United States

May 19, 2020

USA: filling the maternal-care gap

News

North America Women Health United States

Triona Carter’s birth of her first son, in a county jail in Alabama, was “one of the most hurtful things to ever go through.” The pain was both physical and emotional. She was “handcuffed to the bed,” aware that she would soon be separated from her child. “[I was] holding him, knowing that I don’t know…

Source — The American Prospect

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May 19, 2020

USA: Kim Kardashian est devenue une actrice-clé de la réforme carcérale

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North America United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

May 14, 2020

USA: le Missouri va mener une exécution avec distanciation sociale

News

Coronavirus North America Death penalty United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

May 14, 2020

USA: crime doesn’t pay but prison does, even amidst a pandemic

News

Coronavirus North America United States

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As factories and other businesses remain shuttered across America, people in prisons in at least 40 states continue going to work. Sometimes they earn pennies an hour, or nothing at all, making masks and hand sanitizer to help guard others from the coronavirus. Those same men and women…

Source — People's world

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May 6, 2020

USA: el coronavirus se ensaña con las cárceles

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

May 6, 2020

USA: inside the deadly coronavirus outbreak at Oakdale federal prison

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

“I just feel like we were all let down,” said one prisoner. At least 39 staff and 113 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a staff source. Alfred Reece says the outbreak began when his teacher got sick. A former accountant serving an 8-year sentence for convictions related to…

Source — VICE

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May 6, 2020

USA: while jails drastically cut populations, state prisons have released almost no one

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

In recent weeks, local governments across the U.S. have drastically reduced their jail populations to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Many have reduced the number of people in jail by 25% or more, recognizing that the constant churn of people and the impossibility of social distancing in jails make…

Source — Prison Policy

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May 4, 2020

USA: the violent history of Angola prison

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North America Violence United States

The Louisiana State Penitentiary is named after the slave plantation that existed on that land where the prison now stands. Columbia University explains that the plantation took its name from the nation its slaves were taken from: Angola. In 1880, former Confederate Major Samuel James purchased the plantation…

Source — Grunge

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April 24, 2020

USA: what data exists about Native American people in the criminal justice system?

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North America United States

Problems with data collection - and an unfortunate tendency to group Native Americans together with other ethnic and racial groups in data publications - have made it hard to understand the effect of mass incarceration on Native people. The scarcity of data on Native Americans in the U.S. criminal justice…

Source — Prison Policy Initiative

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April 24, 2020

USA: inmates at N.J. women’s prison endured years of sex abuse, justice dept. finds

News

North America Women Violence United States

WASHINGTON — Inmates at New Jersey’s only state prison for women were regularly sexually assaulted by guards and sometimes forced to engage in sex acts with other prisoners while staff members looked on, according to a Justice Department report released on Monday detailing widespread, pervasive sexual…

Source — The New York Times

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April 23, 2020

USA: el miedo al coronavirus en las cárceles provoca huelgas de hambre, protestas y motines

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Coronavirus North America Protest United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

April 23, 2020

USA: Living behind bars during a pandemic

Testimonial

Coronavirus Health United States

Robert C. is currently serving an 11-year sentence in a prison in Michigan than presents a very high infection rate. He writes about the first outbreak that occurred a couple weeks ago. Read more

April 23, 2020

USA: la détresse des détenus libérés en pleine pandémie

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

April 9, 2020

USA: probation and parole officers are rethinking their rules as coronavirus spreads

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Coronavirus North America Justice Health United States

In the effort to release people from jails to stem coronavirus outbreaks behind bars, those jailed for probation and parole violations have been an obvious choice. They’re locked up not for committing new crimes but for breaking the rules of their supervision, like drinking alcohol, traveling without…

Source — The Marshall Project

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April 9, 2020

USA: is social distancing possible behind bars?

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

Jails and prisons are often overcrowded, and their residents are disproportionately likely to have chronic health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to viral infections. So as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, we’ve been asked: Is social distancing (as recommended by the CDC and other public…

Source — Prison Policy

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April 6, 2020

USA: prison outbreak affects health of entire state

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

Absent immediate action, COVID-19 will overrun Connecticut’s jails and prisons. Connecticut’s Department of Correction has now confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the prison population after announcing that three DOC officers tested positive for the virus last week. This affects us all and the governor,…

Source — Connecticut Post

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April 6, 2020

USA: prison telecom giant offers aid to prisoners - for a price

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Coronavirus North America Social ties United States

As prisons and jails nationwide suspend visitations to slow the spread of COVID-19, the country’s largest private providers of communications services to inmates are being lauded by corrections officials for offering to help a vulnerable population stay in touch with family and friends. In a March 17…

Source — The American Prospect

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March 26, 2020

USA: how Louisiana’s oil and gas industry uses prison labor

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North America Work United States

This story was published in partnership with Southerly for our Powerlines series, which looks at climate change, justice, and infrastructure in the American South. The series is supported by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, and is part of their…

Source — Scalawag

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March 26, 2020

USA: as pandemic threatens to devastate prison population, new report provides updated “big picture” view of incarceration

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Coronavirus North America Minors Foreign prisoners Health United States

As advocates urge prisons and jails to slow the spread of COVID-19 by releasing as many incarcerated people as possible, it’s more important than ever to understand how many people are locked up across the country, where, and why. The Prison Policy Initiative’s new edition of Mass Incarceration: The…

Source — Prison Policy

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March 26, 2020

USA: technical violations, immigration detainers, and other bad reasons to keep people in jail

News

North America Foreign prisoners United States

By now, most people paying attention to the U.S. criminal justice system have heard about problems with the overuse and misuse of local jails. Chief among these problems are the serious, even deadly, harms caused by even brief periods of jail detention. But one problem has escaped the attention of the…

Source — Prison Policy

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March 19, 2020

USA: L.A. County releasing some inmates from jail to combat coronavirus

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is releasing inmates from its jails and cutting down on how many people it books into custody to protect those housed in close quarters from the growing coronavirus pandemic. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said deputies and police officers across the county have been…

Source — Los Angeles Times

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March 11, 2020

USA: 152 Parchman inmates sue Mississippi officials over "barbaric" prison conditions and "deprivation" of health care

News

North America Health Material conditions Violence United States

Lawyers representing inmates inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman filed a second lawsuit in federal court early Wednesday on behalf of 152 inmates who they say have been denied adequate medical and mental health care, fed contaminated food and retaliated against for speaking with their…

Source — CBS News

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March 6, 2020

USA: Texas bans greeting cards in prison

News

North America Activities United States

Every February 9, Joseph Mallonee sends his mother a handmade birthday card, with pastel hearts and roses sketched inside a Texas prison. Three weeks later, his mother returns the favor, buying a card or two from the local dollar store and mailing it to Huntsville in time for her son’s February 20 birthday.…

Source — Texas Monthly

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March 5, 2020

USA: el confinamiento en solitario prolongado en las cárceles equivale a tortura psicológica

News

North America Discipline Health Mental health Torture United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish