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prison understaffing

Marshall, a man with light-toned skin, wears a blue suit jacket and glasses as he stands behind a podium. On person stands behind him and three are sitting.
News April 12
Who Is Billy Marshall? What to Know About Trump’s New Bureau of Prisons Director
West Virginia’s top corrections official led a troubled state agency, and will now head a federal bureaucracy plagued with problems of its own.
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A lone correctional officer walking in a prison cell block while incarcerated people are confined in their cells.
Investigate This March 5
How to Investigate Prison Staffing Trends in Your State
Our toolkit helps you report on how the widespread, long-term trend of declining prison staff affects both safety behind bars and state budgets.
By The Marshall Project
In the foreground, four people wearing winter coats hold up signs reading "Enough is Enough, Strike!" as it snows. A group of people stand behind them.
Closing Argument February 22
How a Guards’ Strike Plunged New York Prisons Into Turmoil and Why the Timing Is Curious
Correctional officers complain of unsafe conditions, but critics say the protests were meant to deflect attention from ‘a moment of reckoning.’
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In 2020, Los Angeles County approved reforms meant to close the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, pictured here in 2023, but this week local officials declared an emergency in order to assign other workers to help staff the facility.
Closing Argument December 21, 2024
While Youth Detention Numbers Rise, States Begin to Roll Back Reforms
Los Angeles County is one of many places that have struggled to maintain safe conditions for youth and seen reform efforts stall or be abandoned.
By
A White man can be seen through the back of a wooden dining-table chair.
Inside Story October 10, 2024
Toll of Prison Staff Shortages on Guards, Prisoners and Their Families
Prison staff shortages impact guards, prisoners and their families, and comedian Donnell Rawlings talks about his connection to the system.
By and
Colette Peters, a White woman in a red suit jacket and short brown hair, speaks, as Michael Horowitz, a White man in a navy suit jacket and white hair, looks on.
Closing Argument March 2, 2024
How Federal Prisons Are Getting Worse
Government watchdog agencies found hundreds of preventable deaths and excessive use of solitary confinement.
By and
An illustration shows a correctional officer in uniform standing among four cardboard cutouts of correctional officers. A sketch of a prison is visible in the background.
News September 18, 2023
Mississippi Auditor: Prison Company Must Pay $2 Million for No-Show Workers
A 2020 investigation by The Marshall Project exposed how prison operator MTC billed the state millions for ghost workers.
By and
A brick sign that reads "Louisiana State Penitentiary" and "Secretary James LeBlanc" located in front of the prison's entrance.
Closing Argument August 13, 2022
Confronting America’s ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Juvenile Detention Crisis
From Texas and Louisiana to communities in Iowa and Michigan, the way youth are being detained is prompting calls for change.
By
Members of the National Guard headed into the Marion Correctional Institution in Marion, Ohio, to help during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 20, 2020.
News December 21, 2020
The National Guard Is Using Force on Prisoners After Little Training
Ohio guard members patrolling inside prisons trained for a fraction of the 5 weeks required of correction officers.
By
An illustration shows a correctional officer in uniform standing among four cardboard cutouts of correctional officers. A sketch of a prison is visible in the background.
Feature December 9, 2020
No-Show Prison Workers Cost Mississippi Taxpayers Millions
Prisoners, guards face danger from chronic understaffing by MTC
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