Reform from Within: Criminal Justice Policy Proposals by Incarcerated Individuals

Although there is a long history of criminal justice system policy reform efforts by academics, policymakers, and stakeholders, these initiatives have largely excluded the opinions of those with lived experience in the justice system. Given movements to prioritize the voices and perspectives of those who have firsthand experiences in the system, it is critical to understand how those incarcerated view criminal justice policy reforms. We examined reform suggestions using letters submitted by those incarcerated in Florida to the American Prison Writing Archive (APWA). We hypothesize that letter writers used their sociological imagination to connect their experiences to larger reform movements. Deterrence, just desserts, and decriminalization are not represented in the data, while mentions of cruel and unusual punishment, rehabilitation, and decarceration are common. This study highlights the important knowledge that those with lived experiences possess and may provide useful information about policy reform in Florida.