What’s New
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New data reveals where people in Maryland prisons come from Report shows every community is harmed by mass incarceration
June 27: Press releases
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New report, Chronic Punishment, reveals the unmet health needs of people in state prisons A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative offers the most recent national data on incarcerated people’s health….
June 22: Press releases
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Data Reveals Violence Among Youth Under 18 Has Not Spiked in the Pandemic by Sentencing Project
June 17: Research Library: Youth
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.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2020-2021 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.
Dive deep into the lives & experiences of people in prison
From homelessness to childhood trauma, learn about the lives of people in prison before they were locked up.
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.