The Cannabis Justice Initiative has transitioned to the Last Prisoner Project. Please visit: https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/ for more information.
Submit your information to the Last Prisoner Project’s Cannabis Justice Initiative.
For those whose lengthy incarceration is driven by cannabis related offenses, the injustice is particularly striking. As the United States moves away from the criminalization of cannabis, giving rise to a major new industry, there remains the fundamental injustice inflicted upon those who have suffered criminal convictions and the attendant consequences of those convictions. Those consequences include imprisonment for the cannabis offense, a vast array of collateral impacts resulting from the conviction (even if jail was not imposed), and enhancement of sentences for other convictions because of a prior cannabis conviction. The time is right to seek redress for the individuals impacted by these consequences, to enable them to renter society where they remain incarcerated, and to restore rights that have been forfeited as a consequence of those convictions.
The impact of the United States criminal legal system does not end at the prison walls. There is a vast network of life-altering consequences millions who interact with the criminal legal system. As identified in the 2019 Shattering the Shackles of Collateral Consequences report, these penalties include restrictions on employment, housing, voting, and other opportunities. While some states have implemented mechanisms for the sealing or expunging criminal records, most are not automatic.
