All semester, the University YMCA has been hosting lectures on ending mass incarceration through its Friday Forum series.
This Thursday, the Education Justice Project – a higher education community for incarcerated students in Danville Correctional Center – is hosting a special event related to the series’ topic of mass incarceration.
Grace Bauer, co-director of Justice for Families, will be speaking on the topic of juvenile incarceration on Thursday, October 31st from 5 – 7 p.m. in the Illini Union (room TBA).
Bauer’s bio:
Grace Bauer is a respected leader and a trusted confidant for families seeking justice across the country. Grace is the mother of three children from Sulphur, Louisiana whose first exposure to the juvenile justice system came as the parent of a court-involved youth who, at age 14, was sent to a notorious juvenile correctional facility where he was abused and mistreated. Grace became a passionate advocate for juvenile justice reform. Grace helped organize other parents to form the Lake Charles chapter of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC). As the Director of FFLIC’s Lake Charles office, Grace rapidly recruited and trained new members, successfully increasing FFLIC’s visibility and influence as a community stakeholder. The chapter became an integral part of the “Close Tallulah Now Campaign” which successfully advocated for the passage of the Louisiana Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003 and, soon thereafter, led to the closing of the infamous Tallulah juvenile prison. Under Grace’s leadership as Co-Director, FFLIC quickly became known as the nation’s leading parent organization campaigning for greater fairness, reduced incarceration, improved services and better conditions of confinement in juvenile justice. Grace joined the Campaign for Youth Justice in 2008, where she worked to unite the parents and allies of children in six targeted states to change laws and practices that result in children being prosecuted and confined as adults. Grace also led the development of the National Parent Caucus, a national network of family members who have joined together to end the misguided practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating children as adults.