Rachel Herzing

For over two decades, Herzing has worked to combat the prison industrial complex and its attendant ills. She is a co-founder of Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization dedicated to abolishing prisons. And she was one of the driving forces behind CR10, Critical Resistance’s historic 10-year anniversary conference, which brought together thousands of organizers and activists from all over the country to celebrate the organization’s achievements and chart the future course of anti-carceral work. She has been a grant maker, a health educator, and a researcher and organizer working on community-based interventions to violence. Herzing, whose writing has been featured in anthologies, academic journals, and magazines, is a frequent speaker and resource to advocates nationally and internationally on issues related to the prison industrial complex, community responses to interpersonal harm, and the impact of policing on communities of color.