Prisoners Face ‘Undue Punishment’ As The IRS Claws Back Their Stimulus Checks
Legal experts say the IRS is illegally denying CARES Act payments to incarcerated people.
Jordan Michael Smith Jul 08, 2020
Pennsylvania Governor Approves Two Commutations For Men Serving Life Sentences
The two men have been awaiting Tom Wolf’s signature for more than six months.
Joshua Vaughn Jul 01, 2020
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis Jun 17, 2020
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis Jun 03, 2020
She Turned Her Life Around After A String Of DUIs. Now She Might Be Sent Back To Prison Amid A Coronavirus Outbreak
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office waited four years to charge Danielle Sutherland for one of the DUIs. After serving time for the others, she received treatment for her substance use issues and pursued a degree.
Meg O'Connor May 29, 2020
A Transgender Woman’s Attorneys Fear She Won’t Survive Her 60-Month Sentence
New York attorneys have launched a campaign to release transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary prisoners during the pandemic.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg May 28, 2020
Three Pennsylvania Men Were Recommended for Commutations. They’re Still in Prison.
Freddy Butler, Oliver Macklin, and Charles Goldblum are among the 17 people who received recommendations for commutations of life sentences in 2019, but Governor Tom Wolf has yet to sign off on their releases.
Joshua Vaughn May 18, 2020
Advocates Push New York Governor for More Releases From Jails and Prisons
The governor’s requirements for release are too narrow in light of the threat from COVID-19, they say.
Bryce Covert May 13, 2020
Coalition’s Efforts Amid Coronavirus Derail Plans For New Women’s Prison
The onset of COVID-19—and the need for social distancing—gave an unexpected boost to efforts against plans for a new prison in Washington.
Victoria Law May 04, 2020
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.
Apr 29, 2020
With Prison Visitation Suspended Due To COVID-19, Families Of Incarcerated People Say Phone Calls Should Be Free
Telecommunications companies that serve prisons and jails, like Securus Technologies and Global Tel Link, are offering a limited number of free calls, but families say it’s not enough.
Molly Minta Apr 02, 2020
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.
Apr 01, 2020
Kim Foxx Aims To Rewrite An ‘Inequitable’ Legal Justice System As Challengers Fight To Topple Her
With one term under her belt as Chicago's top prosecutor, Foxx says she has more work to do to right a system that has been "unfair, and totally unjust."
Mari Cohen Mar 16, 2020
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 Mar 02, 2020
Cancer Patient’s Prison Sentence Is A Glaring Outlier in a Pennsylvania County
A review of charging dockets in Lebanon County shows Ashley Menser was the only person charged with felony retail theft in 2018 to receive a 7-year maximum sentence.
Joshua Vaughn Feb 10, 2020
How Dubious Science Helped Put A New Jersey Woman In Prison For Killing A Baby In Her Care
The state said Michelle Heale shook the baby to death, but some experts say her conviction was based on debunked science.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 15, 2020
The Media’s Misguided Backlash Against Criminal Justice Reforms in D.C. and New York
Many liberals support reform in theory. But when unpopular decisions need to be made, it’s back to the 1990s “Tough on Crime” playbook.
Adam H. Johnson Jan 09, 2020
For Many Prisoners, Mississippi’s Habitual Offender Laws Are Like ‘Death Sentences’
One man, Paul Houser, is serving 60 years on a drug conviction for purchasing cold medicine and batteries. He’s one of 2,600 people incarcerated as a result of the state’s three strikes laws.
Lauren Gill Dec 20, 2019
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 Dec 10, 2019
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 Dec 05, 2019
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.
Longtime Louisiana Prisoner Who Maintained Her Innocence Dies Less Than Two Years After Her Release
The poor healthcare that Bobbie Jean Johnson received during her more than 40 years in prison contributed to her death, family members say.
Roxanna Asgarian Nov 25, 2019
What Does Death By Incarceration Look Like In Pennsylvania? These Elderly, Disabled Men Housed In A State Prison.
More than 5,400 people in the state are sentenced to life without parole. This month, The Appeal went inside one prison that helps provide end-of-life care for men.
Joshua Vaughn Nov 20, 2019
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 Oct 29, 2019
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 Oct 21, 2019
An Indiana Woman’s Long Fight for Justice
In a rare move, a federal court vacated Anastazia Schmid’s murder conviction, saying she’d received ineffective assistance of counsel and had been mentally unfit to stand trial. But Schmid, who’d spent 18 years in prison, remained locked up for three months more.
Victoria Law Sep 06, 2019
San Francisco Deserves Restorative Justice
Our response to crime should focus on healing and accountability, not punishment and retribution.
Chesa Boudin Aug 30, 2019
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 Aug 26, 2019
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 Aug 23, 2019
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 Aug 09, 2019
Sentenced to Life Without Parole at 17 and Denied Freedom at 52
Richard Kinder thought he would die in an Alabama prison until the Supreme Court ruled mandatory juvenile life without parole unconstitutional. But last year, despite a judge concluding there was “uncontradicted evidence” that Kinder had worked to rehabilitate himself, the state parole board refused him release.
Lauren Gill Aug 07, 2019
Louisiana Woman Sentenced to Life for Attempting to Rob Grocery Store With Toy Gun Seeks Mercy
Gloria Williams was in her 20s when she was sent to prison for her part in a robbery that turned deadly. After serving nearly five decades, including one decade in solitary confinement, Williams now has a chance at freedom.
Victoria Law Aug 06, 2019
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 Aug 05, 2019
Drug Treatment Is Reaching More Prisons and Jails
Recent legal victories have spurred counties and states to provide medication-assisted treatment to prisoners struggling with substance use.
JB Nicholas Jul 31, 2019
Media Frame: 5 Common Tactics Used to Discredit Reform D.A.s
The backlash is underway against a recent wave of prosecutors who champion criminal justice reform. Here are some methods of attack.
Trans Woman’s Death in Rikers is Still a Mystery. But Why Was She There At All?
Though little is known about how Layleen Polanco died, advocates say her story highlights New York City’s flawed approach to criminal justice.
Raven Rakia Jun 12, 2019
Indefinite Solitary Confinement in New York Is Finally Put to the Test
Court challenges and a sweeping reform bill are offering hope to men trapped in isolation for decades.
Joshua Manson Jun 03, 2019
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 May 21, 2019
The Appeal Podcast: Generational Harm, A Hidden Cost of Mass Incarceration
With Chicago activist Celia Colón
Adam H. Johnson May 16, 2019
Justice in America Episode 20: Mariame Kaba and Prison Abolition
Josie and Clint talk about prison abolition with Mariame Kaba.
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 Mar 12, 2019
After Uprising, Delaware Prison Sends Hundreds Of Prisoners Away
Family members are frantic after 330 prisoners are transferred to Pennsylvania.
Raven Rakia Feb 27, 2019
Man Exonerated In Murder, But Diagnosed With Terminal Cancer As He Awaited Freedom
William J. Richards was cleared in the death of his wife. But he says he was the victim of medical neglect while he was behind bars, which led to a cancer diagnosis becoming terminal. Now he's suing.
Erika Stallings Feb 19, 2019
‘I’ve Made My Share Of Wrongs, But I Haven’t Killed No One’
California amended its felony murder law, which holds accomplices responsible for murder. But reform won’t reach a man sentenced to death in a deadly robbery—even though he was never accused of firing a shot.
Maura Ewing Feb 04, 2019
Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People’s Voice Prints
The technology also allows authorities to mine call databases and cross-reference the voices of individuals prisoners have spoken with.
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 Jan 28, 2019
Disabled Prisoners Decry Treatment in New York’s Prison System
Prisoners in the state’s Regional Medical Units allege that they are being denied access to essential programs and services like law libraries.
Keri Blakinger Jan 08, 2019
Caging Kids Is An American Tradition
Trump didn’t start it, but we can end it.
Ethan Brown Jan 03, 2019
Overdoses, Riots, And Escapes Roil A Rural Kentucky Jail
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.
Zachary A. Siegel Jan 02, 2019
Oklahoma Governor Releases 21 Prisoners Shut Out Of Drug Sentencing Reform
But more than 1,100 others are still serving sentences that voters decided were too harsh.
Kira Lerner Dec 19, 2018
Lawsuit Claims Delaware Prisoners Are Still Being Beaten, Stripped And Tortured Months After Uprising
Meanwhile, the abysmal medical care that helped spark the riot persists.
Raven Rakia Nov 30, 2018
Communicating While Queer Is Being Punished in Prison
A lawsuit accuses Illinois of cutting off LGBTQ prisoners’ lifeline to supporters.
Raven Rakia Nov 08, 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
House of Cards
‘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
Activists Brace For Further Retaliation In The Wake Of The National Prison Strike
As media attention wanes, “this is the most dangerous period with any prisoner action,” one organizer said.
Bryce Covert Sep 25, 2018
Pennsylvania Prisons Hired A Private Company To Intercept And Store Prisoners’ Mail
The company is being paid $4 million a year to open and scan prisoners’ mail into a searchable database.
Raven Rakia Sep 24, 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
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
Caretaker Faces Deportation Over Dubious ‘Shaken Baby’ Conviction
After being released from prison, her only chance is a pardon from the governor.
Jessica Pishko Aug 14, 2018
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
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
Former Baltimore Police Officer Criticizes The Department’s Gang Database
A onetime gang liaison for the Baltimore Police Department writes that its database is racist and error-ridden.
Larry Smith Jul 23, 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
No Mercy
As worthy cases for clemency from Cyntoia Brown to Calvin Bryant mount in Tennessee, advocates decry the fact that a Tennessee governor hasn't commuted a prison sentence since 2011.
Steven Hale Jun 12, 2018
For New York Prisoners, a Package Policy that Effectively Pits TV Against Books
A little-known New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision policy has limited access to books in at least nine prisons for years.
Rebecca McCray Jan 11, 2018
Shoplifting from Wal-Mart can get you 12 years of prison time in Tennessee
The price of shoplifting at Wal-Mart isn’t always low.
Carimah Townes Sep 05, 2017
In Mississippi, a Lost Second Chance for Gerome Moore
“You look like a cold-blooded monster.”
Rebecca McCray Jun 22, 2017