Disrupted:
Injustice, Trauma, and Healing
By John Pace
A group of Philadelphians use Intergenerational Healing Circles to undo the harm caused by a rigged system
Disrupted: Injustice, Trauma, and Healing is a portrait of Philadelphia through the lens of race, class and incarceration. The enduring legacy of slavery is an American story, but John sees community building and policy as a way towards healing for system impacted individuals and the people who love them.
John Pace is a Philadelphia-based educator and reentry specialist who works with young people and their families and advocates for higher education in prison. He currently serves as the Senior Reentry Coordinator at the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) and a Program Associate for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange at Temple University.
About the Issue
Structural forces—such as divestment, environmental racism, and systemic inequality—have shaped outcomes for too many Black and Brown communities, creating a pipeline of children into the adult prison system. In Philadelphia, the poorest largest city in the U.S., these inequities are exacerbated by poverty, disinvestment and harmful policing.
John and his colleagues at YSRP work to reduce the imposition, duration, and impact of adult criminal sentences on low-income children and their families. They have introduced new standards of legal representation that challenge the way that young people are traditionally represented in the adult criminal legal system. We provide space for their full stories to be shared with judges who decide whether they will end up in adult prison and carry lifelong convictions, and help them stay connected to their communities through incarceration and reconnect to the community upon their return.
300+
of the 500 juvenile lifers in Pennsylvania are from Philadelphia.
10%
of all JLWOP cases in the United States—and the world are Philadelphians
via YSRP
