The 'Sunny Scholarship' Travel Fund
In memory of Sunny Jacobs, we have launched a fund to support women with lived experience of criminalisation—especially formerly incarcerated women—to attend international conferences and advocacy spaces. We want to continue Sunny’s legacy of global engagement, connection, and justice.
WHO WAS SUNNY? Wrongfully convicted in 1976 for a crime she did not commit, Sunny spent 17 years in prison, including five on death row in Florida. After her release in 1992, she dedicated her life to abolishing the death penalty, supporting the wrongfully convicted as well as all those with lived experience of incarceration. She became a public figure and recognised voice through her speeches, the play and the film adaptation of “The Exonerated,” her nonprofit, The Sunny Center Foundation, and her membership with the International Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women (INFIW) and her work with The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP). Sunny was planning to attend the Human Rights Council with Gender Working group of WCADP before she died. She built her life in Connemara, Ireland, pursuing healing, hosting exonerees, and living in deep connection with nature until her tragic passing in a house fire on 3 June, 2025.
WHAT IS THIS FUND? We have created the ‘Sunny Scholarship’ Travel Fund, to support women with lived experience, especially formerly incarcerated women, to attend international conferences and advocacy spaces, continuing Sunny’s legacy of global engagement. Members of the Women Beyond Walls team will be seeding the fund in personal donations. All funds raised will be collected periodically and given to the International Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women (INFIW) to distribute as they determine best.
HOW DOES THE FUND WORK? How will it work? WBW team members, in their personal capacity, have set up and manage the GoFundMe campaign (this is being done under the name ‘Laura Cook’ who works on WBW’s comms and partnerships). All funds raised will be sent directly to the INFIW. The INFIW will administer the scholarships, including selection, disbursement, and reporting.
Sunny believed in using her platform to uplift voices that are often unheard. This fund will ensure her visionary spirit lives on by enabling women to share their experiences on international platforms. Women with lived experience are often excluded from international forums and fora and face many barriers including ability to attend because of prohibitive cost. This fund won’t remove every barrier, but we hope it will help!
Sunny often reminded us:
“Everyone gets challenged in life and you can either spend the rest of your life looking backwards or you can make a decision to keep going.”
Let’s honour her decision to keep going by empowering others to stand, speak, and transform.