ABOUT

HISTORY

Return Strong is a grassroots organization that was born out of necessity in the heart of the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic. As organizations across Nevada called for decarceration, and received no movement from state administration, a group of women who had incarcerated loved ones came together to fight for transparency, communication and accountability from the Nevada Department of Corrections. 

IN OUR FIRST YEAR:

  • We organized families to read letters from members at public comments at the Board of Prison Commissioners quarterly meeting, and put the harm happening in Nevada prisons on public record. 

  • We reached out to incarcerated people, asking them to share their story and the impact of restitution deductions with us. The Governor put an immediate stay on restitution deductions.

  • We later won a statutory cap on money that could be taken from prisoners, and oversight for financial decisions made by NDOC. 

  • We used the same strategy to fight for Assembly Bill 241, and won. This bill reimbursed people up to 60 days per year during the state of emergency that was COVID-19, resulting in the immediate release of some of our members. 

  • We have built an advocacy team for both medical neglect and the pardons board, and have won compassionate release for terminally ill people, and sponsored six men of color who are now free, who all had served unjust, excessive sentences. 

  • We collected first hand experiences of people who were incarcerated during the pandemic and have published two reports on the mis-handling of the pandemic in Nevada prisons. 

We continue to use these tactics to move campaigns, educate communities and lawmakers, and change the culture of incarceration in Nevada.

CORE VALUES

We believe in the power of collective action and that we are always stronger together. This is the core belief that is the foundation of our belief that together, we are the change that is needed. 

We believe the lived experiences of people impacted by the criminal legal system  are powerful and are the key to impacting change in our own lives, our communities, the state and beyond. 

We believe that the intersections of our identities directly impact us and prioritizing marginalized communities is necessary for a system that is just and equitable. 

We believe that we must both disrupt and dismantle current systems of oppression and specifically mass incarceration, while simultaneously building communities that can and will support a world without prisons, this is both our eternal hope and driving force.