Description

The Women in Reentry Forum explores the gender-based inequalities and challenges women face both within the criminal justice system and when returning to the community. Featuring a presentation by Michelle Daniel Jones, and a panel of formerly incarcerated women and reentry service providers. The speakers and panelists will emphasize the importance of services developed and led by those who have experienced reentry themselves, and offer potential paths forward with opportunities for future growth. Register for the event at: bit.ly/IOWomen Sponsors of event include: City of Iowa City Human Rights Commission, University of Iowa Liberal Arts Beyond Bars and University of Iowa Center for Human Rights. Michelle Daniel Jones Bio: Michelle Daniel (Jones) is a third-year doctoral student in the American Studies program New York University. She is interested in excavating the collateral consequences of criminal convictions for people and families directly impacted by mass incarceration, in addition to participating in a scholarly project challenging the narratives of the history of women’s prison with a group of incarcerated scholars. Even while incarcerated, Michelle published and presented her research findings to dispel notions of about the reach and intellectual capacity of justice-involved women. Michelle’s advocacy extends beyond the classroom through collaborations and opportunities to speak truth to power. While incarcerated, she presented legislative testimony on a reentry alternative she created for long-term incarcerated people that was approved by the Indiana State Interim Committee on the Criminal Code and has joined the advisory boards of the Lumina Foundation and the Urban Institute. She is a founding member and chairwoman of the board of Constructing Our Future, a reentry alternative for women created by incarcerated women in Indiana and a 2017-18 Beyond the Bars fellow, a 2017-18 Research Fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, and a 2018-19 Ford Foundation Bearing Witness Fellow with Art for Justice, 2019 SOZE Right of Return Fellow, 2019 Code for America Fellow and 2019-2020 Mural Arts Fellow. Michelle is currently under contract with The New Press to publish the history of Indiana’s carceral institutions for women with fellow incarcerated and formerly incarcerated scholars.