Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

June 20, 2017

United States: Alaska officials work to reform solitary confinement system

News

North America Discipline United States

“Segregation is known to be psychologically detrimental to those who are in there for any length of time,” Bruce Busby, the state department’s director of institutions said.

June 13, 2017

USA: the private-prison industry has one big client that no one talks about

News

United States

The largest jail system in the United States has no buildings of its own. Instead, it’s a shadowy complex of agreements that tucks detainees in wherever there’s available space. It has swelled substantially over the past two decades, and it is likely to grow further.

June 12, 2017

Why the new Justice Secretary needs to care about prison education

News

United States

This week the Rt Hon David Lidington MP took up responsibility for for the tens of thousands of men and women in our prisons. The aftershocks from the General Election will leave MPs and Ministers wrestling with major political decisions facing the country, but the new Justice Secretary cannot affo…

June 12, 2017

USA: with Sessions’ sentencing change, it’s time to end secrecy around private prisons

News

United States

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced new guidelines that will result in a significant increase in the prison population, directing federal prosecutors to seek the toughest penalties possible for nonviolent defendants. Those prisoners will have to be incarcerated somewhere, which is per…

June 7, 2017

United States: how drug courts are falling short

News

North America Justice Drugs United States

Local authorities revived Smith, arrested him, and then gave him two options: he could go to jail or he could go into treatment. Smith chose treatment—or at least that’s what he thought. What Smith chose, more specifically, was to go through the alternative sentencing program known as drug court, w…

June 7, 2017

United States: programs that reduce recidivism could be casualties in budget fight over prison spending

News

North America United States

The state is hammering out its budget. And lawmakers are having a sharp disagreement with the governor’s office over one of Michigan’s biggest price tags – the corrections budget. Both sides agree rehabilitation and lowering recidivism is the way to go. But they can’t agree on how much money to spe…

June 4, 2017

USA: at $75,560, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard

News

United States

The cost of imprisoning each of California’s 130,000 inmates is expected to reach a record $75,560 in the next year.

May 27, 2017

USA: America’s prisons are failing. Here’s how to make them work

News

United States

Shirley Schmitt is no one’s idea of a dangerous criminal. She lived quietly on a farm in Iowa, raising horses and a daughter, until her husband died in 2006. Depressed and suffering from chronic pain, she started using methamphetamine.

May 25, 2017

USA: security is not safety gendered harms in women’s prisons

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Women United States

My experience in women’s prisons has led me to question this dynamic for imprisoned women: does security create safety?

May 22, 2017

USA: Jeff Sessions wants to put more people in prison, his home state of Alabama is doing the opposite

News

Justice United States

Attorney General Jeff Sessions penned a memo to federal prosecutors in early May asking them to stop seeking lenient sentences for drug offenders and instead seek “the most serious, readily provable” charges.

May 22, 2017

United States: a wrongfully incarcerated artist discusses prison at the Brooklyn Public Library

News

Culture North America United States

From May 23 to 25, Sherrill Roland will be on-site, hoping to facilitate more open dialogues about the US criminal justice system.

May 19, 2017

United States: the Trump administration is expanding its use of for-profit prisons to house undocumented immigrants

News

North America United States

The Bureau of Prisons has already started the process for acquiring at least one new private prison to house immigration offenders “in anticipation of population increases” following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on immigration.

May 17, 2017

USA: One Heart hopes to disrupt path to prison for Indiana's juvenile offenders

News

United States

A national non-profit plans to bring its juvenile reentry model to Indianapolis to help disrupt young adults’ path to prison.

May 17, 2017

USA: Georgia carries out its first execution in 2017

News

Death penalty United States

Convicted murderer J.W. Ledford Jr. was put to death by lethal injection, despite arguments from his lawyers that the lethal cocktail would react with his pre-existing medication and cause cruel and unusual punishment.

May 15, 2017

USA: Oregon Senate OKs bill to keep youth out of adult prisons

News

United States

Adult prisons aren’t the place for youth who wind up in trouble with the law, say members of the Oregon Senate who voted Monday to send a bill to stop that harmful practice to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.

May 11, 2017

Women living with babies inside Ohio prison

News

Women United States

The soft-spoken young woman sitting on the floor with her toddler son playing with toy cars could easily be in any setting. A preschool. A child care center. Or her own living room.

May 10, 2017

USA: State Assembly unanimously passes prison guard abuse bill

News

United States

The state Assembly has unanimously passed a bipartisan bill that would require guards at Wisconsin’s troubled youth prison to report child abuse.

May 3, 2017

Media silent as U.S. prisoners continue to hunger strike abysmal conditions

News

Protest United States

Prisoners across the U.S. have been holding hunger and labor strikes since last year, with tens of thousands of inmates protesting abuse and poor conditions. But news reports on the strikes have been few and far between, leaving prisoners’ requests for humane treatment in the dark.

May 3, 2017

One in three prisoners serving a life term anywhere is in the US

News

United States

The massive US prison population has started to fall in recent years, with violent crime at historic lows. Despite this, the number of inmates locked up for life is at an all-time high, according to a new report.

May 2, 2017

USA: fixing solitary confinement in New York state prisons

News

Discipline United States

Victor Pate spent almost two years in solitary confinement in New York prisons, off and on. Once, he said, he was isolated for 90 days for having too many bed sheets in his room. Only two sheets were allowed per prisoner, but Pate was at his prison job when laundry pickup came, he said, so he kept…

May 2, 2017

USA: Milwaukee inmate died after being deprived of water for 7 days

News

United States

Inmates, correction officers and investigators are testifying in Milwaukee this week to help determine whether jail employees will be charged with abuse in the dehydration death of an inmate who the authorities say was deprived of water for a week.

May 1, 2017

USA: dog training changes prison inmates’ lives

News

United States

In five Florida prisons, some inmates are learning how to train dogs, with stunning results.

April 28, 2017

United States: Utah to use firing squads in upcoming executions

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North America Death penalty United States

Utah will execute three inmates by firing squad for the first time since the method was reinstated in 2015 by Gov. Gary Herbert.

April 27, 2017

United States: YPEI plans inmate teaching program

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North America United States

Incarcerated people in Connecticut may soon be able to take Yale College courses for academic credit as part of the Yale Prison Education Initiative.