North America
Crises
North America
LGBTQI
Justice
Material conditions
Death penalty
Alternatives
United States
Since taking office, the Trump administration has taken actions to eviscerate due process and the rule of law, make prison and jail conditions worse, expand the use of extreme sentences and harsh law enforcement tactics, eliminate oversight, undermine solutions that reduce incarceration.
Crises
North America
Discipline
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
The MacArthur Justice Center filed a class-action case on behalf of six incarcerated people at Algoa Correctional Center. All of them are especially sensitive to heat due to their age or underlying medical conditions, or have spent time in solitary confinement.
North America
Facilities
United States
Donald Trump has doubled down on his proposal to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the once-notorious prison island in the icy waters of San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz - popularly known as “the Rock” - has not been used as a prison for decades. It is now a historic landmark visited by millions of tourists.
North America
Justice
Health
Violence
United States
The corrections officer, Christopher Walrath, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a sentence of 15 years in state prison. Walrath, 36, also had been indicted on a second-degree murder charge. That was dropped as part of his agreement to plead guilty.
North America
Justice
Alternatives
United States
People on probation or parole are being incarcerated for “technical violations” when they break onerous rules that set them up to fail.
Mutineers, rebels and objectors
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Protest
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Eighth piece: rebellion.
North America
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Canada
It’s election day at prisons and jails across the country, and as incarcerated people cast their ballots behind bars, a Canadian Senator is trying to break down barriers so they can make an informed choice.
North America
Mental health
Social ties
Religion
United States
Thirteen incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals who died within the past year were remembered during the fourth annual Mourning Our Losses ceremony last month inside San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
North America
Elderly prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Rehabilitation
United States
A new law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that prevents thousands of imprisoned people from early release. The risk assessment tool, TIGER, does not take into account efforts they make to rehabilitate themselves.
Crises
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
United States District Judge Robert Pitman called the lack of air conditioning in incarcerated people facilities “plainly unconstitutional,” but he stopped short of requiring action.
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
Five women imprisoned at Western New Mexico Correctional Facility near Grants have filed a civil rights lawsuit over what they say is a “longstanding and ongoing” stomach infection circulating among the prison population.
North America
Social ties
Alternatives
Religion
United States
Eid Letters to Incarcerated Muslims, an Ohio grassroots project that for the past five years has facilitated an annual Eid Al-Fitr letter-writing campaign for incarcerated Muslims in the state, hosted a webinar about its efforts.
Unites States: judge says heat in Texas prisons unconstitutional as states face mounting lawsuits
News
Crises
North America
Justice
Material conditions
United States
A federal judge’s rebuke of Texas housing incarcerated people in lockups without air conditioning stopped short of ordering a fix before summer in what has become of the country’s biggest lawsuits over keeping incarcerated people safe during dangerous extreme heat.
North America
Minors
Justice
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Violence
United States
Jones is among thousands of people seeking accountability under a new state law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims. It was passed in 2023 with the Catholic Church abuse scandal in mind.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Work
United States
Censorship, threats, and stints in solitary are among the acts of retaliation prison reporters face. Busby was sentenced to seventy-five years in 1999. Since then, he’s worked as a writer and journalist, including a stint as a staff reporter for the Texas prison newspaper The Echo.
United States: lethal injection, electrocution and now firing squads. A look at US execution methods
News
North America
Death penalty
United States
South Carolina is preparing to execute a man by firing squad, a capital punishment method that hasn’t been used in the U.S. in nearly 15 years. Since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976, states have used five different execution methods.
North America
Justice
Death penalty
United States
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers to life in prison, saying there were enough questions about his guilt that she could not move forward with his execution.
Women bearing the weight of the law
Analysis
Africa
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Women
Asia
Europe
LGBTQI
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Drugs
Death penalty
Violence
More and more women across the world are being imprisoned, mostly for minor, non-violent offences. What discriminatory and punitive logic is being applied? What is being done to fight back against it?
North America
Drugs
Social ties
United States
The ACLU of Wisconsin sent out its annual holiday card in December. But no one on the organization’s mailing list actually received the physical card. Instead, recipients opened up an envelope to find a sad piece of copier paper, printed on either side with black-and-white scans.