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Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate
What’s New
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Research roundup: Youth incarceration can cause lasting damage to mental health
Young people with mental health conditions are often criminalized, yet detaining youth can lead to new or worsened mental health problems. In turn, youth incarceration leads to worse outcomes in adulthood, including depression, suicidality, and deeper criminal legal system involvement.
November 12: Briefings
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Advocates warn Census Bureau about fatal flaws in proposed new residence criteria
The Census Bureau proposes a major rewrite of residence criteria across the board, ensuring an inaccurate 2030 Census. We oppose the proposal to keep counting incarcerated people at a facility instead of at home, and highlight the additional flaws with the proposed new language.
November 5: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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A state-by-state analysis of legislative frameworks for mental health programming in correctional facilities
by Jennifer Wyatt Bourgeois, Dragana Derlic, & Stuti S. Kokkalera
November 3: Research Library: Mental health
Featured reports
All Profit, No Risk: How the bail industry exploits the legal system
Our report exposes how commercial bail companies and their deep-pocketed insurance underwriters almost always avoid accountability when they fail to do their one job: ensure their clients’ appearance in court. The report explains how the bail industry exploits — and works to expand — six loopholes in the system that allow it to avoid paying up when defendants don’t show up. The money bail system is not only cruel to defendants (as our 2016 report Detaining the Poor showed); as our report shows, it is also corrupt beyond repair.
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.
Select your state:
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2025-2026 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
The unmet health needs of people in prison
States fall far short of their duty to meet the health needs of incarcerated people.
All profit, no risk
The bail industry exploits 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.
Events
- November 18-21, 2026:
Members of our Research team, will be attending the American Society of Criminology annual meeting in Chicago from November 18th through the 21st. Please reach out if you’d like to set up a meeting.
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.