U.S. Prisons Held At Lest 61,000 Inmates in Solitary Confinement Last Year
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor: "Keeping prisoners in 'near-total isolation' from the living world [...] comes perilously close to a penal tomb."
Prisons
Pennsylvania's New $4 Million Prison Mail System Brings Privacy Concerns
Civil liberties lawyers worry that sensitive documents could end up in the wrong hands.
Kanye West Doesn't Want to Bring Back Slavery. He's Trying to Abolish It for Good.
The 13th Amendment outlaws slavery, but not for prison inmates.
20 Years in Prison for Florida Man Who Swiped $600 Worth of Cigarettes
He has prior felony convictions, but 20 years still seems harsh.
After 27 Years, Golf Drawings Helped Clear a Convict of Murder
Valentino Dixon has been proclaiming his innocence for decades. After a golf magazine brought attention to his case, people started to listen.
A Banned Magazine Is Trying to Take Florida Prison System to the Supreme Court
Florida prisons completely ban Prison Legal News magazine. Now the publication is asking the Supreme Court to "vindicate the First Amendment."
Elizabeth Nolan Brown Talks About Her Blockbuster Backpage Story on Sirius XM
Matt Welch interviews Brown (and others, including ex-Reasoner Lauren Krisai) from 9-12 ET.
Prison Inmates in at Least 17 States Are Going on Strike Today
"For some of us it's as if we are already dead, so what do we have to lose?"
Louisiana Attorney General Wants State to Hurry Up on Executions—Even If That Means Using 'Hanging, Firing Squad, or Electrocution'
The death penalty may surface as a key issue in the upcoming gubernatorial election in Louisiana.
Prison Rape Reports Are Rising
After national reporting standards were implemented, substantiated sexual assault claims rose by 63 percent.
NAACP Sues Connecticut to Stop 'Prison Gerrymandering'
Incarcerated prisoners are counted where they're jailed for representation purposes, even though they usually cannot vote.
New Calls for the Supreme Court to Reconsider Qualified Immunity
Some unusual amicus briefs filed in support of cert. in Allah v. Milling
This Congresswoman Thinks First-Time Illegal Border Crossing Should Be a Felony
Rep. Diane Black has proposed legislation reclassifying the offense.
Is Criminal Justice Reform Leaving Small and Rural Communities Behind?
A new report shows that the recent trend of reducing prison populations is heavily an urban phenomenon.
When You're Done Reading This Issue of Reason, You Might Want to Burn It
We offer how-tos, personal stories, and guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.
Federal Prisons Scaling Back Accommodations for Transgender Inmates
New amendments to rules default to placing prisoners on the basis of their "biological sex."
Will Congress Pass This Absolute Unit of a Prison Reform Bill?
The FIRST STEP Act would result in the immediate release of about 4,000 federal inmates, advocates say.
Open Season on Russian Oligarchs, Prison Porn Ban Heads to Court, How the Media Got the Pulse Massacre Wrong: Reason Roundup
Plus: YouTube shooter bought and registered gun legally.
Discovery of Police Corruption Freed Dozens of Imprisoned Americans in 2017
Government misconduct a big driver of exonerations last year.
Report: Imprisoning Drug Users Doesn't Stop Drug Use or Prevent Overdoses
Somebody tell the president.
Emergency Hearing to Address Fate of Pregnant Prisoners in California
"Time is truly of the essence here," said a lawyer for women imprisoned at Santa Rita Jail.
People Stuck in Jail Because They're Poor Have New Hope
Potential pretrial reforms for those locked up in Nashville, Atlanta, Philly, or the Golden State.
Tennessee Bill Would Make It Easier for Ex-Convicts to Get Jobs
Lawmakers are right to seek occupational licensing reform.
Trump Says In SOTU That Administration Will Pursue Prison Reforms
"We will embark on reforming our prisons to help former inmates who have served their time get a second chance."
ACLU Sues Pennsylvania For Putting Death Row Inmates in Permanent Solitary Confinement
"This is a profoundly damaging practice. It destroys people."
New Jersey Prisons Back Off Ban of The New Jim Crow, But Censorship Behind Bars Is Still Widespread
Texas alone bans 10,000 books, including The Color Purple and Where's Waldo?
The Fourth Circle of Helvetica
Il Caffè, a Swiss newspaper, writes about American private prisons
ACLU Accuses Poultry Processing Prison Camp of Human Trafficking
Court-ordered program provides slave labor to private companies says new ACLU of Oklahoma lawsuit.
Judge Threatens Arizona Prison Officials With Contempt For 'Pervasive and Intractable Failures'
The threat comes three years after officials agreed to improve the disastrous lack of healthcare.
I Became a Pot Felon at 18. I'm Owed More Than an Apology.
Maybe reparations from the federal government are in order.
Bill Introduced in Congress to Ban Shackling and Solitary Confinement of Pregnant Women
Because that's a thing that happens in the United States.
How to Make an Asylum-Seeker Request Her Own Deportation
Brenda Menjivar Guardado is scared to go back to El Salvador, but she's even more afraid of dying in custody.
Bail Reformers Seek to Keep the Poor from Being Stuck Behind Bars
Legislation tries to end lack of money as an excuse for keeping non-dangerous people in cells until trial.
Man Free After Serving 25 Years for Murder Linked to Switched Bullets
The Detroit Crime Lab, shut down in 2008 for negligence, switched test bullets with autopsy bullets in order to convict Desmond Ricks.
Prison Unions Punish California Taxpayers
Costs are rising even as the prison population gets smaller.
GOP Maps Out New Ways to Throw People in Federal Prison
Senators drafting massive combination bill with "Kate's Law" and "Back the Blue" mandatory minimum sentences that are expensive, unneeded.
Documentary on Prison Boom Fails to Provide Facts or Context
No, it's not just some corporate conspiracy.
Jury Says Jail Officials Should Face Charges for Prisoner's Dehydration Death
Man died after seven days without water in Milwaukee County's jail.
How Florida Entraps Pain Patients, Forces Them to Snitch, Then Locks Them Up for Decades
Florida's anti-opioid laws were supposed to take high-level traffickers off the streets. Instead, they put low-level users in prison for most of their lives.
Journalist Barrett Brown on Prison, Leakers, and Private Intelligence Agencies
Brown just got out of prison this past November after four years behind bars for his association with "hacktivists."
