Jail

Cash Bail Yields A New Casualty

A Texas jail suicide involving a woman who couldn’t make bail in a shoplifting case highlights of the plight of pretrial detainees with mental illness.

Lauren Gill Oct 12, 2018

Prisons Crack Down On An Opioid Treatment Drug, Endangering Lives

Few of the prisons trying to stem flow of contraband Suboxone offer substantial opioid treatment programs.

Raven Rakia Oct 11, 2018

Will Alabama Sheriffs Finally Stop Diverting Jail Food Funds To Their Own Wallets?

The governor is making sheriffs sign an oath promising they won't misuse funds meant to feed jail prisoners. But some sheriffs are already pushing back.

Lauren Gill Oct 10, 2018

One Year After Cook County’s Bail Reform, Court Watchers Say Things Are Getting Worse

Judges are still setting bail at unaffordable levels, and more people are being held without bond.

Bryce Covert Oct 05, 2018

‘Worse Than Guantánamo’

Dozens of former detainees at the Gwinnett County jail in Georgia claim they were subjected to brutality at the hands of its Rapid Response Team.

Kira Lerner Oct 01, 2018

‘Cold case’ playing cards were just introduced into Delaware prisons in hopes of producing tips on unsolved homicides—but critics warn that informants cultivated behind bars can be dangerously unreliable.

Lauren Gill Sep 27, 2018

‘Will I Get Out Today?’

Louisiana is keeping people behind bars long after their sentences have expired, attorneys say.

Victoria Law Sep 26, 2018

The Incalculable Costs of Mass Incarceration

Prisons carry enormous, perhaps impossible to measure social costs—but when assessing the system fiscally, reformers should focus on staffing salaries instead of the number of incarcerated people.

John Pfaff Sep 20, 2018

As National Prison Strike Continues, Incarcerated People Face Retaliation

Now in its second week, a strike staged by prisoners over poor conditions, low wages, and other issues is resulting in consequences, including harsh conduct reports and placements in solitary confinement.

Raven Rakia Aug 31, 2018

In Pennsylvania, Defendants Pay A Fee Just To Plead Guilty

The ‘plea fee’ stems from a state law passed in the 1980s and can cost nearly $200, depending on the county.

Joshua Vaughn Aug 29, 2018

Case Of Intellectually Disabled Teen Falsely Accused of Sex Offense Reveals Registry Flaws

Before Edgar Coker was exonerated in a rape case, he underwent therapy meant to prevent sexual reoffenses. Thousands of kids involved in sexual offenses are forced into therapies like “relapse prevention” that experts say are ineffective.

Joseph Darius Jaafari Aug 27, 2018

A Troubled Federal Prison Unit Gets New Life In A Different State

Instead of changing its conditions and practices, The Bureau of Prisons is simply moving a problem-plagued federal prison unit in Pennsylvania to Illinois.

Victoria Law Aug 21, 2018

Most Recent Deaths At East Baton Rouge Jail Could Have Been Avoided

A new report details the abysmal conditions, lack of medical care, and staff shortages that led to the unusually high death rate in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Teresa Mathew Aug 15, 2018

Milwaukee Candidates Clash In Race to Succeed The Infamous Sheriff Clarke

Several candidates are vying to become Milwaukee Sheriff in the wake of Sheriff David Clarke's resignation last fall. But will they truly spurn his legacy of jail deaths and cooperation with ICE?

Raven Rakia Aug 10, 2018

Harris County DA Ran as a Reformer. So Why is She Pushing High Bail for Minor Offenses?

An email obtained by The Appeal shows Kim Ogg's office is intentionally asking for unaffordable bail amounts to hold certain people in jail in Texas.

Alex Hannaford Aug 09, 2018

In New York, A Harm-Reduction Organization Is Leveraging Participatory Defense To Empower Its Clients

Grassroots group VOCAL-NY is teaching people with substance use disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system.

Christopher Moraff

Against Innocence

In the wake of Nia Wilson’s murder, it’s critical that calls for justice in response to anti-Black violence are not contingent upon appeals to white-approved notions of innocence and respectability.

Zoé Samudzi Aug 08, 2018

Ohio Council Member Wants to Implant Microchips in People Awaiting Trial

Taking electronic monitoring to the next level.

Kira Lerner Aug 07, 2018

Failure-to-Comply Arrests Reveal Flaws in Sex Offender Registries

In one Pennsylvania county, more than three times as many people on the registry were charged in 2016 with failing to follow registry requirements than were charged with a new sexual offense

Joshua Vaughn Aug 01, 2018

How Activists Convinced New York City To Stop Profiting Off Prisoners’ Phone Calls

News of the victory is spreading rapidly to other cities.

Bryce Covert Jul 26, 2018

A Pennsylvania Man Survived An Overdose Only To Be Charged With Homicide

York County resident Aaron Hinds overdosed on heroin with a friend. The friend died, and Hinds now faces a 'drug delivery resulting in death' charge and a 40-year prison sentence.

Joshua Vaughn Jul 24, 2018

Pretrial Detainees Are Being Billed For Their Stay in Jail

In jurisdictions across the country, people incarcerated before they've ever been convicted of a crime are charged a daily fee just for sitting in jail—and several courts have ruled that the practice is legal.

Steven Hale Jul 20, 2018

Immigrants Share Horror Stories From Inside Massachusetts’s ‘Worst’ Jail

“Jail is not a country club,” the Bristol County sheriff said. “That’s why once you’ve done time in the Bristol County House of Corrections, you won’t want to come back.”

Eoin Higgins Jul 17, 2018

Cuomo the Merciless

New York's Democratic governor has granted only a trickle of commutations, fewer than many of his Democratic and Republican predecessors.

Victoria Law Jun 20, 2018

Responses to Violence Must Move Beyond Policing

The solution to problems like unsolved homicides, especially in communities of color, cannot be reinvestment in institutions that wage violence against them.

William C. Anderson Jun 19, 2018

Alice Marie Johnson is free. Now it’s time to free thousands more prisoners with unjustly long sentences.

Kim Kardashian's successful campaign to free a 63-year-old grandmother serving a life sentence in a drug case is a reminder that we need to go big on clemency. A 52-year-old grandfather named Euka Wadlington, also doing life in a drug case, would be a great place to start.

Shaun King Jun 15, 2018