Salon Series Tackles ‘Why America is World’s Biggest Jailer’

The U.S. locks up more people than any other nation in the world, making it the planet’s largest jailer.

On October 9, Merrill Brown, Director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, will moderate a discussion of the policies that created the U.S.’s high incarceration rates and what can or should be done to responsibly reduce the rates of those incarcerated at a film screening and discussion titled, Crisis in American Criminal Justice System: The Cycle of Injustice From Arrest and Incarceration to Re-entry.

Brown will be joined by three notable panelists:

• Dawn Porter, Montclair resident and producer/director of the award-wining HBO documentary Gideon’s Army, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2013.
• David Fathi, Director of the ACLU’s Prison Project, an expert in the use of solitary confinement and conditions in “Super Max” prison.
• Jessica S. Henry, former Bronx Public Defender and a professor of Justic Studies at Montclair State University.

RSVP is recommended at msusalonseries.eventbrite.com. The screening of a clip from “Gideon’s Army” will start the program. The event is free and open to the public. In the Conference Center Ballroom, University Hall, 7th Floor, 8-9:30 p.m. Call Emily Eldridge at 973-979-7933 with questions or email Stephanie Wood at woods@mail.montclair.edu.

This free Salon Series Event is presented by the School of Communication and Media, Montclair State University, and with the generous support of Jim Leitner.