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Even though the United Nations considers more than 15 days of solitary confinement a form of torture, American prisons still use the practice liberally. Prolonged isolation makes imprisoned people more violent and less likely to reintegrate into society.
A second Trump term is not only more dangerous for undocumented people and asylum seekers than life under a Democratic president. It’s poised to be catastrophic.
The Appeal reviewed 935 arrests that occurred on 22 campuses last Spring. Prosecutors—all of whom are running for reelection—charged students with felonies, including assaults on police officers, wearing disguises, mob action, and attempted ethnic intimidation.
Changes in state law mean that many more people with felony convictions will be voting in 2024 than in previous elections.
Most people in prison can’t vote. This is what they want you to think about when you cast your ballot.
Most people in prison can’t vote. That doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention.
For people trapped in prison for decades, simple things like book clubs can be a lifeline and help people cope with the realities of the prison system. Sing Sing Correctional Facility’s club has helped give me and others a sense of purpose and belonging.
In Georgia, a person can be charged as a “party to a crime” for simple acts like answering a phone or loaning gas money. I—and many women incarcerated alongside me—are trapped in prison for crimes committed by men or abusive partners.
Staff at Philadelphia’s Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility allegedly did not give Louis Jung Jr. his insulin for six straight days. Jung’s family says his treatment exemplifies how the jail treats everyone.
Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said that, as of Oct. 18, deputies can no longer join internal gangs. But after stonewalling and hiding footage from my family for more than a year, I don’t believe Luna’s words mean much.
New rules from the Federal Communications Commission are putting the brakes on the prison telecom industry’s exploitative practices.
State legislators subpoenaed Robert Roberson one day before the state was set to kill him—an act that delayed the execution. Lawmakers are fighting to let Roberson testify before the state House despite objections from the attorney general and governor.
Despite pleas from state lawmakers, Texas will execute Roberson on Oct. 17 unless Governor Greg Abbott grants a reprieve in his case.
Violence interrupters work. But D.C.’s police union is trying to capitalize on a scandal to eliminate them.
Tasha Shelby was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly shaking her fiance’s two-year-old son to death. But the science around “shaken baby syndrome” has unraveled, and the lead witness against her recanted his testimony.
More than 20,000 people are incarcerated in Florida jails and prisons located in counties subject to evacuation orders. Many officials are refusing to evacuate them.
Author Jessica Pishko’s new book argues that American sheriffs’ initial jobs were to help commit genocide against Native Americans and help settlers steal land. She warns their danger persists to this day.
Even though a federal jury found Terence Richardson not guilty of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. Virginia prosecutors want to keep it that way.
The Reverend Christobal Kimmenez has joined others in calling for greater services for survivors of crime and the formerly incarcerated, including restorative justice.
Phoenix’s police chief called the findings of a damning DOJ report “accusations.” City leaders continue to reject federal oversight. They voted to give the police more money instead.
Prisons and jails across the Southeast have experienced utility outages, evacuations, visitation disruptions, and staff shortages in the storm’s wake.
Five women in Mississippi have been incarcerated longer than any others in the state. Each has been denied parole a multitude of times. Here, one of the women shares their stories.
In 2019, the state passed a law restricting how long prisons can hold people in isolation. But, according to a new report, people still say they’re being isolated for weeks and even months.
More than 700 prisoners at FPC Montgomery in Alabama refused meals over concerns that the Bureau of Prisons was violating sentencing reform provisions in the 2018 First Step Act.
Medical experts testified that Danyel Smith’s child likely died of natural causes, but Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie K. Batchelor rejected a motion to overturn his 2003 murder conviction.
Inconsistent funding and commitments, poor organization, and political pressure have hamstrung the work of community violence intervention groups across the U.S.
In the early ‘90s, Oklahoma prosecutors claimed Littlejohn and another man had killed someone, even though the victim was shot with a single bullet. A state board has recommended the governor spare Littlejohn’s life.
The term short staffing is a euphemism to divert attention from the state’s continued addiction to incarceration.
Aging in prison meant realizing my son was also a victim of my crime due to my absence from his life. I try to do what I can on visits to help my son succeed.
Texas is set to execute Robert Roberson on Oct. 17 for allegedly shaking his baby to death. But numerous experts now agree the theory used to convict Roberson isn’t real—including the detective who helped arrest him.
Attorneys say the district’s practice of sending armed police officers to mental health emergencies violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The state launched an investigation after the former chief medical examiner’s biased testimony in the George Floyd murder trial. Now, an Appeal analysis finds major flaws in the probe’s design.
A college student was convicted of murder for a death he did not cause. Reforms to the controversial law that landed him in prison have not led to his freedom.
Correctional officers allegedly used chemical spray and pepper bombs against women in handcuffs at Central California Women’s Facility.
Although my artistic pursuits began with material necessity, they have become a way for me to express myself and find inner peace within the oppressive environment in which I am confined.
With heat waves sweeping across the country, incarcerated people in states with traditionally milder climates are facing brutal conditions that have long plagued the South and Southwest. A survey by The Appeal reveals that many of the hottest states house prisoners in units without air-conditioning.
In the two months since the court’s decision in Grants Pass, an analysis by The Appeal finds that dozens of municipalities have passed or proposed new camping bans that levy the possibility of fines, tickets, or jail time against unhoused residents. More are sure to follow.
The Texas Department of Public Safety plans to spend millions in taxpayer dollars on a controversial software, used first as part of Governor Abbott’s border crackdown, to “disrupt potential domestic terrorism.”
When we see police sweeping a homeless encampment, we must ask: How much did this cost? And what difference could that money have made if it went instead to housing—or, better yet, the people themselves?
After The Appeal published an investigation into the Phoenix Police Department’s killing of 19-year-old Jacob Harris, a community coalition sprung up to help Harris’s three young friends, who are incarcerated for his death. Now, a court has granted the trio a chance to get out of prison.