The people most impacted by
the system are the ones changing it.
L2J doesn't just teach people about democracy. We build organizers and leaders who change it. Through peer-led civic education, a policy newsletter that reaches nearly 4,000 incarcerated people across Washington State (a third of the entire prison population), and a growing network of incarcerated Lead Organizers embedded in every major facility, we build the knowledge and capacity for system-impacted people to engage with the legislative process on their own terms.

That knowledge becomes power. Incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system-impacted people and their loved ones testify at the legislature, register their positions directly with lawmakers, build coalitions, and drive reform campaigns.
Our annual CommUNITY Symposium brings together system-impacted community members, legislators, prosecutors, and judges to build the cross-sector alignment that makes change possible.L2J doesn't just teach people about democracy. We build organizers and leaders who change it.

Through peer-led civic education, a policy newsletter that reaches nearly 4,000 incarcerated people across Washington State (a third of the entire prison population), and a growing network of incarcerated Lead Organizers embedded in every major facility, we build the knowledge and capacity for system-impacted people to engage with the legislative process on their own terms.That knowledge becomes power. Incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system-impacted people and their loved ones testify at the legislature, register their positions directly with lawmakers, build coalitions, and drive reform campaigns.
When we lead with those
most impacted, WE WIN.

EXPLORE INSIDE-OUT ADVOCACY

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INSIDE/OUT
CIVIC
EDUCATION
WORKSHOPS

Our peer-led civic education workshops have reached more than 2,000 incarcerated and system-impacted community members across Washington State. Facilitated by formerly incarcerated organizers in community spaces and by incarcerated Lead Organizers embedded in every major Washington State facility, sessions cover how the legislative process works, how to read and analyze bills, how to prepare testimony, and how to organize around specific campaigns. Lead Organizers are not just facilitators. They are the connective tissue of our inside-out model, disseminating information on current legislation, answering questions from their peers, and feeding intelligence directly into how we design and adapt our programs. 

This is where civic knowledge becomes civic power - activating the most impacted to make real change themselves.

advocacy

Civic education builds the foundation. Advocacy is where that knowledge becomes power. The criminal legal system has disproportionately targeted and harmed Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. And it is precisely these communities that must lead the fight to transform it.

L2J's advocacy work is led by incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system-impacted people and their loved ones, who write bills, drive campaigns, build coalitions, testify at the legislature, and shape the policies that govern their own lives. We don't advocate for system-impacted people. We build the infrastructure for system-impacted people and their loved ones to advocate for themselves.

INSIDE/OUT
POLICY NEWSLETTER

Our quarterly policy newsletter is both a civic education tool and a feedback loop. Distributed to nearly 4,000+ (and growing) incarcerated people across every major Washington state facility, it keeps our network informed on current legislation, active campaigns, and opportunities to engage.

Incarcerated contributors shape its content based on what campaigns are gaining traction inside, what questions people are asking, and where knowledge gaps exist. What we hear back shapes everything we do.

The sign-in
project

For decades, incarcerated people have been the constituents most directly affected by criminal legal policy and the ones with no formal mechanism to make their voices heard in the legislative process.

The Sign-In Project closes that gap.In partnership with community volunteers, the Sign-In Project enables incarcerated advocates to formally register pro, neutral, or con positions on priority bills through Washington's official legislative sign-in system.

Because people in prison lack internet access, trained community volunteers enter sign-ins on the Legislature's website on their behalf, creating a measurable, high-volume show of constituent engagement that decision-makers can see firsthand.

At full reach, the Sign-In Project could make the voices of all 14,000+ people currently incarcerated in Washington, disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of color, visible and countable in the official legislative record.

SURVIVORS FOR
LIBERATION
COALITION

The Survivors for Liberation Coalition centers the voices of survivors of gender-based violence, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ survivors, who are disproportionately impacted by both violence and the systems that claim to address it. We believe that survivors are experts on the harm they have experienced and the conditions that create it. We also believe the power of how we work towards restoration should rest with their voices, not legislators, prosecutors and judges. We want to know what healing looks like for them, and what accountability looks like for those who've caused them harm.
The coalition builds solidarity between survivors inside and outside prison walls, amplifies their stories, and advocates for approaches to justice rooted in healing, liberation, and community — not criminalization. We want to know what healing looks like for them, and what accountability looks like for those who've caused them harm. The coalition builds solidarity between survivors inside and outside prison walls, amplifies their stories, and advocates for approaches to justice rooted in healing, liberation, and community — not criminalization.

We are proud to partner with Shannon Perez-Darby, a founding member of the Accountable Communities Consortium and a queer, mixed Latina anti-violence advocate, author, and activist with over 15 years of experience centering queer and trans communities of color in addressing domestic and sexual violence, accountability, and criminal legal system harms.

ANNUAL COMM(UNITY) SYMPOSIUM

Every year, Look2Justice brings together a room that doesn't usually exist. The Comm(Unity) Symposium is a free, community-centered event designed by currently incarcerated organizers and facilitated by formerly incarcerated leaders, bringing together 200+ system-impacted community members, legislators, prosecutors, judges, and advocates to build bridges between those who experience harm and those with the power to change it.

Every symposium is accessible, recorded for those who cannot attend in person, and structured so that everyone in the room, not just speakers, has space to be heard. These are not panels or performances. They are spaces where the distance between lived experience and institutional power shrinks; and where the cross-sector relationships that make lasting change possible are built.
upcoming symposium
6th Annual Look2Justice Symposium
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Previous symposiums
2025 - Tukwila  
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2025 - Spokane
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2024
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2023
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2022
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CONTACT US

We love to hear from our community, if you want to reach out with any thoughts or comments or to see how to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.
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