Ramen Noodles Replacing Cigarettes as Prison Currency
The rise of ramen noodles as prison currency can be blamed on cost-cutting that leaves prisoners hungry, says a new study.
Prisons
The Justice Department Is Wrong. Private Prisons Aren't the Problem.
Private prisons are a symptom. Mass incarceration is the disease.
America's Jails and Prisons Have Become Cruel, Expensive Institutions for the Mentally and Physically Disabled
Inmates in prisons and jails are three to four times more likely than average to report having a disability, new report finds.
State and Local Spending On Prisons Has Grown Three Times as Fast as Spending on Schools, Says New Report
Young black males without a high school diploma are more likely to be incarcerated than employed.
Louisiana Inmates Serving Unconstitutional Sentences Will Have to Keep Waiting for Relief
Louisiana state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson just blocked a bill that would have provided relief to those sentenced as children to life without parole.
Maryland Reforms Asset Forfeiture, Mandatory Minimums
Tighter rules on seizure and looser rules on sentences for nonviolent crimes.
Non-Violent Drug Offenders Get Life +185 Years
Their stories begin differently but end in the same place.
Why Released Felons Should Be Allowed to Vote
Ban harms those who want to reintegrate back into society.
Is Male Rape More Common at College Than in Prison? Yes, Suggests the White House.
If statistics are true, young men sentenced to prison should breathe a sigh of relief: "At least I wasn't accepted to Harvard."
Life + 185 Years: Three Stories of Incarceration
Three people convicted of non-violent drug crimes. Their stories are the stuff of nightmares.
Why Belgian Justice Officials Are Defending Prison Porn
Prison heads say it's humane and helps prisoners rehabilitate.
Wrongfully Convicted Man Who Spent 30 Years on Death Row Not Entitled to Compensation, Court Says
"An over-technical interpretation of the law" leaves the late Glenn Ford's family with no remuneration for the life he spent behind bars.
Sanders Misleadingly Connects 'Mass Incarceration' to Pot Busts
Clinton minimizes her role in advocating longer sentences and exaggerates her role in trying to shorten them.
Judge Rules That Pastafarianism Is Not a Proper Religion
As of this week, religious accommodation doesn't require a prison to let an inmate wear a pirate costume.
Bill Clinton Claims His Wife 'Was the First Candidate' to Talk About Sentencing Reform
It's true, if you don't count Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, or Jim Webb
Bill Clinton's Crime Bill Ambivalence
The former president can't decide whether he should brag about the 1994 law or apologize for it.
Innocent Man Spent 30 Years in Prison, Died a Year After His Release. Now the State Might Finally Pay
Louisiana denied modest financial compensation to Glenn Ford because he couldn't prove his "factual innocence."
Bill Clinton's Mendacious Defense of the 1994 Crime Bill
The former president says Republicans made him support longer sentences, which were a necessary response to 13-year-old murderers "hopped up on crack."
Life in Prison for Stealing Candy Bars in New Orleans?
Even the judge thinks it's "over the top," but Louisiana's "habitual-offender" law takes away his discretion.
Justice Department Tells Prisons to Take Gender Identity Seriously
Prison and jail policies "must allow for housing by gender identity when appropriate" say new federal guidelines.
The Felony-Murder Rule Sends Non-Killers to Prison and Doesn't Even Reduce Crime
These flawed laws need to be reformed.
On Commutations, DOJ Blames Volunteer Lawyers for Failing to Do Its Job
A big backlog of prisoners seeking shorter sentences has gotten a lot bigger.
Indiana Prosecutor Bradley Cooper Is 'Proudly Over-Crowding our Prisons'
Cooper's new campaign flyer brags about the people he's put in prison for decades over drug sales and minor theft.
Yet Another Tale of Death in Jail Over a Debt, in a Nation Officially Without Debtors Prisons
Taken from a hospital suffering from gastroenteritis straight to jail, Joyce Curnell died there of likely dehydration. All over an unpaid court debt.
No Debtors Prison in America--Technically, At Least
Still, a Utah man died after being jailed last month over not paying an ambulance bill.
On Criminal Justice Reform, Clinton Is Sanders Lite
Clinton, who was for mass incarceration before she was against it, fills in some blanks in her agenda.
The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Solitary Confinement
Life inside the Supermax archipelago
The Fiction That Drug Trafficking Is 'Inherently Violent' Could Harm Sentencing Reform
Watered down improvements to federal mandatory minimums may get watered down further.
Guantanamo Prisoner and Author Loses Court Challenge
Mohamedou Ould Slahi's request for federal court to intervene in confinement conditions at Guantanamo denied.
New York Rolls Back Solitary Confinement
The most successful solitary confinement reform this year will release 1,000 prisoners.
Asking Tough Questions About the Death Penalty
Journalists and prisoners stage a First Amendment challenge to state secrecy regarding executions.
Hacked Contents of Millions of Prisoner Phone Calls Leaked to The Intercept (Updated: Securus Responds)
Likely violations of attorney-client privilege
When Prohibitions Fail in Prison, How Can They Work in the World Outside?
Jailhouse black markets make a mockery of restrictions imposed in what are literally miniature police states.
Cops and Prosecutors Want Fewer People in Prison
A new law enforcement group favors abolishing mandatory minimums, changing felonies to misdemeanors, and winnowing down petty offenses.
Irwin Schiff, R.I.P.
Man who argued there is no legal obligation to pay income tax dies of cancer shackled to prison hospital bed at age 87.
Bernie and Hillary's Marijuana Misconceptions
Both candidates seem to think our prisons are filled with pot smokers.
Sanders and Clinton Offer Cannabis Clarity and Confusion
Both candidates exaggerate marijuana's role in mass incarceration.
Sanders Suddenly Becomes Pot-Friendliest Major-Party Candidate
Clinton is still noncommittal on marijuana legalization, even though she mistakenly thinks most low-level, nonviolent offenders in prison are there for smoking pot.
6 Misconceptions Underlying Opposition to Sentencing Reform
Is reducing prison terms reckless in light of drug and crime trends?
Feds Announce Their Biggest Prisoner Release Ever
Beginning at the end of the month, some 6,000 drug offenders will get out earlier than originally expected.
How the "Black Silent Majority" Kicked the Drug War into High Gear
Harlem activists called for federal troops to "clean up" the streets, demanded life sentences for drug dealers.
