United States
United States: there’s an aging crisis in New York’s prisons and we need to solve it
Analysis
Opinion
North America
Elderly prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
United States
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Rodney Holcombe, New York State Director for Criminal Justice Reform, addresses the New York prison system and the it…
United States: surge in life sentences
Analysis
Opinion
North America
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Death penalty
United States
Ashley Nellis, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Analyst at the Washington DC-based NGO, The Sentencing Project, which has been active in the struggle to reform American law and practice on life sentences. Here, Ashley discusses America’s now commonplace use of life sentences and calls for bolder approach…
North America
Access to legal rights
Justice
United States
The former journalist was convicted of killing a police officer in 1981, in a trial many say was suffused with racial bias.
Coronavirus
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
United States
Our December survey of medical co-pay policies shows that some states are reinstating medical co-pays as COVID-19 continues to spread in prisons.
North America
Women
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Torture
Violence
United States
At least 30 states began officially and formally sanctioning this practice under the “1907 Indiana Eugenics Law.”
North America
Women
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Justice
United States
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that a prison would violate an inmate’s constitutional rights by denying her from having gender-affirming surgery, and has ordered correction officials to allow for the inmate to make such arrangements.
Coronavirus
North America
Health
Overcrowding
United States
Federal officials have suggested that corrections staff receive high priority for a coronavirus vaccine, but not the millions of vulnerable inmates held in U.S. facilities.
North America
Women
Access to legal rights
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
United States
The United States imprisons the most women in the world. Across the United States, approximately 200,000 women are incarcerated—nearly an 800 percent increase since 1980. Women of color are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. In 2017, twice as many Black women and 1.3 times…
North America
Mental health
Violence
Rehabilitation
United States
A recent study of recently incarcerated people finds that witnessing violence is a frequent and traumatizing experience in prison.
Coronavirus
North America
Mental health
Suicide
United States
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has been challenged regarding care for its mentally ill prisoners for decades.
Etats-Unis: peine de mort, l’administration Trump poursuit les exécutions malgré sa défaite
News
North America
Access to legal rights
Justice
Death penalty
United States
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French
United States: can correctional facilities negotiate phone contracts that prohibit deposit fees ?
News
North America
Material conditions
Social ties
United States
Yes ! Many do. We review the evidence and find 15 states that said no to unnecessary fees. Who will be next ?
Coronavirus
North America
Justice
Rehabilitation
United States
By march, officials expect to have reduced the state’s prison population by about 35 percent since the start of the pandemic.
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
United States
British prisons and jails must provide for vegan inmates by law; as of January this year, veganism is an explicitly protected belief under the Equality Act 2010, the same as religious beliefs.
This protection is not absolute, nor does veganism have legal protection everywhere in the world. In the U…
United States: California law is step forward but fails to guarantee safety for trans prisoners
News
North America
Women
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
United States
Syiaah Skylit has been imprisoned in California since 2015. Despite multiple requests to be placed in a women’s prison, Skylit, a Black trans woman, has always been incarcerated in the state’s men’s prisons. There, she has faced attacks by incarcerated men as well as sexual abuse and retaliation by…
North America
Access to legal rights
Mental health
United States
State officials often fail to identify prisoners with developmental disorders, a group that faces overwhelming challenges behind bars, from bright lights to noises to social dynamics.
Coronavirus
North America
Health
United States
Some states stop charging copays to encourage COVID-19 care.
North America
Minors
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
United States
Detainees in Texas’ juvenile prisons suffer from frequent physical and sexual abuse, inadequate mental healthcare and high rates of staff turnover, two youth advocacy groups wrote in a federal complaint Wednesday.
The rights of the hundreds of youths detained in five secure facilities around the st…
North America
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
United States
Kyle H. has been incarcerated since 2001 and is serving a life sentence. He is held at River North Correctional Center in the state of Virginia. He bravely tells how an ordinary day goes by, when voices cannot stop, and when he becomes a stranger to himself.
Coronavirus
North America
Women
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
United States
“I am forced to make a choice on what’s more important, my freedom or my health,” Ortega said.
Coronavirus
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
Work
United States
California’s prison system has taken drastic measures to combat the coronavirus, halting rehab programs, religious services and educational classes. But correctional authorities kept one type of operation running through much of the last six months: prison factories.
Estados Unidos: la paradoja de la pena de muerte
News
North America
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Death penalty
United States
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish
Coronavirus
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Rehabilitation
Work
United States
States like California, New York, and Arizona have relied on prisoners to continue working, with little pay and in precarious conditions, during the coronavirus pandemic.