Prisons
The Human Rights Crisis in ICE Detention Centers
Reports of human rights abuses are piling up as the number of people in immigrant detention reaches all-time highs.
Why Ghislaine Maxwell's Transfer to a Minimum-Security Prison Camp Stinks
Sex offenders are supposed to be ineligible for minimum-security federal prison camps, but the rule was waived for Maxwell.
Woman Who Died of Heart Disease in ICE Custody Reportedly Told Son She Wasn't Allowed to See Doctor for Chest Pains
Questions about the death of Marie Blaise at a South Florida ICE detention center have lingered since she collapsed in April.
Canada Seeks To Jail Freedom Convoy Organizers for 8 Years
Too many government officials see dissent as the worst crime imaginable.
10 Years in Prison for Selling a T-Shirt of a Hugo Chávez Statue Getting Smashed
Two Venezuelan women were convicted of incitement to hatred, treason, and terrorism.
Report Alleges Degrading Treatment and Medical Neglect at South Florida ICE Detention Centers
One former ICE detainee says he and a group of men were forced to kneel with their hands tied behind their backs and eat "like dogs."
Lawyers and Families Report Squalid Conditions and Lack of Legal Access at Alligator Alcatraz
Numerous accounts of lack of showers, overflowing toilets, and inability to meet with lawyers are emerging from the detention center in the middle of the Everglades.
Why a Trump-Appointed Judge Is Torching His Own Court's Approach to Qualified Immunity
Judge James C. Ho recently described a troubling phenomenon on the 5th Circuit and the government abuse it enables.
Arizona Just Created, Then Defunded, an Independent Watchdog for Its Troubled Prison System
Criminal justice reform advocates are still hopeful the office can secure outside funding and bring much-needed transparency to Arizona's prisons.
The Everglades Jetport Was Supposed To Be a World Wonder. Now It's 'Alligator Alcatraz.'
Our dreams have fallen from supersonic world travel to jailing migrants who've hurt no one.
A Federal Inmate Had a Limb Partially Amputated After Being Kept in Restraints for 2 Days
An inspector general report found there were no limits on how long federal inmates could be kept in restraint chairs or strapped to beds.
Florida Proposes 'Alligator Alcatraz' to House Detained Migrants and Speed Up Deportations
Florida's attorney general proposed using a 30-square-mile part of the Everglades to house, process, and deport detained migrants.
Civil Rights Groups Say Immigrants Are Being Denied Legal Access at Detention Centers
Reason confirmed reports of dysfunction and violence at one of those detention centers earlier this week.
Overcrowding and Dysfunction Produced a Quiet Riot at a Miami Federal Prison Holding ICE Detainees
Half the elevators at Federal Detention Center Miami are broken. Immigrant detainees are kept on lockdown, and lawyers can barely reach their clients.
Pregnant Women in Prison Aren't Getting Care, and No One Is Keeping Track
U.S. criminal justice policies have led to a 585 percent increase in the incarcerated women’s population since 1980 and have resulted in the highest female incarceration rate in the world.
At a Missouri Prison, Inmates Fear for Their Lives in Sweltering Cells
Without air conditioning, inmates are "literally trapped in a burning hot cell," according to a new lawsuit.
Federal Court Scraps Rule That Gagged Tennessee Civil Rights Attorney From Criticizing a Private Prison
For nearly three years, Daniel Horwitz faced contempt of court for talking about a private prison that was one of his most frequent courtroom opponents.
The Court-Ordered Takeover of Rikers Shows the Crisis in American Prisons and Jails
A federal judge finally acknowledged that New York City won't fix the constitutional crisis at Rikers on its own, but the problem goes far beyond New York City.
Reopening Alcatraz Is an Expensive, Unnecessary Pipe Dream
The Bureau of Prisons is struggling to staff the prisons it currently operates. Reopening Alcatraz would be unrealistic and redundant.
Trump's Understanding of Due Process Is Just As Farcical As His Definition of 'Alien Enemies'
A new ACLU lawsuit argues that the government still is not giving alleged gang members the "notice" required by a Supreme Court order.
Not Guilty but Punished Anyway
Sentencing defendants based on acquitted conduct violates basic notions of justice.
Trump Says Alleged Gang Members Don't Need Hearings Because the Government Is Infallible
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected that claim, upholding the right to due process in deportation cases.
American Prisons Don't Work. California Is Trying Something That Might.
What America can learn from prisons in Norway and Sweden.
Ksenia Karelina, Imprisoned in Russia for Donating $51 to a Pro-Ukraine Charity, Is Freed
The American citizen had been sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony for treason.
Bill Would Require Federal Prisons To Notify Families of Serious Illness and Death
Families described not being told their loved one was in the hospital or even when they had died.
Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Claim That He Can Summarily Deport Anyone He Describes As an 'Alien Enemy'
Although the Court lifted an order that temporarily blocked removal of suspected gang members, it unambiguously affirmed their right to judicial review.
Kristi Noem Uses El Salvador's Nightmarish Megaprison To Create Content
The Homeland Security secretary's use of El Salvador's largest prison for propaganda is unethical and an endorsement of an autocratic justice system.
New York's Illegal Prison Guard Strike Challenges Law Limiting the Use of Solitary Confinement
It's also a reminder of the disarray that ensues from strikes put on by state employees, who hold monopolies on public goods.
Review: Rethinking the Stanford Prison Experiment
Did participants exhibit a natural inclination for cruelty, or were they just doing what they thought researchers wanted?
North Dakota's 'Truth-in-Sentencing' Bill Could Cost More Than $250 Million
The bill would also create mandatory minimum jail sentences for fleeing the police.
Marc Fogel, Who Was Imprisoned in Russia for Having Medical Marijuana, Is Freed
Fogel's story closely mirrored that of Brittney Griner's. But he did not receive the same urgency from the Biden administration, even though he was arrested six months prior.
El Salvador Offers To House Violent U.S. Criminals and Deportees
Yet its penitentiary centers are already running at over 300 percent capacity.
El Salvador's Bukele: Authoritarian or Model President?
Frontier magazine's Peter Gietl and Salvadoran journalist Ricardo Avelar debate the merits of Nayib Bukele's criminal justice policies.
Trump's Aggressively Broad Executive Order on Transgender People
Like many of his other "Day 1" decrees, the order seems more concerned with scoring points in the culture war than advancing sensible policy.
Sister Helen Prejean on Capital Punishment, Justice, and Meeting Victims' Families
"Jesus said, 'Love your enemy.' Jesus didn't say, 'Execute the hell out of the enemy,'" the Catholic nun and anti–death penalty activist tells Reason.
This Holiday Season, Remember That Charity Is More Effective Than Government
Charities can focus resources on those who genuinely need a hand while saying no to those who just need "a kick in the butt."
Women Allegedly Raped in Prison by Trans-Identifying Inmate Will Have To Refer to Attacker as 'She/Her'
The recent ruling means that on the stand those women may be subject to speech policing from their alleged rapist—who has opted for self-representation.
