Prisons and Corrections in the News

U.S. and International - Prisons and Corrections in the News

• One Brooklyn community fears safety amidst a lack of mental health resources
  (NPR: November 12, 2023)
• 10 inmates have died in the overcrowded Fulton County Jail in Atlanta
  (NPR: November 12, 2023)
• Illinois plans to eradicate cash bail statewide (NPR: July 18, 2023)
  On July 18, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Pretrial Fairness Act in Rowe v. Raoul, overturning a lower court decision. A group of prosecutors and sheriffs had challenged the law, which eliminates the use of money bond in all forms. (Illinois had eliminated professional bail bonding in 1964, but still allowed cash bail paid directly to the courts.) The law will take effect on September 18, 2023.
• Deeper look at racial disparities in jails.The Pew Charitable Trusts teamed up with the Jail Data Initiative to develop more detailed data on who is in jail, for how long and why. Created by the New York University Public Safety Lab and the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, the Initiative has up-to-date data from approximately 1,300 of the nation's 3,000 jails. The study found that, on average, Black people made up 12% of local general populations, but more than double that (26%) in jail populations. The main drivers of disparities were higher admission rates and longer jail stays. On average, Black people were admitted to jail at more than four times the rate of whites, and stayed 12 days longer.
• Role for prosecutors in supporting behavioral health. "Propelling Change: A Prosecutor Call to Action" is an initiative of Council of State Governments, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, and the National District Attorneys Association to encourage prosecutors to support equitable behavioral health diversion efforts. This is the latest in a growing number of calls to break the cycle of arrest and incarceration of people with behavioral health needs. The project has issued a new guide, Changing the Narrative: The Prosecutor's Role in Fostering Connections to Community-Based Care, and has a site for joining a call to action.
• Grant Awarded to Study Improving Health Care for Imprisoned Seniors
  (PublicNewService: July 2, 2023)
• Why weren't mental health resources used before San Antonio police killed a woman?
  (NPR: July 6, 2023)   The three San Antonio police officers charged with the murder of a woman experiencing a mental health episode had crisis intervention training. Advocates say it wasn't enough.
• Santa Rita Jail $80M mental health expansion sparks protest (KTVU: June 14, 2023)
• "Left to Die in Prison: Emerging Adults 25 and Younger Sentenced to Life without Parole" finds that the peak age at conviction for people sentenced to LWOP was 23-years-old, falling well within the period of emerging adulthood. Emerging adults share many key developmental characteristics with adolescents under age 18. Despite their serious crimes, these individuals have tremendous potential for growth and opportunity. (Sentencing Project report: June 7, 2023)
• Unpacking Willful Flight: A call for equity-centered reform around bail hearings and missed court dates (Pretrial Justice Institute: May 31, 2023)
• New prison reform bills show 'people are greater than their biggest mistake'
  (Michigan Advance: May 8, 2023) In Michigan, legislators are considering "Second Look" legislation. These bills would allow people in prison to petition for a reduction in their sentence after serving at least 10 years. "Second Look seeks to address problems we have in Michigan with people serving long sentences, and there's no avenue for release, regardless of their behavior, who they develop into" while in prison.
• Youth Justice By The Numbers (Sentencing Project report: May 16, 2023)
  There was a 77% decrease in youth incarceration at juvenile facilities between 2000 and 2020 (from 109,000 to 25,000). However, racial and ethnic disparities in youth incarceration and sentencing persist despite overall decrease in youth offending.
• Federal prisons want inmates to pay victims, before making phone calls or buying shoes
  (NPR: April 28, 2023)
• Incarcerated Women and Girls (Sentencing Project report: April 3, 2023)
  The female incarcerated population stands over six times higher than in 1980.
• The history of prison-run newspapers and why they're on the rise
  (NPR: March 30, 2023)
• Minneapolis, state agree on police operations overhaul, 3 years after Floyd's murder
  (NPR: March 31, 2023)
• When homelessness and mental illness overlap, is forced treatment compassionate?
  (NPR: March 31, 2023)
• Reentry Poses Challenges for West Virginians' Life After Prison
  (Public News Service: Feb. 23, 2023)
  • Lawmakers recently passed legislation (SB-232), which would help divert people with serious mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders from incarceration, and into appropriate community behavioral-health settings.
  • Another bill (HB-3445) would reduce the number of people in prison with a tool known as earned compliance credit. It is a system which creates "credits" or incentives based on earning a college degree, or other positive actions after prison, resulting in reduced supervision time.
• A bill to fight expensive prison phone call costs heads to Biden's desk
  (NPR: January 1, 2023)
• In county jails, guards use pepper spray and stun guns to subdue people in mental crisis - but there are better alternatives (NPR: January 2, 2023)
  Some jails are trying new strategies. In Chicago, the Cook County Jail doesn't have a warden. Rather, it has an "executive director" who is also a trained psychologist. That change was one part of a total reimagining of jail operations after a 2008 U.S. Department of Justice report found widespread violations of inmates' civil rights. In recent years, the Cook County Jail has gotten rid of solitary confinement, opting instead to put problematic prisoners in common areas, but with additional security measures whenever possible, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says.
    The jail includes a mental health transition center that offers alternative housing - a "college setting of Quonset huts and gardens," as Dart describes it. There, prisoners have access to art, photography and gardening classes. There's also job training, and case managers work with local community agencies, planning for what will happen once someone leaves the jail.
• At many U.S. jails, keeping in touch with loved ones is unaffordable
  (NPR: December 4, 2022)
• A Maryland police chief on how de-escalation tactics can save lives
  (NPR: December 4, 2022)
• Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence
  (SentencingProject: Dec. 8, 2022)   Incarcerating youth undermines public safety, damages young people's physical and mental health, impedes their educational and career success, and often exposes them to abuse.
• Victory: Stopping police from using killer robots (Mission Local: Dec. 6, 2022)
  After San Francisco lawmakers voted to allow police to use lethally armed robots, outraged community members and organizations spoke out. The protests, widespread media coverage, and public pressure worked. Several lawmakers changed their positions. And in a complete reversal, the Board of Supervisors voted to ban police robots from using deadly force.
• Paying for Jail: How county jails extract wealth from New York communities (PDF)
  (Brooklyn Community Bail Fund: Dec. 2019)
• From Moot Court to Criminal Court: A Former Law Student's Harrowing Experience Before a Kangaroo Court (Apr. 27, 2021)
• The Prison Industry: Mapping Private Sector Players (Worth Rises: May 2020)
• The Prison Industry Corporate Database (Worth Rises)   The prison industry is worth over $80 billion and includes thousands of corporations, identified in this database.
• Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger (St. Martins Press, 2022)
  From the ice rink, to addiction and a prison sentence, to the newsroom, this is a memoir about Blakinger's personal experience with the criminal justice system.
• Exposing police militarization in California (AFSC: Nov. 10, 2022)
  Last year, California enacted a new state law to help create accountability in police use of militarized equipment, including armored vehicles and tear gas. The California Healing Justice Program helped local activists use the new law to advocate for policy changes, and their efforts are paying off in cities like Santa Cruz, Richmond, and more.
• Highlighting humanity within the prison walls: Earlier this summer, the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration launched Let Me Tell You Project, a storytelling initiative to highlight the experiences of people serving life and long-term prison sentences. "Most of our stories have been told by prosecutors and police," says Mark McCloud, who contributed his story to the project. "This project gives incarcerated men and women an opportunity to let members in society know who we really are."
  • Washtenaw County organizations lead effort to publish Michigan prisoners' firsthand stories (Concentrate: Aug. 24, 2022)
  • Every Sentence Has a Story: "Let Me Tell You" is a collection of first-person stories about the experience and impact of long imprisonment in Michigan. When you learn someone has spent decades-or longer-in prison, it's tempting to judge them. But, each one of the 13,000 people in Michigan serving life or long-term sentences shares with us a common humanity.
  • Introducing the Let Me Tell You Project is a 7-min. video clip about the project. (AFSC: Aug. 23, 2022)
• Children are reportedly spending 23 hours lock in at Texas youth prisons
  (NPR: Aug. 10, 2022)
• Repurposing Correctional Facilities to Strengthen Communities
  (Sentencing Project: Aug. 11, 2022) Twenty-one states partially closed or fully closed at least one correctional facility since 2000, resulting in a trend of prison repurposing in which old prisons are converted for community and commercial use.
• Los Angeles Is Creating a Model for Fighting Mass Incarceration
  (CommonDreams: Aug. 31, 2022) Success of the Care First, Jails Last model
• Little is free in prison - Here are the various ways incarcerated people make money (NPR: August 11, 2022: Marshall Project report)
  Responding to a 1990's court case, prison administrators felt that if they had to pay prisoners minimum wage, that the entire prison system as we know it would collapse.
• Here's one reason why America's racial wealth gap persists across generations
  (NPR: August 13, 2022) A new poll finds white adults are more than twice as likely as others to get sizable financial help from parents or grandparents. By contrast, Black adults are more likely to give money to elders.
• Inmates give Washington, D.C., ideas for curbing gun violence (NPR: Aug. 8, 2022)
• 7 Powerful Quotes on Alternatives to Punishment Culture (Mijente)
• The shooting of Jayland Walker in Ohio revives questions about police training
  (NPR: July 5, 2022)
• A study gave cash and therapy to men at risk of criminal behavior. 10 years later, the results are in. (May 31, 2022) Liberia found a stunningly effective way to reduce violent crimes. Now the US is trying a similar experiment.
• In historic shift, far fewer teens face adult U.S. courts
  (WHYY: June 6, 2022)
• New podcast 'Deliberate Indifference' amplifies the impact of prison failures in Ala.
  (NPR: June 12, 2022)
• San Francisco ousts liberal DA Chesa Boudin in heated recall
  (AP: June 8, 2022)
• Prison reporter Keri Blakinger reflects on her time in incarceration in new memoir
  (NPR: June 7, 2022)
• Data Reveals Violence Among Youth Under 18 Has Not Spiked in the Pandemic
  (Sentencing Project: June 14, 2022)
• How the newest federal prison (Thomson, IL) became one of the deadliest
  (NPR: May 31, 2022)
• Why Rikers Alumni Debated Cash Bail with Catholic Students
  (Sojourners: May 5, 2022) "Debate teaches me to see things from both sides, to understand an issue from another person's point of view," Kaamilya Finley, a Rikers debater, said.
• Incarcerated Women and Girls (SentencingProject: May 12, 2022)
  The number of incarcerated women was nearly five times higher in 2020 than in 1980.
• Nashville sees increase in gun theft from cars
  (NPR: March 13, 2022)
• Prison choirs sing in a reboot of Beethoven's opera about unjust incarceration
  (NPR: February 19, 2022)
• Prisoners sent to home confinement because of the pandemic might remain free
  (NPR: Dec. 21, 2021)
• ACLU escalates Delaware prison lawsuit, says 'physical abuse is the majority culture'
  (WHYY: Feb. 25, 2022)
• N.J. adopts sweeping new policies on special education in state prisons, following settlement (WHYY: March 15, 2022)
• Behind the loud pushback against progressive district attorneys across the country
  (NPR: Nov. 26, 2021)
• There's a backlash brewing against bail reform after the parade tragedy in Waukesha
  (NPR: Nov. 25, 2021)
• Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the crimes (AP: Nov. 14, 2021)
• Parents in Prison (5-page PDF report from The Sentencing Project, Feb. 2021)
• Arizona's Supreme Court Eliminates Peremptory Challenges [Jury Selection]
  (NPR: Sept. 6, 2021)
• Farm-to-table: A Maine prison program provides better food for inmates (Aug. 19, 2021)
  The Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston has been running a successful farm-to-table and bakery program for inmates to prepare and eat healthier meals.
• Rules set to make N.J. ban on criminal past in housing discrimination official
  (Spotlight/Whyy: Sept. 8, 2021)
• The DOJ Is Investigating Georgia's Prison System For Civil Rights Violations
  (NPR: Sept. 14, 2021)
• The federal government will oversee changes to protect women in New Jersey prison
  (NJ Spotlight: Aug. 11, 2021) Earlier this year, women incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility courageously spoke out against brutal beatings by officers. After months of public pressure, the state has agreed to strict federal oversight to implement new safety measures.
• A Fight to Expose the Hidden Human Costs of Incarceration (TheNewYorker: Aug. 16, 2021)
  The law professor Andrea Armstrong is documenting the loss of life inside jails and prisons in Louisiana, the state with the highest in-custody mortality rate.
• Future ICE detention contracts banned by New Jersey law
  (NJ Monitor: Aug. 20, 2021)
• Hate crimes legislation won't stop violence (AFSC: July 28, 2021)
  We can't incarcerate our way out of racism, homophobia, and bigotry any more than we can incarcerate our way out of addiction and poverty.
• 'A Slap In The Face' - Crime Rise Warnings Ignore Years Of Work By Local Organizers
  (TheGuardian: July 7, 2021) As cities across the United States are recording significant increases in homicides this year, police departments and some politicians have claimed that pushes to defund police departments coupled with surging gun sales have led to lawlessness, and urge cities to bolster police budgets and hire more officers to combat the violence. That analysis fails to fully explain the current dynamics of rising violence. It doesn't factor in the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable communities and the disruption brought on by lockdowns to violence prevention strategies. Furthermore, research has shown that cities that increased police budgets were just as likely to see a rise in murders as cities that reduced them.
• Rachael Rollins on vindication of her decline-to-prosecute policy   Suffolk District Attorney says she's committed to following the data. (CommonWealth: Apri. 5, 2021)
• End Cash Bail - a short essay, including the Kalief Browder story, with lots of source material.
  (Anti-Racism Daily - June 15, 2021)
• The War On Drugs: 50 Years Later: 'What Good Is It Doing For Us?' (NPR: June 17, 2021)
  The failed drug war model is ineffective and racially biased. Drug addiction should be handled by doctors and therapists, not cops and prison guards.
• What Happened When Boston Stopped Prosecuting Nonviolent Crimes
  (Vera Institute: 4/2/2021) Declining to prosecute nonviolent misdemeanor cases not only minimizes a person's current involvement with the criminal legal system, but also substantially reduces the probability of future involvement.
• Bill To Make Connecticut First State With Free Prison Phone Calls Heads To Governor
  (NPR: June 6, 2021)

• 10 Crime Coverage Dos and Don'ts (Sentencing Project: June 14, 2021)
  The Sentencing Project's new media guide can help media outlets develop coverage that will better inform the public and policymakers on how to pursue the most effective and humane public safety policies.
• Bill To Make Connecticut First State With Free Prison Phone Calls Heads To Governor
  (NPR: June 6, 2021)
• Prisons get new lease on life
  (AP: May 17, 2021)
• Canada's Largest Federal Pension Plan Divests From US Private Prisons
  (Forbes: Mar 29, 2021)
• A Push To Reduce Jail Populations (NPR: Feb. 13, 2021)
"Safety + Justice" projects funded by the MacArthur Foundation to reduce local jail populations.
• Pima County Program Getting People Out of Jail Quicker, Speeding Up Chances for a New Life   (Arizona Daily Star: Dec. 29, 2020)
• Racial Disparity Is a 'Cancer.' Here's How Prosecutors Can Cure It
  (The Crime Report: Dec. 22, 2020)
• Hillsborough Prosecution Data Highlights Racial Disparities, Justice Trends
  (Tampa Bay Times: Dec. 17, 2020)
• Five Myths About Criminal Justice (The Washington Post: Nov. 25, 2020)
  Being "tough" on crime doesn't always make sense.

• Democrats unveil legislation to abolish the federal death penalty
  (WHYY: Jan. 11, 2021)

• Blaming Chicago's Violence On Bail Reform Is Wrong, A New Study Finds
  (WBEZ: Nov. 19, 2020)
• Illinois Could Drastically Reduce Its Prison Population Without Seeing Crime Increase, New Report Says (WBEZ: Nov. 16, 2020)

• When Shoplifting Is A Felony: Retailers Back Harsher Penalties For Store Theft
  (NPR: Oct. 16, 2020)

• Incarcerated People Look to Senate to Cap Prison Phone Rates
  (US News: July 22, 2020)
• What prisoners in solitary confinement can teach us about social isolation
  (SFChronicle: Apr. 3, 2020)

• South Carolina Prison Reform Proposal (NPR: Mar. 1)
• New lawsuit: Mississippi prison has 'abhorrent conditions' (Feb.27)
• DOJ To Investigate Mississippi Prisons After Spate Of Inmate Deaths (Feb. 6)
• In Los Angeles, A Program To Get Those With Mental Illness Away From Jails
  (Feb. 25, 2020) The largest mental health treatment centers in the U.S. are often jails, including in Los Angeles. LA officials are struggling to try to change that through an innovative diversion program.
• Can You Talk Your Way Out of a Life Sentence? (NYTimes: Jan. 30, 2020)
  California is giving a second chance to thousands of inmates who had no hope of parole. But first they have to prove to a panel of strangers that theyÕve truly changed.
• San Francisco's New DA: 'What We Have Been Doing Is Not Working'
  (NPR podcast: Jan. 19, 2020) Interview with Chesa Boudin, who was recently sworn-in as San Francisco's district attorney, about his vision for the office and using restorative justice in the criminal system.
• 'American horror story': The prison voices you don't hear from have the most to tell us.
  (MontgomeryAdvertiser: Jan. 7, 2020)   Interviews with Alabama prison inmates.
• California jails use kinder approach to solitary confinement (Dec. 26, 2019)
• Prepping for Parole (The NewYorker, Nov. 25, 2019)
  Volunteers with the Parole Preparation Project are helping incarcerated people negotiate New York's prison parole system.
• Over 100 Inmates Were Bailed Out in the Largest Mass Bailout in History (Jan.7, 2019)
• Reentry Central is a national website for news and information on the subject of reentry and related criminal justice issues (requires $35 annual subscription to access news stories).
• Jail or Bail? There's a New Option (New York Times: Feb. 1, 2019)
  "Supervised release" allows judges in New York City to let those who cannot afford bail be released before trial on a kind of parole (with similarities to what happens in New Jersey and some other cities).

• Rhode Island Prisons Push To Get Inmates The Best Treatment For Opioid Addiction
  (NPR: Nov. 19, 2018)

• The Nationwide Prison Strike: Why It's Happening and What It Means for Ending Mass Incarceration (ACLU: Aug. 21, 2018) The prison strike continues Aug. 21 to Sept. 9, 2018.
• The Slaves Rebel Chris Hedges essay on the U.S. prison strike (Sept. 3, 2018)

• Don't Count on the Census (PRX radio podcast: Feb. 1, 2020)
  The last segment of this one-hour podcast looks at how mass incarceration of African Americans is skewing the census count. In Wisconsin and other states, prisoners are counted in the districts where they serve time instead of where they come from. This has the effect of shifting political power away from black urban communities and to rural white ones.
• How Prison Gerrymandering Strips Power from Communities of Color
  (In These Times: Aug. 16, 2018). Also, see this related story on Pennsylvania:
  Census Bureau policy costs urban Pennsylvania political clout in legislature.
• Modern Day Debtors' Prisons (NY Times editorial: Aug. 6, 2018)
  The time has come to end cash bail, a major factor in inequality in the court system.
• Denouncing America's "Debtor Prison" System, Sanders Introduces Bill to End Cash Bail (Common Dreams: July 25, 2018)
  Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced the "No Money Bail Act" (PDF summary), and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has introduced a companion bill in the House.
• Vera Institute of Justice - links to many national news stories on mass incarceration
• America's outcasts: the women trapped in a cruel cycle of exploitation
  (The Guardian, June 29, 2018)
• Pain and terror: America's history of racism   (The Guardian, 4/26/2018)
  Report about a new museum in Montgomery, Alabama, founded by Bryan Stevenson, the prison reform lawyer -- on America's history of lynching and the link to the present, our present.
• Mental Health Disorders Are Pervasive in the Juvenile Justice System. Here's How One State Is Addressing It   (Sojourners: Mar. 22, 2018)
• Voter Opinion Towards Prosecutors Prior to 2018 Elections (ACLU: Dec. 12, 2017)
  This ACLU survey shows strong voter support across the country for District Attorneys who are committed to criminal justice reforms.

• Collateral Consequences of Nonviolent Drug Convictions (PDF: GAO study, Sept. 2017)
• Illinois law to change rules for paying cash to get out of jail
    (Chicago Tribune, June 9, 2017)
• America's cash bail system is a disgrace - and how to get rid of it
    (slate.com, Apr. 21, 2016)
• Other NPR stories related to cash bail