Projects
With over 25 years working within the criminal legal system, Andrea has dedicated her life’s work to ending incarceration of women and girls.
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
The National Council is a network of women impacted by incarceration who are focused on ending the incarceration of women and girls—a fast-growing incarcerated population—through a combination of relationship building, research, leadership training, organizing and advocacy work.
We are creating the shift from a criminal legal system to community-led human justice.
Andrea first began organizing with fellow incarcerated women while serving time in federal prison and they formed Families for Justice as Healing (FJAH), with the goal to raise public awareness of women as the fastest-growing incarcerated population and to use its voice to shift society from a criminal legal system focused on punishment, to a system based on human justice.
Andrea and the leadership of The National Council have organized formerly incarcerated women throughout the country to promote policies that will end incarceration of women and girls. Channeling the spirit of Black women leaders, Andrea understands that power is built from the ground up and even more powerful than organized money is the power of organized people.
Families for Justice as Healing
Andrea James is Founder of Families for Justice as Healing. With a mission to end the incarceration of women and girls in Massachusetts, FJAH organizes to reimagine communities in the most incarcerated neighborhoods in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to develop alternatives to police, courts, and incarceration.
FJAH is a member of The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, is closely connected with a sister organization, Sisters Unchained, and is a part of the National Participatory Defense Network.
#FreeHer
The FreeHer Campaign is a national campaign to end the incarceration of women and girls. It is led by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls from each state in the country.
