What’s New
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Mass Incarceration 101: Resources to help students and teachers understand the carceral system It’s back to school season, so we’ve curated information and tools for students and teachers to use when researching the carceral system.
September 3: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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New research links medical copays to reduced healthcare access in prisons Using our prior research on prison wages and medical copays, researchers found that higher copays obstruct access to necessary healthcare behind bars, even as prison populations face increasing rates of physical and mental health conditions.
August 29: Briefings
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Tombstone Towns and Toxic Prisons: Prison Ecology and the Necessity of an Anti-prison Environmental Movement by Elizabeth A. Bradshaw
August 28: Research Library: Health impact
Featured reports
Chronic Punishment: The unmet health needs of people in state prisons
This report offers the most recent national data on the health of people in U.S. state prisons, showing that prisons are continuing to ignore the plight of people in their care. People in prison suffer from several chronic illnesses and infectious diseases at disproportionate rates — such as hepatitis C, HIV, and mental illness — and prisons are failing to get many people the treatment they need. 50% of incarcerated people also lacked health insurance before prison, underscoring the reality that our criminal justice system punishes poverty.
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. Be sure to also check out our pages focused on D.C., and the incarceration of Native people.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2022-2023 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
Advocacy Toolkit
Resources, tips, and best practices to help advocates working to end mass incarceration.
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
The U.S. incarcerates over 1.9 million people, more than any other country. Where are they locked up and why? Read our report.
Events
- September 14, 2024:
Our advocacy department will host a workshop at the MacArthur Justice Center’s Realizing Releases convening. The workshop will provide strategies for investigating state parole systems.
Register for the convening here. - September 18, 2024:
Senior Research Analyst Emily Widra will join a panel discussion hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School about the health inequities people in the criminal legal system face. The webinar starts at 4:30 pm ET.
Learn more and register for the webinar here.
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.