What’s New
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The New Dynamics of Mass Incarceration by Vera Institute of Justice
June 18: Research Clearinghouse: Incarceration Rates Growth Causes
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Incremental declines can’t erase mass incarceration Mass incarceration grew at breakneck speed, year after year. Our reforms need to be equally ambitious.
June 5: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Comment letter: Florida’s Department of Corrections should not reduce visitation In our letter to the Florida Department of Corrections, we explain why cutting visiting hours is bad policy and an inhumane practice.
May 31: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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You Get What You Measure: New Performance Indicators Needed to Gauge Progress of Criminal Justice Reform by Harvard Kennedy School
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Welcome, Jorge Renaud! Our new Senior Policy Analyst brings a wealth of organizing, writing, and policy experience.
May 30: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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People in Prison in 2017 by VERA Institute of Justice
May 29: Research Clearinghouse: Incarceration Rates Growth Causes
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Rethinking Restrictive Housing Lessons from Five U.S. Jail and Prison Systems by VERA Institute of Justice
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New report, The Company Store, questions fairness and purpose of prison commissaries In a first-of-its-kind data analysis, we explore the economics of prison commissaries in three states.
May 24: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Legal Resources The legal resource database was updated with a new listing for New York.
May 21: Legal Resources
Featured report
States of Incarceration: The Global Context
This report and infographic directly situates individual U.S. states in the global context, and reveals that every region in the U.S. is out of step with rest of the world when it comes to incarceration.
We also have a parallel report focused on the incarceration of women.
Unpacking mass incarceration
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 2016-2017 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.
Research Clearinghouse
We curate a searchable database of 2,700+ original research reports, organizing each entry by topic and adding brief summaries.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
Our report that shows the number of people who are locked up in all of the different types of facilities and why they are there.
Breaking Down Mass Incarceration in the 2010 Census:
State-by-State Incarceration Rates by Race/Ethnicity
Events
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