sheriffs

Sheriffs who run county jails bear responsibility for placing people in torturous isolation.

Through fees and forced labor, sheriffs typically exacerbate the financial costs of incarceration, but they could also mitigate them.

The measure may pave the way for more sheriff candidates who want to challenge mass incarceration, but are currently banned from running.

DA, sheriff, and mayoral elections will present new openings to upend mass incarceration, from Manhattan and Philadelphia down to Virginia.

Now these organizers are tackling the January runoffs for the U.S. Senate.

These are the key local elections where criminal justice reform is on the line next month, around the country.

Jail deaths and ICE cooperation have defined the first term of Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who faces a tough challenge in next month’s election.

In many places that have long helped arrest and detain immigrants, voters will decide the fate of local partnerships with ICE, possibly dealing a series of blows to the agency.

Eliseo Santana, running for sheriff in Florida’s Pinellas County, wants to end collaboration with ICE, reduce arrests, and shift some funds toward health services.

Jerry Sheridan, who beat Arpaio in the Republican primary, has been complicit in many of the former sheriff’s worst misdeeds.

In Gwinnett and Cobb counties, sheriff candidates are promising to roll back cooperation with ICE. Advocates say they should cut ties completely, while the federal agency threatens retaliation.

This Massachusetts special election, which starts with next week’s Democratic primary, will shape criminal justice reform prospects in this county—and in state politics.

Two criminal justice reform advocates, now poised to become high bailiffs, are reimagining this odd office to make the case for civilian oversight on law enforcement.

When people are arrested and booked into a local jail, they often end up on ICE’s radar. Sheriffs are a major reason why.

“The solution to the problem of mass incarceration is certainly not more mass incarceration,” said Charmaine McGuffey, who won. In neighboring Greene County, voters rejected a tax increase to build a bigger jail.

Ohio advocates are resisting proposals to expand the jail and local cooperation with ICE. In the primary on Tuesday, the sheriff and his challenger disagree on both fronts.

“This incentivizes them once again to underfeed people in their custody if they know the extras can be used on bells and whistles or guns,” warns an Alabama advocate.

New York sheriffs are fighting the state’s cuts to pretrial detention. But bail reform can push sheriffs to embrace shrinking jails.

Our ongoing series on the role of sheriffs turns to a site of heated political battles: policing powers.

Sheriffs often control access to treatment in jail and shape law enforcement attitudes toward the opioid crisis. What are their roles?

Jail deaths happen with alarming regularity. The Badge probes the responsibility of sheriffs.

With the election looking on March 19, the Political Report reviews some of the stakes on policing practices, immigration, and transparency.

Tony Cummings, running for sheriff in Jacksonville’s March elections, lays out views on police accountability, civilian review boards, immigration.

3 Maryland counties are in ICE’s 287(g) program. How many after November?

Wake County sheriff race struggles for media visibility, with 287(g) at stake

Will Orange County continue circumventing California’s ‘sanctuary state’ law?

This article is part of the Political Report’s coverage of criminal justice in the 2018 elections.

Bergen County sheriff resigns after racist remarks. What’s next in New Jersey?  

Election for Ulster County sheriff fought over over immigration, opoids.

Flagler County expanded its county jail in July 2016, more than tripling the number of people it could detain. Later that year, the county elected a new sheriff—Rick Staly—who has since boasted about the record number of individuals in the jail and about the poor conditions therein. Staly has unveiled signs labeling the jail the “Green Roof […]

Daniel Nichanian Seven people died in the Milwaukee County Jail under Sheriff David Clarke’s tenure. One man died in 2016 after being denied water for seven days, and a criminal complaint later described “an institutional practice of punitively shutting off water to unruly inmates.” Clarke was also known nationally for harsh policies toward immigrants, disparaging comments toward Black Lives Matter, and […]

Daniel Nichanian The Wisconsin counties that are cooperating closely with ICE have drawn protests from immigrants’ rights activists, but the issue is not resonating in the sheriff elections they are holding this year. In fact, Sheriff Eric Severson is running unopposed in Waukesha County (a populous and conservative county in the Milwaukee suburbs). In 2017, […]

ICE looms over Hennepin sheriff’s race.

Morgan County to decide whether to bar their sheriff from pocketing jail food funds.

Immigration enforcement at forefront of sheriff race in El Paso, Colorado