Virginia Women’s Prisons Force People to Remove Pads, Tampons During Strip Searches Women told The Appeal they found the routine practice degrading and dehumanizing. Prisons around the country have long humiliated people for menstruating. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Sheriffs Offered Caribbean Cruises and Florida Retreats as Part of Jail Telecom Contracts Smart Communications, a for-profit Florida company that sells phone, videochat, and email-like services to prisons and jails, told at least one sheriff’s department that it can live “the resort life” on a trip to Florida. Hayden Betts
‘It Tears Families Apart’: Lawmakers Nationwide Are Moving to End Mandatory Sentencing Repealing state and federal mandatory minimums will help address the mass incarceration crisis, advocates hope. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Virginia Governor Candidate Says It’s Time To ‘Treat Poverty Like the Emergency It Is’ Jennifer Carroll Foy is a former public defender and state legislator who wants to overhaul school funding and extend an eviction moratorium until the end of 2022. Eoin Higgins
Virginia Bans Mental Health Evidence in Trials. Lawmakers Could Soon Change This Proposed legislation would allow people accused of crimes to tell juries if they had a mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, or an intellectual or developmental disability at the time of a crime. The bill could have helped individuals like Matthew Rushin. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
A Virginia Prison Held A Man In Solitary Confinement For Over 600 Days Virginia’s Department of Corrections has recently settled two lawsuits over its use of solitary confinement—a practice lawmakers are moving closer to abolishing. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Victims’ Families Want Virginia to End The Death Penalty Virginia may soon become the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Terry McAuliffe’s Record on the Death Penalty Is Out of Step With National Trends McAuliffe is running to become Virginia governor a second time. If he wins, he would be the only active Democratic governor to have carried out executions in office. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Today’s update focuses on major outbreaks in two state prisons in tiny Buckingham County, Virginia that in June gave it one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S. Whet Moser
As Coronavirus Spread, Dozens Of Law Enforcement Agents Raided Virginia Housing Projects Over Alleged Small Drug Deals Despite distancing warnings, more than 80 state and federal agents fanned out in an anti-drug operation that, The Appeal has learned, was based on a series of retail-level drug sales. Jerry Iannelli
Prosecutors In This Virginia County Are Letting People Go To Jail for Low-Level Offenses In The Middle of a Pandemic Public defenders in Fairfax County say their clients are being sent into harm’s way. Kira Lerner
Tuesday’s Election Boosts Voting Rights for People With Past Convictions A claimed victory in Kentucky and wins in Virginia mean hundreds of thousands of people could have their right to vote restored. Kira Lerner, Daniel Nichanian
The Appeal Podcast: When Police Officers Double as Prosecutors With Appeal contributors Julia Rock and Harry August Adam H. Johnson
Virginia Sheriff Seeking Re-election Took Campaign Donations From Healthcare Provider For Jail He Oversees Sheriff Mike Chapman, who runs the Loudoun County jail, has received close to $15,000 in contributions from the provider since taking office in 2012. Aaron Morrison
Rhode Island Police Don’t Just Make Arrests. Some Also Act As Prosecutors. The state is one of eight that allow cops to arraign people on misdemeanor charges. Advocates and academics say the practice is unjust. Julia Rock, Harry August
Virginia Teen Was Detained and Prosecuted for Saying ‘Oink Oink’ to Cop Critics say that Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney Theo Stamos, who is being challenged in a June primary, has a pattern of treating children too harshly. Kira Lerner
‘They’re Trying To Kill Us In Here’ At Virginia’s Hampton Roads Regional Jail, reform has been slow even after high-profile tragedies including the death of mentally disabled man incarcerated who allegedly stole $5 worth of snacks. Aaron Morrison
Virginia Jail Accused of Favoring Christians Who Agree To Live In ‘God Pod’ Muslim prisoners, meanwhile, say they were starved during Ramadan and deprived of religious texts. Kira Lerner
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
Caretaker Faces Deportation Over Dubious ‘Shaken Baby’ Conviction After being released from prison, her only chance is a pardon from the governor. Jessica Pishko
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
