Family/Families

Life Inside May 31

Getting Out of Prison Meant Leaving Dear Friends Behind

“We leaned on each other. We found reasons to laugh while in agony.”

By Robert Wright

Life Inside May 10

When Your Dad Gets Locked Up—And Then Deported

“It started to sink in that I wouldn’t really get a childhood.”

By Kevin, as told to Maurice Chammah

News January 12

New York Cancels Private Prison Care Packages Program

An uproar over cost, selection — and coloring books.

By Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge

News January 7

The Check is in The Mail (For Real)

A California county will issue refunds to parents wrongly billed for their kids’ incarceration.

By Eli Hager

Feature December 21, 2017

The Big Business of Prisoner Care Packages

Inside the booming market for food in pouches, clear electronics, pocket-less clothing and other corrections-approved goods.

By Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge

Life Inside November 30, 2017

Two Wrongful Convictions. One Happy Marriage.

“It felt like the universe put us together.”

By Maurice Chammah

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

Life Inside November 2, 2017

What to Never Ask a Prison Wife

People say the darndest things when they hear your spouse is incarcerated.

By Heather Moore

News November 2, 2017

Can Jared Kushner Save Criminal Justice Reform?

“Fat chance!” is giving way to “Well, maybe…”

By Justin George

Feature October 26, 2017

We are Witnesses

The American criminal justice system consists of 2.2 million people behind bars, plus tens of millions of family members, corrections and police officers, parolees, victims of crime, judges, prosecutors and defenders.

By The Marshall Project

Life Inside October 12, 2017

How to Have a Jail Wedding in 3 Minutes

For two women getting hitched at Rikers Island, the ceremony was short and bittersweet.

By Emma Gilbey Keller

Life Inside October 5, 2017

Working in the Prison System Took Over My Life

The 24/7 nature of corrections work can make it all-consuming.

By Brent Parker as told to Maurice Chammah

Life Inside September 28, 2017

The Hardest Phone Call a Prosecutor Has to Make

Law school doesn’t prepare you for delivering bad news to victims and their families.

By Jean Peters Baker

Life Inside September 14, 2017

I Can’t Visit My Sons in Prison Because I Have Unpaid Traffic Tickets

A mother with debts — and cancer — wonders if she’ll ever see her incarcerated children again.

By Joyce Davis, as told to Eli Hager

Life Inside July 6, 2017

The Day I Found Out About My Dad's Parole

The teenage son of an incarcerated man braces for news that could bring his father home.

By Tristan Darshan

Life Inside June 29, 2017

The Prison Skinhead Gang was My Family. Then I Walked Away

After a violent encounter, an inmate makes a life change.

By Daniel J. Royston

Life Inside May 18, 2017

My Son Was Murdered on Mother’s Day

Now he’s ‘a statistic, and so am I.’

By Cheri Burks

Life Inside March 23, 2017

Her Son Murdered, a Chicago Mother Waits for Answers

Two years later and no arrest. ‘Will it ever happen?’

By Cheryl Hayes as told to Justin George

The Frame March 13, 2017

Surviving Foster Care: 2 Brothers, 2 Different Paths

A stint in juvenile detention excluded one from the financial support that automatically went to the other.

By Celina Fang

News March 3, 2017

Philadelphia Will Stop Billing Parents When Their Children Are Incarcerated

The announcement comes just hours after we highlighted the practice.

By Eli Hager

News March 2, 2017

Your Kid Goes to Jail, You Get the Bill

For 40 years, many parents have had to pay for their children's incarceration, but that may be changing.

By Eli Hager

Life Inside February 16, 2017

A Mother Visits Her Son, Who’s Condemned to Die in April

‘I can’t touch him and comfort him.’

By Marilyn Shankle-Grant as told to Maurice Chammah

Life Inside February 9, 2017

When a Wedding Narrowed the ‘Emotional Distance’ of Prison

For the best man, a fleeting moment of humanity.

By James King

Life Inside February 2, 2017

Working With Prisoners Makes It Hard To Be a Mom

Discipline at work, leniency at home—with doubts.

By Cary Johnson, as told to Maurice Chammah

Life Inside January 5, 2017

‘Who Killed My Mom?’

A grandmother struggles to explain the unexplainable.

By Lisa Marino, as told to Eli Hager

Life Inside December 22, 2016

‘I’ll Be Waiting’

In cell 62, another birthday turns into another day alone.

By John Francis

Life Inside December 15, 2016

How I Came to Terms with the Man Who Shot Me

A victim is transformed by a family history of crime and violence.

By Aswad Thomas

News September 6, 2016

Mississippi Limits Prison Visits to Immediate Family

A strict new policy begins after "a security violation".

By Christie Thompson

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

Feature June 28, 2016

The Day My Brother Took a Life and Changed Mine Forever

I grew up idolizing my brother. Then he killed a man.

By Issac Bailey

Life Inside May 5, 2016

My Father Killed Two People

On living with, and sharing, that information for a lifetime.

By Pamela Brunskill

The Frame March 13, 2016

The Radio Show That Reunited Inmates and Families

“Shout outs” on the air led to van rides to the supermax.

by Lisa Iaboni

Life Inside February 18, 2016

I Married a Sex Offender

Life, restricted.

By gretchen as told to Beth Schwartzapfel

Life Inside February 5, 2016

How I Reconnected with My Estranged Daughter from Prison

One crinkly letter at a time.

By Daniel Royston`

Feature January 27, 2016

Why Some Young Sex Offenders Are Held Indefinitely

Jhon Sanchez already served his time for a series of sex offenses he committed when he was 13. But he’s not free yet. Inside the world of civil commitment.

By George Steptoe and Antoine Goldet