Prisoner surveys drive sentencing reform

Incarcerated people can gather systematic, on‑the‑ground evidence (surveys, affidavits, timelines) that documents patterns — such as untreated domestic abuse or policing failures — not visible in official records. Those citizen‑sourced datasets can become persuasive evidence for lawyers and legislators, and in Oklahoma a survey from within Mabel Bassett helped shape a new survivors’ sentencing law. — If replicated, this approach changes where policy‑relevant evidence comes from: it empowers marginalized witnesses inside the system to catalyze legal reforms and exposes institutional evidence gaps in court processes.