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.
8th Amendment
Trump's Death Penalty Executive Order Aims To Expand Execution
The order directs the attorney general to ensure that states have the drug cocktails to carry out lethal injections.
California County Fines Man $120,000 for Refusing to Evict a Family From His Property
Plus, a look at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Tina Smith's plan to resurrect public housing in America.
Texas Prisoners Are Being 'Cooked Alive' by High Temperatures, Investigation Says
Last year, one prison's temperatures stayed above 100 degrees for 11 days.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Mississippi's Jim Crow–Era Felon Voting Ban
"In short, 'cruel and unusual' is not the same as 'harmful and unfair,'" the court wrote.
Supreme Court Rules That Punishing the Homeless for Sleeping Outside Isn't 'Cruel and Unusual'
Homeless advocates say the court's decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson gives local governments a blank check to "to arrest or fine those with no choice but to sleep outdoors."
Florida Man's Tall Grass Saga Comes to an End
One man’s overgrown yard became a six-year struggle against overzealous code enforcement.
Does the Constitution Protect the Right To Get High?
Columbia law professor David Pozen recalls the controversy provoked by early anti-drug laws and the hope inspired by subsequent legal assaults on prohibition.
Combat Homelessness by Ending Exclusionary Zoning
The Eighth Amendment provides little, if any, protection for the homeless. But courts can help them by striking down exclusionary zoning, which is the major cause of housing shortages that lead to homelessness.
Oklahoma Prisoners Say They Were Locked In Filthy, Tiny Shower Stalls for Days
At least one inmate claims that the shower stalls, which were just 3 feet by 3 feet, were covered in human feces.
Federal Appeals Court Says Texas Inmate's Decade-Long Lawsuit Over Sleep Deprivation Can Keep Going
Michael Garrett and other Texas inmates get less than four hours of sleep a night. He argues it's cruel and unusual punishment.
Justice Department Finds Unconstitutional Conditions in 3 More Mississippi Prisons
Mississippi's prisons are falling apart, run by gangs, and riddled with sexual assaults, a Justice Department report says.
Zoning Board Orders Longtime Tenants' Homes Dismantled
Plus: the Supreme Court weighs housing fees and homelessness, YIMBYs bet on smaller, more focused reforms, and a new paper finds legalizing more housing does in fact bring costs down.
Civil Rights Groups Urge Federal Appeals Court To Strike Down Mississippi's Jim Crow–Era Felon Voting Ban
A broad coalition of civil rights groups and think tanks, including Reason Foundation, say that Mississippi's "mandatory, permanent, and effectively irrevocable" voting ban for certain offenders violates the Constitution.
Washington State Prison System Sued for Using Unreliable Drug Tests To Put Inmates in Solitary
Reason reported in 2021 how prisons use cheap field kits to test mail for contraband—and use the faulty, unconfirmed results to severely punish inmates.
'This Is Not an Emergency'
How Florida prison officials let a man's prostate cancer progress until he was paralyzed and terminally ill.
Idaho Keeps Scheduling This Inmate's Execution Even Though It Lacks the Means To Kill Him
A federal judge ruled in favor of an Idaho death-row inmate who says that the state is "psychologically torturing" him.
Newly Released Government Records Reveal Horrible Neglect of Terminally Ill Woman in Federal Prison
The records confirm medical neglect in a federal women's prison that Reason first reported on in 2020.
Ron DeSantis Signs Florida Law Setting Lowest Threshold for Death Penalty Sentences in the Country
Florida will now only require an 8–4 majority for a jury to recommend a death sentence. Alabama is the only other state that allows split juries to recommend death sentences.
Reason Files FOIA Lawsuit Against Bureau of Prisons for Inmate Death Records
Reason reported in 2020 on allegations of fatal medical neglect inside two federal women's prisons. The Bureau of Prisons heavily redacted reports that would show if women died of inadequate care.
Texas Death Row Prisoners Sue Over Automatic Solitary Confinement
The state's "arbitrary requirement to house all male death row prisoners in permanent solitary confinement does not promote safety and security, is inconsistent with correctional best practices, and serves no penological purpose," the lawsuit claims.
Supreme Court Declines Case Challenging Excessive IRS Penalties
Should an elderly grandmother be forced to hand over millions of dollars to the government for failing to file a particular form?
Federal Inmates Suffering From Unconstitutional Medical Neglect Could Get Relief Under Rule Change
The U.S. Sentencing Commission might make medical neglect a qualifying condition for compassionate release.
Is Texas About To Use Expired Drugs To Execute Death Row Inmates?
Defendants say this practice violates the state’s own laws. The attorney general is pushing onward anyway.
Senate Investigation Finds Federal Prisons Fail to Prevent or Investigate Rapes
Long delays and management failures "allowed serious, repeated sexual abuse in at least four facilities to go undetected."
Mandatory Life Sentences for Juvenile Homicide Offenders are Unconstitutional, Rules Tennessee Supreme Court
The court says a 51-year "life" sentence for a 2015 murder violated the Eighth Amendment.
After Supreme Court Ruling, States Grapple With How To Define an Excessive Fine
The Supreme Court's 2018 ruling in Timbs v. Indiana revived the Excessive Fines Clause. Now state courts have to come up with tests to determine what's excessive.
Judge Holds Federal Bureau of Prisons in Contempt for Allowing Man To Waste Away From Untreated Cancer
A federal judge wrote that the Bureau of Prisons should be "deeply ashamed" of medical delays that resulted in a man dying from treatable cancer.
Senate Investigation Finds Justice Department Undercounted Prison and Jail Deaths Last Year by Nearly 1,000
The report says the inaccuracies "deprived Congress and the American public of information about who is dying in custody and why."
This Grandmother Didn't Submit the Proper Banking Form. Now the IRS Wants $2.1 Million From Her.
She’s asking the Supreme Court to consider whether this seizure is an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment.
Nearly 50,000 People Were Held in Solitary Confinement in the U.S. Last Year, Study Finds
More than 900 had been held in isolation for more than a decade.
Federal Judge Holds Illinois Prison System in Contempt for Inadequate Medical Care
A court monitor's report found evidence of neglect and abuse of dementia patients, including signing "do not resuscitate" orders that they could not understand.
Federal Judge Rules Gruesome Medical Neglect in Arizona Prisons Violates Eighth Amendment
"No legitimate humane system would operate in this manner," the judge concluded.
She Says Her Son Died After Smoking Insecticide While He Was Supposed To Be on Suicide Watch. Now She's Suing.
The lawsuit says there have been multiple deaths from neglect and poor suicide prevention policies at the Louisiana prison where Javon Kennerson died.
Video of 'Fight Night' at Rikers Jail Leads Judge to Find Cruel and Unusual Punishment
A New York state judge found video of guards ceding control of Rikers to gang leaders more than enough evidence to order the release of a pretrial inmate.
Report Finds Gruesome Medical Malpractice and Death in Arizona Prisons
"A system that allows this level of sustained incompetence and cruelty... is morally bankrupt," a doctor wrote after investigating medical neglect in Arizona prisons.
After Years of Complaints, the D.C. Jail Has Been Deemed Too Wretched for Some Inmates
A 2016 Reason story detailed the D.C. Jail's long history of failure. Now the federal government is finally paying attention.
Oklahoma Botches Another Execution
John Marion Grant convulsed and vomited as he was put to death.
A New Lawsuit Says Wilmington Is Running an Unconstitutional Towing and Impound Racket
Residents say their cars were improperly ticketed, then impounded and scrapped after they couldn't pay off their debts soon enough.
Washington's Top Court Cracks Down on Excessive City Fines
A homeless man’s truck was impounded in Seattle and he couldn’t afford the costs to get it back. That’s unconstitutional, justices rule.
He Died After Cops Shackled Him and Held Him Facedown. A Court Said That Was Constitutional. SCOTUS Isn't So Sure.
The officers might receive qualified immunity, however.
When Is a Civil Forfeiture Based on Drug Offenses Excessive? Always.
The question of proportionality assumes that punishment is appropriate for peaceful conduct that violates no one's rights.
States Can Provide Their Own Civil Remedies for Police Abuse
They need not wait for the Supreme Court or Congress to restrict or abolish qualified immunity.
Federal Court Confirms That Shackling an Inmate During Exercise Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The warden at the center of the case was originally given qualified immunity.
Judge's Stay Halting First Federal Execution of a Woman in 70 Years Has Been Vacated
Lisa Montgomery faces possible execution this evening.
Justice Department Finds Rampant Sexual Assaults and Constitutional Violations in Country's Largest Women's Prison
The report confirms what news investigations and advocates have said for years: Lowell prison lets guards abuse women without consequence.
Justice Department Sues Alabama Over Its Violent Prison System
The suit follows a scathing 2019 report detailing unchecked violence and sexual assault against incarcerated people.
In April, She Was Jailed on a Probation Violation. By June, She Was Dead.
Holly Barlow-Austin suffered horrifying medical neglect at a Texarkana detention facility, according to video evidence in a new lawsuit.
