Sylvia A. Harvey

Sylvia A. Harvey is an award-winning journalist and author of The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family, a searing exposé of the effects of the mass incarceration crisis on families – including the 2.7 million American children who have a parent locked up. Harvey is a longtime expert on the intersection of race, class, policy, and incarceration. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Elle, Politico, Vox, The Marshall Project, Imprint News, Colorlines, and more. NPR, WBAI, WMC Live, HuffPost Live, The Majority Report, and Cheddar News have featured her commentary on the criminal justice system. Harvey’s research and reporting investigate the way culture, politics, history, public health, and financial insecurity affect our lives. She focuses on how some of our most important social institutions – the criminal legal system, the child welfare system, and the education system – exacerbate the collateral effects of mass incarceration on families and communities.

She is the recipient of a Logan Non-Fiction Residency from The Carey Institute for Global Good, a Reporting Fellowship from Type Investigations of Type Media Center, a National Headliner Award recipient, and a National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ, Salute to Excellence awardee. In 2019, Harvey received a visiting journalist appointment at The Russell Sage Foundation. Her work is being used in Rutgers University coursework and has been cited by federal lawmakers calling for criminal justice reform. Harvey has spoken nationally about mass incarceration and social justice issues. The Oakland native holds a BA in sociology and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

Sub-specialties:

Mass Incarceration, Imprisonment, Jails, Families impacted by incarceration, Children of Prisoners, Incarcerated Parents, Race, Class, Equity.