Jail

In the deep blue home of Beto O’Rourke, attorneys and advocates are questioning the county’s multi-million-dollar contract to detain migrants and refugees.

A 22-year-old woman overdosed and died in jail. A 24-year-old faces first-degree murder charges. Did the system fail them both?

A Philadelphia-born man was detained by ICE and nearly deported. The agency’s mistake was caught, but the case exposes a new collaborative program that encourages jails to hold immigrants for ICE.

There are more than 2,700 people on electronic monitoring in Cook County, Illinois, alone.

The crisis at Brooklyn’s federal jail reveals how jails and prisons ‘are not prepared for a disaster.’

A lawsuit challenging cash bail in St. Louis could help close a notorious jail.

Defense attorneys say they were unaware of the practice and are unclear on how they can expunge the data of nonconvicted clients.

Colorado-based attorney and bail activist Elisabeth Epps was just released after serving a short jail stint related to a 2015 encounter with Aurora Police. The experience gave her a new understanding of the experiences of the people she has bailed out.

With Appeal contributor Raina Lipsitz

In October 2018, Marshall Miles was taken into custody by Sacramento County sheriff‘s deputies outside a convenience store. About 14 hours later, he was dead.

Harris County Judge Darrell Jordan discusses his newly elected colleagues’ decision to withdraw an appeal of a landmark bail reform lawsuit.

Cherie Townsend is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after she says they falsely imprisoned her for murder and destroyed her reputation.

Prosecutors denounce bail reform efforts when people miss court dates, but ‘failure to appear’ rates obscure the fact that many who miss court aren’t on the run.

With wide jurisdiction and limited oversight, sheriffs play a pivotal role in policing and incarceration.

Trump didn’t start it, but we can end it.

The Boyd County Detention Center has been consumed in chaos, even as the DOJ investigates it. Now, the community is pinning hopes for reform on a new jailer.

Two women died at the Duchesne County Jail in the span of about one week in 2016. Now their families are suing in federal court.

Everyone agrees the jail at 850 Bryant should close, but it’s not yet clear what would happen to those locked inside.

New York City has reduced its jail population, but those who remain are staying longer.

Muslim prisoners, meanwhile, say they were starved during Ramadan and deprived of religious texts.

A notoriously unreliable roadside drug test administered by Monroe County sheriff’s deputies led to Dasha Fincher being charged with methamphetamine trafficking.

Advocates say that Sheriff Donnie Harrison is unfit for a fifth term because of such abusive practices as well as his office’s cooperation with ICE.

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins seeks a fourth term as critics blast him for a record that includes poor jail conditions, in-custody suicides, and the deaths of two young people at the hands of his deputies.

In Santa Clara County, incarcerated people, and a former undersheriff challenging six-term sheriff Laurie Smith, have turned conditions of confinement into a potent electoral issue.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

‘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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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