Melissa RossA bipartisan summit on criminal justice reform is expected to draw local and national thought leaders to Jacksonville this month.
Operation Reform, sponsored by #Cut50, the Ford Foundation and Operation New Hope, will focus on re-entry solutions for people leaving incarceration, and reducing recidivism through employment.
This was a major focus of the Jacksonville Journey, a crime prevention initiative first launched by former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton when Duval County was becoming known far and wide as Florida’s murder capital.
New Mayor Lenny Curry has pledged a robust refunding of Journey programs.
Beyond the 904, the issue of mass incarceration has taken center stage in the 2016 presidential campaign. Later this month thousands will be released from U.S. federal prisons because of long-awaited sentencing and overcrowding. This will be one of the largest releases in American history.
The summit will look at re-entry solutions as a way to address mass incarceration, and will focus on building bipartisan consensus.
That will be necessary, considering the participants and speakers. A partial list includes progressive activist Van Jones, co-founder of #Cut50; Ewan Watt of the Charles Koch Institute; Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum; Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry; Adam Tebrugge of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida; not to mention formerly incarcerated people; and others.
With a national conversation also occurring around the “Ban the Box” movement, this event is timely and significant.
See full list of speakers here: http://www.operationreform.com/#speakers
