About Us

The Remedy Project recruits and trains students to serve as advocates for people incarcerated in the United States.

Mission

From guard assault to solitary confinement to medical malpractice, the problem of abuse and neglect within American prisons is well documented. For the millions of people incarcerated across the country, there is only one official avenue for recourse against this mistreatment – the Administrative Remedy Process. Though rarely used, and even more rarely used effectively, this process allows an incarcerated person to file a grievance about their inhumane treatment and requires staff to address the complaint. 

The Remedy Project organizes students to harness the power of the administrative remedy process from the outside to defend people on the inside. Founded in 2019 by David, a returning citizen who mastered the administrative remedy during his ten-year term in federal prison, and Anna, a student organizer from Barnard College, the overall mission of The Remedy Project is to recruit and train students to serve as advocates for people incarcerated in the United States. To accomplish that mission, The Project recruits formerly-incarcerated individuals with experience using the administrative remedy process to train student volunteers. By building a powerful coalition between justice-involved advocates and student organizers, The Remedy Project holds prison administrations accountable for abuse and neglect, demands a departure from the punitive nature of prison staff, combats injustice, and restores some humanity to people caught in an inhumane system.

Approach

Client Advocacy

The Remedy Project assists our incarcerated clients through the entire administrative remedy process. Incarcerated people seeking assistance sign up for our services, and when issues arise, their detailed complaints are translated into effective and powerful administrative remedies by our team of formerly incarcerated mentors and student volunteers.

Before assisting in client advocacy, students participate in a semester-long training program where they learn how to write and file grievance reports and appeals, along with crucial knowledge about the culture of prisons, the mentality of incarcerated people and staff, and the tactics of prison bureaucracies.

The Remedy Project believes in the expertise of those with direct experience with the criminal legal system – our team of formerly incarcerated jailhouse lawyers facilitate student training and oversee client advocacy. 

Public Advocacy

Client representation is coupled with and strengthened by our public advocacy efforts. Organized entirely by student volunteers, the goal of our public advocacy is to share stories about our clients’ experiences of incarceration in order to educate the public about the horrors of life in prison and pressure prison officials to address the massive-scale human rights crisis persisting under their noses. For more information, visit our action page action.theremedyproj.org

Get Help

If you or your loved one is seeking help for an issue they are experiencing while incarcerated in federal prison, contact us at intake@theremedyproj.org or at (929) 224-0380 with the following information to enroll in our services: 

• full name
• register number
• name and address of the institution where they are incarcerated
• release date
• information about the issue you would like us to help with