By Alonzo Harvey, Paper Prisons Expert Advisor As a formerly incarcerated advocate and member of the Paper Prisons team, I’ve seen exactly where the justice system fails the people trapped inside it. I’ve worked on Racial Justice Act (RJA) teams, and one truth is clear: incarcerated individuals cannot fight racial bias in their cases without… Read more: Appendix A: The RJA Is a Lifeline But Only If People Inside Can Access the Tools to Use It

By Alonzo Harvey and Colleen V. Chien  Examples of Letters received by the Paper Prisons Initiative The Judicial Council of California is proposing, as described in its invitation to comment W26-05, to change Form HC-001, the official Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus used in California courts. Form HC-001 is a form that can be… Read more: Paper Prisons’ Comment to the Judicial Council of California on Proposed Changes to Form HC-001

By Colleen V. Chien, Founder, Paper Prisons Initiative and Professor, Berkeley Law School One in three adults has a criminal record. As such, one of the most important and unresolved questions in criminal justice policy is whether people can move beyond their past records and re-integrate into society. The evidence suggests that they can —… Read more: Paper Prisons’ Digital Juneteenth Pre-Pilot: From (Records) Clearance to Takeoff, What Happens When People Learn They’re Free? (Jan. 15, 2026)

New year, new partnership, with the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office, on “Digital Juneteenth” initiatives. While California’s “Clean Slate” laws automate record expungement, many individuals remain unaware they’ve been cleared. Drawing inspiration from the spirit of Juneteenth—where freedom required awareness to be realized—in 2024, Paper Prisons launched a “Digital Juneteenth” research initiative to address… Read more: Advancing “Digital Juneteenth” with the Santa Clara County Public Defender (Jan. 12, 2026)

By Colleen V. Chien, Founder, Paper Prisons Initiative and Professor, Berkeley Law School What do the Supreme Court’s landmark civil rights decisions have in common with the rescue of Healthcare.gov or the delivery of effective digital services during the COVID pandemic? Each transformed the lives of millions of Americans—and each was made possible, in part,… Read more: Tech Bono (Dec. 18, 2025)