As the Founder and Executive Director of Witness to Mass Incarceration (Witness), Evie Litwork's experiences with the judicial and correctional systems serve as the inspiration behind Witness’ mission, which operates to place formerly incarcerated women and LGBTQ+ people at the forefront of the movement to end mass incarceration, restore safety, dignity and respect in correctional facilities and reduce barriers to successful reentry. WITNESS is committed to long term and permanent solutions to ensure successful reentry, by focusing on four pillars we believe necessary to make this happen: housing, employment, trauma-informed care, and community support. Every year 700,000 people are released from prison into the “free” world, many of whom are homeless, penniless, and lacking family support. The immediate challenge they face is how to survive. In response, Witness to Mass Incarceration focused on reentry, advocacy, and civic engagement and our newest program a resource map of formerly incarcerated led services and businesses. We focus on improving conditions of confinement through our work to end sexual violence in confinement. We have designed and are implementing a new approach to reentry. We respond to events which require immediate action, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
