Dear Supporters of Justice,
In recent weeks, many of you have been watching with concern as immigration enforcement actions and related violence have unfolded in Minnesota and across the country. These events are unsettling and frightening, and they raise urgent questions about accountability, transparency, and the protection of basic rights.
At the Montana Innocence Project, our work has always been rooted in one essential truth: upholding the rule of law is central to preventing wrongful convictions and unjust incarceration and to building accurate, accountable, and fair systems of justice.
While MTIP’s programmatic work does not directly address the specific issues unfolding right now, our organizational values around fairness, accountability, and human dignity very much do. We share these reflections to offer our supporters a look inside how we are thinking about this moment.
Our Reflections on Due Process in This Moment
The U.S. Constitution protects fundamental rights for all people physically present in the country, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee due process and equal protection to all persons.
These protections include:
– The right to fair legal procedures before the government can deprive someone of life or liberty
– Protection from unlawful searches and seizures
– Freedom of speech and peaceful protest
– The right to remain silent when questioned
In our work, we see how wrongful convictions and unjust incarceration often begin when these protections are ignored: rushed investigations, unreliable evidence, inadequate counsel, and limited opportunities to be heard. When fairness is treated as optional, injustice follows.
We see what happens when these principles are weakened—when shortcuts are taken, when power goes unchecked, and when people are treated as expendable. Due process and the rule of law are not technicalities. They are safeguards against abuse of power.
Our Reflections on For-Profit Detention Centers in This Moment
Mass incarceration in the United States is driven by profit. We deeply understand this dynamic in Montana, where we incarcerate people at a higher rate than most of the world.
The government contracts with private prison companies to incarcerate people. These contracts can create incentives where higher occupancy benefits the companies, their investors, and the policymakers who often receive financial support from individuals connected to these companies.
Immigration detention centers are part of this same system and are often owned by the same companies that operate private prisons, including the facility in Shelby, Montana.
This creates dangerous incentives:
– Longer confinement and cost-cutting increase profits at the expense of human lives
– Speed and volume can take priority over justice and care
When systems are driven by financial gain, people are too often reduced to numbers and revenue streams.
Our Reflections on Resilience in This Moment
We know this is a heavy moment. Many people are feeling afraid, angry, discouraged, or overwhelmed. Those reactions are valid.
From our work on wrongful convictions and unjust incarceration in Montana, we know that meaningful change is rarely quick or easy. MTIP has confronted heartbreaking injustice—and we have also witnessed extraordinary courage, resilience, and progress. We have seen families reunited, laws change, and systems improve because people refused to give up.
For us, hope is not passive. It is active.
It looks like:
– Staying informed
– Asking hard questions
– Following the lead of impacted people
– Supporting advocacy efforts you align with
– Speaking up when systems cause harm
– Caring for ourselves and one another
We believe it is possible to hold urgency and hope at the same time. Our unjustly incarcerated and freed clients alike do this every day. The resilience we have been fortunate to see our clients display inspires our work and gives us strength in moments like these.
We can acknowledge the very real impacts of fear while still believing that hope and persistence matter. We also recognize that hope isn’t always easy to find. If you are feeling outraged, exhausted, or discouraged, please know that our community is holding space for that, too.
Thank you for your continued commitment to justice in Montana and beyond.
In solidarity,
Amy Sings In The Timber