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In 2019, Dr. Marc Howard – founder and Director of the Prisons & Justice Initiative at Georgetown University – launched a program known as the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice. The Project aimed to facilitate discussion groups between incarcerated individuals and members of the community that could improve carceral programming and enhance the public’s understanding of the correctional system.

Dr. Howard sought out innovative sheriffs to partner with in this program, and found two willing leaders in Sheriff Chris Swanson of Genesee County, Michigan and Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. To date, both sheriffs have hosted dozens of these conversations that are breaking down barriers inside their facilities and building new bridges to the community.

The Frederick Douglass Project for Justice is now operating in 14 states and the District of Columbia, with more facilities preparing to launch discussions in the coming year. The program’s value was captured recently in NSA’s October/November issue of Sheriff & Deputy.

During this presentation, Dr. Howard will share the tenets, structure, and growth of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice since its inception. He will also cover how Frederick Douglass facilitators guide these conversations in close partnership with facility officials, and the benefits the program can have on community relationships, inmate welfare and more.
Sheriffs Koutoujian & Swanson will speak to how this program can be a four-way win for sheriffs with benefits operationally, programmatically, politically, and personally. They will share their experiences of external participants entering these discussions with low expectations based on the portrayal of correctional facilities by the media and advocacy groups, and then leaving transformed by the experiences – becoming vocal partners and even partners for sheriff’s offices and correctional innovation.

From an improved facility climate to a deeper appreciation for the work of corrections professionals, sheriffs can experience tangible benefits from the inclusion of Frederick Douglass Project discussions within their correctional programmatic offerings.

PRESENTERS: Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, MA, Sheriff Christoper R. Swanson, Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, MI, and Dr. Marc Howard, Professor, Georgetown University; Founder and President, Frederick Douglass Project for Justice

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