Area Summary

Modern mass incarceration divests those convicted of crimes of the freedom to fashion their own contributions to the world. It robs such individuals of their very personhood, severing their fundamental human dignity and confining any possibility of moving toward personal and communal repair. Jewish spiritual teachings provide a constructive framework within which perpetrators can right their wrongs, recognizing their harm they have done and doing whatever possible to undo the damage. Our dialogue facilitators work with individuals who have been incarcerated for life, seeing the redemption and humanity that one rarely hears of about such people. Our programs discuss work with Jewish prisoners, and with prisoners of all faiths and denominations, but they also dive deeply into the Jewish values and spiritual teachings that inform and influence this work.

Lead Fellow

Elaine (Sneierson) Leeder is Social Science Dean Emerita and Professor Emerita of Sociology at Sonoma State University. She has 44 years of teaching experience, including working in prisons with convicted felons. Leeder was a visiting scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a recipient of the Real Hero Award by the American Red Cross for her prison work. She has written six books, one of which, My Life with Lifers: Lessons for a Teacher, Humanity Has No Bars (Terra Nova Books, 2012), is used in colleges around the country. Leeder (a very distant relative of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) is honored to be included in this project since being a Jew and her prison work are core pieces of her identity.

Read more about her story here.