The Humanization Project is an organic product of love and purpose. It grew accidentally as two old friends unable to accept injustice were forced to navigate a dehumanizing criminal justice system and fell for each other along the way. 

In 2014, a year of torturous solidarity, brutal police, and a dishonest prosecutor (typically) left Taj unexpectedly, unjustly shattered. Only parents, friends, aunts, siblings, and especially Gin and his son kept him going. Determined to do something to make them proud despite, he sought to involve sociological education and voice in pursuing the criminal justice reform he had been advocating for years. Yet he found few outlets available to those inside with the deepest understanding. 

Through this time, decade of friendship blossomed into love, and the idealist that she is, Gin left paradise (Hawaii) to fight for Taj’s release and brave ugly conditions for great kisses and visits. During one, they realized two important things: First, the biggest obstacle to reform was that most voters’ perceptions came from media stereotypes because few knew the great people inside like they now did. Second, their love story might help so many mainstream folks relate. So they started a dual blog on Medium. 

Then, in early 2019, Gin and Taj were discussing the amazing resiliency and joy evident in parents and kids during their visits. So many of the positive leaders found their purpose in parenting. Taj had himself spent all this time writing, reading, navigating gang-run phone lines to stay close with his son. He’d even written his ultimate, heart-deep fatherhood letter. Suddenly they thought, what if we got so many great parents to write similar letters? This epiphany would give voice, help parents connect, and potentially alter public perception a bit. Nothing is more universal than parental love, so they’d highlight how parents cherish just the same behind bars. 

Humanizing being the mission, the recruiting and brainstorming birthed our name from the ether. Amazingly, the URL was available, and the Humanization Project was off and running. Our many projects aimed at this mission now gathered under one umbrella. 

Since then, these projects have continued and matured. The Correspondence Program has shifted to the University of Richmond and hopefully further soon. “Parent, Trapped: Voices of Parents Behind Bars” has been published and well received. Interviews highlighted dozens of great people stuck too long behind bars. 

Along the way, we expanded a bit. Numerous volunteers have contributed, and we have even enlisted new team members. We didn’t get Taj released sooner, but we got tens of thousands the chance to EARN earlier release and reunite families. Adding legislative advocacy, we authored and championed the expansion of Earned Sentence Credits (and some other reforms, like Second Look). Even that wasn’t good enough because the politicians cut out too many deserving recipients from the original version, motivating ongoing efforts. Still, it provided more second chances than anything in Virginia’s history. 

All of this simply because of love, purpose, and the commitment of a couple old Hokies without any money or influence, only some good notions and a lot of chutzpah, supported by dedicated friends and family inside and out. We couldn’t have done it alone because it was the people we humanized that mattered and inspired. But anyone sure can make a difference. 

Now we embark with our new COO, Savannah, looking to spotlight more awesome people with convictions and expand our partnerships and outreach. We would love if you’d join us!