Southern Center for Human Rights: Fighting to end mass incarceration, the death penalty, and the criminalization of poverty

The LEADing Justice podcast is honored to welcome Terrica Redfield Ganzy, Executive Director, Southern Center for Human Rights. The Southern Center fights for a world free from mass incarceration, the death penalty, the criminalization of poverty, and racial injustice. A passionate, indefatigable leader with many years of dedicated service, she states: “What brought me to the work was anger. What keeps me in the work is love.” 

 The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) was founded in 1976 by ministers and activists concerned about criminal justice issues in response to the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the death penalty that year and to the horrendous conditions in Southern prisons and jails. After the 1970s, the criminal justice system exploded in size and reach, now with over two million people imprisoned. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world.

 Originally named the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, the organization’s attorneys and investigators worked alongside civil rights organizations, families, and faith-based organizations to protect the civil and human rights of people of color, poor people, and other disadvantaged people.

 In addition to representing people facing the death penalty, including cases argued before the United States Supreme Court, SCHR employs, class action lawsuits and individual representation to challenge unconstitutional and unconscionable practices within the criminal justice system.

Dr. Janet Dewart Bell • Executive Producer / Host | Chris Neuner • Producer / Editor | Theme Music • First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn