about US

Witness to Mass Incarceration fosters economic independence, creativity, and long-term opportunity for formerly incarcerated individuals, justice-impacted youth, migrant communities, survivors of domestic violence, military veterans, and others historically excluded from economic and creative opportunity.

We build pathways to economic mobility through entrepreneurship, workforce development, vocational education, the arts, design, technology, and innovation. Through fashion and tailoring, product design and production, small-business development, employment pathways, digital storytelling, interactive media, and other forms of creative expression, we support people in developing their talents, building sustainable livelihoods, creating businesses, sharing lived experiences, and contributing to the cultural and economic life of their communities.

Our mission is to remove systemic barriers to opportunity, expand access to the creative and broader economy, and build the conditions for economic independence, dignity, and generational wealth.

ENDING MASS INCARCERATION

Since WITNESS was founded in 2016, we have launched a series of initiatives designed to change the narrative about incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people from invisibility and victimization to empowerment through documentation, leadership training, organizing, and advocacy. 

All our initiatives are intended to make life safer for people who are incarcerated and to help people build successful lives once they are released. We focus on improving conditions of confinement through our work to end sexual violence in confinement. We have designed and are implementing a new approach to reentry. We respond to events which require immediate action, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It is our conviction at Witness that mass incarceration will only be reduced and changed when the nation understands the extent of the injustice and horror of the entire criminal legal system. We believe that once a person sees the human faces of incarcerated people and hears their story, they will be more likely to support alternatives to incarceration.