Prison reform

Rikers: An American Jail Documentary

A New Film About Rikers Lets Inmates Describe the Jail’s Brutality in Their Own Words A New Film About Rikers Lets Inmates Describe the Jail’s Brutality in Their Own Words

Rikers: An American Jail is coming out just as debate over how to close the notorious facility is reaching a fever pitch.

May 17, 2017 / Ed Rampell

Rikers closing in NYC

How Closing a Jail Could Make New York City Stronger How Closing a Jail Could Make New York City Stronger

The plans for shuttering the infamous Rikers Island complex could be a boon for communities across the city.

May 17, 2017 / Michelle Chen

NYC Bail Reform

Our Bail-Bond System Is Broken Our Bail-Bond System Is Broken

And it’s hurting society’s most vulnerable communities the most.

May 11, 2017 / Michelle Chen

Trump Confederate Flag

Rick Perlstein: What We Didn’t Understand About Trump Rick Perlstein: What We Didn’t Understand About Trump

Plus Atossa Araxia Abrahamian on redefining money and Heather Ann Thompson on Attica.

May 11, 2017 / Podcast / Start Making Sense and Jon Wiener

Black Mothers National Bailout Day

This Mother’s Day, Black Lives Matter Activists Will Give More Than 30 Women Their Freedom This Mother’s Day, Black Lives Matter Activists Will Give More Than 30 Women Their Freedom

These women are in jail not because they’ve been convicted of a crime but because they can’t pay to get back to their lives as they await trial.

May 9, 2017 / Dani McClain

Why Are Bureaucrats—Not Judges—Deciding Whether Terminally Ill Prisoners Die Behind Bars?

Why Are Bureaucrats—Not Judges—Deciding Whether Terminally Ill Prisoners Die Behind Bars? Why Are Bureaucrats—Not Judges—Deciding Whether Terminally Ill Prisoners Die Behind Bars?

This is not how our “compassionate release” system is supposed to work.

Apr 21, 2017 / Robert Greenwald and Mary Price

Kalief Browder Rikers Closing

Rikers Island Might Finally Close—and We Have Organizers to Thank for That Rikers Island Might Finally Close—and We Have Organizers to Thank for That

The infamous jail is the site of dozens of horrifying stories of prisoner mistreatment.

Apr 4, 2017 / Collier Meyerson

Tishaura O. Jones

Can a Champion of Black Lives Matter Become Mayor of St. Louis? Can a Champion of Black Lives Matter Become Mayor of St. Louis?

Tishaura Jones is running to “uproot racism” just a few miles from the streets where Michael Brown was murdered.

Mar 3, 2017 / Jimmy Tobias

Bayview Correctional Facility

This Building Was Once a Notorious Women’s Prison. Now It’s Becoming a Center for Feminist Organizing. This Building Was Once a Notorious Women’s Prison. Now It’s Becoming a Center for Feminist Organizing.

Formerly incarcerated women are helping plan the transformation of Bayview Correctional Facility into a Women’s Building.

Feb 22, 2017 / Victoria Law

Jeff Sessions

Jeff Sessions Could Return Criminal Justice to the Jim Crow Era Jeff Sessions Could Return Criminal Justice to the Jim Crow Era

Sessions’s extreme views on crime and punishment are a throwback to the darkest chapters in American history.

Jan 9, 2017 / Ari Berman

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