization and training center focused on people in women’s prisons in the United States. She also is a PhD candidate in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she is working on a dissertation based on this legal and activist work. Shaylor speaks regularly to academic and activist audiences on issues of women in prison, prison abolition, and the intersections of race and sexuality in the prison-industrial complex. Prior to cofounding Justice Now, she was a staff attorney at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Over the years she has been active with numerous prisoner rights organizations, including cofounding Critical Resistance and organizing with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. Along with Codirector Cynthia Chandler, she won the Leadership for a Changing World Award from the Ford Foundation in 2001 and was one of 30 activists honored for doing essential work on women’s health in the United States from the National Women’s Health Network in 2005. She received her BA from Smith College and her JD from the Washington College of Law of the American University.

Oakland, CA  |  One Year |