How I Helped Fight Vaccine Misinformation While in Prison One incarcerated author used skills from an HIV/AIDS group to push imprisoned people and prison guards to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Patrick Stephens
Buying a Home Is Hard. Doing It While Incarcerated Is Nearly Impossible. Serving out a sentence in a Washington state prison, I was certain I’d never own a home. When my wife and I started the process, we found out just how difficult it would be. Christopher Blackwell
Illinois Prison Water Contaminated with Bacteria That Causes Legionnaires’ Disease Corrections officials confirmed finding legionella at five facilities over the past 12 months. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Pandemic Isn’t Over Inside Prisons—and It Might Never Be A cycle of hopelessness is taking its toll in prisons across the country, amid continued restrictions on the things that make life more bearable. Christopher Blackwell
How Corporations Turned Prison Tablets Into A Predatory Scheme After giving tablets to incarcerated people, prison telecoms giants are charging prisoners and their families exorbitant prices on everything from emails to movies. Tommaso Bardelli, Ruqaiyah Zarook, Derick McCarthy
“It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Successes and Shortcomings of Larry Krasner’s Trailblazing First Term Philadelphia’s top prosecutor has made good on promises to reduce incarceration in the city. His re-election bid will be a litmus test for the progressive prosecutor movement he helped start. Joshua Vaughn
I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones
Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush
Criminal Justice Advocates Say New Law Undermines Georgia’s Efforts at Bail Reform The law, known as SB 402, eliminates the use of signature bonds for a number of felonies, putting poor people who might not be able to afford cash bail at a disadvantage. Victoria Law
U.S. Executes Dustin Lee Honken, The Third Federal Execution In A Week Honken, convicted of the murders of five people, died by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The federal government resumed executions this week for the first time since 2003. Lauren Gill
U.S. Government Carries Out The First Execution Of A Federal Prisoner in 17 Years A late-night Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, despite his claims of innocence and his attorneys’ belief that DNA testing could show he was wrongly convicted. Lauren Gill
Federal Prisoner Set To Be Executed Next Week Was Labeled A ‘Psychopath’ Because Of A Faulty Evaluation Tool A government psychologist who used the tool to evaluate Daniel Lewis Lee—who is scheduled to die Monday in Indiana—has since disavowed it. Without it, the trial judge has written that it’s ‘very questionable’ Lee would have been sentenced to death. Lauren Gill
Birmingham D.A. Says Alabama Man Who Has Spent Over Two Decades on Death Row Should Get New Trial In 1998, Toforest Johnson was sentenced to die for the 1995 shooting death of an off-duty sheriff’s deputy. Now, the city’s district attorney is advocating for a new trial. Lauren Gill
Missouri Set To Execute Walter Barton Tonight Despite Claims That He May Be Innocent If the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s governor doesn’t step in, Barton’s would be the first execution carried out in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lauren Gill
Housing the Formerly Incarcerated Should Be A Fundamental Right, Especially in a Pandemic States must fund stable housing for all formerly incarcerated people to neutralize the spread of COVID-19 and create equitable opportunities for social reintegration. Demar F. Lewis IV
Prisoners Who Test Positive For COVID-19 In Connecticut Are Sent To A Notorious Maximum Security Prison Faculty members of the Yale School of Public Health, the Yale School of Medicine, and the Yale School of Nursing wrote to the governor that sending patients there is “inhumane and ineffective.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Justice in America Episode 30: A Conversation with Rodney Spivey-Jones and Max Kenner In this episode, Josie Duffy Rice and her producer, Florence Barrau-Adams, travel to Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, to interview Rodney Spivey-Jones and Max Kenner about the Bard Prison Initiative and Bard College.
Justice in America: Episode 28: School to Prison Pipeline Josie Duffy Rice and her co-host, Derecka Purnell, talk to Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, about the school to prison pipeline.
Mother Of Slain 4-Year-Old Says Pennsylvania Should Release Death Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms Sharon Fahy, whose daughter was murdered in 1988, asked the court to release Walter Ogrod, the man convicted in her killing. Lauren Gill
Justice in America Episode 26: The Privatization of Prisons Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Donovan Ramsey talk with Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, about the privatization of America’s criminal legal system.
Congress Failed to Make Cash Assistance Universal. Now Local Governments Must Step Up There’s still a chance to make sure some of the most vulnerable people can benefit from the federal stimulus bill. Yonah Freemark
Pennsylvania Man On Death Row Shows Signs of Coronavirus Days Before Hearing That Could Have Freed Him Prosecutors say Walter Ogrod is ‘likely innocent’ of the charges that sent him to prison in 1996. Now, his attorney says, ‘every day a decision and/or hearing is delayed is another day that Mr. Ogrod’s health is at grave risk.’ Lauren Gill
His Case Was Vacated. But His Medical Treatment In Prison Nearly Killed Him. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Seifullah Chapman's Eighth Amendment Rights were violated by federal prison staff who were indifferent to his medical needs. Akintunde Ahmad
Justice In America Episode 24: Death Penalty Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Darnell Moore focus on the death penalty as they talk with State Attorney Aramis Ayala of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
Texas Court Issues Temporary Stay Of Execution Amid Coronavirus ‘Health Crisis’ John Hummel was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. The court, citing the current health crisis, has postponed the execution for 60 days. Lauren Gill
Critics Of Progressive Judges Find A Willing Ally In Local Newsrooms With few exceptions, news outlets in Harris County, Texas, spotlight singular instances of crime to allege that legal reform policy is a threat to the public. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Why Jails Are Key to ‘Flattening the Curve’ of Coronavirus Local jails are notorious amplifiers of infectious diseases. If we don’t move quickly to reduce their population, it may undermine our ability to control the new coronavirus, nationally and locally. Kelsey Kauffman
Alabama Executes Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims That He Was An ‘Innocent Man’ ‘I think everyone involved— the governor, the attorney general, the DOC commissioner—everyone knew it,’ his lawyer said. Lauren Gill
Ayanna Pressley’s Husband Spent 10 Years in Prison. Now He and Pressley Are Fighting for Re-Entry Reform The U.S. representative said her husband helped her realize that when one person is incarcerated, many more are affected. Kira Lerner
Justice in America Episode 22: Probation and Parole Josie Duffy Rice and guest host Donovan X. Ramsey talk with LaTonya Tate, executive director and founder of the Alabama Justice Initiative, about probation and parole.
My Vote Was Taken Away From My Community and Given To a District Where I Was Incarcerated Prison-based gerrymandering takes political power away from Black and Latinx communities—power that could be used to push for more funding for schools, social services, infrastructure, and other important reforms. Robert Saleem Holbrook
San Francisco D.A. To Announce Sweeping Changes On Sentencing Policy and Police Stops As a candidate, Chesa Boudin condemned gang enhancements as racist. Now as DA he plans to significantly limit, if not eliminate, their use. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Appeal Podcast: The Cruel Rise of ‘Drug Induced Homicide’ Prosecutions With special guest host Leo Beletsky, a professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University, and criminal justice reform advocate Morgan Godvin.
Missouri Attorney General’s Lack Of Courage In Lamar Johnson Case Is A Miscarriage of Justice Eric Schmitt should follow the lead of a Pennsylvania prosecutor who acknowledged that a man deserved a new trial, even when it meant reversing a murder conviction. Ben Miller
Alabama Prepares To Execute A Man Whose Case Is Haunted By Claims Of Police Misconduct Nathaniel Woods, who was convicted in connection with the deaths of three Birmingham police officers in 2004, is ‘100 percent innocent,’ the man who shot the officers told The Appeal. Lauren Gill
Study Finds Stark Racial Disparities for Low-Level Drug Offenses In Travis County, Texas The authors reported that 29.4 percent of the possession cases involved Black individuals in a county where Black people make up only 8.9 percent of the population. Dawn R. Wolfe
The Appeal Podcast: Documenting the Death Penalty With Jordan Smith and Liliana Segura of The Intercept. Adam H. Johnson
Criminal Justice Group Drops Support For Pretrial Risk Assessment Tools As Ohio Justices Seek To Block Their Use Reform advocates say the risk assessments are racially biased and are not effective at their key tasks: predicting the likelihood someone will return to court. Dawn R. Wolfe
A Lack Of Evidence Doesn’t Keep The New York Times From Declaring a ‘Spike In Crime’ In two articles, the Times asserts a ‘spike’ in crime since the passage of bail reform in New York, an increase that the articles themselves note they can’t prove. Adam H. Johnson
New Data Suggests Risk Assessment Tools Have Little Impact on Pretrial Incarceration Around one-third of counties in the United States use the tools when making release decisions, but few monitor whether they work as intended. Ethan Corey
Clemency Gave Him A Second Chance. He Won’t Forget His Friends Who Haven’t Been As Lucky A year after Alfonzo Riley returned from prison, he’s helping to vet innocence claims. Kira Lerner
The Appeal Podcast: Police Abuse In American Schools With journalist Roxanna Asgarian. Adam H. Johnson
As Bail Reform Takes Hold Across New York State, a Rural County Wrestles With The Future Of Its Aging Jail The debate around bail reform focused predominantly on New York City's Rikers Island, but the bigger impact may be upstate, where almost two-thirds of the state’s jail capacity is located. Ted Alcorn
Michigan Task Force Calls On State To Significantly Reduce Mass Incarceration In County Jails A bipartisan group has recommended substantive changes to the state’s legal justice system, including cash bail reform and proposals to divert people living with mental illnesses away from incarceration. Dawn R. Wolfe
Singling Out Crime ‘Suspects’ As Homeless Is A Media Double Standard That Unjustly Penalizes The Poor Leading with housing status for homeless people is a common trope in the news reporting business and one in urgent need of re-examining. Adam H. Johnson
Pretrial Reform Must Go Beyond Ending Cash Bail As a society, we can’t continue to subject hundreds of thousands of people to the trauma of incarceration before they face a jury of their peers. Andy Philipson
Police and Sheriff’s Departments Join Media Campaign Against Bail Reform In New York State A wave of sensationalist press is not just coming from New York City, but also from county sheriff and city police departments frustrated by bail reform that they claim is ‘too broad.’ Adam H. Johnson
Family Separation And ‘A Longer View Of Public Safety’: A Conversation With San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin Vaidya Gullapalli
Arkansas Executed Ledell Lee. Posthumous Testing Will Most Likely Prove He Was Innocent, Lawsuit Says Lee’s family wants officials in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to turn over evidence that was used to convict and sentence him to death. The family says that evidence could posthumously exonerate him. Lauren Gill
Arizona’s Incarcerated Firefighters Push for Legislation That Recognizes Their Labor By Reducing Their Sentences Unlike other states, Arizona offers minimal early release credits for the prisoners it sends to fight its wildfires. Hannah Critchfield
It’s Time For LA’s District Attorney’s Office To Lead The Way On Decriminalizing Homelessness As a form of punishment, incarceration does not enhance public safety when it is not balanced against its tendency to make a person’s unfortunate situation worse. Alex Sherman
The Appeal Podcast: The Regressive Pseudoscience of Our ‘War on Opioid Addiction’ With Appeal contributor Zachary Siegel, a journalism fellow at Northeastern University Law School’s Health in Justice Action Lab, and Lev Facher of STAT News. Adam H. Johnson
The Appeal Podcast: The Cruel Roadblocks to Getting Innocent People Out of Prison With Daniel Harawa, assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Adam H. Johnson
Why Are Prosecutors Still Seeking to Execute People Who Have Innocence Claims and Untested DNA? In these last two months of 2019, one man has been executed and two others are facing execution despite claims that they can show they don’t belong on death row. Lauren Gill
Alameda County Sheriff, Aramark Are Forcing Prisoners Into ‘Involuntary Servitude,’ New Lawsuit Says Some pretrial prisoners and immigration detainees are forced to work without pay in violation of the 13th Amendment, according to attorneys. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Appeal Podcast: Imagining A Post-Incarceration World With Danielle Sered of Common Justice Adam H. Johnson
Ayanna Pressley Hopes the U.S. Can Reduce Its Prison Population by Over 80 Percent The Appeal spoke with the lawmaker about her “entirely new blueprint for a just society.” Kira Lerner
New York’s Child Welfare Laws Will Advance Justice Two bills, awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, would help reduce the punitive impact of the child welfare system on kids and their families, including formerly incarcerated parents. Nora McCarthy
Louisiana To Build New Prison For Women Displaced By 2016 Storm More than three years after heavy rains and flooding devastated the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, officials have reached an agreement to build a new facility. Lauren Gill
Millions of Children Lose Their Parents To Incarceration. That Doesn’t Have To Happen. Prosecutors can help implement policies that are better for families and communities. Ebony Underwood, Miriam Aroni Krinsky
Exploiting New York City’s Chinatown Killings to Attack Bail Reform The New York Post used a tragedy to target bail reform activists, rather than point to the challenges of a failed mental health system and poverty. Adam H. Johnson
A Deadly Father-And-Son Bank Robbery Raises Questions About Culpability and The Adolescent Mind Christopher Lay grew up under the influence of a father who was mentally ill. Drawn into a crime at age 19, he’s now seeking a second chance that could help other young adults demand the same. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
South Dakota Leads Nation on Jail Admissions, New Report Finds Nearly half of all arrests in the state are drug or alcohol related, compared to just 29 percent nationally. Raven Rakia, Ethan Corey
Thousands of New Yorkers Face Arrest Each Year For Not Paying Fines and Fees, Report Finds The city comptroller, state lawmakers, and advocates call on the state to end its use of fines and fees in the legal system. Raven Rakia
In Chicago, Rethinking the Link Between Crime and Incarceration A new report shows that a progressive approach, like the one advanced by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, can help decrease jail populations—and crime. Kira Lerner
The Struggle to Be Trans in Minnesota’s Sex Offender Program Four transgender women say clinicians and staff deny them gender-affirming care and see their identity as in conflict with sex offender treatment. Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard
In Oklahoma, Private Companies Run Pretrial Services, Driving People Into Debt A company in Cleveland County exemplifies how for-profit legal services affect poor and vulnerable individuals. Kira Lerner
