News & Commentary
Ending Indefinite Solitary Confinement for the Vast Majority of People with Death Sentences in Oklahoma
By Travis Handler
Latest Event
Share this event "Stories That Free Us!" The Alabama Solution Screening & Panel Discussion
JJI hosts The Alabama Solution Screening + panel connecting prison conditions in Alabama & Oklahoma and why reform matters nationwide.
Join the Julius Jones Institute for a powerful community screening of The Alabama Solution, an Oscar-nominated 2025 documentary that brings audiences inside the Alabama Department of Corrections, revealing severe conditions, unchecked violence, and systemic failures long hidden from public view through footage recorded by incarcerated people themselves.
This event is hosted in partnership with C.A.N, Diversion Hub, Foundation for Liberating Minds, ACLU of Oklahoma, LiveFree Oklahoma, Oklahoma Appleseed and Vote For Change.
Though the film centers on Alabama’s prison crisis, these systemic issues are urgent not only in Alabama, but also in Oklahoma and across the United States, where communities are impacted by mass incarceration, lack of accountability, and human rights concerns within our carceral system.
Following the screening, stay for a community panel moderated by Senator Nikki Nice, where leaders and advocates will discuss how the film’s insights connect to justice system challenges nationally and locally, and explore pathways toward reform, accountability, healing, and collective action.
Federal Bill Would Release Vulnerable People from Prisons to Help Stop Spread of COVID-19
Kanya Bennett, Former Senior Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
After a Lifetime Apart, COVID-19 Prison Release Reunites Mother and Daughter
Leila Rafei, Former Content Strategist, ACLU
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New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us
Udi Ofer, Former Director, Justice Division, ACLU National Political and Advocacy Department
Defying Medical Experts, Lawmakers are Weaponizing COVID-19 to Restrict Abortion Access
Ashoka Mukpo, Staff Reporter, ACLU
In t
Let the People Vote
Coronavirus could make it hard for Oklahomans to vote in our upcoming elections, but it doesn’t have to. We are a coalition of concerned Oklahomans who’ve come together to ensure no one has to risk their safety in order to exercise their right to vote in the midst of a pandemic.Casting an absentee ballot by mail should be the easy solution to ensure Oklahomans can safely exercise their right to vote from the security of their own home. But Oklahoma is one of only three states where the ballot form requires absentee ballots to be notarized in order to be counted on Election Day. This must change immediately.
New ACLU Report: Black People Still Almost Four Times More Likely to Get Arrested for Marijuana in Oklahoma
A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform Details Millions of Racially Targeted Marijuana Arrests Made Between 2010-2018
Apple and Google Announced a Coronavirus Tracking System. How Worried Should We Be?
Jennifer Stisa Granick, Surveillance and Cybersecurity Counsel, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Appl
Postponed: Annual Membership Meeting and Award Celebration
April is always an exciting month for our Board of Directors and the ACLU of Oklahoma staff. It's our opportunity to share our successes over the past year with our supporters face to face at our annual membership meeting and celebrate the efforts of our fellow advocates working towards a fair Oklahoma.
Isolation, Before and During a Pandemic
As many Americans round out the end of their first month of social distancing, it’s clear that the toll of “stay at home” orders during the COVID-19 pandemic is much more than economic. The anxiety and fear that wash over us each day that we spend alone, away from friends, coworkers, and family, inflict their own kind of emotional damage. The cost of social isolation is a worthy cost in this case — staying home can quite literally save lives. But for some people, the advent of social isolation came long before the coronavirus. At the ACLU, we work with many communities who deal with the long-term impacts of social isolation: people living with disabilities who often experience accessibility issues, people held in detention, and people imprisoned in solitary confinement, just to name a few. Joining us on this episode of our podcast, At Liberty, is Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University who understands the psychological and physiological impacts of isolation, and how we can mitigate them for both ourselves and others. We also spoke with a few people — Anna Landre, TreShaun Pate, Jason Hernandez and Claire Goldberg — who know a thing or two about social distancing. Their circumstances have made them familiar with isolation long before COVID-19. Listen here to learn from their experiences, and for tips from Dr. Holt-Lunstad on how to ease the pain of isolation during this pandemic.
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