Jails and Prisons

Why Is It So Hard to Close Rikers?

Why Is It So Hard to Close Rikers? Why Is It So Hard to Close Rikers?

New York City’s public advocate Jumaane D. Williams and journalist Nick Pinto talk to Laura Flanders about the difficulties of shrinking the incarceration system.

Jun 15, 2023 / Q&A / Laura Flanders

US-Mexico Border

The Techno Dystopia Flourishing at the Border The Techno Dystopia Flourishing at the Border

Seeing the phaseout of Title 42 through the lens of a growing border-industrial complex.

Jun 13, 2023 / Todd Miller

A painting by Davide Coggins, mailed to the author in mid-May.

New York’s Prison System Abruptly Halts a Policy Censoring Artists and Writers New York’s Prison System Abruptly Halts a Policy Censoring Artists and Writers

One day after New York Focus broke the story about the censorship policy, the state department announced that it would suspend the rule impeding creative endeavors in prisons.

Jun 8, 2023 / Victoria Law

Protesters gather in the atrium of Atlanta City Hall to protest Cop City on Monday, June 5, 2023.

Atlanta Is Trying to Crush the Opposition to “Cop City” by Any Means Necessary Atlanta Is Trying to Crush the Opposition to “Cop City” by Any Means Necessary

Mass arrests. Trumped-up charges. Brutal violence. They’re all part of the city’s effort to destroy the movement against the infamous police facility.

Jun 7, 2023 / Hannah Riley

People gathered at City Hall in October 2022 for a rally to protest deaths in New York City's Rikers Island jail complex.

Maryland’s Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in the Democratic State Legislature Maryland’s Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in the Democratic State Legislature

Lawmakers “had the opportunity to do something that would have made a huge systemic change and put the state on the right path—and they didn’t,” said the bill’s author.

May 25, 2023 / Victoria Law

When “Suicide Watch” Becomes a Death Sentence

When “Suicide Watch” Becomes a Death Sentence When “Suicide Watch” Becomes a Death Sentence

Instead of the help they need, people in prisons and jails with mental health issues are often left alone to suffer—and sometimes die.

May 22, 2023 / Feature / Katie Rose Quandt

Cherelle Parker speaks at a podium

Philadelphia’s Next Mayor Will Almost Certainly Be a Black Woman Philadelphia’s Next Mayor Will Almost Certainly Be a Black Woman

Yet, for all her claims to history, primary winner Cherelle Parker was the status quo candidate in a city where the status quo is badly broken.

May 18, 2023 / Gene Seymour

Jeffrey Epstein is photographed wearing a Harvard sweatshirt.

Jeffrey Epstein, Harvard Man Jeffrey Epstein, Harvard Man

Why a horrific criminal found elite universities so congenial.

May 8, 2023 / Jeet Heer

A prisoner is shackled while attending a class for mental health in the Short-Term Restricted Housing Unit at California State Prison, Sacramento.

The New York Law Everyone Is Watching The New York Law Everyone Is Watching

The HALT Act was passed to end long-term solitary confinement. Enforcing it is a whole new struggle.

May 4, 2023 / Victoria Law

rows of barbed wire

A Texas Prison Guard Punishes a Woman for Talking About Abortion A Texas Prison Guard Punishes a Woman for Talking About Abortion

Legal experts told The Nation it’s not illegal. But that didn’t stop one guard from moving a woman to extreme isolation after sharing sexual health information.

May 2, 2023 / Victoria Law

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