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Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

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.

Emmett Sanders | April 11, 2025

Rolling back solitary confinement reforms won’t make prisons safer

Thousands of New York prison guards went on strike to demand changes to the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. They claim limitations on solitary confinement have worsened working conditions. Here’s why the decision to return long-term isolation to New York’s prisons won’t fix things.

Emily Widra | March 5, 2025

New report reveals successes and limitations of medications for opioid use disorder in New York state prisons

A new report from a New York prison oversight agency offers insights about the need for, and challenges of, implementing medication-assisted treatment in prisons.

Leah Wang | February 11, 2025

Jailing the homeless: New data shed light on unhoused people in local jails

Our analysis of Jail Data Initiative data confirms the troubling practice of shuffling unhoused people into jails, at enormous moral and fiscal cost.

Wendy Sawyer | February 5, 2025

Estimating the impact: How many people are excluded from Fair Housing protections because of a past drug conviction?

A little-known 1988 law called the Thurmond Amendment stripped people with drug distribution convictions of federal protections under the Fair Housing Act, making it even more difficult for many people with criminal records to secure housing - even when they are qualified in every other way, and even when the conviction is decades old. By our count, this law makes it more difficult for as many as 3 million people with these kinds of convictions to secure housing.

Emily Widra and Wendy Sawyer | January 30, 2025

New research finds higher county jail rates have deadly consequences for entire communities

A recent study from a researcher at University of Pennsylvania finds that higher jail rates are associated with higher death rates, especially for Black people and women.

Wanda Bertram | January 28, 2025

How journalists can investigate prison discipline policies — and why these policies may be important for other stories

We offer questions for jumpstarting your reporting, suggestions for finding data, advice for communicating with incarcerated sources, and more.

Emily Widra | December 19, 2024

Despite fewer people experiencing police contact, racial disparities in arrests, police misconduct, and police use of force continue

New Bureau of Justice Statistics data reveal that concerning trends in policing persisted in 2022, even while fewer people interacted with police than in prior years.

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Creator-in-Residence

Stay Informed

Work with us

Support us

Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

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

Rolling back solitary confinement reforms won’t make prisons safer

Thousands of New York prison guards went on strike to demand changes to the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. They claim limitations on solitary confinement have worsened working conditions. Here’s why the decision to return long-term isolation to New York’s prisons won’t fix things.

New report reveals successes and limitations of medications for opioid use disorder in New York state prisons

A new report from a New York prison oversight agency offers insights about the need for, and challenges of, implementing medication-assisted treatment in prisons.

Jailing the homeless: New data shed light on unhoused people in local jails

Our analysis of Jail Data Initiative data confirms the troubling practice of shuffling unhoused people into jails, at enormous moral and fiscal cost.

Estimating the impact: How many people are excluded from Fair Housing protections because of a past drug conviction?

New research finds higher county jail rates have deadly consequences for entire communities

A recent study from a researcher at University of Pennsylvania finds that higher jail rates are associated with higher death rates, especially for Black people and women.

How journalists can investigate prison discipline policies — and why these policies may be important for other stories

We offer questions for jumpstarting your reporting, suggestions for finding data, advice for communicating with incarcerated sources, and more.

Despite fewer people experiencing police contact, racial disparities in arrests, police misconduct, and police use of force continue

New Bureau of Justice Statistics data reveal that concerning trends in policing persisted in 2022, even while fewer people interacted with police than in prior years.

Stay Informed

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50 state incarceration profiles

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Incarceration and supervision by states

Prison Gerrymandering Project