More from The Appeal:
All but nine of California’s 35 prisons house more people than the facility was designed to hold.
Police should no longer occupy all of our vital support systems in our communities.
Alex S. Vitale | July 20, 2020
Excessive force against people being arrested, falsification of evidence against suspects, and brutality by guards against prisoners — these are all just different forms of the same problem.
Vernon Horn | July 20, 2020
Through this mechanism, communities can accept accountability for the racism they allow to flourish by failing to disrupt it.
Monica C. Bell | July 17, 2020
How governors respond to this pandemic will define their legacy. They all face a choice: save lives in prisons now, or hand down potential death sentences with their inaction and watch harm ripple through communities and exacerbate inequities into future generations.
Democrats in Congress must still their impulse to legislate restrictions on clemency. Not only would such a law be unconstitutional, but it may deter future presidents from using clemency the way that the framers intended.
Mark Osler | July 15, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests over police brutality are strengthening the case against mass incarceration, advocates argue.
Emily Nonko | July 14, 2020
New data obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request paint a dire picture of New York City COVID-19 testing in its jails.
You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm.
Daveen Trentman | July 7, 2020
Reductions in budgets related to the novel coronavirus have slowed New York City’s plan to close Rikers by building new jails, and it’s becoming increasingly possible that the city will not meet its January 2027 deadline.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem | June 29, 2020
Calls to defund the police must also be accompanied with divesting power and discretion from judges.
Gina Clayton-Johnson | June 17, 2020
We did it in San Francisco. If we are smart about how we respond to COVID-19 in the criminal legal system, then we can simultaneously tackle two crises.
Cristine Soto DeBerry | May 12, 2020
The current coronavirus crisis underscores our urgent need to look hard at our pretrial justice system. Eliminating money bail is a necessary first step.
People behind bars are too often forgotten and treated as expendable. We cannot afford to forget them. Our shared survival and shared humanity demand action.
By letting people out now, we can avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with sick prisoners later.
Oliver Hinds | April 15, 2020
Doing so will save countless lives, and in the process, they may show us by example how to begin, finally, to dismantle mass incarceration for good.
Sharon Dolovich | April 10, 2020
People are dying in jails and prisons because elected officials hesitated at the worst possible moment.
Jay Willis | April 9, 2020
Experts are urging large-scale releases. But the Department of Justice often operates contrary to expertise.
Shon Hopwood | April 8, 2020
I am trying my best to take care of myself in the midst of this pandemic, no different from you, no different from any other human being. But it’s impossible to do that at this jail.
Anthony Swain | April 6, 2020
Incarcerated people, corrections officers, and their families and communities are bound together by the threat of a deadly and fast-moving disease. The sooner we recognize this, and take decisive action, the more lives we will save.
Cyrus Ahalt | April 3, 2020
There are no good reasons for the president to keep vulnerable people behind bars any longer.
Jay Willis | March 31, 2020
Decisive action by governors and the President now can save lives -- of incarcerated people, correctional and medical personnel, and nearby community members. Business as usual will not.