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Life Inside January 6
The Criminal Justice Issue Nobody Talks About: Brain Injuries
I know firsthand what it’s like to navigate the criminal justice system with a brain injury caused by domestic violence. I also live with the fact that an injury like mine can turn a victim into a perpetrator.
By Melissa Bickford as told to Maurice Chammah
Feature May 24, 2021
“He Died Like an Animal”: Some Police Departments Hogtie People Despite Knowing The Risks
The U.S. Department of Justice in 1995 warned that people may die when police tie handcuffed wrists to bound ankles.
By Joseph Neff AND Emily Siegel
Trent Taylor was released from the John B. Connally Unit prison in Kenedy, Texas on Friday, April 9, 2021. He fought for the right to sue his guards for placing him in two filthy cells.
News May 3, 2021
He Spent Six Days in a Cell Covered in Feces. The Supreme Court Says He Can Sue His Jailers.
It’s the first time in years the highest court allowed such a suit to proceed. The ruling suggests it is reconsidering protections for officers who cause harm.
By Beth Schwartzapfel AND Tony Plohetski
People march in the street to protest the death of Elijah McClain on July 25, 2020 in Aurora, Colorado. On August 24, 2019 McClain was walking home when he was forcibly detained by three Aurora police officers and was injected with ketamine after officers requested assistance from the Aurora Fire Rescue. McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital that night and died six days later.
News December 18, 2020
Colorado Tries New Way To Punish Rogue Cops
Individual officers can’t claim ‘qualified immunity’ in excessive force cases, but may not end up paying damages out of their own pockets.
By Cary Aspinwall and Simone Weichselbaum
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
A bail bonds company across the street from the Brooklyn House of Detention in 2015.
News April 23, 2020
New York Rolled Back Bail Reform. What Will The Rest Of The Country Do?
Bail reform advocates are adapting in light of COVID-19 releases and the lessons from New York’s no-bail flop.
By Jamiles Lartey
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
Life Inside April 4, 2019
The Day I Didn’t Serve on a Jury in a Sex Assault Case
“As I left the courthouse it dawned on me that the judge had assumed the role of therapist.”
By Andrew Cohen
Voters in Hialeah, Florida, outside Miami cast their ballots on Nov. 6.
Commentary November 13, 2018
Voters Want Criminal Justice Reform. Are Politicians Listening?
Midterms show wide support across party lines for changing the system.
Daniel Gotoff and Celinda Lake
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
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