Credit: The National Council
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls recognizes the historic appointment of Joshua Smith, whose lived experience within the federal prison system and subsequent advocacy work reflect the resilience found in so many directly-impacted people.
Representation inside systems of harm is not the same as transformation. We hope that appointing a formerly-incarcerated person to a leadership role in the Bureau of Prisons signals a growing awareness that the system has failed to rehabilitate, repair, or deliver justice. Mr. Smith should understand how prisons perpetuate generational trauma, racialized punishment, and systemic neglect, which could benefit people in his custody. Mr. Smith must spearhead the decarceration of the elderly, ill, long-timers, and those who are being punished for fighting back against their abusers, especially women and girls. Too many have been criminalized for surviving violence, poverty, and state abandonment. Leadership changes, no matter how remarkable, are meaningless unless they result in a system that no longer disappears, warehouses, and dehumanizes.
We stand ready to support Mr. Smith if he wants to reduce the prison population and thereby save the taxpayers money while returning loved ones to their families and communities. We do not seek kinder cages. What our communities need are meaningful investments in housing, education, healthcare, restorative practices, and economic justice. We need systems of care, not punishment. The National Council will continue the long-term work with directly-affected women, girls, families, and communities to build what we know is possible—a world without incarceration. #FreeHer
EXPO of Wisconsin Statement on the Appointment of Joshua Smith as Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
EXPO of Wisconsin (EX-Incarcerated People Organizing) stands in full solidarity with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls in acknowledging the historic appointment of Joshua Smith, a directly impacted leader, as Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
This appointment represents a long-overdue recognition of the importance of lived experience in shaping systems that too often cause harm. However, as the National Council rightly states, representation alone is not transformation. Mr. Smith’s presence in this role must be matched with bold action—action that confronts the realities of generational trauma, racialized incarceration, gendered violence, and the ongoing dehumanization of people behind the walls.
We urge Mr. Smith to prioritize decarceration. The Bureau of Prisons has an obligation not to reform the cage, but to reduce its reach and repair the harm it has inflicted.
EXPO remains committed to building a future where incarceration is no longer the default response to poverty, addiction, mental illness, or survival. We echo the call for investments in community-based solutions: housing, education, healthcare, healing, and opportunity.
Mr. Smith, if your leadership is rooted in a desire to shrink the system and restore dignity, we stand ready to support that effort. Like our partners at the National Council, we believe in a world without cages—and we’re building it every day alongside those most impacted.
We belong. We lead. We deserve to thrive.
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EXPO of Wisconsin
Jun 9, 2025
