Prison Conditions

To prevent more people from being infected with COVID-19, defense attorneys are calling for courts to release people.

Public health recommendations aren’t easy to follow for the incarcerated, unhoused, or the thousands who’ve been subjected to water shutoffs in recent years.

Prisoners avoid admitting they are sick because they don’t want to be put in solitary, so nurses go cell to cell to take their temperatures.

Jails in New Orleans and Cleveland have had significant population drops, yet conditions of confinement remain poor. Communities harmed by these jails should experiment with new accountability measures to maintain political pressure against jail administrators.

The father of Nicole Rathmann says his daughter was “not made safe by employees” while incarcerated at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. She was one of 16 prisoners to die in state custody in August 2018.

The violence that has left at least five people dead is the result of longstanding issues that have been ignored, justice advocates and prisoners’ family members say.

Guards at the Mark Stiles Unit in Beaumont are alleged to have led the victim to a hallway where there were no security cameras.

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Two years ago, the executive director of Just Detention International, an organization whose mission is to end sexual assault in jails and prisons, wrote in an opinion piece for […]

Staff at the troubled Orleans Justice Center are also accused of violating Edward Patterson’s constitutional rights by failing to treat his drug addiction.

Prison deaths in Mississippi have climbed nearly 40 percent in recent years, from 62 in fiscal year 2014 to a high of 85 in fiscal year 2018.

The poor healthcare that Bobbie Jean Johnson received during her more than 40 years in prison contributed to her death, family members say.

Even when retaliation is likely, people speak out about the violence and abuse they experience and witness.

Even after a major class action suit required Illinois to revamp its prison healthcare system, doctors whose alleged neglect resulted in major injury or death still remain on the prison system payroll.

As the presidential election approaches, reformers should focus on the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which restricts the ability of incarcerated people to protest their conditions of confinement.

Some death row prisoners will be moved to another unit with access to direct sunlight, fenced-in recreation, and contact visits, department says.

Civil rights groups demand change as other states move away from the practice of isolating people sentenced to death.

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. For years, civil rights organizations have litigated cases on prison systems’ failures to respect the rights of Muslim plaintiffs to practice their faith. In a report published […]

A wave of hunger strikes hit Alabama prisons as DOJ released a report calling the facilities “unconstitutional.”

A judge excluded a confession that exonerated defendants in one trial related to a Delaware prison uprising, but a pair of defendants were nonetheless acquitted, promising further problems for prosecutors.

Family members are frantic after 330 prisoners are transferred to Pennsylvania.

With Appeal contributor Keri Blakinger

Corcoran state prison has a history of abuse that includes forcing prisoners into ‘gladiator fights.’

As Kamala Harris begins her presidential run, her move to block gender affirming surgery for an incarcerated transgender woman deserves scrutiny, especially as new cases highlighting the struggle for the rights of imprisoned trans women emerge.

Most prison strikes are met with retaliation and abuse, but one recent work stoppage is starting to pay off.

With Craig Cesal and Amy Ralston Povah

The miniseries depicting a New York prison escape fails to show what happened to the men left behind.

Meanwhile, the abysmal medical care that helped spark the riot persists.

A lawsuit accuses Illinois of cutting off LGBTQ prisoners’ lifeline to supporters.

New development in a high-profile case comes as advocates question the state’s prison conditions and sentencing practices.

‘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.

How the politics of storm preparation reveal whose lives matter, and who gets left behind.

Lawsuits allege that a private Tennessee prison neglected diabetic prisoners, contributing to at least one death.

An imprisoned organizer with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak said prison officials are trying to identify those leading the strike.