Rising Up For Solutions to End Mass Incarceration

FEATURING ELLEN FLENNIKEN - Our nation and our world are overrun by billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, you’ll hear conversations with changemakers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power. 

This week on Rising Up for Justice, Ellen Flenniken, Chief Advocacy Officer at the Vera Institute of Justice and Director of Vera Action joins me. The Vera Institute is the oldest and largest criminal justice reform organization in the country. Ellen comes to Vera from the ACLU, where she led the national abuse of power and criminal justice campaign teams as National Campaign Director. 

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Sonali Kolhatkar: I have used Vera's research so many times over the years in stories I've written and interviews that I've prepared for. It's just been such an incredible resource, and of course, we'll get into that research. But that's the part that I see. How do you explain what Vera Institute does, what its main goals are? 

Ellen Flenniken: Yeah. So you know Vera in a similar way that so many people do, and what we say is kind of our unique lane here is that we bring the data, the evidence, and the solutions to the fight to end mass incarceration, and protect immigrant rights, and build safe and thriving communities. 

So at Vera, as you mentioned, I lead the organization's advocacy team. So my team drives the work across policy, politics, and campaigns. And in our work, we really try to center the solutions that we offer on anti-racism, particularly given the ways in which the criminal justice systems and immigration systems operate on this history of racism and bias. 

So that's kind of at the core of who we are as an organization, and my team in particular is focused on the politics of crime and safety in addition to the policies that actually deliver safety and justice.