Search About Subscribe Donate
A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system
Projects
Life Inside
News Inside
Mauled
The Language Project
The Record
The System
We Are Witnesses
Topics
Coronavirus
Regional Reporting
Death Penalty
Immigration
Juvenile Justice
Mental Health
Policing
Politics and Reform
Race
About
About Us
News & Awards
Impact
People
Supporters
Jobs
Newsletters
Events
Donate
Feedback?
Feature December 17, 2021
‘The Only Way We Get Out of There Is in a Pine Box’
Elderly, ailing and expensive, lifetime prisoners cost Louisiana taxpayers millions a year.
By John Simerman
Feature December 16, 2021
Her Baby Died After Hurricane Katrina. Was It a Crime?
An expansive definition of murder in Louisiana leaves many behind bars forever.
By Cary Aspinwall, Lea Skene and Ilica Mahajan
Life Inside July 29, 2021
A Filthy New Orleans Jail Made My Son Sick. The ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Medical Treatment at Angola Prison Killed Him.
This spring, a judge ruled that the healthcare at the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights. Lois Ratcliff tells the horrifying story of her son Farrell’s decline and death.
By Lois Ratcliff as told by Jamiles Lartey
Prisoners from the Ferguson Unit picking cotton outside of Huntsville, Texas, in 1968. The unit was named after James E. Ferguson, a governor in the 1910s with a troubled record of condoning anti-Mexican violence.
News July 29, 2020
Will The Reckoning Over Racist Names Include These Prisons?
Many prisons, especially in the South, are named after racist officials and former plantations.
By Keri Blakinger
News July 1, 2020
Did “Live PD” Let Police Censor Footage?
Police asked the show to edit out officers using violence or bad language. The company says it had other reasons for not airing the footage.
By Cary Aspinwall and Sachi Mcclendon
At the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio, nearly 80 percent of prisoners tested positive for COVID-19.
Coronavirus June 1, 2020
What COVID-19 Prison Outbreaks Could Teach Us About Herd Immunity
Prisons turn out to be a key place to study how coronavirus spreads and how immunity to it works.
By Jamiles Lartey
The state Department of Licensing temporarily closed its driver...s licensing and other service counters to the public. Photographed in Tacoma, Wash., on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
Coronavirus May 26, 2020
No Photo ID, No Services: Coronavirus Poses Steep Hurdles After Prison
For many people leaving prison during the pandemic, closed DMVs mean closed doors.
By Christie Thompson
A juvenile at the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans in 2018.
Coronavirus May 12, 2020
Solitary, Brawls, No Teachers: Coronavirus Makes Juvenile Jails Look Like Adult Prisons
Youth lockups are supposed to rehabilitate kids, not punish them. The pandemic is making that harder than ever.
By Eli Hager
A worker at a federal prison factory in Edgefiled, S.C., in 2019.
Coronavirus April 10, 2020
Federal Prison Factories Kept Running as Coronavirus Spread
Prisoners made furniture and license plates during the pandemic, according to workers and families. Some plants are now making face masks.
By Cary Aspinwall, Keri Blakinger and Joseph Neff
Patrick Jones became the first federal prisoner to die due to complications from COVID-19.
Coronavirus April 3, 2020
Coronavirus Ended His Shot at a Second Chance
The case of Patrick Jones, the first federal prisoner to die from COVID-19, epitomizes national debates about criminal justice reform.
By Maurice Chammah
About
People
Jobs
Sitemap
Funders