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News and Awards February 11, 2025
Missouri Foundation for Health and The Marshall Project Announce New Missouri-Based Health and Justice Newsroom
A team of journalists will produce investigative, data and engagement journalism to serve the people of Missouri, including those affected by its criminal justice system.
By The Marshall Project
An illustration shows silhouettes of a close-up face, a side profile of a person, and an IV bag hanging from a pole. Prison bars are in the foreground.
Feature June 9, 2024
They Were in a Mental Health Crisis at a Hospital. This Is How They Landed in Jail.
Washington, like most states, has a law intended to protect health care workers. Instead, it’s led to prosecutions of people with severe mental illness.
By , Sydney Brownstone and Esmy Jimenez
Feature July 30, 2024
This Company Promised to Improve Health Care in Jails. Dozens of Its Patients Have Died.
Turn Key Health Clinics has quickly expanded to jails in 10 states. Some of its policies and practices have endangered patients.
By , Brianna Bailey and Sachi Mcclendon
A photo shows Jazmine Mapes, a Native American woman with long dark hair, wearing a white sweater and jeans, walking near a chain link fence. An empty lot is situated behind the fence. In front of the fence is a tent. A woman holding an umbrella walks behind Mapes, and a man talking on a cell phone walks behind her.
Feature November 20, 2025
Homeless Camp Sweeps Can Harm Health. Some Cities Are Trying a New Way.
Some localities are addressing street homelessness with a new approach, which experts say can clear encampments while protecting the health of people who are forced to move.
By Ryan Levi, Tradeoffs
Inside Out July 1, 2021
Prisons Have a Health Care Issue — And It Starts at the Top, Critics Say
When coronavirus hit federal prisons, the top officials had no health care experience.
By
A gray chain-link fence topped with barbed wire outside an Oklahoma jail.
Inside Story October 24, 2024
Effort to Provide Low-Cost Health Care Behind Bars Stirs Controversy
Examining a company providing low-cost health care services at jails across the U.S., and a formerly incarcerated person shares how a mentor behind bars saved his life.
By and
Feature October 31, 2021
Arizona Privatized Prison Health Care to Save Money. But at What Cost?
A landmark class-action lawsuit goes to court this week, featuring grisly testimony about botched medical care in state prisons.
By and Jimmy Jenkins
Feature November 21, 2018
Treatment Denied: The Mental Health Crisis in Federal Prisons
The Bureau of Prisons set higher standards for psychiatric care. But instead of helping more inmates, the agency dropped thousands from its caseload, data shows.
By and Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge
Mental health patients mingle with prison inmates at the Secure Psychiatric Unit at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord, N.H. The cages are used to contain potentially violent individuals during group therapy.
News September 20, 2017
When a Mental Health Emergency Lands You in Jail
Colorado just outlawed jail for people in a psychiatric crisis, but plenty of states still do it.
By
A woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder sings “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to herself in her cell in the women’s acute mental health unit of the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio.
News June 22, 2017
The Mental Health Crisis Facing Women in Prison
A new study shows a striking disparity between incarcerated men and women.
By
Justice Talk May 30, 2016
Join Our Chat On Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System
We’re talking all about mental illness and justice during our next Justice Talk with Digg, on Wednesday, June 1. For context, browse our guide to key reading on the issue.
By
A guard stands watch over the east block of death row at San Quentin State Prison in California in 2016.
News June 14, 2017
For Corrections Officers and Cops, a New Emphasis on Mental Health
An intensive study and new programs to combat stress that often goes overlooked.
By
An inmate stands at his cell door at the maximum security facility at the Arizona State Prison in Florence, Ariz.
News February 26, 2018
How Bad is Prison Health Care? Depends on Who’s Watching
A federal judge considers $1 million in fines for one state’s “pervasive and intractable failures.”
By
A male doctor, wearing a white lab coat and tan slacks, stands in front of a barred hallway.
Closing Argument August 9, 2025
How Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Will Slash Health Coverage for People Leaving Prison
The massive cuts will hit the formerly incarcerated hard — and that could increase crime, experts warn.
By
Three standing police officers surround a sitting passenger in a subway car. The passenger sits hunched over, with their hand on their head.
Closing Argument December 17, 2022
Mental Health Care is Broken. Is Police Hospitalizing More People the Answer?
In New York City and other areas across the country some leaders are pushing to forcefully commit more people.
By
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna wears a black mourning band over his badge during a press conference at the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station on Sept. 18, 2023.
Closing Argument November 18, 2023
Four Suicides in L.A. and the Mental Health Problem in Law Enforcement
Four suspected suicides in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department highlight a problem affecting agencies across the country.
By
Susan Horton, a White woman wearing a black tank top and black pants, poses for a portrait inside a greenhouse.
News and Awards May 2, 2025
The Marshall Project Wins National Health Care Journalism Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting
The reporting exposed the impact of widespread drug testing on pregnant people.
By The Marshall Project
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a White man in a navy suit and red tie, speaks into a microphone while standing at a podium with the seal of Florida. Flags of the United States and the state of Florida are in the background.
News December 10, 2024
New Florida Prison Policy on Trans Health Care ‘Like Conversion Therapy’
With new restrictions on gender-affirming care, prisons confiscate underwear from trans people and compel them to cut their hair.
By
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a White man, points a finger while giving a speech.
News January 25, 2024
Trans People in Florida Prisons Say Gender-Affirming Care Ban Upended Their Health Care
Nearly two dozen transgender women in prison said their access to treatment suddenly changed following the “anti-woke” law championed by Gov. DeSantis.
By
Looking Back August 19, 2019
In Sickness, In Health—and In Prison
A Nebraska couple fighting to marry behind bars wouldn’t be the first: Three decades ago, two prisoners took their bid to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
By
Feature August 30, 2021
The Black Mortality Gap, and a Century-Old Document
1 in 5 African American deaths happens earlier than if they were White. Black doctors say the Flexner Report holds clues to the health system’s role in racial health disparities.
By
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., wave signs in support of “Medicare for All” at an event in 2017.
Commentary March 21, 2019
“Medicare for All” Is Missing a Vital Group: The Incarcerated
“Can criminal justice reform succeed without addressing the health of incarcerated people?"
By Ashwin Vasan
A Black man, wearing a KN95 mask, black long-sleeved undershirt and teal T-shirt, kneels down in front of a bearded man sitting in a wheelchair. The man in the wheelchair is wearing a black beanie, a seafoam green sweater and jeans. A gray backpack hangs from the back of the wheelchair.
Closing Argument March 23, 2024
They’re Not Cops. They Don’t Have Guns. But They’re Responding to More 911 Calls.
A new generation of first responders is handling mental health calls and other emergencies in cities across the U.S.
By
A sheriff’s deputy and a nurse stand in front of a prison door to give medication to an incarcerated person.
Closing Argument June 8, 2024
Why Some States are Trying to Get People Medicaid Before They Leave Prison
People leaving prisons and jails are at greater risk of illness and death, but for years they couldn’t use the government health insurance program.
By
A collage shows images of clippings of a court case, a prison facility and a nurse with a stethoscope writing on a clipboard.
St. Louis December 8, 2025
Nurses Say Staff Shortage at Missouri Prison Means Skipped Medication, Long Waits for Care
Current and former employees at Jefferson City Correctional Center say the shortage is causing unrest. They blame the state’s contractor, Centurion Health.
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