The African American Coalition Committee (AACC) at MCI–Norfolk is an inmate-led advocacy and cultural committee, founded in 1972, that organizes men incarcerated at Massachusetts Correctional Institution–Norfolk to advance criminal justice reform, protect prisoner rights and health, support reentry and family reunification, and sustain cultural and educational programming inside the facility.
Criminal justice reform including parole and furlough reform, restoration of voting rights for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, abolition or reduction of life-without-parole, reentry and family reunification supports, anti-racism and structural-racism remedies in sentencing and corrections, prison conditions and environmental/health rights, civic education and cultural programming.
Primarily volunteer-run and self-funded through inmate fundraising and internal resources; supplemented intermittently by donations and project support from outside nonprofits, academic partners, and community allies rather than a steady formal funding stream.
Works with outside advocacy and research partners such as the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition and the Norfolk Lifer's Group and has collaborated with academic programs (e.g., Harvard’s Mindich Program for Engaged Scholarship) and community initiatives (e.g., Emancipation Initiative, Harriet Tubman Project); has engaged elected officials and public advocates in Massachusetts.
Prison-based inmate advocacy group (inmate-led committee; not a registered external nonprofit).
