Sh'ma Now

Sacred Healing in Prison

Michael LezakSeptember 28, 2018

“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” – Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

I walked into a prison for the first time in 1995, in Montana. I was part of a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights team suing over unconstitutional prison conditions: medical and mental health care were grossly inadequate, and prisoners particularly vulnerable to abuse by other prisoners went unprotected.

The Inherent Bias of Bail

Alex ShermanSeptember 28, 2018

In the summer of 2001, when I was 19 years old, some friends and I were on our way to a tiny old synagogue in Greenwich Village for a concert called “Music of the Jewish Mystics.” With an hour before curtains, I suggested we make our way down to the Hudson River, partake in a shanda (shameful act), and smoke the little joint one of us had in our pockets.

My Father’s Mugshot

written anonymouslySeptember 28, 2018

“I have to talk to you about your dad.” My heart dropped when I heard those words. The way my mother spoke alerted me that something was terribly wrong. Panicked, I couldn’t imagine what she would say. An accident? Illness? But what she ultimately explained, that my father had been arrested, would forever change my life.