Jails and Prisons

The US Supreme Court Building

The Supreme Court Is Poised to Make It Even Harder to Challenge Wrongful Convictions The Supreme Court Is Poised to Make It Even Harder to Challenge Wrongful Convictions

The court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in Reed v. Goertz, a case in which the stakes are, quite literally, life or death.

Oct 11, 2022 / Alexandra Klein and Brandon Hasbrouck

Prisoners Forced to Work for Showers Are Now Being Punished for Taking Them

Prisoners Forced to Work for Showers Are Now Being Punished for Taking Them Prisoners Forced to Work for Showers Are Now Being Punished for Taking Them

Regulations to combat a severe drought in California are being used to control prisoners under the auspices of conserving water, people inside San Quentin say.

Sep 27, 2022 / Olivia Heffernan and Steven Brooks

Do Presidents Have a Right to Secrecy?

Do Presidents Have a Right to Secrecy? Do Presidents Have a Right to Secrecy?

Trump’s refusal to share information has been part and parcel of the Washington scene for far longer than the current moment.

Sep 26, 2022 / Karen J. Greenberg

Geneva Cooley, 72, walks out the main gates to the Julia Tutwiler Prison

Prisoner Advocates Turn to the UN to End Extreme Prison Sentences Prisoner Advocates Turn to the UN to End Extreme Prison Sentences

In a sharply worded complaint to UN special rapporteurs submitted on Thursday, advocacy groups call for an end to "death by incarceration" sentencing in the US.

Sep 15, 2022 / Victoria Law

Where Solidarity, Abolition, and Queer History Meet

Where Solidarity, Abolition, and Queer History Meet Where Solidarity, Abolition, and Queer History Meet

Hugh Ryan’s The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison makes a compelling case for abolition as a central part of queer politics.

Sep 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Naomi Gordon-Loebl

Heads of Sakira Cook, left; Andrea James, right.

Without “Roe,” Who Is Holding Prosecutors to Account? Without “Roe,” Who Is Holding Prosecutors to Account?

A conversation with Andrea James, the executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Sakira Cook, the co–interim vice pr...

Aug 18, 2022 / Q&A / Laura Flanders

These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement

These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement

A corrections officers’ union in New York is campaigning against new restrictions on solitary confinement—and it’s not the only union in the country opposing prison reforms.

Aug 16, 2022 / Victoria Law

Steven Thrasher on “The Viral Underclass”

Steven Thrasher on “The Viral Underclass” Steven Thrasher on “The Viral Underclass”

The Nation spoke with Thrasher about who makes up the viral underclass—the subject of his new book—and what we should do to confront the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Aug 11, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Charlotte Rosen

Two reporters looking at the camera

Free Jeef Kazadi! Free Jeef Kazadi!

We call on the Democratic Republic of Congo to immediately release a detained journalist.

Aug 2, 2022 / D.D. Guttenplan for The Nation

Easy Money: How Counties Are Funneling Covid Relief Funds Into New Jails

Easy Money: How Counties Are Funneling Covid Relief Funds Into New Jails Easy Money: How Counties Are Funneling Covid Relief Funds Into New Jails

Counties aren’t supposed to use Covid funds to build jails and prisons—but that hasn’t stopped some of them from trying to do it anyway.

Jul 26, 2022 / Feature / Lauren Gill

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