The National Incarceration Association, Inc.

Our Goal is to help end the crippling economic and social cost of mass incarceration as we know it from the perspective of families so as to:
1. Grow the sustainability and capacity of the families impacted by incarceration,
2. Increase the reformative success of our justice system and our correctional institutions to reduce the need for the current number of correctional institutions to exist, and
3. Improve strategies, processes, and policies to ensure public safety while eliminating unnecessary and unreasonable collateral consequences to having been incarcerated.

The NIA does not seek to reinvent the wheel by simply duplicating existing evidence-based strategies. The NIA's distinctive resolve is to help facilitate the integration of assets among the many successful strategies so as to eliminate the systemic fragmentation that works against aggregate, yet marginal gains. Most importantly, we maintain that the success of changed policies and popular initiatives be measured only by the improved quality of life of impacted families.

The core of NIA’s work centers on family stabilization, rehabilitation, and restoration of incarceration-impacted persons. We call our work the “Connectivity System Model.” Instead of duplicating efforts, we bring together a myriad of existing but disconnected services under one umbrella to connect incarceration-impacted individuals and their families to resources based on the collected data, and we follow them until they are recovered.

Our work is threefold:

Direct Services: We are an inbound call center, providing direct case management and mentoring for incarcerated people and their loved ones. We have mapped out resolutions for over 1,800 client cases, resulting in healthier, more productive families. Our direct services portfolio is growing to include comprehensive trauma-informed, peer-supported reentry services (incl. dignified housing, mental health counseling, access to healthcare, life skills, financial training, job placement, and more), all within a holistic, family-stabilizing framework.

Awareness and informed empathy campaigns: The NIA seeks to narrow the empathy gap between the incarcerated and the public with ongoing mass communication and interactive events. Through educational outreach and advertising campaigns, incl. weekly live talk shows on Facebook, opinion pieces in major newspapers, as well as our advocacy events with partners, we show the humanity and plight of those in prison and encourage policymakers to prioritize justice reform.

Partner initiatives: The NIA facilitates partnerships with non-profit and community allies, and also with local and state justice administrators, opening lines of communication for approaches to complicated challenges, such as voter disenfranchisement, sex offender registry reform, workplace biases, expungement and records restriction review, and more. We connect businesses, non-profits, faith communities and government, creating an effective ecosystem for social justice measures that influence systemic policy reform across jurisdictions.

The NIA operates as a connector of the communities of families, advocates, service providers, policy makers and business stakeholders in the pursuit of public safety and criminal justice reforms. The NIA seeks to deeply explore the needs and gaps in services focused on the causation factors associated with mass incarceration and recidivism. The NIA seeks to help fill these needs and gaps through direct constituent services and a continuum of vetted and connected referral services. Toward this end, the NIA also initiates, facilitates and manages a host of connected projects and programs in concert with an array of working partners and compassionate stakeholders.

More than 90% of NIA staff and volunteers are formerly incarcerated individuals or immediate family members of incarcerated individuals. Being able to relate to the kind of trauma one experiences in prison connects us more deeply to those we care for, and it guides, inspires, and motivates us.

In 5 short years, the NIA has attracted the attention and the working interests of scores of agencies and organizations as an authority with distinctive prowess in approaching problems and innovating systems. We have mapped out resolutions to hundreds of issues resulting in a customer/client portfolio of over 1,800 families who are becoming stronger, healthier and more productive.
Our sought-after and active engagement among poly-sector partners include over 20 active and completed initiatives and task force engagement.

Our work has calmed and steadied mothers and fathers of incarcerated persons and helped provide much-needed resources for individuals in prison. We stabilize families and support returning citizens with building healthy, productive lives post-release.