Published:
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Each year the ACLU of Washington benefits from the work of many wonderful interns. We’d like you to meet one of them.
Alea Carr’s path to the ACLU-WA office in Seattle goes through Bellingham, where she majored in Political Science and Economics at Western Washington University. While in Bellingham, she worked for a public defender, a job which gave her a glimpse into the state of the U.S. prison system and the prevalence of mental health issues among inmates.
“It became extremely clear to me how unequipped prison facilities are to handle the needs of those inmates. It felt a lot like we were getting to the problem too late in the game, and the opportunity to do something about it is what really attracted me to an internship with the ACLU,” said Alea.
Having finished her first year at Seattle University School of Law, she is spending the summer as an intern for the ACLU-WA’s Policy Advocacy Group. In her work she is researching policies that involve a host of issues, from drug courts to access to mental health records.
She finds it particularly troubling that the longer someone spends incarcerated, the worse their symptoms of mental illness become, which only increases recidivism rates. However, she is heartened by the work she and her colleagues are doing on the issue.
“At the ACLU we have a real opportunity to get ahead of these major issues and come up with preventative solutions to create a better system. That is what excites me most about working here,” she said.
While in Seattle, Alea also is exploring her interests; doing anything outdoors, learning to rock climb, going to the beach, and enjoying the good weather we have been having. Most of all, she is glad to be pursuing her passion for law and civil liberties through interning at the ACLU of Washington.
