UG Politics and Sociology (BSc) 2020 graduate Jemmar has been named a winner at this year’s Olive Morris Awards, recognised for her powerful work highlighting and challenging the impact of parental imprisonment on families in the UK.
Organised by Decolonising the Archive (DTA), the Olive Morris Awards honour Black women leaders whose grassroots activism echoes the legacy of Olive Morris, a Jamaican-born British Black Panther, community organiser and housing rights campaigner active in the 1970s.
Each year, the Awards celebrate those driving community justice, solidarity, liberation and transformative social change, especially through grassroots work, solidarity and lived-experience advocacy.
Rooted in lived experience, Jemmar’s campaign, Collective Punishment Campaign, was born out of her own experience of parental imprisonment, a reality that affects hundreds of thousands of children across the UK. Through the campaign, she seeks to bring visibility, support and systemic reform to families whose lives are fundamentally disrupted by imprisonment. Rather than staying silent, Jemmar turned her personal story into a powerful advocacy platform. She has spoken openly about how existing systems fail children of incarcerated parents.
Collective Punishment aims not only to raise awareness but press for concrete policy reforms, including providing social, financial and psychological support for affected families, creating pathways to healing and preventing long-term harm.
By awarding Jemmar, the Olive Morris Awards reaffirm that activism rooted in personal and community struggle, especially around justice, family and social care, remains central to the ongoing work of liberation and equity in Britain.
In creating the campaign, Jemmar aims to end what she frames as “collective punishment - the reality that children, siblings and entire families suffer for the incarceration of one parent. Her ambition is not just to raise awareness but to ensure support systems exist and that families impacted are given dignity, justice and safety.
With this recognition, Jemmar and the Collective Punishment Campaign are well positioned to amplify their message, build networks and drive systemic change. The Award spotlights their cause at a national level, potentially opening doors to greater public awareness, support and pressure on policymakers.
A huge congratulations to Jemmar from the Brunel Entrepreneur Hub! This win is such a powerful testament to the resilience of individuals like Jemmar transforming personal trauma into collective action and a big reminder that social justice often begins in communities, not boardrooms.
Find out more here: https://www.decolonisingthearchive.com/remembering-olive-morris
Explore The Collective Punishment Campaign here: https://collectivepunishment.uk/