What’s New
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Is Bail Reform Causing an Increase in Crime? by Don Stemen and David Olson
March 31: Research Library: Crime and Crime Rates
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New report Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023 shows that as the pandemic subsides, criminal legal system returning to “business as usual” 30 visualizations expose long-standing truths about mass incarceration in the U.S. and highlight the need for change
March 14: Press releases
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A sledgehammer instead of a scalpel: New rules proposed by the Biden Administration on money earned by or sent to people in federal prison are the wrong way to go Federal prison officials are proposing to garnish 75% of any deposits made into incarcerated people’s personal accounts if those people have court-related debts. It’s an extremely harmful policy that will keep incarcerated people from buying basic needs.
March 13: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
Featured report
SMH: The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prison
As work by advocates and family members have forced governments to crack down on price gouging for prison phone calls, the companies behind these services quietly turned their focus toward less regulated industries to continue to sap money from incarcerated people and their loved ones. One new service in particular — text-based electronic messaging or “e-messaging” — has experienced explosive and unregulated growth.
In this report we examined all 50 state prison systems, as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons to see how common this technology has become, how much it costs, and what, if anything, is being done to protect incarcerated people and their families from exploitation.
Mass incarceration, state by state
Learn about the national prison crisis and how we can begin to turn the tide on mass incarceration. Then, drill down to your state.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2021-2022 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
The COVID-19 pandemic and the criminal justice system
Our central hub of data, research, and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in jails and prisons.
All profit, no risk
The bail industry explooits cracks and loopholes in the legal system to avoid accountability, while growing its profits.
Compare your state's use of the prison to the world at large
Criminal justice policy in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.