HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 24 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

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Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate

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Meet us

November 12-14, 2025:
Members of our Research team, Wendy Sawyer and Jacob Kang-Brown will be attending the American Society of Criminology annual meeting in Washington, D.C. from November 12 through the 14th. Please reach out if you’d like to set up a meeting.

Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.

Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

Miriam Vishniac and Emily Widra | November 12, 2025

Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods

Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal troubling trends in how the carceral system punishes people for a physiological process they have no control over.

Emily Widra | October 28, 2025

Almost half of all incarcerated people are in rural jails and prisons and at risk of losing access to hospitals

The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the closure of many rural hospitals, leaving people in the surrounding communities — including those in prisons and jails — facing elevated healthcare costs and limited access to necessary healthcare.

More briefings

Emily Widra | August 19, 2025

New study finds confined neurodivergent youth of color are particularly vulnerable to physical assault by staff

A new study analyzing a national survey of youth in custody reveals stark disparities in rates of staff physical assault among Black and neurodivergent youth.

Leah Wang and Bianca Schindeler | July 1, 2025

Birth behind bars: Ten years of U.S. jail births covered in the news highlight horrific experiences and minimal data collection

For some of the thousands of pregnant people entering jails each year, at what might be their moment of greatest need — going into labor — jails turn a blind eye, harming mothers, newborns, and their families. The latest project from our partners at Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People, or ARRWIP, illuminates these haunting stories and the dire need for data and education about pregnancy in jails.

Jacob Kang-Brown | June 24, 2025

New research: More evidence that county jail incarceration harms health, raising death rates

The health burdens of jail expansion are heaviest in places that already lock a lot of people up. Those places also would see the largest benefits from decarceration, including fewer deaths each year.

Mike Wessler | June 11, 2025

Can they do that? A primer on the powers — and limits — of the president and federal government to shape the criminal legal system

The Trump Administration has made a lot of claims about how it will change the criminal legal system. We explain where the president and federal government have full control over the system, where they have some influence, and where their power ends.

Iolanthe Brooks | June 5, 2025

“You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives

Moving people between prisons can improve their access to treatment, programs, and visitation — but transfers can also be deeply traumatizing, disruptive, and destabilizing. In this briefing, we use transfer records and interviews with dozens of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers to examine how often people are moved, why they’re moved, and how this little-discussed aspect of prison life impacts them.

Emily Widra and Dr. Emily Lupez | May 15, 2025

Policies for waiving medical copays in prisons are not enough to undo the harm caused by charging incarcerated people for health care access

Our review of copay policies show that exemptions are so limited, ill-defined, and inconsistent that they fail to make the copay system less harmful for incarcerated people.

Emily Widra and Emmett Sanders | May 7, 2025

New data on pregnancy prevalence, outcomes, and programs in prisons are welcome additions, but raise new questions

The Bureau of Justice Statistics published 2023 data on pregnancy prevalence and outcomes in prisons, as well as the prison systems that offer relevant prenatal and postnatal accommodations, supports, and programming.

Emily Widra | April 17, 2025

New national data help fill 20-year data gap: Offense data for people in local jails

Our analysis of Jail Data Initiative data offers the first detailed, national view of the criminal charges for which people are jailed since the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2002 survey. We look at the one-day jail population as well as bookings over a full year; ‘top’ charges versus all charges; and break down trends by sex, jail size, and region.

Older Briefings →

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Meet us

Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods

Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal troubling trends in how the carceral system punishes people for a physiological process they have no control over.

Almost half of all incarcerated people are in rural jails and prisons and at risk of losing access to hospitals

The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the closure of many rural hospitals, leaving people in the surrounding communities — including those in prisons and jails — facing elevated healthcare costs and limited access to necessary healthcare.

More briefings

New study finds confined neurodivergent youth of color are particularly vulnerable to physical assault by staff

A new study analyzing a national survey of youth in custody reveals stark disparities in rates of staff physical assault among Black and neurodivergent youth.

Birth behind bars: Ten years of U.S. jail births covered in the news highlight horrific experiences and minimal data collection

New research: More evidence that county jail incarceration harms health, raising death rates

The health burdens of jail expansion are heaviest in places that already lock a lot of people up. Those places also would see the largest benefits from decarceration, including fewer deaths each year.

Can they do that? A primer on the powers — and limits — of the president and federal government to shape the criminal legal system

The Trump Administration has made a lot of claims about how it will change the criminal legal system. We explain where the president and federal government have full control over the system, where they have some influence, and where their power ends.

“You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives

Policies for waiving medical copays in prisons are not enough to undo the harm caused by charging incarcerated people for health care access

Our review of copay policies show that exemptions are so limited, ill-defined, and inconsistent that they fail to make the copay system less harmful for incarcerated people.

New data on pregnancy prevalence, outcomes, and programs in prisons are welcome additions, but raise new questions

The Bureau of Justice Statistics published 2023 data on pregnancy prevalence and outcomes in prisons, as well as the prison systems that offer relevant prenatal and postnatal accommodations, supports, and programming.

New national data help fill 20-year data gap: Offense data for people in local jails

Stay Informed

Recommended Reading:

50 state incarceration profiles

The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons

Incarceration and supervision by states

Prison Gerrymandering Project

Events