Sylvia A. Harvey
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Culture, race, gender, criminal justice policy, current events, gentrification
Journalist. Author. Speaker.
Multi-hyphenate igniting action on the mass incarceration crisis with wit, soul, and bold lipstick. Author of The Shadow System.
Articles by Sylvia A. Harvey
A Narrow Window of Hope for People Sentenced to Die in Prison
Before Jesse Graham read the letter that made his knees buckle, he was already someone who lived by imagination. As a boy, he won an art contest in High Point. It was a perfect day, he says, because his mother, teacher, and classmates were proud of him. After more than three decades in prison, he still makes art.
Finally Free After Decades Locked up, a Former DC Resident is Shackled Again - This Time on a Deportation Flight
Third in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. Illustration by Christine Ongjoco Third in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records.
Finally Free After Decades, Then Shackled Again
| Third in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. | Cordell Miller, 49, ached for freedom after spending three decades in federal prisons and three months in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last April, as he boarded a flight to his Jamaican homeland, he had been told that he was free. He didn’t feel free.
After Decades Locked up, Former DC Man Adjusts to Freedom
| Third in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. Read part one here, and part two here. | Cordell Miller, 49, ached for freedom after spending three decades in federal prisons and three months in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After Decades in Prison, Should Adults Convicted as Teens Get a Second Chance? A Growing Number of State Laws Say Yes
Second in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison, and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. Illustration by Christine Ongjoco Second in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison, and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records.
Should Adults Convicted as Teens Get a Second Chance?
Second in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood who was sent to die in prison, and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. Read part one here. There was, understandably, no sleeping the night before. So when 5 a.m. arrived, Cordell Miller was eager to rise. Wearing his bright orange institutional shorts, he brushed his teeth and performed the customary ablution.
A Lonely Child Finds His Way Out of Abuse and Homelessness, It Lands Him Behind Bars [imprintnews.org] | PACEsConnection
By Sylvia A. Harvey, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, January 30, 2023 On a typical day in 1990, Cordell Miller, then 16, would play basketball, dominoes, or hang out with his friends in his Brooklyn neighborhood. When night came and others went to their respective New York City homes, Miller made his rounds in search of a place to sleep: the hallway, steps and sometimes the roof of a building he could easily sneak into. An abandoned car. At times, he’d ride the subway all night long.
A Lonely Child Finds His Way Out of Abuse and Homelessness, It Lands Him Behind Bars [imprintnews.org] | PACEsConnection
Thank you; and I agree. On a somewhat similar note, I don't believe it is just coincidental that the only two health professions’ appointments for which Canadians are fully covered by the public plan are the two readily pharmaceutical-prescribing psychiatry and general practitioner health professions. Such non-Big-Pharma-profiting health specialists as counsellors, therapists and naturopaths (etcetera) are not covered at all.
A Child Finds His Way Out of Abuse and Homelessness, It Lands Him Behind Bars
First in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood sent to die in prison, and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records. On a typical day in 1990, Cordell Miller, then 16, would play basketball, dominoes, or hang out with his friends in his Brooklyn neighborhood.
Incarceration Hits Women and Mothers Hard
I place one small foot in front of the other, proudly calling out, “Dad!” My uncontrollable laughter sends my cheeks tipping to the sky. “Look, Daddy, look!” Finally, after days of practice, I’ve mastered the art of skipping. As he watches me skip down the street, he notices a police cruiser turn onto our block. My father senses trouble and ushers me into the house. “Baby, go inside.” He’s parked his blue Nova backward on the wrong side of the street, and more than eighteen inches from the curb.
Oakland Educator Works With Youth Leaving Detention
Hattie Tate has been an educator in the Bay Area for the past quarter century. For the last decade, she’s connected youth leaving detention to education and other resources. Photo by Ashleigh Reddy. In October, Oakland, California educator Hattie Tate stepped up to the podium, once again, in a funeral home chapel. And once again, as a young man lay in the casket before her, she called on mourners to take part in ending gun violence.
Contra Costa County DA Wants Youth Justice Reimagined
Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton is among a small group of district attorneys working to dial back decades of tough-on-crime approaches. Photo by Ashleigh Reddy. In 2017, three months after she became the first woman and the first African American to lead the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office, Diana Becton worked to abolish juvenile justice fees that fall most heavily on low-income families of color.
Why Prisons Are Banning Letters
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Not many people send letters through the post these days, but in prisons and jails across the country, the ritual of the mail call has long been a daily sacrament. When Dana Lomax-Williams was incarcerated in Pennsylvania several years ago, paper mail was a lifeline that connected her to her family on the outside.
By Michelle Chen, Katrina vanden Heuvel Verified, Cecilia Nowell Verified, Sylvia A. Harvey Verified
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The Nation
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Justice Leader Extends Supports to Bay Area Youth
Ali Knight is the president and CEO of Fresh Lifelines for Youth, (FLY), a Bay Area nonprofit that works to prevent crime and incarceration among marginalized youth. Photo by Lance Yamamoto. Each morning, Ali Knight rises around 6 a.m. The rest of his “table for four,” — his wife, Van, and two children ages 2 and 6 — are asleep. For 30 minutes, he moves about the quietness. When they wake up, the next hour belongs to them.
A Letter to a Teacher Helps Formerly Jailed Kids Stay on Track
Research out of the San Francisco Bay Area offers evidence that, when a formerly incarcerated young person returns to school, the simple act of writing a personal letter to a teacher can help improve their outcomes — while sidelining the teacher’s biases. Illustration by Christine Ongjoco. Kids released from lockups are vulnerable. They battle the aftermath of incarceration, restitution and the courts, along with childhood traumas.
Advocacy Groups Launch Nationwide Campaign to End Juvenile Court Fines and Fees
After her son stole a tube of toothpaste, Julissa Soto got two jobs to try to pay off court and administrative fees. Today, advocacy groups launched Debt Free Justice to eliminate these court-imposed bills. Photo by Lance Murphey for Debt Free Justice. Awake long before the sun and her children, Julissa Soto got used to weeping quietly as she rode the bus to her morning shift at McDonald’s.
Minnesota Legislature Again Fails to Pass Bill Defending Black Families
Proponents say the failure to address racism in the child welfare system leaves families in jeopardy Illustration by Christine Ongjoco. When Black Minnesotans gathered for a live-streamed public meeting last spring, accounts of trauma inflicted on their families by child welfare authorities seemed never-ending.
Parents Face Pandemic Hurdles as They Race to Keep Their Kids
Advocates and lawmakers say families need and deserve extra time Charles Redding barbecues for his two children, ages 13 and 10, on a recent Easter weekend visit to a relative’s St. Paul, Minnesota home. The family is now in dependency court fighting to stay together. Photo: Jillian Lenser A 10-year-old in a magenta zip-up sweatshirt playfully stretches a ball of slime between her hands while she stares at a computer screen.
Racism is a Public Health Crisis, Calif. County Agency Leaders Say
Several organizations representing executives in California who run county-level health and human services agencies have joined the growing list of public entities declaring racism a public health emergency.
Conversations with The Nation
For San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, his mother and father were radical not for their militant New Left politics but for the extraordinary lengths they took to parent him while incarcerated. When a parent commits a crime, the system overlooks their parental obligations—and the rights of the children left behind—in favor of punishment. Boudin detailed what this meant for him personally in The Nation’s first-ever special issue on parenting.
Jeremiah Program’s ‘Daring Powerfully’ Summit to Celebrate Single Moms
For two decades, the Jeremiah Program has been helping single moms get through college and on the road to leaving generational poverty behind. That’s a lot of work, and until now, program officials haven’t found the time to step back and properly celebrate the women’s successes. That will change on Saturday, when registered alumni will meet at a virtual summit with a “Daring Powerfully” theme.
Pandemic Support for Foster Youth Delayed, Months After Federal Action
Illustration by Christine Ongjoco Over the past year, tens of thousands of young adults in foster care faced a distressing prospect: Once they turned 21, in all but a few states, they would lose the money they counted on for housing and basic living expenses — even as the pandemic slashed entry-level jobs and shuttered college dorms. Finally, just before New Year’s, it seemed federal help would soon be on the way.
Could Indigenous Midwifery Improve Maternal Health for Native Women?
After decades of neglect by the mainstream health care system, the revival of Indigenous practices offers a model for reform. fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark March 8, 2021 Honoring Native women: Nicolle Gonzales of the Changing Woman Initiative checks the blood pressure of a patient, Kaylynn Begaye. (Jenni Monet) Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week.
Across Prison Walls, I Felt My Parents’ Love
For Chesa Boudin, his mother and father were radical not for their politics but for the extraordinary lengths they took to parent him while incarcerated. fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark March 8, 2021 Reunited, for a moment: The author with his parents circa 1982, in a jail visiting room after the family was allowed contact visits. Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week.
Parenting in Prison: A Love Story
Fatherhood can be hard. But when father and son are both in prison, the challenges are immense. By Sylvia A. HarveyTwitter Today 5:00 am fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark March 8, 2021 Illustration by Louisa Bertman. Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Join the Books & the Arts Newsletter Enter your email to get the best of The Nation’s Books & the Arts section in your inbox biweekly.
The Long Shadow of Family Separation
Ana brushes her hair in front of the mirror with a haunted look in her eyes. Minutes pass; her hair is still wet. She feels cold and realizes she was lost in her own thoughts again. In a rush, she puts her hair in a ponytail and leaves her small bedroom. Her head is spinning. I have to take the children to school, clean the house, go to the supermarket, worry about money… and lunch! Will my husband find work today?1 The pandemic hit Ana’s family hard.
An Interview with Damien Fair
Damien Fair, recently named MacArthur Genius, on the counterintuitive way the brain develops and how that relates to child welfare and juvenile justice practices Dr. Damien Fair, director of the Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain at the University of Minnesota Medical School, was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Thousands of Child Care Programs Have Closed In California, Study Finds
A socially-distance outdoor story and picnic time at Modern Education Family Childcare-Portola in San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Pyrena Hui When Pyrena Hui considered what field of work she’d pursue as a recent immigrant from Hong Kong to the United States, her family was a top priority. She debated whether to stay home to care for the child she planned to have with her husband, or launch a new career. As an early childhood educator, she figured she’d be able to do both.
California Grapples with How to Prevent Out of State Placements
Legislation has been introduced to permanently end the decades-long practice Josiah, 19, at Phoenix Green Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Thursday, December 17, 2020. Josiah spent one year at Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Report Calls for End to Group Settings for Foster Youth
It’s time to stop placing American foster children in institutions and other group settings, according to a new report by the national child welfare group Children’s Rights. Continuing the practice, the report argues, unnecessarily harms children in government care. Before offering a strategy for change, the report makes the case that taxpayers are needlessly spending millions to maintain a system that violates children’s civil and human rights.
Tiffany Haddish Launches Showbiz Internship Program for Foster Youth
Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish has launched a program for current and former California foster youth to receive paid internships in media, arts and entertainment. Haddish’s She Ready Productions, in partnership with the nonprofit Ready to Succeed, will provide the youth selected with training, mentorship and networking possibilities. Applicants selected for the She Ready Internship will be paid and reimbursed for travel and work-related expenses.
Town Hall Held to Discuss Minn. Bill to Limit Black Family Separation
Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act was reintroduced in February On Tuesday, at least 70 people – state representatives, community organizations, child protection allies, and directly impacted families – gathered for a virtual town hall to discuss legislation being produced that would limit child welfare actions against black families in Minnesota.
Making a Phone Call from Behind Bars Shouldn’t Send Your Family into Debt
The result is a national patchwork that makes an already unfair system even more punishing. People in federal prisons still get free phone calls, until the National Emergency has been lifted; people in state and local facilities are subject to whatever rates their local systems charge. Some have offered one free 5-minute phone call per week, while others offer no assistance. Congress has a chance to fix it, with legislation on the table to cap rates.
How a Trip to Prison Cost Kenneth Clark His Right to Be a Parent
Clark wanted desperately to be a father to his kids. But prison, along with a Clinton-era child welfare law, conspired to take them away from him—for good. By Sylvia A. HarveyTwitter July 20, 2020 fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark July 20, 2020 Kenneth Clark in the summer of 2019. At the time, the father of five had not seen three of his children for more than three years. They had been taken into foster care—and then permanently removed from his custody.
How a Trip to Prison Cost Kenneth Clark His Right to Be a Parent
Kenneth Clark sported a colorful striped shirt and black shorts the last time his two daughters, Kira and Kenae, saw him. The father of five slung his bag over his shoulder and set out for the day. Listening to music, Clark took in the southern warmth of Fort Smith, Ark., and pounded Midland Avenue looking for an affordable used vehicle for his family.
The Toll Mass Incarceration Takes on Families
In the late 1980s, it was a weekly ritual for my four brothers and I. Something I relished more than playing hide-and-seek, and I loved that game. I sat on my grandmother’s sofa waiting for my turn to speak with my father. He usually called once a week. One time, a week or so had gone by and he hadn’t called me. When he finally called, I was livid with him. “You fussed at me like I didn’t love you,” he later told me.
THE SHADOW SYSTEM
Narrator Janina Edwards delivers an impassioned performance as she describes the lives of multiple families dealing with the complicated racism and general destructive nature of our nation's mass incarceration system and the school-to-prison pipeline.
My Dad Went to Prison When I Was 5. Now I Write About Families Like Mine
By Sylvia A. Harvey Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. In 1986, in Oakland, California, my father was convicted of second-degree murder. At 29, he began serving 16 years to life in prison. I was 5 years old. From the moment my tiny beige hand touched the scratched glass partition, my father’s hand covering mine from the other side, the separation was real.
Parenting While Incarcerated
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from “The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family,” by Sylvia A. Harvey, published by Bold Type Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. In it, Harvey chronicles three families’ stories, each of which shines a light on the brutal, dehumanizing and exploitative effects that America’s prison-industrial system has on families of the incarcerated.
Reflections on Rage and Reform
“A riot is the language of the unheard.” - Martin Luther King Jr. I was stunned into hand-over-mouth silence as I sat on my couch watching the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I avoided watching the video for two days. As a journalist reporting on criminal justice, I'd seen enough grotesque disregard for Black life on video.
'You Never Want to go to the Workhouse'
Activists launch a new campaign to close an infamous St. Louis jail. Prisoners chant and wave shirts out of their windows during a protest at the St. Louis Medium Security Institution, also known as “the Workhouse," on July 21, 2017. Daniel Shular Sylvia A. Harvey Jun 18, 2018 Share Activists launch a new campaign to close an infamous St. Louis jail. Sylvia A. Harvey Jun 18, 2018 Two rows of barbed wire fencing can’t block the screams that escape from behind the barred windows at the jail.
I Moved Into a Domestic Violence Shelter and Haven’t Seen My Son In Weeks
A series about how coronavirus affects our lives, our loved ones, our work, and our way of life Life in the Time of Coronavirus is a GEN series where we are interviewing people across the country who have had their lives upended or are experiencing the stress of the unknown. Nathalie K. is a 32-year-old mother living in a domestic violence shelter in Benton, Arkansas.
The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family (Hardcover)
$28.00 Usually Ships in 1-5 Days Description From an award-winning journalist, a searing exposé of the effects of the mass incarceration crisis on families -- including the 2.7 million American children who have a parent locked up. In The Shadow System, award-winning journalist Sylvia A. Harvey follows the fears, challenges, and small victories of three families struggling to live within the confines of a brutal system.
2.7 Million Kids Have Parents in Prison. They’re Losing Their Right to Visit.
States have gutted family visitation programs in reaction to prison overcrowding, and racist ideas about black sexuality. By Sylvia A. HarveyTwitter December 2, 2015 fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark December 2, 2015 Linda and Keshawn Green pose in their backyard. Their husband and dad, Charles Green, is serving a life sentence. (Photograph by Carolyn Drake / Magnum Photos) My small feet thump the concrete as I hurry toward the door. My four older brothers trail closely behind.
Winter 2018 | VQR Online
Winter 2018 Volume 94, Number 4 In our winter issue, we grapple with questions of community: why kinship doesn’t necessarily translate to citizenship, what it means to be healthy or at risk among neighbors, and how we take care of each other in a world of inequality. [toc] Table of Contents Print: $14.00 Digital: $14.00 By Raj Telhan, Illustrations by Stephen Doyle As reproductive technology outpaces US immigration law, families struggle to stay together. Reporting Stepping Up By Sylvia A.
Stepping Up - The Investigative Fund
In the days before Johnson knew her parenting arrangement would be permanent, she enrolled Kayla in preschool without any trouble. But she quickly realized she’d need some legal standing in order to do much more. She filed for custody of Kayla, an arrangement that allowed Ebony and Johnson’s only son, Trevor, to maintain their parental rights and visitation privileges.
Stepping Up
A clean dusting of snow coats the hoods of cars parked along Philadelphia’s West Norris Street. The trees are mostly bare, withered leaves buried in the corners of benches. This winter morning, the massive rust-brick complex, a low-rise housing development known as the James W. Johnson Homes, is serene. The complex, which stretches for blocks, comprises 522 apartments spread across fifty-nine buildings.
As National Prison Strike Continues, Incarcerated People Face Retaliation
In April, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a group of people incarcerated in South Carolina that organizes for prisoners’ rights, called for a national prison strike to begin on Aug. 21.
‘We thought it was important to knock down doors’
Lewis Conway Jr., a formerly incarcerated activist running for Austin City Council, sits down with The Appeal. Lewis Conway Jr. at a recent campaign rally Matthew Bradford/Hank+Tank Photography Sylvia A. Harvey Aug 30, 2018 Share Lewis Conway Jr., a formerly incarcerated activist running for Austin City Council, sits down with The Appeal. Sylvia A. Harvey Aug 30, 2018 For Lewis Conway Jr., deciding to run for office was the easy part.
What About Us? - The Investigative Fund
Asked about New Mexico’s decision to end family visitation last year, Alex Tomlin, the corrections department’s public-affairs director, inadvertently described what was, to me, the beauty of the program: “The majority were not spousal visits — they were [visits] with children or parents.” For example, she offered, “an offender and his children, they would play football in the front yard.” She added that only 200 of the approximately 7,000 state inmates were eligible, a population too small...
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