We believe that cooperatives run by and for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals is a key component to move toward a future without prisons.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES: Our bill, AB 746, which would incentivize the development of worker cooperatives inside of California prisons and create critical infrastructure for an ecosystem of cooperatives owned and controlled by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and crime survivors, has been introduced by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D - Inglewood)! AB 746 passed out of California's Assembly Labor & Employment Committee and the Public Safety Committee with unanimous approval and now heads to the Appropriations Committee (May 22nd). We want to thank all of those who submitted letters of support to both of these committees! 

There are worker cooperatives in prisons all over the world, including in Ethiopia, South Africa, Iran, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy, and more. Folks incarcerated in California want them, too. At the Law Center, we believe workers everywhere should democratically control their workplaces, even inside of prisons, as we move toward a vision shared with many of our friends: a future without prisons. To move toward that future, we want to help our partners in prison create an ecosystem of worker cooperatives owned by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. That's why we're working with the inmate led "Let Us Contribute Initiative" and others to make cooperatives, owned and controlled by incarcerated individuals, in prison possible. See our bill, AB 746, here! Want to get updates about our bill's progress? Sign up on LUCI's website!

The Law Center has begun co-creating worker cooperative development curriculum with Earth Equity, Repaired Nations, Collective Remake, and others that will be provided inside San Quentin prison and to returning citizens in Humboldt County to foster a cooperative spirit instead of alienation. We have also been examining case studies and examples from around the world of cooperatives operating inside prisons that illustrate their societal benefits and their effectiveness in reducing recidivism, thanks in large part to the research of folks like Jessica Gordon-Nembhard and Esther West. And we have become a key partner in the Let Us Contribute Initiative (LUCI) drafting legislation to enable the creation of worker cooperatives inside of California prisons as well as create a “Green Reentry Coop Reserve” that will distribute grants to persons who were formerly incarcerated and system-impacted entrepreneurs developing ecologically regenerative worker cooperatives in, by, or for low income and system-impacted communities. Our vision is to create an ecosystem of cooperatives run for and by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals that will help us move towards a future without prisons. Please donate directly to LUCI to help them develop their prison in-reach programming, cooperative development inside of California prisons, and to pass this legislation!

Learn more!

To learn more about why we believe in this work, read this message co-written with our friends on the inside.

To help our communities understand this work, we held an event called, "From Cells to Liberation: Could Cooperatives Controlled by Incarcerated Persons Be Part of an Abolitionist Strategy?" which you can watch below: