Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones
For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts
I Killed My Brother When I Was 17. Now I’m Saving Lives In Prison. Cayce French, who is serving life in prison at the Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes how getting clean and participating in rehabilitation programs has transformed his identity. Cayce French
Justice in America Episode 29 Bonus: Interviewing the Creators of College Behind Bars In this bonus episode, Josie Duffy Rice and her co-host Derecka Purnell talk to Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, the creators of College Behind Bars.
As COVID-19 Ravages Florida, Incarcerated People Are Still Doing The State’s Hard Outdoor Labor Despite risks to incarcerated people and the public, Florida is sending prisoners to perform hard labor. Jerry Iannelli
Sexual Assault Survivors Who Want Restorative Justice Have Limited Options Alternative approaches to rehabilitation and healing still face resistance, even though the criminal legal system’s reliance on punishment has done little to move the needle on addressing sexual violence. Tyler Kingkade
What Happens When Prison ‘Lifers’ Get A Chance At Healing And Redemption? In California, a prison program run by people once sentenced to life shows how even the most serious offenders are more than the worst things they’ve done. Nick Wing, Kyle C. Barry
The 1994 Crime Law Hogs The Legal Reform Spotlight. But A Lesser-Known Law Deserves More Attention. 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. John Pfaff
The Persistent History of Excluding Black Jurors in North Carolina A statewide pattern of discrimination in jury selection has gone largely uncorrected, while lives remain in the balance, advocates say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Sanders And Warren Just Released the Most Decarceral Criminal Justice Platforms Ever The 2020 presidential candidates recently unveiled national criminal justice agendas that reimagine public safety and punishment. Aaron Morrison
Sensationalist Tale of an Elderly Killer Feeds False Narrative The New York Times’s coverage of the one-off case of a 77-year-old man omits key facts about how older adults are treated by our punitive legal system. Adam H. Johnson
New York Prisons Offer ‘Tough Love’ Boot Camp Programs. But Prisoners Say They’re ‘Torture’ And ‘Hell.’ Prisoners can shave time off their sentences by participating in shock incarceration programs. More than a dozen former shock prisoners say that comes at a steep cost. Keri Blakinger
Federal Prisons Official Used Prison Labor For Work On His Church The Bureau of Prisons’ South Central regional director utilized incarcerated people from a Texas prison to work on a landscaping project at his church. Lauren Gill
Florida Locales Vote to Stop Using Prison Labor—and Others May Follow One commissioner wants the state Department of Corrections to show proof that his county isn’t just using prisoners as ‘slaves.’ Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Incarcerated Transgender Women’s Lives Must Matter 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. Zoé Samudzi
‘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
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
This Red State Governor Is Giving Hope To People Sentenced To Die In Prison But after a spree of commutations, the governor recently put down his clemency pen amid tough-on-crime fear mongering. Kira Lerner
Louisiana Prisoners Demand an End to ‘Modern-day Slavery’ People incarcerated at Angola want opportunities for education instead of hard labor in the fields. Bryce Covert
How Zombie Crime Stats, Phantom Stats and Frankenstats Paint a Misleading Picture on Crime John Pfaff
Pennsylvania Man Dies In Jail After Guards Allegedly Ignored His Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms Zachary A. Siegel
Texas Sheriff Says Jail Population Must Be Reduced Jail isn’t the “appropriate place” for all that get arrested, he says Larry Hannan
Commentary: Attorney General Sessions Says He Wants To Target Gangs, But In The Federal Bureau of Prisons Gangs Find A Home Base, And A Place To Flourish Seth Ferranti
California jail hunger strikers: “We’re seeking humanity” Alameda and Santa Clara County jail detainees round out the first week of a hunger strike for better conditions. Rebecca McCray
In Mississippi, a Lost Second Chance for Gerome Moore “You look like a cold-blooded monster.” Rebecca McCray
