Justice 101: Freedom Behind Bars—The First Amendment & Incarceration in America
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
12:00 - 1:00pm EST
Online via Zoom. Advance registration required.
This Constitution Day, we pause to celebrate the First Amendment and its role in securing freedom and liberty for all Americans. What do First Amendment rights look like for incarcerated people? We'll explore how natural rights are upheld, or denied, in prisons across different states; the legal and ethical boundaries of speech, press, and religious expression for incarcerated individuals; and the transformative power of prison journalism and art in preserving human dignity and challenging injustice.
Moderated by Dr. Kerry Sautner, President and CEO of Eastern State, this conversation will feature Moira Marquis (Legislative Director; FIRE) and other leading voices in law, journalism, and the arts. Together, they’ll challenge us to reconsider the meaning of “freedom of expression” and imagine how it might be fully realized, even in the country’s most restricted spaces.
Additional speakers to be announced.
About the Panelists:
Moira Marquis
Legislative Director, FIRE
Moira Marquis has extensive experience working with incarcerated writers and researching censorship inside prisons and jails. In addition to serving as Legislative Director for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), she is the FreeWrite Project senior manager in the prison and justice writing department at PEN America. She has a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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