Prison Reform

Host Annmarie Hylton introduces the Project Good Podcast’s June focus on prison reform, outlining longstanding criticisms of California’s prison system and recent reform efforts. She interviews Keith Wattley, founder and executive director of Uncommon Law, about what drew him into criminal justice reform and why he built a legal model centered on partnership, people-first language, and clients’ agency to tell their stories to the parole board. Wattley argues that punishment is often chosen over healing, that trauma and disconnection commonly underlie harm across society, and that accountability means acknowledging harm and taking steps to repair it. He discusses racial and wealth disparities as policy choices, cautions against simplistic comparisons to Scandinavian models, and describes how proximity to incarcerated people shifts stereotypes. Wattley highlights that people released from long and life sentences have extremely low violent recidivism (under 1%) and calls for healing-focused policies and community-based alternatives to incarceration. 00:00 Welcome to Project Good 01:02 Meet Keith Wattley 03:20 Why Reform Work 07:55 Beyond Labels and Systems 10:54 Trauma and Healing 14:10 Redemption and Accountability 24:27 Race Policy and Targeting 29:48 Models Beyond America 34:21 Training New Advocates 43:29 Recidivism Myths and Money 50:31 Healing Community Action 01:00:52 Closing and Resources Keith Wattley (he/him), Founder and Executive Director, received his B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University and his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law. He has been advocating for the rights of people in prison and on parole for more than 25 years. Prior to launching UnCommon Law in 2006, Keith was a staff attorney at the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit law firm in Berkeley. At UnCommon Law, he has focused on helping people transform their lives and demonstrate to the parole board that they can safely be released from their life sentences. He has also engaged in impact litigation and individual cases involving unlawful prison and parole conditions, and he has trained hundreds of lawyers, law students and others in advocating for the rights of incarcerated people. In 2018, Keith was selected as one of the Obama Foundation’s inaugural Fellows, recognizing his unique legal model and vision, and in 2020, he was awarded the James Irvine Foundation's Leadership Award. Keith has been active on several boards of directors, and served as co-chair of the Institutional Review Board (human subjects committee) for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. He was also a member of the Founding Board of Directors for the Prison University Project (San Quentin’s College Program) and a member of the Board of Directors for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Keith currently teaches a course titled "California Prisons and Discretionary Parole" at UC Berkeley School of Law where he also supervises the Post-Conviction Advocacy Project.