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Feature December 6, 2018
Bookshelf
An inexhaustive list of books on criminal justice, curated by The Marshall Project staff until 2019.
By The Marshall Project
Feature December 10, 2015
The Marshall Project’s Holiday Gift Guide
From prison pups to personal trainers with rap sheets.
By
Life Inside June 30, 2016
What You Do While You Wait for Your Husband to Go to Prison
“Drive whenever you go anywhere, get your financial house in order, finalize your will, take baths, and cry.”
By Anonymous
Illustration of a colorful paper airplane flying in the sky with a faint cornflower blue city skyline in the background.
Jackson Newsletter May 23, 2024
Lawmakers Save Parole, Punt on Fixing Youth Court
Mississippi lawmakers considered dozens of criminal justice bills. Here is what they did and didn’t do during their first session of the new term.
By The Marshall Project - Jackson
A collage shows a color photo of the exterior of a jail, with visible barbed wire, within the outline of Pike County. In the background are a map of Mississippi, text from federal filings and black-and-white photos of a water tower reading “Magnolia” and a “Prisoner loading and unloading only” sign.
Jackson May 2, 2024
Mississippi Lawmakers Considered Modest Public Defense Reforms. They Rejected All of Them.
With its refusal to impose oversight or consistent standards in local defense, Mississippi risks falling further behind the rest of the U.S., critics say.
By
Source: <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?showDataPoints=false&timespan=all&show_header=true&daysAverageString=1&scale=0&format=csv&address=">Blockchain.info</a>
News January 16, 2015
A Pirate’s Booty
The Feds acquire a confusing asset: bitcoins.
By
Life Inside July 28, 2016
How Being a Sports Bookie Helped Me Live Comfortably in Prison
Even when I was being paid in mackerel and stamps.
By Anonymous as told to
Sara Bullis fills out her election ballot with her sons, Haden and Harold, on election day in Drummond, Okla.
Crime on the Ballot November 9, 2016
The States Where Voters Decided to Give Criminal Justice Reform a Try
From early release to bail reform, reform efforts gain some ground.
By
Students at Roosevelt High School take part in a protest in Seattle against gun violence, following the Parkland, Fla., school shooting that killed more than a dozen teenagers.
Commentary April 2, 2018
I Was Too Young to Own a Gun
“I take full responsibility for my actions. I killed a man. Still, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if we’d met just a few years later...if I didn’t have a gun.”
Boys walking to lunch at the Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility in Ohio.
Commentary January 24, 2017
What We Can Learn from the Amazing Drop in Juvenile Incarceration
Lesson One: Don’t make policies when emotions are running high.
Ashley Nellis and Marc Mauer
Jacque Wilson, left, and his father, Mack Wilson, right, testify about their brother and son Neko Wilson, during a California Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing at the State Capitol in Sacramento in June.
News October 18, 2018
Nearly a Decade Awaiting Trial, Now Freed
Neko Wilson to be released in the first test of California’s felony murder law.
By
San Diego Deputy Public Defender Genevieve Jones-Wright announced last July that she was running for San Diego County District Attorney.
The California Experiment May 23, 2018
Prosecutor Elections Now a Front Line in the Justice Wars
By Paige St. John and
Analysis July 22, 2015
The Nonviolent Offenders Congress Forgot
While prison reform gains momentum, the immigration debate remains “tough on crime.”
By
Attorney Jennifer Herndon outside the Thomas F. Eagleton U. S. Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, Mo., in June 2015.
News August 26, 2015
Doubting Jennifer Herndon
An appeals lawyer who has represented more than a half-dozen men put to death in Missouri faces questions about her competency.
By
West Virginia does not pay for court reporters’ laptops, steno machine, software, or any other supplies.
Commentary March 21, 2017
Public Record, Astronomical Price
Unable to afford a trial transcript, a journalist digs into the laws that govern them.
Emma Copley Eisenberg
Activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline are confronted by law enforcement officers at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
Commentary June 28, 2017
Law Enforcement is Still Used as a Colonial Tool In Indian Country
Leaked documents reveal coordination between big business and law enforcement to break up last year’s protests at Standing Rock.
Julian Noisecat
Peter Borenstein, an attorney in Los Angeles, specializes in suing on behalf of prisoners who are victims of theft while incarcerated.
News January 28, 2018
Defrauded in Prison? Call This Guy
A young California lawyer helps long-term inmates with their white-collar problems.
By
A group of people, wearing blue prison uniforms with the words "CDCR prisoner" on their backs, walk through a prison yard.
Closing Argument August 31, 2024
How Efforts to Cut Long Prison Sentences Have Stalled
Crime victim advocates and conservative groups are resisting moves to revisit “truth-in-sentencing” laws.
By
Commentary February 17, 2016
Scalia and the Right to Counsel
He would defend your liberty, but not your right to a lawyer.
By David Carroll
Life Inside November 10, 2017
The Singular Sorrow of Grieving Behind Bars
“I had no idea how much pain I would be forced to carry alone.”
By Dwayne Hurd
Feature July 13, 2018
How We Reported Our Mississippi Bond Story: A Guide to Our Methodology
A unique database offered an unprecedented look at the lucrative business.
By
An illustration shows a Black man sitting cross-legged in the center, holding a crochet needle and yarn. Behind him is a blue crocheted circle, and surrounding the circle are different crocheted items, including a scarf, hat, baby toys, and mittens. Faintly in the background, there are scenes of a person giving crocheted items to people in prison and others wearing crocheted items.
Life Inside December 2, 2022
From Crip to Crochet Artist: How an Unlikely Hobby Changed My Life in Prison
I used to hide this cathartic craft because Crips don’t crochet. But making items that fellow prisoners can give to their loved ones has allowed me to create a peaceful new identity.
By LaMarr W. Knox
An illustration shows a Black man, in a dark green prison suit, with his eyes closed as he faces a white dove. In front of the Black man, a black silhouette looks down. Four police officers are lined up on the left side of the illustration, with one officer handcuffed.
Life Inside January 19, 2024
How the Police and Vigilante Killings of Black People Have Forced Me to Look Inside
It feels hypocritical to reserve my rage for the men who killed Tyre Nichols and Trayvon Martin when I, too, have taken Black lives.
By LaMarr W. Knox
Justice Lab January 21, 2015
Yes, Mr. President, Incarceration Rates have Dropped ...
… But just a tiny bit, and it took a long time.
By
News June 16, 2015
Get Caught with Pot, Face Deportation
As states loosen marijuana laws, the consequences for noncitizens remain as strict as ever.
By
News February 4, 2015
How Much for Ted Bundy’s Toenails?
Inside the world of “murderabilia.”
By
Q&A March 9, 2015
The State of Marijuana
A conversation with a prominent thinker on the evolving law — and business — of pot.
By The Marshall Project
Case in Point May 3, 2016
Exonerated, Dead and Still on Trial
In a notorious Louisiana case, a judge gets in a last kick.
By
Arthur Longworth leads a basic Spanish class for other inmates in Washington’s Monroe Correctional Complex in 2012.
News October 25, 2016
Does the First Amendment End at the Prison Gate?
An inmate’s novel is the latest test.
By
Tom Mauser, father of slain Columbine High School student Daniel Mauser, spoke at an anti-gun protest outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on April 30, 1999.
Q&A September 2, 2015
A Columbine Parent Reflects on the Prospects for Gun Control
After Virginia shootings, Tom Mauser reaffirms advocacy “for the long run.”
By
News March 8, 2018
Convicted of a Drug Crime, Registered with Sex Offenders
In Kansas, even many minor drug offenders must appear on the state’s public registry. A new bill would change that.
By
Q&A January 7, 2019
The Case Against Cannabis
A journalist’s pursuit of the truth about marijuana, mental illness and violence.
By The Marshall Project
Life Inside January 31, 2019
Why I Quit My Prison Gang
“The whole experience, I realized, was like a strange mix between junior high school and the Roman Senate.”
By Benito Gutierrez
A robot emits high-intensity ultraviolet light in a booking room at the Kent County Jail in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Coronavirus May 13, 2020
Jails Turn to UVC Robots To Fight Coronavirus
Some sheriffs are buying ultraviolet light machines traditionally used by hospitals.
By
Gov. Jeff Landry, a White man wearing a blue suit and red tie, speaking at a podium in January 2024.
Closing Argument March 9, 2024
These States Are Once Again Embracing ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Laws
Louisiana is one of several states passing punitive measures in response to public fears.
By
In this Jan. 18, 2011 photo, inmates at William E. Donaldson prison in Bessemer, Ala., return to their cells after completing meditation classes. Vipassana is a meditative technique that dates back 2,500 years to Gotama Buddha. Vipassana courses are held four times a year in the prison gymnasium, where as many as 40 inmate volunteers meditate 10 hours a day and live for the duration. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
News October 6, 2022
Alabama Said Prison Strike Was ‘Under Control.’ Footage Shows System in Deadly Disarray.
While prisoners protest unsafe conditions, “it just doesn’t let up,” say advocates.
By
News June 8, 2015
The Possibly Coerced Confession at the Heart of the Bite Mark Case
Re-assessing a videotaped interrogation.
By
Case in Point February 13, 2018
Doesn’t Anyone Want to Know Who Killed Louise Cicelsky?
New York prosecutors object to new DNA testing that might answer questions left unanswered at a murder trial.
By
Borey Ai, who killed a woman during a robbery when he was a teenager, is one of about 20 Southeast Asian immigrants who are asking California Gov. Jerry Brown for pardons.
News November 20, 2018
The Jerry Brown Way of Pardoning
Former inmates facing deportation place their hope in California's outgoing governor.
By
A collage illustration shows a photo of a building with a sign that says “Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice Center,” photos of other youth care facilities and silhouetted illustrations representing youth.
Cleveland August 1, 2024
These Private Centers Lack Oversight. Cuyahoga County Judges Send Kids Anyway.
Courts are increasingly sending children to private youth care centers, spending millions while detention center overcrowding persists.
By and
The wall of a cell shows an area with gray exposed paint in the shape of a hole.
News April 28, 2022
Solitary Confinement Harms Teens. Louisiana Lawmakers Took a Step to Limit It.
An investigation by The Marshall Project, NBC News and ProPublica found that youth in a Louisiana lockup were held in isolation around the clock for weeks.
By , The Marshall Project; Erin Einhorn, NBC News; and Annie Waldman, ProPublica
News June 5, 2015
Job Opening: No Training, Low Pay, High Turnover
In Mississippi prisons last year, half the officers quit.
By
News June 29, 2015
Controlled Substances
Are U.S. drug companies against the death penalty? Sort of.
By
Thomas Clardy was convicted in 2007 of the murder of Kirk Clouatre. Pictured here in 1994, he is serving a life sentence. He says he is innocent.
Case in Point May 22, 2017
Justice on the Cheap
Thomas Edward Clardy and the trial after the trial.
By
Attendees at the Indy 1500 Gun & Knife show in Indianapolis in January.
Southside November 1, 2018
The Gun King
A middle-class college student from the Chicago suburbs used Facebook to sell firearms to gangsters. But was he a kingpin or a scapegoat?
By John H. Richardson
Citizens cast their ballots during early voting at the municipal building in Augusta, Ga., in October.
Analysis November 1, 2018
Criminal Justice on the Tuesday Ballot
Our roundup: drugs, policing, juries, even slavery.
By
Men were released from the Walls Unit in Texas in 2000. After being processed and signing parole papers, they were given some money and a one-way bus ticket.
News September 10, 2019
What Gate Money Can (And Cannot) Buy
Most states give money to people leaving prison. But some formerly incarcerated people say it's often not enough to meet their basic needs.
By and
News March 29, 2021
Texas Prisons Stopped In-Person Visits and Limited Mail. Drugs Got in Anyway.
Guards smuggle in most contraband, people who live in or work at prisons say.
By and Jolie Mccullough
A black and gold plaque reads: “Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze”.
Cleveland June 1, 2023
A Judge, a Kiss, and $450,000-plus in Court Work
An Ohio divorce court judge is barred from a case, pending a conflict hearing.
By
Feature July 13, 2018
Petty Charges, Princely Profits
But a haven for bail bondsmen is getting less friendly.
By
In the Bay Area, more than 300 people have been released from the Santa Rita Jail as coronavirus has spread. They included people nearing the end of their sentences, as well as older and medically vulnerable people.
Coronavirus March 21, 2020
Coronavirus Transforming Jails Across the Country
Some sheriffs, prosecutors and defenders scramble to move people from local jails, potential petri dishes for infection.
By , , and
On March 19, 2021, hundreds of people packed into Union Square during an Asian American Federation peace vigil following the shootings in Atlanta.
News April 20, 2021
NYPD Hate Crime Data Fails to Capture Harassment Against Asians 65 or Over
“There is a whole wave of attacking elderly people in different ways," one New York legislator says.
By CHRISTINE CHUNG, THE CITY, and
A poster of a Black barber adjusting the head of a Black boy, wearing a cape while he sits on a chair.
Cleveland June 5, 2023
Don’t ‘Punish Them More.’ Effort Grows to Ease Job Barriers After Prison Release
Nearly 2,000 formerly incarcerated people return to Cleveland each year with few job prospects. Some lawmakers want to change that.
By
A collage illustration shows the Corizon headquarters sign underneath three circular photographs of people. One circle features a young man, smiling. Another circle shows a woman posing next to a young man. In the third, a couple smiles against a backdrop of palm trees. Floating around these three images are cut-out pieces of text from a court filing that contains words like “bankruptcy,” “harm,” “wrongdoing” and “incarcerated people.” Red illustrated bars lay over a corner of the Corizon headquarters.
News September 19, 2023
A Prison Medical Company Faced Lawsuits From Incarcerated People. Then It Went ‘Bankrupt.’
The prison giant Corizon spun off a new company, which could allow it to pay pennies on the dollar for medical malpractice and civil rights claims.
By
An illustration shows an outline of a lawyer raising their arm up while holding a document. The lawyer stands in front of a judge, who is also holding a gavel. People in orange prison uniforms stand in the foreground.
Jackson September 18, 2023
Mississippi Courts Won’t Say How They Provide Lawyers for Poor Clients
Six years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court told judges around the state to file plans showing how they meet their obligations to poor defendants. So far, only one has.
By , Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
The Marshall Project: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report | 2024
News and Awards January 10
The Marshall Project: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 2024
As our organization grows larger and more diverse, we work to expand the language we use to tell our story.
By The Marshall Project
Feature December 17, 2014
The Slow Death of the Death Penalty
The public supports it, but the costs are lethal.
By
Analysis September 23, 2020
Trump’s Crime and Carnage Ad Blitz Is Going Unanswered on Facebook
The president has spent millions on misleading Facebook ads targeting undecided voters, while Joe Biden has been virtually silent.
By Jeremy B. Merrill and
Feature May 22, 2021
Life Without Parole Is Replacing the Death Penalty — But the Legal Defense System Hasn’t Kept Up
Just ask a Dallas woman who spent a year in jail without talking to a lawyer.
By
An illustration shows a Black man wearing a red jail jumpsuit and handcuffs standing next to a Black woman lawyer in a black skirt suit. Other defendants in jumpsuits sit around them, beside translucent outlines of lawyers.
Jackson February 22, 2024
This Mississippi Court Appoints Lawyers for Just 1 in 5 Defendants Before Indictment
Mississippi is known as one of the worst states for public defense. In one lower court, most defendants went without any lawyer before indictment.
By
A photo diptych shows former President Donald Trump, a White man wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, gesturing with his arm, on the left, and President Joe Biden, a White man in a dark blue suit and striped blue and white tie, gesturing with his arm, on the right.
Election 2024 June 27, 2024
Crime Rates and the 2024 Election: What You Need to Know
As crime data again becomes a flashpoint in the presidential campaign, experts push for better national statistics.
By and
A photo collage composed of figures of, from left, former Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Sheriff David Clarke, a Black man; fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor from “The Andy Griffith Show,” a White man; Frederick County, Maryland, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, a White man; former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a White man; Dallas County, Alabama, Sheriff Jim Clark, a White man; former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack, a White man; Western lawman “Wild Bill” Hickok in 1860; and Grant County, New Mexico, Sheriff Frank Gomez. Sheriff's badges are scattered above the collage.
Feature October 18, 2022
We Surveyed U.S. Sheriffs. See Their Views on Power, Race and Immigration
In an exclusive new survey, The Marshall Project found that sheriffs are key to our debates on policing, immigration and much more.
By
Feature July 23, 2018
New York on ICE
How Donald Trump’s war on immigrants is playing out in his hometown.
By The Marshall Project
Commentary September 3, 2015
Obama’s Final 500 Days
People from across the political spectrum suggest criminal justice reforms the president should enact during his remaining time in office.
By
A body wrapped in plastic lies among fallen autumn leaves in front of a wooden fence. Barbed wire lines the top of the fence.
Feature March 17, 2022
He Teaches Police “Witching” To Find Corpses. Experts Are Alarmed.
At the National Forensic Academy, crime scene investigators learn to dowse for the dead, though it’s not backed by science.
By Rene Ebersole
Feature April 12, 2016
The Prison Visit That Cost My Family $2,370
How loved ones bear the hidden cost of shipping inmates out of state.
by and Rui Kaneya
People wait at the Cook County Jail for loved ones to be released.
Southside October 31, 2018
The Waiting Room
For many released into the harsh environment outside Chicago’s Cook County Jail, it can be impossible to find their way home.
By Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
An employee at a medical marijuana cultivator in Ohio works with a marijuana plant.
Q&A January 14, 2019
How Dangerous is Marijuana, Really?
A Marshall Project virtual roundtable.
By The Marshall Project
Feature July 21, 2020
They Agreed to Meet Their Mother’s Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.
A Florida family opted for restorative justice over the death penalty for the man who murdered their mom. What happened next made them question the very meaning of justice.
By
A photo collage displays images of side profiles of police officers, an individual being detained, ripped pages of a map of Chicago and a diagram of a gun.
Feature March 23, 2023
The War on Gun Violence Has Failed. And Black Men Are Paying the Price.
In Chicago and elsewhere, gun possession arrests are rising as shootings go unsolved.
By and
Feature November 15, 2014
Death by Deadline, Part One
How bad lawyering and an unforgiving law cost condemned men their last appeal.
By
Feature September 26, 2024
The Future of Prisons?
Inspired by Germany, South Carolina let prisoners design their own units, write house rules and settle their own disputes. Then came politics.
By
An illustration shows a yellow silhouette of a person free falling through several outlined circles against a grunge black and yellow background.
Violation February 6, 2024
‘The Fullness of Time’: Jacob Wideman Confronts His Fate
Part Eight of the “Violation” podcast explores what time means behind bars. And listeners respond to the question: Did Jake get what he deserves?
By
Feature September 24, 2019
Detained
How the United States created the largest immigrant detention system in the world.
By
Feature March 2, 2023
The Mercy Workers
For three decades, a little-known group of “mitigation specialists” has helped save death-penalty defendants by documenting their childhood traumas. A rare look inside one case.
By
Feature June 28, 2015
This is Rikers
From the people who live and work there.
By The Marshall Project
Feature October 24, 2019
The Kim Foxx Effect: How Prosecutions Have Changed in Cook County
The state’s attorney promised to transform the office. Data shows she’s dismissed thousands of felonies that would have been pursued in the past.
By Matt Daniels
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