East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition

The Coalition is part of the Promise of Justice Initiative ¹ which is funded by several large left-of-center philanthropies including the New Venture Fund, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, ² and MacKenzie Scott. ³ It is also a partner of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights which focuses on left-of-center issues of mass incarceration, gender, racial activism, and civic activism. ⁴

Background

Formation

The East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition is a community coalition focused on improving conditions at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. It also opposes “systemic and racist causes of mass incarceration” through education and advocacy. ⁵ EBRPPRC was formed in 2018 by Linda Franks and other relatives of inmates who had died at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. Franks is the mother of Lamar Johnson, an inmate who hanged himself while in jail. ⁶

Promise of Justice Initiative

The organization is a coalition of the Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI) along with other left-of-center groups including Avodah, Equal Justice USA, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cohen Milstein, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. ¹

PJI is a legal organization in New Orleans specializing in the reduction of mass incarceration through pro bono criminal defense, fighting perceived racism in the criminal legal system, and fighting for the abolition of the death penalty through litigation and advocacy. ⁷ Its donors include the Foundation for Louisiana, the New Venture Fund, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. ²

In March 2024 PJI received a $2 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. ³ PJI  is a partner of Incarceration Transparency, ⁸ a project of Loyola University law students founded by Loyola professor Andrea Armstrong that collects and analyzes data on deaths of incarcerated individuals. ⁹

RFK Center for Human Rights

The Coalition is listed as a partner of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which focuses on left-of-center issues of mass incarceration, gender, racial activism, and civic activism. Other partners include Adasina Social Capital, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Health and Gender Equity, the Civil Rights Corps, Democracy Forward, the Know Your Rights Camp, the National Bail Fund Network, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Trans United. ⁴

Work Areas and Events

The East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition fights against mass incarceration through information sharing and activism. ⁵ It has monthly in-person and Zoom meetings, a monthly car caravan, and organizes frequent events and demonstrations. ¹⁰

The Coalition’s Facebook page shares a link to Commons which publishes the East Baton Rouge Parish’s criminal justice data dashboard. Commons was developed by Measures for Justice, ¹¹ a criminal justice data collection group funded by the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Echoing Green, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. ¹²

In March 2022, the Coalition joined other local activists and Baton Rouge’s NAACP in a demonstration and car caravan against the shooting of Deaughn Willis during a state police raid, claiming that the police were protecting a “killer cop.” The Coalition continues to hold a monthly “car caravan for justice” at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison ¹³ in partnership with Victory Over Louisiana Violence. ¹⁴

The Coalition opposes Louisiana Senate Bill 3 (SB3) and Louisiana Senate Bill 4 (SB4), legislation introduced and passed in 2024 as a means of reducing crime in the state. ^{15 16} SB3 lowered the age of a delinquent to 17 rather than 18 so that 17-year-olds can be charged for crimes as adults. SB4 defined mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles. The Coalition claims that these bills will not decrease crime. ^{17 18}

Leadership

Linda Franks is one of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition’s founders and organizers. ⁶ Franks is executive director of the Fair Fight Initiative, a left-of-center education, litigation, and advocacy group that supports an end to mass incarceration and “systemic racism.” ¹⁹

Alexis Anderson frequently leads the monthly Coalition meetings. ²⁰ She’s an ordained minister, and founder and executive director of the nonprofit PREACH which educates formerly incarcerated people and domestic violence survivors on basic life skills. She supports an end to mass incarceration. ²¹ Anderson is on the board of the Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana ²² which supports the formerly incarcerated who have been “harmed by the systemic racism and economic impacts of the criminal legal system” through education, legal representation, and advocacy. ²³ She is also a staff member of the Promise of Justice Initiative. ²⁴

Michael Cahoon is a co-lead organizer and policy advocate for the Promise of Justice’s coalitions, including the Coalition. Previously he was a lead organizer for the SEIU Local 509 in Massachusetts. ²⁴

Andrea Armstrong, a Loyola University professor focused on incarceration since 2010, is a member of the Coalition and a frequent speaker at its meetings. Armstrong received a bachelor’s degree from New York University, a master’s degree from Princeton University, and a law degree from Yale Law School. She was named a MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ²⁵ She is a lead investigator for Death Behind Bars in Louisiana, a project supported by Arnold Ventures and has received research grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. ²⁶