Last Prisoner Project

The Last Prisoner Project is a national, nonpartisan not-for-profit that works to end America’s discriminatory and counterproductive policy of cannabis criminalization, as well as to repair the harms of this unjust and ineffective crusade.

We work to accomplish this by focusing on three key criminal justice reform initiatives: release, record clearing, and reentry programming.

• Prisoner Release. A core focus of our criminal justice work is to release incarcerated cannabis prisoners. We accomplish this through our state and federal cannabis clemency programs (including the Cannabis Justice Initiative — a partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), compassionate release efforts, and other legal interventions.
• Record Clearing. A criminal record can be a significant barrier to employment, housing, financial assistance, and more, and so it’s unsurprising that the data shows that most released prisoners fail without the proper resources in place. This is why we work to advance (and ensure the proper and complete implementation of) broad and automatic clean slate initiatives, expungement processes, and record clearing programs.
• Reentry Programming. Our reentry programs work to reduce recidivism rates by providing the funds, professional support, and educational resources our constituents need upon release. Collectively these programs help cannabis prisoners become fully free.

Beyond release, record-clearing, and reentry, we also work to ensure our still-incarcerated constituents can access needed resources, healthcare, and phone calls by providing funding into their commissary accounts.