Search About Newsletters Donate

Prison Life

Jeff Östberg for The Marshall Project
Feature
When Texas Was Fertile Ground for Prison Bands
Until the 1980s, an annual prison rodeo offered a chance for men inside to perform and sell albums. Now we’re making them available to you.
By
A black-and-white photo showing a White woman with a bouffant hairstyle singing into a microphone on the left side of the frame on the dirt grounds of a rodeo, while in the background are Black and White incarcerated men, wearing dark colored jackets, black ties and billowing white pants playing guitars and a drum. The drummer is wearing sunglasses, as a correctional officer stands guard behind him dressed in white and a cowboy hat with the brim upturned on both sides. In the distance, crowds sit in the stands.
A magazine called News Inside set against a grainy light blue backdrop. Light refracted through prison bars shines onto the magazine.
News Inside March 5
Women on the Inside
News Inside Issue 22 takes a hard look at how incarcerated women face unique challenges — and why their stories deserve to be heard.
By
An illustration shows figures walking along next to a barbed wire fence, a large pile of paperwork, a person in a green prison uniform lying down with a book on top of them, a guard holding a baton stick and a woman in a red suit waving her hand while standing at a podium.
Analysis March 3
It’s Dangerous to Feel This Desperate: How to Ease the Chaos in New York’s Prisons
When the governor doesn’t commute sentences, and the legislature won’t act, the carrot-and-stick system of rehabilitation disintegrates.
By
A photo shows a watchtower at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. Nearby is a shorter building that has the words "Central Mississippi Correctional Facility" painted on it in blue letters. Behind the watchtower is some fencing and a reddish-orange building.
Jackson February 24
Beating by Guards, Not a Heart Attack, Killed Man in Mississippi Prison, Report Shows
FBI is now investigating after a report showed that Mississippi guards beat an incarcerated person to death.
By Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today, and , The Marshall Project
An illustration shows a bearded man with medium skin tone, wearing a white T-shirt and blue pants, sitting in the shadow of prison bars from a window. He is looking at two people of differing skin color holding hands in front of him.
Life Inside February 20
In Prison, Optics Are Everything
Assumptions and rumors determine the social hierarchy and the wrong friendship can be dangerous.
By Joseph Wilson
A photo shows a view of a person shoveling snow.
News January 30
When Temps Plunge, Dilapidated Jails and Prisons Put Lives at Risk
The Marshall Project examined reports of scarce food and water and interrupted access to medical care during a day-long power outage in Mississippi.
By , and
A photo shows Craig Canary, a White man with a white beard and tattoos visible on his upper body, standing in a solitary confinement cell. Visible in his cell are a bedroll, a few books and some art on his wall. In the foreground of the photo is a door with holes, through which you can see Canary.
Feature January 28
Echoes of Isolation
A 2013 prison hunger strike in California led to a dramatic decline in the use of solitary confinement. More than a decade later, people impacted by solitary reflect on the toll of separation.
Photographs by Brian L. Frank

Text by and Brian L. Frank
An illustration shows two people facing each other at a desk. A White, female prison psychologist wearing half of a correctional officer's uniform looks in the direction of an incarcerated person with his back to the viewer. A speech bubble is shown in front of the incarcerated person.
News January 26
Amid ‘Catastrophic’ Shortage, Psychologists Flee Federal Prisons in Droves
With fewer and fewer employees to run the prisons, psychologists were repeatedly forced to act as guards.
By
Six corrections officers wearing black jackets hold a man in a green prison suit on a gurney. A man, second from left, is seen kicking the man wearing the green prison suit.
Closing Argument January 10
New York Prisons Are Getting More Cameras. Will It Make Them Safer?
The state plans to install cameras in “blind spots,” following two high-profile prisoner deaths and extensive reporting about abuse by guards.
By
An illustration with blue, green, purple and pink tones shows pointed shapes and a Black man in a blue jumpsuit listening to music through headphones while lying on a bed. The calendar in front of him shows the month of December with the date of the 31st circled.
Life Inside January 1
How a Long Sentence Changed New Year’s Into a Time of Reflection, Not Celebration
This is what New Year’s looks like after 20 years in prison.
By Joseph Wilson
About
People
Privacy
Sitemap
Funders