Punishment

As a person incarcerated in Texas, I know that rotten food and poor medical care are not unique to Delaney Hall.

As former residents of a California prison, we celebrated its closure but abhorred the punitive transfer process.

The Washington State Supreme Court will rule on whether Amber Kim, who is trans, can return to a women’s prison.

Todd Sidesinger was taken to Pennsylvania’s York County Prison for unpaid fees. His family says the jail’s medical neglect led to his death just two days later.

People are losing purchased music and games, as well as emails and photographs from loved ones, without compensation.

Even state-level legal protections for trans people have not always extended to those behind bars.

At Louisiana’s Angola prison, incarcerated workers are forced to pick crops in dangerous heat. A federal judge ruled last month that a recent Fifth Circuit decision took away his power to help them.

Over 200,000 incarcerated people face deadly summer heat in California and Texas.

Twenty-two states have laws requiring prisons to provide free menstrual products, but not all of them do.

Six prison systems have implemented free phone calls. A new report examines the impact of free communications.

Pennsylvania requires unanimous approval from a five-member pardon board before people incarcerated on life sentences can ask the governor for clemency.

In a ruling earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton blasted the federal prison agency for a pattern of medical neglect after officials ignored his order to schedule an appointment with a specialist for a woman at high risk of breast cancer.

A new facility celebrated by Gov. Gavin Newsom will disrupt prisoner-led programming and normalize our captivity.

Last week, Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled that automatic sentences of life without parole for people charged under the felony murder doctrine constitute “cruel punishments” under the state constitution.

A lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Pennsylvania says that the state’s prison system restricts access to insulin pumps and glucose monitors, putting people with Type 1 diabetes at risk of death or serious injuries.

Incarcerated people in West Virginia filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the largest prison food provider in the country fails to offer adequate meals in the cafeteria while charging high prices for fresh produce and snacks in the commissary.

California’s incarcerated population has aged rapidly over the past 30 years. A new report recommends creating new pathways for senior citizens to seek release.

After a correctional officer allegedly assaulted a 20-year-old woman, as many as 200 of her fellow prisoners went on hunger strike for nearly three weeks.

The Trump administration’s attacks on journalists have a side effect: further exposing the violence of prisons.

Imprisoned people are forced to drink and bathe with water they describe as over-chlorinated, slimy, and foul-smelling.

Families are asking questions about their loved ones’ deaths in custody. The state isn’t answering them.

Subjects of The Alabama Solution have led protests for years, using cell phones to expose brutality and forced labor.

A 2021 incident in a Missouri prison illustrates the barriers Muslims face practicing their religion behind bars.

The change has brought hope to those who fear dying in prison, while others worry it won’t save them from such a fate.

FCI Dublin was shut down in 2024 after revelations of abuse against prisoners. Residents want it to stay closed.

Local communities resist ICE by reaching inside jails and building networks of support.

Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center often makes news for the celebrities detained there, but hundreds of other people at the jail face inhumane conditions.

Strip searches serve as weapons of humiliation rather than security measures.

After mystery illnesses and toxic reports, prisoners at California’s Mule Creek State Prison worry their water is killing them.

James Carver spent 36 years in prison after he was convicted of setting one of the deadliest fires in Massachusetts history. But after reviewing new scientific evidence, a judge set him free.

“Scared straight” programs don’t work. But that doesn’t mean incarcerated people shouldn’t mentor at-risk kids.

Investigators found the Jackson Parish Jail violated state rules 83 times between July and February—almost 12 times more than the second-worst lockup.

A letter obtained exclusively by The Appeal says Trump’s Department of Justice has cut all funding to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center.

In half the country, sex offense civil commitment incarcerates people after they complete their prison sentences.

At least six people at Red Onion intentionally lit themselves on fire last year. Now, prisoners say staff are forcing people to comply—or cutting their electricity.

“We are not just training dogs — we are training ourselves to be better humans.”

I’ve been in prison for 42 years. After New York State closed my facility, it sent me to Sing Sing—a prison filled with tension and violence.

“I’d rather not live than be forced to live as a man,” a trans woman in a federal prison in New Jersey said in a sworn statement.

At least one trans woman in federal prison says Trump’s executive order has already prevented her from receiving hormone therapy, leading to “thoughts of suicide and self-harm.”