By Todd Fries
For three days in June, 19 people who were impacted by wrongful conviction gathered for NCIP’s transformative second restorative justice retreat at NatureBridge Retreat Center in the Marin Headlands.
The retreat brought together people from across the criminal justice system to engage in respectful dialogue about their experiences with wrongful conviction and to discuss how their experiences can be used to improve the system for everyone.
Restorative justice models have been used in a variety of settings to resolve disputes, promote healing, and hold people accountable for their roles in causing harm. At NCIP’s June retreat, participants engaged in a restorative justice circle process in which participants sit in a circle formation and learn about one another by sharing stories and listening to each other. Restorative justice circle processes provide much needed opportunities for harmed individuals to share their perspectives in a safe place where they can feel anger and grief and heal.
NCIP Restorative Justice Retreat participants come together at NatureBridge Retreat Center in the Marin Headlands. Photo courtesy of NatureBridge Retreat Center staff
Retreat participants included 11 exonerees, two crime victims, three family members of exonerees, and four circle keepers who guided the process to make the circle as safe and useful as possible. The circle keeper team consisted of an exoneree, two NCIP staff members, and a certified therapist from the Insight Prison Project, an organization that conducts restorative justice circles in high-security prisons.
The retreat began with exercises designed to create shared values and a sense of connection within the circle, which helped establish a safe space for all participants to express themselves. Participants discussed how they were harmed by wrongful conviction, what they need as a result of that harm, and the points of commonality in their experiences and vision for a more just, equitable, and fair system. In addition to sharing their remarkable stories, retreat attendees together built a community of support and turned to one another for help with the healing process. The circle was emotional, inspiring and transformative.
“The community of like-minded souls gave me a feeling of belonging and triggered a lot of emotion,” declared one participant.
Another participant said that a helpful part of the retreat was “the dignity that comes from the process of being heard, listening and learning from others’ strength.”
NCIP is hosting its next restorative justice retreat at NatureBridge on August 19. This retreat builds off the June retreat and will contain a healing circle component and incorporate storytelling skills-building activities. Individuals impacted by wrongful conviction are often motivated to share their experiences with policy makers and community leaders so these leaders understand the causes and effects of wrongful conviction and can implement solutions. NCIP’s goal is to assist retreat participants in building advocacy skills, so they can use their stories to advocate for change and extend the positive impact to more people affected by the criminal justice system.
