Series 8 is made of the administrative files of the Center. This includes annual reports, legal documents, certificate of incorporation, tax forms, financial statements and board meeting minutes. The documents are incomplete and there are several gaps in time for some of the files.
Series 5 consists of prisoner intake files. The files contain letters from the prisoners to Alice Green or her staff. You can also find letters responding to the prisoners' inquiries and/or needs from Alice Green and her staff. The correspondence ranges from letters of introduction, explaining why they are/were incarcerated and what services or information they seek from the Center to Christmas cards. Some of the letters come from family members advocating on behalf of a loved one in prison. Most of those letters are from mothers or wives. The correspondence contains very personal information on the inmate and sometimes on the people they victimized or allegedly victimized, which is why the series is restricted.
The Center for Law and Justice is dependent on various forms of funding including charitable donations and membership dues. Federal, state, local, and private grants provide a larger portion of the Center's funding. Though grants are not always secure or guaranteed, the Center for Law and Justice has several that have been long-term, supplemented by short-term funding. Based on the information in this series, the United Way is a substantial resource to the Center. The New York Bar Association has also provided funding to publish a directory entitled Free Legal Information and Services in the Capital District. Two other projects, Project Prep and Project Embrace were important parts of the Center's work. Project PREP (1994-95) was a crime prevention program for poor young people who did not receive the nurturing or information they need to develop into responsible, law-abiding, citizens. The program consisted of a curriculum that included cultural education, positive survival skills, and nonviolent empowerment programs. The primary goal of Project Embrace: An Outreach Model to Prevent Violence (1990-97), was to broaden community understanding of the nature and source of violent behavior and to promote the perspective that much of the violence addressed by the criminal justice system should also be recognized as a public health issue.
Series 9 consists of a small number of Center publications including The Advocate. The collection of The Advocate is incomplete. There is also a folder of publications by others, relevant to some of the work done by the Center. The Advocate is a quarterly community criminal justice journal. First published in 1992, the Advocate serves to inform and educate the community about the criminal justice system and how it operates. Regular features include the demographics of the state prison population, significant local and national criminal justice news briefs, summaries of important legislation and court decisions, writings by prisoners, book and film reviews, and guest editorials.
This series includes form letters from the Center soliciting membership and membership forms. Many of the membership forms include copies of checks paid to the Center for yearly dues. Many of the forms came with notes and letters to Alice Green expressing thanks and appreciation for all of the work the Center is doing. The majority of membership forms are from prison inmates in New York State.