Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

At least six people at Red Onion intentionally lit themselves on fire last year. Now, prisoners say staff are forcing people to comply—or cutting their electricity.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “an act of political violence.”

“I’d rather not live than be forced to live as a man,” a trans woman in a federal prison in New Jersey said in a sworn statement.

At least one trans woman in federal prison says Trump’s executive order has already prevented her from receiving hormone therapy, leading to “thoughts of suicide and self-harm.”

Inspections have found repeated violations of federal standards at GEO Group’s Central Louisiana ICE Processing Facility.

For more than 10 years, a group of incarcerated men have said Illinois prison guards forced them into painful stress positions and forced them to rub their genitals on one another.

GEO Group Chairman George Zoley said the company stands to gain up to $1 billion in additional revenue from detaining and surveilling undocumented immigrants.

The Inmate Safety Agreement distributed at Red Onion State Prison offers fish fries and movies for prisoners who don’t harm themselves.

In memos released this week, Pam Bondi rolled back Biden-era reforms and called for a crackdown on immigrants and college students.

Louisiana moved detained children from the infamous Angola prison to an adult lockup in Jackson Parish. They say the abuse has continued.

The Appeal contacted 38 facilities to ask how they’re preparing for air quality issues and possible evacuations and power outages. Thousands of people—including hundreds of children—sit in potentially impacted facilities.

Emails show Virginia Department of Corrections officials discussing how to punish people at Red Onion State Prison who self-immolated.

The spike in deaths coincides with multiple federal probes into prisons and jails across Georgia.

At least six people incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison intentionally burned themselves to get transferred out of the notorious facility.

Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative is still waiting on Mayor Andre Dickens to approve the organization’s contract.

Multiple groups have now urged President Biden to spare the people on federal death row before Trump returns to power.

A state spokesperson confirmed six men at Red Onion State Prison in Western Virginia used “improvised devices” to give themselves electrical burns.

A group of congress members says Joe Biden should pardon people or commute sentences before his term ends.

Advocates say Atlanta mayor is trying to sabotage the city’s contract with a diversion services provider—and the City Council is letting him.

The report comes after The Appeal and other news outlets spent years reporting on dangerous conditions inside the facility, leading to attacks on teenagers and LGBTQ+ people, malnutrition, and death.

Mayor Andre Dickens’s office initiated a secret bidding process for community responders—that left out the current beloved program.

Staff at Philadelphia’s Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility allegedly did not give Louis Jung Jr. his insulin for six straight days. Jung’s family says his treatment exemplifies how the jail treats everyone.

State legislators subpoenaed Robert Roberson one day before the state was set to kill him—an act that delayed the execution. Lawmakers are fighting to let Roberson testify before the state House despite objections from the attorney general and governor.

Despite pleas from state lawmakers, Texas will execute Roberson on Oct. 17 unless Governor Greg Abbott grants a reprieve in his case.

Tasha Shelby was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly shaking her fiance’s two-year-old son to death. But the science around “shaken baby syndrome” has unraveled, and the lead witness against her recanted his testimony.

More than 20,000 people are incarcerated in Florida jails and prisons located in counties subject to evacuation orders. Many officials are refusing to evacuate them.

Author Jessica Pishko’s new book argues that American sheriffs’ initial jobs were to help commit genocide against Native Americans and help settlers steal land. She warns their danger persists to this day.

Prisons and jails across the Southeast have experienced utility outages, evacuations, visitation disruptions, and staff shortages in the storm’s wake.

In 2019, the state passed a law restricting how long prisons can hold people in isolation. But, according to a new report, people still say they’re being isolated for weeks and even months.

More than 700 prisoners at FPC Montgomery in Alabama refused meals over concerns that the Bureau of Prisons was violating sentencing reform provisions in the 2018 First Step Act.

Medical experts testified that Danyel Smith’s child likely died of natural causes, but Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie K. Batchelor rejected a motion to overturn his 2003 murder conviction.

Texas is set to execute Robert Roberson on Oct. 17 for allegedly shaking his baby to death. But numerous experts now agree the theory used to convict Roberson isn’t real—including the detective who helped arrest him.

With heat waves sweeping across the country, incarcerated people in states with traditionally milder climates are facing brutal conditions that have long plagued the South and Southwest. A survey by The Appeal reveals that many of the hottest states house prisoners in units without air-conditioning.

On Wednesday, Tiana Hill testified before the U.S. Senate Human Rights Subcommittee that staff at the notorious Clayton County Jail insisted she wasn’t pregnant—until she gave birth on a metal bed.

A group of nearly 20 federal lawmakers sent letters to two companies this week calling out abusive industry practices and requesting additional information about their profits, policies, and contracts with local governments.

Cordero Riley was badly beaten at Georgia’s Clayton County Jail due to longstanding issues with malfunctioning cell locks, a lawsuit alleges. Afterward, he says medical staff ignored his pleas for care.

Over the course of nine days at New Mexico’s Otero County Detention Center last June, Jacob Gutierrez repeatedly engaged in self-harm and survived multiple suicide attempts before taking his life. A lawsuit accuses jail staff of failing to keep him safe.

Incarcerated laborers on Angola’s Farm Line face “substantial risk of injury or death” during extreme heat, a federal judge ruled this week, ordering corrections officials to make policy changes to “preserve human health and safety.”

The Appeal contacted more than 120 prosecutors and city attorneys to ask if they’ll file criminal cases against campus demonstrators. So far, only four expressed apprehension at doing so.

Documents obtained by The Appeal show law enforcement warning of a “strong possibility” of anti-police violence by student protesters at Cal Poly Humboldt ahead of a sweep that led to mass arrests.