Articles by Emmett Sanders
- An Act of Regression: Louisiana takes a giant step backward in parole and sentencing reform
Louisiana lawmakers are eliminating discretionary parole and implementing regressive truth-in-sentencing laws. These billion-dollar “zombie policies” are set to double the prison population in a state that is already a world leader in incarceration and will harm public safety.
Aug 21, 2024 - Advocacy Spotlight: Texas Jail Project
How one small organization in Texas is fighting to get answers for families of people who die in jails and forcing accountability from the jails they die in.
Aug 6, 2024 - Prison Policy Initiative endorses the Environmental Health in Prisons Act
Act recognizes the right to live in a healthy environment and offers much-needed environmental protections for people in prisons.
Jul 18, 2024 - Webinar: In their own words: Organizing legislative testimony from incarcerated people
Learn strategies advocates around the country are using to help incarcerated people be heard at legislative committee hearings.
Jul 1, 2024 - Cautionary jails: Deconstructing the three “C”s of jail construction arguments
Communities across the country have been told that investing in new jail construction is the only way to solve old policy problems, but arguments for new jails can leave them with a billion-dollar case of buyer’s remorse.
Feb 20, 2024 - Watching the Watchers: Vera releases national census on electronic monitoring
A new report from the Vera Institute of Justice finds that the number of people subjected to electronic monitoring in the U.S. increased fivefold between 2005 and 2021 and nearly tenfold by 2022.
Feb 8, 2024 - Going back to Cali: Revisiting California’s parole release system
More than 9,000 people were eligible for hearings in California last year, though the state abolished discretionary parole in 1977. With grant rates among the lowest in the nation and people forced to wait up to 15 years between hearings, the Golden State's parole system is far from glittering.
Dec 19, 2023 - Not an alternative: The myths, harms, and expansion of pretrial electronic monitoring
The expansion of pretrial electronic monitoring across 70 counties threatens to undermine Illinois’ groundbreaking Pretrial Fairness Act, despite both the lack of evidence of EM's efficacy and its well-documented flaws and harms.
Oct 30, 2023 - No Release: Parole grant rates have plummeted in most states since the pandemic started
Among the 27 states we surveyed, only 7 saw an increase in parole approval rate, and almost every state held substantially fewer hearings than in years past.
Oct 16, 2023
Recommended Reading:
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons
It can strengthen connections, but instead has been used to sap money from incarcerated people.
Incarceration and supervision by states
Probation and parole are the leading forms of mass punishment in America.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.
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.
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