New Jersey Took a Big Step Toward Eliminating Public Defender Fees. But Some Costs Remain.
Advocates say there is more work to be done to ensure public defenders don’t come with a price tag.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 22, 2023
More in Pretrial
Milwaukee Judges Tried to Shut Down the City’s Court Diversion Program. No One’s Saying Why.
Municipal Court officials refuse to comment on efforts to cancel JusticePoint’s contract without lining up an alternative provider. A legal ruling allows the services to continue—for now.
Jonmaesha Beltran, Devin Blake Jul 27, 2023
How Missouri’s ‘Felony Murder’ Law Traps People for Defending Themselves
An investigation by The Appeal and the Yale Investigative Reporting Lab reveals how prosecutors use the state’s felony murder statute to imprison people who say they acted in self-defense. The majority of those convicted under the law since 2010 are Black. “I had to take the plea because they’re using this law to get people to stay locked up,” one man said.
Thomas Birmingham Jul 10, 2023
How LA County’s Zero-Bail Rules Can Help Others Like Me
Los Angeles County lawmakers should enshrine the zero-bail rules into law so people in Los Angeles County jails can see their families.
Angel Lopez Jun 28, 2023
Georgia Jail Medical Staff Failed to Treat Man While Tumor Slowly Killed Him: Lawsuit
Gwinnett County Jail’s for-profit health provider NaphCare has been sued more than 100 times for malpractice and neglect.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jun 08, 2023
Judge Reinstates ‘Zero Bail’ Policy in Los Angeles
A preliminary injunction issued this week forbids officials from forcing people charged with low-level offenses to remain in jail because they cannot afford bail.
Meg O'Connor May 18, 2023
Georgia Man Begged for Medical Care for Months Before Dying in Jail, Report Finds
An official investigation released this week concluded that “medical neglect” contributed to Alan Willison’s death at the Clayton County Jail in January, just a week after his cancer dianosis.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Apr 12, 2023
Indiana Jail Let Man With Schizophrenia Starve to Death in Solitary, Lawsuit Alleges
Graphic video footage obtained by The Appeal shows 29-year-old Joshua McLemore wasting away and rolling in his own waste in the Jackson County Jail before eventually dying of malnutrition.
Tana Ganeva Apr 12, 2023
Kathy Hochul’s ‘Pro-Suffering’ Campaign Against Bail Reform
The New York governor is making an appeal to “mob justice” as she threatens to take her state back decades on issues of pretrial justice and policing.
Victor Dempsey, MK Kaishian Apr 11, 2023
New Jail, Same Problems: Why Cleveland is Resisting Plans for a ‘Modern’ Detention Center
Cuyahoga County is the latest community to debate a proposal to build a new jail in response to inhumane conditions at the current facility. Advocates say there’s no such thing as a humane jail.
Katie Rose Quandt Mar 28, 2023
Georgia Jail Detainees Say Their Lives Are at Stake Ahead of Key Sheriff’s Election
With a special election for Clayton County sheriff coming up next week, people detained at the county’s scandal-plagued jail are speaking out about horrific conditions.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 13, 2023
Here’s What LA County is Doing—And Not Doing—to Move People With Mental Illness Out of Jail
America’s largest county has launched numerous initiatives to shrink its jail population and divert people with mental illness from jail entirely. Here’s an explainer on what the major initiatives are and what, if any, progress has been made.
Meg O'Connor Mar 12, 2023
Georgia Sheriff Stonewalling Official Jail Death Investigation, Medical Examiner Says
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office is refusing to share information about in-custody deaths with the medical examiner’s office, which is responsible for conducting investigations.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 10, 2023
Why Do People Keep Dying in Harris County Jail?
The Texas jail is bursting at the seams as officials push for more pretrial incarceration.
Jessica Pishko Mar 09, 2023
LA is Locking Up More Mentally Ill People, Despite Diversion Efforts
In 2015, Los Angeles County created a program to reduce the number of mentally ill people trapped in jail. But since then, the number of people with mental illness incarcerated in LA has instead increased significantly.
Meg O'Connor Mar 02, 2023
Pregnant People Are Shackled and Abused in Harris County Jail
Pregnant people are among the many casualties of a politically manufactured crisis that has led to abysmal conditions at the jail.
Krish Gundu, Elizabeth Rossi, Eric Reinhart Feb 08, 2023
Jail Deaths Have Spiked, But Atlanta’s Diversion Program May Lose Funding
Deaths at the Fulton County Jail have quadrupled compared to last year. Despite this, county commissioners are threatening to cut funding to one of the Atlanta area’s main pre-arrest diversion initiatives.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 07, 2022
Internal Report Details Severely Malnourished Detainees at Atlanta-Area Jail
The facility’s medical provider described people with mental illness wasting away in a unit overrun by an outbreak of lice and scabies.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 17, 2022
DOJ Finds Orange County Sheriff, DA Violated Civil Rights Using Illegal Jailhouse Informants
After a six-year investigation, the DOJ says Orange County law-enforcement unconstitutionally used jailhouse informants to elicit confessions and incriminating evidence from people for years.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Jerry Iannelli Oct 13, 2022
Nearly Half the People at Crowded Atlanta Jail Haven’t Been Formally Charged With a Crime, ACLU Says
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat says the county needs more jail beds to fix the jail’s crisis. But a new ACLU report says that significant numbers of people in the jail can be released.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 12, 2022
DOJ Admits It Has No Idea How Many People Die in Law Enforcement Custody
Thousands of deaths in jails, prisons, and police custody have gone uncounted in recent years. Now the DOJ is calling for changes to federal law.
Ethan Corey Sep 20, 2022
L.A. County’s Jail Booking Center Has Become a ‘Living Hell,’ Detainees Say in Court Filing
County officials agree that conditions have deteriorated at L.A.’s Inmate Reception Center. But they’re resisting calls for substantive change.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 13, 2022
L.A. Ended a Zero-Bail COVID Rule, and Now the Jail Population is Growing
In June, a judge ended an emergency order to slow the spread of COVID-19 in LA’s jails, enraging civil-rights advocates.
Nili Blanck Sep 07, 2022
Judge Strikes Down New York Jail’s Prolonged COVID Visitation Ban
The ban had helped the Broome County Sheriff rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from detainee video and phone call fees.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 18, 2022
Bail Reform Helps Countless People. Why Don’t We Hear More of Their Stories?
Personal narratives can help the public understand the benefits of bail reform, but telling these success stories presents its own share of challenges.
Bryce Covert Jul 19, 2022
New York Jail’s Prolonged COVID Visitation Ban Drives Big Profits on Detainee Calls
More than two years into the pandemic, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office is still prohibiting all jail visits. The policy helped them take in more than a half-million dollars in 2021.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jun 14, 2022
‘It’s an Emergency’: Tens of Thousands of Incarcerated People are Sexually Assaulted Each Year
Cynthia Alvarado was raped in jail before she was sentenced to life in prison for a murder she did not commit. Now that her sentence has been overturned, Alvarado is fighting for women like her.
Val Kiebala Apr 18, 2022
Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime?
Opponents of bail reform blame pretrial release for increased crime, despite a lack of evidence. Lost in the debate—the proven harms of jail.
Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022
Why New York Jail Populations Are Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels
After the state rolled back a progressive bail law, data from the Vera Institute of Justice suggests judges are ordering more people be held in jails, amid continued worry over COVID-19.
Bryce Covert Jan 20, 2022
How St. Paul Became The Twin Cities’ Leader On Justice Reform
Although Minneapolis has garnered media attention since the George Floyd uprising, St. Paul may be the Twin City making the most strides toward transformative justice. But Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s actions may undo positive steps in Ramsey County.
Hibah Ansari, Anna Simonton Jan 11, 2022
Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail
A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention.
Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021
Illinois State Lawmakers Vote To Eliminate Cash Bail
The move is part of a broader criminal justice reform bill that also ends prison gerrymandering, and mandates body cameras for all police departments.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 14, 2021
Newly Elected Los Angeles DA Will End Cash Bail in Nation’s Largest Prosecutor Office
On his first day in office, George Gascón said prosecutors will not seek bail starting Jan. 1, a win for criminal justice reformers.
Eliyahu Kamisher Dec 07, 2020
Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not.
The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail.
Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020
Report Finds Bail Reform in Chicago Reduced Pretrial Incarceration Without Hurting Public Safety
A growing body of evidence suggests that it’s possible to reduce or even eliminate the use of money bail without increasing crime.
Ethan Corey Nov 19, 2020
New York Watchdogs Lack Data to Track Judges’ Compliance With Bail Reform
Although the new law took effect in January, state data showing how courts are applying it won’t be available until July 2021. And without funding, courts in small towns and villages may never collect the data.
Steven Yoder Sep 09, 2020
Criminal Justice Advocates Say New Law Undermines Georgia’s Efforts at Bail Reform
The law, known as SB 402, eliminates the use of signature bonds for a number of felonies, putting poor people who might not be able to afford cash bail at a disadvantage.
Victoria Law Aug 12, 2020
The Public Health Risks of Jailing People for Poverty
In Hillsborough County, Florida, the jail population is bloated by cash bail, fines, and fees, perpetuating health inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem May 04, 2020
Law Enforcement Leaders Agree: Money Bail Has To End, Especially In A Pandemic
The current coronavirus crisis underscores our urgent need to look hard at our pretrial justice system. Eliminating money bail is a necessary first step.
Ronal Serpas, Taryn Merkl Apr 21, 2020