Imprisoned people are experts about their own experiences.
The Work and Us is a collaborative project between people inside and outside prison that provides the education, training, and resources that imprisoned people need to engage in research for social movements against prisons.
About the project
Building the capacity of imprisoned people.
Despite being closest to the problem, imprisoned people are not seen as experts on what happens inside of prisons. We believe imprisoned people best understand the issues that impact them, and have a critical role to play in producing research and analysis that reflects their priorities and leading social movements to abolish prisons. Unlike other approaches to research that rely heavily on institutional statistics or are developed exclusively by people who are not incarcerated, our participatory approach supports incarcerated people in developing research and analysis about their own political conditions and the political direction our movements must take.
Featured
Now accepting Applications for the Incarcerated Research Fellowship
The Work and Us is accepting applications for our inaugural cohort of the incarcerated research fellowship. Applications are due May 2026.
Incarcerated Fellowship
Our year-long fellowship develops the capacities of imprisoned people to propose and conduct their own participatory research projects. We believe doing so strengthens our movement to abolish prisons.
Our research
We prioritize participatory methods over traditional research methods because they prioritize the participation of those most impacted by an issue and involve impacted people in shaping the research process.