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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 Keri Blakinger
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 Manuel Villa
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 Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge
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 Christie Thompson and Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge
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 Beth Schwartzapfel
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 Christie Thompson
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 Beth Schwartzapfel and Jimmy Jenkins
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 Blair Hickman
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 Simone Weichselbaum
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act into law at the Capitol in Albany on Jan. 15, 2013.
Commentary December 2, 2015
New York Disarms the ‘Mentally Ill’
Why mental health experts are up in arms.
By James B. Jacobs and Zoe Fuhr
Life Inside March 8, 2018
Caring for My Sick Husband From Prison
A federal inmate feels helpless as her partner’s health deteriorates.
By Connie Farris, as told to Christie Thompson
A weekly heroin awareness walk organized by a non-profit group called Stop Heroin, in St. Peters, Mo., last April.
Analysis August 12, 2015
When Heroin Hits the White Suburbs
Suddenly it’s not a crime problem, it’s a health problem.
By Andrew Cohen
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 Mia Armstrong
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
News December 3, 2014
New York Explains Itself
Some questions and answers about the city’s new mental health initiative.
By Andrew Cohen
A man walked into a store in Arlington, Va., in December.
News December 3, 2020
Should Prisoners Get Covid-19 Vaccines Early?
Public health experts urge making them a priority—but some push back.
By Jamiles Lartey, Michelle Pitcher and Keri Blakinger
Arkansas hopes to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by tracking all cases in its prisons, including the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County.
Coronavirus April 24, 2020
These Prisons Are Doing Mass Testing For COVID-19—And Finding Mass Infections
Health experts say not testing staff could be a blind spot.
By Cary Aspinwall and Joseph Neff
The Florence Federal Prison Complex in Florence, Colo.
Case in Point December 5, 2016
How America’s Most Famous Federal Prison Faced a Dirty Secret
The case that awakened us to the mental health trauma of “Supermax”
By Andrew Cohen
News July 13, 2020
How Long Can You Hide a Dead Body in a Prison Cell?
Mental-health problems, short staffing plague a Texas lockup in COVID lockdown.
By Keri Blakinger
A group of protesters were placed under arrest in Houston, Texas on June 2. No rioting or looting was reported but a group of protesters tried running from police after unconfirmed reports that they were trying to get on the freeway.
News June 4, 2020
We Were Gassed, Arrested, and Maybe Exposed to COVID-19
The things that make mass arrests especially awful are now health risks.
By Keri Blakinger and Abbie VanSickle
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 Anna Flagg
Looking Back May 21, 2015
When a Psychologist Was in Charge of Jail
Cook County Jail will soon be run by a mental health professional. And it’s not the first time.
By Melanie Newport
Kareen Troitino, the corrections officer union president for FCI Miami, stands outside the federal prison on March 12, 2021.
One Year Later: The Pandemic Behind Bars March 15, 2021
“Hell No”: Correctional Officers Are Declining The Coronavirus Vaccine En Masse
Public health experts worry that high refusal rates could undermine efforts to control the pandemic inside and outside of prisons.
By Nicole Lewis AND Michael Sisak
Jails and prisons have little in the way of infection control, according to the former chief medical officer at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, pictured here.
Coronavirus March 6, 2020
When Purell is Contraband, How Do You Contain Coronavirus?
Handwashing and sanitizers may make people on the outside safer. But in prison it can be impossible to follow public health advice.
By Keri Blakinger and Beth Schwartzapfel
Prisoners at the Washington County Jail in Hillsboro, Ore., in 2018.
Coronavirus May 15, 2020
For Mentally Ill Defendants, Coronavirus Means Few Safe Options
While their mental health deteriorates, some are stuck in jail as hospitals are decreasing admissions to prevent the spread of infections.
By Christie Thompson
A Polaroid is on a black table. It shows Armando Navejas, a medium light-skinned man with a mustache, standing with his wife Josephine, a medium light-skinned woman.
Feature November 22, 2022
As Police Arrest More Seniors, Those With Dementia Face Deadly Consequences
Many cities are changing how they respond to mental health calls, but less attention has been paid to the unique risks for people with Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.
By Christie Thompson
Esperanza Pacheco, who was deported to Mexico in 2017, hugs the clothes that her husband, Eusebio Moctezuma, left after a recent visit with her in León, Guanajuato. Eusebio is a legal permanent resident in the United States who can travel back and forth to Mexico.
Feature June 22, 2020
The True Costs of Deportation
Even after the Supreme Court ruling sparing DACA, many immigrants can face deportation. Here are the stories of three families where deportation brought financial ruin, mental health crises—and even death.
By Julia Preston
Life Inside August 26, 2021
My Uncle Died the Day He Was Released From Jail. I’m Still Trying to Understand Why.
“Sudden cardiac death,” is the cause listed on my uncle Bryan’s death certificate. But it didn’t feel sudden at all — not when you factor in his underlying mental and physical health problems, years of poor prison medical care and the fact that he caught COVID-19 in his Arizona jail.
By Mia Armstrong
Michelle-Lael Norsworthy after being granted parole at Mule Creek State Prison in May 21, 2015 in Ione, Ca.
News October 8, 2015
Were These Transgender Prisoners Paroled — Or Just Kicked Out?
Three prisons were ordered to provide transgender health care. Three prisoners were suddenly set free.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
News June 11, 2015
Why New York Dropped Corizon
It’s not just the big profits and dead inmates.
By Maura Ewing
Prisoners attending a class at the mental health transition center at the Cook County Jail, in Chicago, in 2015.
News October 27, 2020
What Could Have Kept Me Out of Prison
We asked people behind bars what services and programs could have changed the course of their lives. Therapy, affordable housing and a living wage topped the list.
By Nicole Lewis, Aviva Shen and Katie Park
Justice Lab August 24, 2015
Do You Age Faster in Prison?
Science tries to catch up with the problem of ‘accelerated aging.’
By Maurice Chammah
Feature November 8, 2020
When Going to the Hospital Is Just as Bad as Jail
A new lawsuit claims Black Americans with mental illness are being forced into traumatic emergency room stays.
By Christie Thompson
Federal prisoners queue up for health screenings at the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Texas in 2014.
News May 30, 2018
The $580 Co-pay
In prison, seeing the doctor can cost up to a month’s salary.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
Coronavirus March 19, 2020
This Chart Shows Why The Prison Population Is So Vulnerable to COVID-19
Those 55 and older are a growing share of the people in state prisons. They’re also the most at risk as coronavirus spreads.
By Weihua Li and Nicole Lewis
Representatives of Washington Healthplanfinder, the state's official Affordable Care Act-compliant health benefit exchange, wait to answer questions at a sign-up event in Tukwila, Wash., in November 2014.
News May 17, 2017
Crime Victims Stand to Lose Aid, If Obamacare Goes Away
Without it, state compensation funds would again bear more of the burden.
By Alysia Santo
Yonkers Police Officer Ashley Callery hands out cards with information about social distancing to people at the park at Getty Square, Yonkers, in May.
Coronavirus June 9, 2020
Have COVID-19? Cops May Have Your Neighborhood on a “Heat Map”
Critics call high-tech maps overreach, but police say they keep officers safe.
By Simone Weichselbaum
The U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg in Pennsylvania in 2010.
News June 12, 2017
Where Crossword Puzzles Count as Counseling
A new lawsuit alleges poor care for mentally ill inmates at one of the highest security prisons in the country.
By Christie Thompson
Commentary June 28, 2015
Join Our Facebook Chat On Rikers Island
Bill Keller, Dana Goldstein, Alysia Santo and Eli Hager will answer your questions on what life is like on Rikers, and recent reform efforts.
By Blair Hickman
An illustration shows Aaron Kinzer, who is currently incarcerated, facing his head up with his eyes closed in meditation. An outline of his face overlaps his body and an outline of the brain overlaps his head. Various silhouettes in exercising positions are displayed in the background.
Life Inside April 8, 2022
Surviving Prison is 90% Mental. That’s Why I Teach Workouts That Strengthen the Mind
The sessions I lead are intense enough to match the mental strain that we endure daily: the rejected phone calls, denied visits, humiliating random pat-downs and other microaggressions.
By Aaron M. Kinzer
An peer counselor at Insite demonstrates how someone would use one of their injection booths.
News November 6, 2015
Is the U.S. Ready for Safe Injection Rooms?
A widespread heroin problem could open the door to a once-radical idea.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
News December 20, 2016
Child Support Relief Coming for Incarcerated Parents
In the last days of the Obama administration, regulators quietly ease the child support burden on parents in prison.
By Eli Hager
Caroline Ouko, a Black woman, and Leon Ochieng, and Ben Crump, two Black men, stand before a podium. Ouko and Ochieng have their eyes closed and have emotional expressions on their faces.
Analysis March 24
What Irvo Otieno’s Killing Tells Us about Mental Healthcare in the U.S.
The system can end up prosecuting patients and relying on police — with sometimes fatal results.
By Christie Thompson
Feature December 6, 2016
Out of Prison, Uncovered
Medicaid for ex-prisoners saves money and lives, but millions are released without it.
By Beth Schwartzapfel and Jay Hancock
Life Inside July 13, 2017
My Friend Killed Himself in an Alabama Prison
A rash of suicides in solitary confinement hits an inmate close to home.
By Anonymous as told to Beth Schwartzapfel
A patient at the hospital at Central Prison, a maximum security facility in Raleigh, N.C. with 120 medical beds and 216 beds for mental illness, in 2016.
Coronavirus April 16, 2020
Infected, Incarcerated—and Coming to an ICU Near You?
Without ventilators, prisons lean on local hospitals to care for coronavirus victims.
By Joseph Neff and Beth Schwartzapfel
News December 9, 2015
Could Trees Help Stop Crime?
Researchers think turning more vacant lots green might work.
By Simone Weichselbaum
News February 22, 2016
Why Some Prisons are Spending Millions on a Pricey New Drug
Corrections facilities are ground zero for treating hepatitis C — but at a cost.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
News November 24, 2015
The $33 Test in Prison That Could Save Countless Lives on the Outside
Treating Hep C isn’t cheap, but experts say it’s cost-effective.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
Regenia Bowman was placed in solitary confinement at the Tennessee Prison for Women in 2014 even though she had only been charged, not convicted of a crime.
Feature February 15, 2018
Too Sick for Jail — But Not for Solitary
Tennessee locks ailing, mentally ill, pregnant and juvenile prisoners in isolation to help jails save money.
By Allen Arthur with additional reporting by Dave Boucher
Case in Point June 6, 2019
Mentally Ill and Languishing in Jail
A Pennsylvania case illustrates a national problem: People with psychiatric illnesses often remain incarcerated while they wait for a hospital bed.
By Christie Thompson, Leila Miller and Manuel Villa
The opioid Tramadol is used to relieve moderate to moderately severe pain.
News August 2, 2017
Guess Who’s Tracking Your Prescription Drugs?
Your doctor, your pharmacist... and the police.
By Beth Schwartzapfel
The execution chamber at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas.
Coronavirus March 23, 2020
How Coronavirus is Disrupting the Death Penalty
Colorado abolished capital punishment. But COVID-19 is pausing it everywhere else.
By Maurice Chammah and Keri Blakinger
An inmate at Monroe Corrections Complex in Washington rolls a cigarette in May 2004.
News July 1, 2015
The Case for Smoking in Prison
When cigarettes are outlawed, only outlaws have cigarettes.
By Alysia Santo
Q&A June 16, 2015
The Corizon CEO on Losing Its Contract With Rikers
"You win some, you lose some."
By Maura Ewing
Carrie Shipp shows a photo of her 21-year-old son Matthew Shipp, who is incarcerated in Texas and decided not to get vaccinated out of fear and distrust of prison medical staff.
Coronavirus April 6, 2021
As States Expand Vaccine Eligibility, Many People in Prison Still Wait for Shots
Despite CDC advice to vaccinate prisoners quickly, two-thirds of states lag behind the general population.
By Katie Park, Ariel Goodman and Kimberlee Kruesi
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA - DECEMBER 19: (Editorial Use Only) Frank Fuller, age 66, walks back to his prison cell after taking medication at California Men's Colony prison on December 19, 2013 in San Luis Obispo, California. Fuller is helped through his daily life by the Gold Coats program, a volunteer care program where healthy prisoners care for elderly prisoners who either need general assistance with mobility and every day life or who also struggle with Alzheimer's and dementia. The program, the first of it's kind in the country, has existed for approximately 25 years. Fuller is serving a 35-years-to-life sentence; he has been incarcerated since 1990. He has been in the Gold Coats program for over six years. He says he is serving time for the murder of his third wife, who he says he shot with a rifle in a drunken rage after learning she had been having an affair with another man. He has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from serving five years in the Navy in the Vietnam War; he also has Hepatitis C. Fuller, who took shrapnel in his legs from a mortar round, says he held many different positions while fighting in Vietnam, including being a machine gunner; he says he still suffers occasional flash backs. He says has served one other sentence for murdering a man with a .45 caliber gun in a fight. Between Vietnam and prison, he says he worked in the oil fields and in manufacturing. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
News August 27, 2015
When Prisons Need to Be More Like Nursing Homes
Finding new ways to treat the growing pool of older, ailing inmates.
By Maura Ewing
Analysis August 21, 2020
COVID-19’s Toll on People of Color Is Worse Than We Knew
New data shows deaths from all causes—COVID and otherwise—have gone up 9 percent among White Americans, but more than 30 percent in communities of color.
By Anna Flagg, Damini Sharma, Larry Fenn and Mike Stobbe
The Great Plains Correctional Institution, run by the Geo Group in Hinton, Okla., has 27 prisoners with confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Coronavirus May 8, 2020
Why Did It Take the Feds Weeks to Report COVID-19 Cases In Privately Run Prisons?
The Bureau of Prisons reports 110 confirmed cases among 17,000 prisoners—and that may be an undercount.
By Joseph Neff
Testify October 26, 2022
How We Analyzed Cases of People Cycling In and Out of Cleveland’s Courts
The Marshall Project examined tens of thousands of criminal cases in Cuyahoga County.
By Ilica Mahajan and David Eads
A man in a white prison uniform with the label "Alabama Dept of Corrections" on his back stands near his bunk bed. There are multiple bunk beds lined up in the foreground.
Closing Argument February 18
How ‘Cruel and Not Unusual’ Conditions Persist in Many Lockups
Insight from a discussion with journalists, formerly incarcerated people and experts.
By Jamiles Lartey
Crisis responders Aana Sundling and Chris Jones visit an unhoused community member in Olympia, Wash., to let them know about a potential shelter opportunity, in July.
Feature July 24, 2020
This City Stopped Sending Police to Every 911 Call
Riding along with the civilian “crisis responders” of Olympia, Washington.
By Christie Thompson
An unidentified woman from Guatemala stands inside a dormitory in the Artesia Family Residential Center, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Mexico, in 2014.
News May 8, 2017
Treating Cancer with Ibuprofen
Medical care is already bad for immigrant detainees. Will Trump policies make it worse?
By Christie Thompson
President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on the opioid crisis in August 2017, at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
Commentary August 30, 2017
Trump Sells Snake Oil on Opioids
Instead of offering real solutions to the epidemic, the president is race baiting.
Maria Mcfarland Sánchez-Moreno
Deputy Derek Fish
Commentary October 3, 2017
It’s Time We Talk About Police Suicide
More cops die of suicide than die of shootings and traffic accidents combined.
Andy O'Hara
The viewing room looking into the new execution chamber at Ely State Prison in Nevada.
Commentary September 28, 2017
After Executions, Defense Attorneys Have Their Own Grief
A therapist on the emotional price lawyers pay to defend individuals sentenced to death.
Susannah Sheffer
Santa Barbara County excluded COVID-19 cases among prisoners at Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex so it could meet California’s requirements for reopening.
Coronavirus May 27, 2020
How To Hide a COVID-19 Hotspot? Pretend Prisoners Don’t Exist
A county trying to reopen its economy wrestles with a virus outbreak in prison.
By Abbie VanSickle
The Marshall Project Inside May 14, 2021
COVID-19 and Vaccine Mistrust Behind Bars
The second episode of The Marshall Project’s new video series, designed for audiences inside and outside of prison, reflects on how the COVID-19 vaccine has been received in lockups.
By Donald Washington, Jr. and Lawrence Bartley
The Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Calif., where Cody Garland tried to commit suicide.
The California Experiment April 23, 2019
Who Begs To Go To Prison? California Jail Inmates
Effort to cut prison overcrowding puts some jails in crisis.
By Abbie VanSickle and Manuel Villa
President Barack Obama announced “executive actions” he will take on gun laws in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 5, 2016.
News January 5, 2016
Why Do Obama’s Gun Initiatives Sound Kind of Familiar?
Perhaps because he’s been here before.
By Eli Hager
Life Inside January 4, 2018
The Doctors Say I’m O.K, But Then There’s This Pain…
A fretful prisoner struggles with an ever-growing list of symptoms.
By Rahsaan Thomas
Prisoners at the Macomb Correctional Facility in New Haven, Mich., in 2016. Michigan is one of the only states that has tested every single prisoner for COVID-19.
Coronavirus May 28, 2020
Is COVID-19 Falling Harder on Black Prisoners? Officials Won’t Tell Us.
Some prison systems aren’t collecting race data. Others won’t disclose it. Experts say these are big mistakes.
By Maurice Chammah and Tom Meagher
People slept wrapped in blankets in front of the Otay border crossing in Tijuana in May. The U.S. government decided to limit the opening hours of the border crossing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and many commuters sleep for hours on the Mexican side of the border to get to work on time in the morning.
Analysis July 9, 2020
Biden Inches Leftward On Immigration
A task force designed to forge unity and turn out Sanders voters proposes ambitious rollback of Trump policies.
By Julia Preston
George Washington in the Bronx, New York, April 25, 2017.
News May 10, 2017
A Fresh Take on Ending the Jail-to-Street-to-Jail Cycle
For troubled repeat offenders, a chance at a supportive place to live.
By Christie Thompson
Officials toured an area where detainees live at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey in 2008.
Coronavirus March 19, 2020
First ICE Employee Tests Positive for Coronavirus
Case confirmed at Elizabeth, N.J., facility currently holding almost 200 detainees.
By Emily Kassie
Feature July 2, 2015
California’s Jail-building Boom
What comes after mass incarceration? Local incarceration.
By Anat Rubin
At the Orleans Justice Center, the city jail in New Orleans pictured here, eight employees and one contractor have tested positive for the virus.
Coronavirus March 28, 2020
How Is The Justice System Responding to the Coronavirus? It Depends On Where You Live.
While some cities free people from jail and stop arrests, others are much more business as usual.
By Jamiles Lartey
Analysis December 15, 2016
How Blacks and Whites Die Differently in Prison
New federal data shows some stark racial disparities.
Story and graphics by Yolanda Martinez
Dallas Police Academy recruits participate in a training in 2017.
News October 15, 2018
Police With Military Experience More Likely to Shoot
Dallas cops who were veterans fired their weapons more than those who never served in the armed forces, study shows.
By Simone Weichselbaum
Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for President Donald Trump, arrived at home after being released from federal prison, in New York City on Thursday.
Coronavirus May 21, 2020
Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort Got to Leave Federal Prison Due to COVID-19. They’re The Exception.
Just a small fraction of federal prisoners have been sent home. Many others lack legal help and connections to make their case.
By Joseph Neff and Keri Blakinger
An illustration shows a man with medium-toned skin and dark curly hair on the left in the foreground, looking concerned, and a man on the right with light-toned skin and long brown hair with his hand gesturing towards his head. In the background, the two men in prison uniforms sit at a table. Barbed-wire fencing is woven through the illustration.
Life Inside July 8, 2022
‘You Shouldn’t Have Used the D-Word’
Saying “I’m depressed” to jail staff landed Nicholas Brooks in solitary. But with his peers, he has found a way to speak freely.
By Nicholas Brooks
Life Inside April 27, 2017
I Escaped My Manic Demons, but My Clients Usually Can’t
A social worker struggles to keep the mentally ill poor out of jail.
By Kristen Anderson
U.S. Air Force airmen transport patients from a military plane to an ambulance during a medical evacuation mission in Afghanistan in 2009.
News July 20, 2016
Did the Cop-Killers Have PTSD?
We may never know, because “it is so easy to fall through the cracks.”
By Beth Schwartzapfel
News April 22, 2015
When Your Insulin Pump is Contraband
What diabetics face behind bars.
By Christie Thompson
The Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica, N.Y., in 2007.
News September 16, 2015
In New York, Padlocked Jumpsuits for Prison ‘EXPOSERS’
An effective way to curb behavior, or ‘an extreme form of restraint’?
By Jie Jenny Zou
Since coronavirus began appearing in the San Francisco Bay area, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office has released hundreds of people from the Santa Rita Jail.
Coronavirus April 6, 2020
A New Tactic To Fight Coronavirus: Send The Homeless From Jails To Hotels
California and New York City are booking hotels so homeless people released from jail don’t accelerate the pandemic.
By Abbie VanSickle
Life Inside December 1, 2016
‘Please Find My Grandson’
What I saw tracking down the mentally ill in jail.
By Margaret Altman
Graphics June 23, 2022
Out on Parole in Colorado? You Can Vote.
This explainer tells you how.
By Alexandra Arriaga, Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, Celina Fang, Bo-Won Keum, and Liset Cruz
A woman with medium-toned skin and dark hair holds a painting of her son, Ronald Green, a Black man wearing a blue baseball cap.
Closing Argument November 19, 2022
Policing the Police: A Week of Racism, Abuse and Misconduct
Federal civil rights investigations can examine an entire agency — but they are not the only way to check for police misconduct.
By Jamiles Lartey
Left, a Black woman holds a photo of herself in a red dress sitting alongside her husband, a Black man with a beard wearing a blue T-shirt and a gold crucifix chain; right, the Black woman with short hair, earrings and a white shirt, looks into the distance.
Inside Story March 23
Violence on the Inside, Mentorship From the Outside
We investigate violence at one of the newest federal prisons and talk with La La Anthony about preparing incarcerated youth for life on the outside.
By Lawrence Bartley and Donald Washington, Jr.
What You're Saying August 17, 2015
‘Access to Emergency Care Is the Very First Step in Saving a Life.’
A selection of recent letters from our readers.
By Jasmine Lee
At the ADX Florence supermax prison in Colorado, the Department of Justice’s inspector general found mentally ill inmates held in solitary confinement despite a 2014 change in policy meant to improve their care.
News July 12, 2017
Federal Watchdog Finds Mentally Ill Are Stuck in Solitary
A new report contradicts a claim from the Bureau of Prisons.
By Justin George
Prisoners at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. Abolitionists do not propose bulldozing prisons and jails tomorrow; rather they are focused on a practical program of change.
Commentary June 19, 2019
The Case for Abolition
“We have grown weary of worn-out debates over the feasibility of a world without prisons.”
By Ruth Wilson Gilmore and James Kilgore
Feature September 24, 2021
No Driving, No Working, No Dating: Inside A Government Program That Controls The Lives of People Leaving Psych Hospitals
For those found not guilty of a crime by reason of insanity and put into California’s CONREP program, strict supervision can last decades.
By Christie Thompson
Alma Glisson looks at photos of her son, Nicholas Glisson, who died when at the Plainfield Correctional Facility in Plainfield, Ind.
Case in Point March 6, 2017
Death by Mismanagement?
A case that tests corporate liability for chaos.
By Andrew Cohen
Feature July 22, 2016
The Strange Death of José de Jesús
Lost in America’s deportation bureaucracy.
By Marlon Bishop and Fernanda Echávarri
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
Inside Out August 12, 2021
‘They Should Have Been Watching’: Suicides Rise in Texas Prisons During Pandemic
Prison suicides have been rising for years. Experts fear the pandemic has made it worse.
By Keri Blakinger
Commentary June 9, 2015
Fixing the Jail Where Kalief Browder was Held
Former corrections chief Martin Horn has some ideas for Rikers Island.
By Martin F. Horn
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