Government Quasi-Agency Attempts to Infiltrate Criminal Justice Nonprofit
The federal Department of Justice (DOJ) canceled some $5 million in funding to the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice on April 4, 2025. The decision to end the five multiyear grants to the criminal justice nonprofit was emailed that day and “effective immediately,” Vera reported.
The cuts affected programs expanding training for law enforcement dealing with deaf people, as well as training for prison and jail guards. It also threatened work that Vera was doing to promote police alternatives when responding to mental health crises. Vera said it planned to appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, Vera leaders got an email and then a call on April 15, 2025, from Nate Cavanaugh, a representative of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, demanding to put its own personnel in place at the nonprofit. DOGE is not really a government department but an arm of the office of President Donald J. Trump (R). It is run by Trump megadonor Elon Musk, who is not really a government employee, though Cavanaugh and other DOGE staffers are on the White House payroll.
Vera said that DOGE appeared not to comprehend that it was an independent nonprofit and not one of the government agencies in which Musk has embedded DOGE employees to oversee expenditures of federal funds. Nor did it seem to know that Vera’s grants had been axed. When that was pointed out, Cavanaugh ended the call. White House spokesman Harrison Fields said the next day that DOGE had never planned to embed employees in nonprofits, though DOGE staff might “specifically look” at those receiving large grants.
“We can only surmise that these tactics seek to silence us,” said Vera President Nick Turner, who added: “It will not happen. We will not back down.” Vera receives over $262 million a year in grants and contracts with 90% coming from the government. With over $128 million in investments they are well prepared for any temporary loss of contracts from the police state.
Sources: Vera Institute of Justice, Washington Post
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