Unapologetically HERS - Unapologetically HERS

If formerly incarcerated people have access to political education, participatory research tools, and reflective learning spaces.....

Then they can critically analyze the systems that have shaped their lives, document harm, and produce knowledge rooted in lived experience.

If people are supported to translate learning into transferable professional skills—such as research, facilitation, communication, ethical leadership, and strategic thinking…

Then they are prepared to navigate workforce pathways, peer leadership roles, and movement spaces without sacrificing dignity, values, or autonomy.

If people apply these skills to real-world challenges—through toolkits, guides, peer support, testimony, and narrative change efforts…

Then knowledge moves beyond theory into action, strengthening community-led advocacy and increasing access to information, resources, and power.

If people are connected through peer-led networks that foster trust, accountability, and collective strategy…

Then individual leadership development becomes collective capacity, enabling coordinated action inside and beyond carceral spaces.

When learning, workforce readiness, advocacy, and organizing are integrated and sustained…

Then formerly incarcerated people shape policies, institutions, and cultural narratives - driving long-term change toward systems rooted in care, accountability, and liberation rather than punishment.

ABOUT UAHERS

Unapologetically HERS is a learning organization that prepares formerly incarcerated women, trans, and gender-nonconforming people for leadership, workforce pathways, and collective action.

We envision a world where formerly incarcerated women, trans, and gender-nonconforming people are recognized as leaders, knowledge-holders, and architects of collective liberation.

In this future, communities most impacted by incarceration shape policy, workforce systems, and public narratives – replacing punishment with care, accountability, and shared power.

Unapologetically HERS believes that people most impacted by incarceration are best positioned to lead efforts toward systemic change – but only when they are resourced, compensated, and supported to develop the skills, knowledge, and collective power required to do so.

Mass incarceration persists not because impacted communities lack insight or leadership, but because their knowledge has been systematically excluded from decision-making spaces. Our work intervenes at that root cause.

London Croudy taking b roll images during the creation of When the Bough Breaks on Motherhood.

Daniela Medina and Aminah Elster outside of CCWF calling for the release of more people in CA women’s prisons during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Welcome home Angela Zuniga (Angela Zuniga & Aminah Elster)

Family, friends, and formerly incarcerated women outside of CCWF demanding the release of loved ones.

UAHERS strategy session (left to right: Eman Mohammed, Beaunte Wayfer, Precious Johnson, Aminah Elster, Robert Elster

Underground Scholars join Daniela and Aminah outside of CCWF during a rally to free people incarcerated in women’s prisons.

WHAT WE DO

Participatory Action Research Leadership Program (PARLP)

PARLP is a community-led research and leadership development fellowship for Community Researchers - incarcerated people who conduct participatory action research grounded in lived experience. Community Researchers are compensated for their labor and supported as knowledge-producers, educators, and leaders whose work informs advocacy, organizing, and systems change.

Liberation Labs

Liberation Labs are Unapologetically HERS’s workforce readiness and professional development workshops delivered inside prisons to currently incarcerated people. Liberation Labs are intentionally designed as learning spaces where leadership is practiced, not merely taught - supporting incarcerated people to build skills, confidence, and professional identity prior to release.

Peer Parole Coaching

Peer Parole Coaching provides individualized and group-based support for Peers navigating the parole process. Coaching is led by people with lived experience of parole hearings and release, offering guidance rooted in credibility, care, and accountability. This model reflects UAHERS’s commitment to peer-led support over punitive or extractive systems.

The Inner Circle

The Inner Circle is an extension of the Liberation Labs model, designed for formerly incarcerated professionals navigating reentry and the workforce. The Inner Circle provides: Facilitated leadership reflection and professional development, Support navigating workplace harm, power dynamics, and burnout, Peer connection, accountability, and collective care The Inner Circle reflects UAHERS’s commitment to continuity of leadership development beyond incarceration, ensuring that professional growth and collective support do not end at release.

Resentencing Advocacy & Peer Legal Education

Unapologetically HERS engages in resentencing advocacy and peer legal education that supports incarcerated people to understand, navigate, and advocate within complex resentencing processes. This work includes: Training and supporting incarcerated peer advocates, Developing accessible educational materials, Strengthening leadership, advocacy, and systems navigation skills. Rather than providing direct legal services, UAHERS focuses on building the capacity of impacted people to advocate for themselves and their communities.

Reproductive Justice, Storytelling & Knowledge Production

UAHERS is also engaged in reproductive justice–focused research, storytelling, and knowledge production that documents carceral harm and elevates the lived experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. This work includes: Collaborative research and writing projects, Community-informed publications and educational tools, Contributions to public discourse on medical neglect, bodily autonomy, and carceral violence.

RESOURCES

Pulse of Change: Exploring Educational Access in California Women’s Prisons

CA Women’s Prisons — Sexual Abuse Response and Prevention Working Group

Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie

UAHERS 2023 Annual Report

Sentencing Reform for Criminalized Survivors: Learning from New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act

Pathways to Freedom: A Toolkit on the State of Resentencing in Central California Women’s Facility

Join us in our mission to create a more just and equitable system. Your donation will directly impact the lives of women who are striving for a second chance. Together, we can make a difference.