Our Mission
UNY-PRC is a network of interdisciplinary scholars, political activists, and community members impacted by the criminal legal system founded in 2023 in Upstate New York. We believe in the radical power of collaborative documentation and research to critically examine the carceral state. Our mission is twofold: to curate, archive, publish, and share research that identifies and addresses the root causes of injustice and inequity, while simultaneously increasing public access to research tools and skills in order to democratize knowledge production. Our consortium is committed to informing policy, empowering affected communities, increasing police accountability, and promoting transformative justice for a more equitable and humane society.
Writing Workshops
Workshop papers in progress in a supportive, interdisciplinary environment.
This group meets monthly and is always accepting new participants.
UNY-PRC Digital Archive
The UNY-PRC Digital Archive curates, digitizes, and shares research materials pertaining to the carceral state with the lives and stories of impacted people at the center. By making the archive available online, UNY-PRC strives for a more accurate archival record of policing and carceral systems available to anyone who needs it: researchers, policy advocates, elected officials, community organizers, students, and most importantly, the people most directly impacted by these systems and their loved ones.
Collaboration
At the heart of UNY-PRC is the belief that ideas and information are best shared, and that the difficult work of liberation is balanced by joy and community.
UNYPRC members gather over meals, for writing retreats, in Zoom spaces, at conferences, and in our respective community organizations. We cook meals together and co-author scholarship.
We bring knowledge and skills from our experience and backgrounds, and we share what we know for the greater good.
Liberating the Archive
Too often, public narratives rely on state actors and mainstream media which tell limited stories from narrow source bases. Procurement of additional materials requires extensive resources. UNYPRC affiliates collaborate to “liberate” archival materials from behind closed doors, lengthy FOIL/FOIA processes, and other time and resource barriers.
Mentorship
UNY-PRC trains cohorts of interns each summer and fall from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. Institutional affiliation is not required.
Interns work with a range of archival sources including body-worn video footage, jail intake forms, oral histories, digital newspaper databases, memoirs, collective bargaining agreements, and more.
UNY-PRC Foundations
Founded by scholars, activists, and system-affected people in Upstate New York, UNY-PRC works to expedite research on New York State beyond NYC. We build community, facilitate comparative and longitudinal studies across NYS cities, and curate archival collections of otherwise forgotten materials.
We believe place matters. In New York, research tends to overemphasize New York City (NYC), the New York Police Department (NYPD), and Rikers Island, though a larger proportion of carceral impact is felt in the indigenous territories, midsize cities, rural areas, small towns, and suburbs where so many New Yorkers actually live.
We believe carceral systems are best understood by listening deeply to lived experience. From this ground-level perspective, we engage in place-based research in Upstate New York and beyond.
