Stay Informed

Get the latest updates:

Prison Policy Initiative newsletter archive

Periodic news on the Prison Policy Initiative and our work to expose the broader harm of mass incarceration.

• Mail scanning: A harsh and exploitative new trend in prisons
  November 17, 2022
• 31 criminal justice reforms ripe for victory in 2023 legislative sessions
  November 16, 2022
• A how-to guide: Critically reviewing a jail assessment calling for a bigger jail
  November 4, 2022
• Jail-based polling locations: A way to fight voter disenfranchisement
  October 25, 2022
• New data confirms that prisons neglected COVID-19 mitigation strategies, putting public health at risk
  October 13, 2022
• All profit, no risk: How the bail industry exploits the legal system
  October 4, 2022
• The state prison experience: Too much drudgery, not enough opportunity
  September 8, 2022
• Since you asked: How many people are released from each state’s prisons and jails every year?
  August 26, 2022
• Please Mr. Postman: It’s time to create a special postal mail rate for incarcerated people
  August 17, 2022
• Both sides of the bars: How mass incarceration punishes families
  August 11, 2022
• New data: LGBT people across all demographics are at heightened risk of violent victimization
  July 11, 2022
• New Correctional Contracts Library shows you what companies are profiting off of incarcerated people in your area
  July 6, 2022
• What the end of Roe v. Wade will mean for people on probation and parole
  June 30, 2022
• New report, Chronic Punishment, reveals the unmet health needs of people in state prisons
  June 22, 2022
• Updated charts provides insights on racial disparities, correctional control, jail suicides, and more
  May 19, 2022
• Prisons and jails will separate millions of mothers from their children in 2022
  May 5, 2022
• Insufficient funds: How prison and jail “release cards” perpetuate the cycle of poverty
  May 3, 2022
• Executive inaction: States and the federal government fail to use commutations as a release mechanism
  April 28, 2022
• Prisons are a daily environmental injustice
  April 20, 2022
• New report, Beyond the Count, uses demographic data to show the social disadvantage of people locked up in state prisons
  April 13, 2022
• What the Survey of Prison Inmates tells us about trans people in state prison
  March 31, 2022
• What does successful bail reform look like? To start, look to Harris County, Texas.
  March 29, 2022
• Untangling why prison & jail populations dropped early in the pandemic
  March 24, 2022
• NEW: Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022
  March 14, 2022
• Mistrust of correctional healthcare is stopping incarcerated people from getting vaccinated
  March 10, 2022
• A new toolkit for advocates working to end mass incarceration
  March 2, 2022
• State prisons and local jails appear indifferent to COVID outbreaks, refuse to depopulate dangerous facilities
  February 10, 2022
• New data on formerly incarcerated people’s employment reveal labor market injustices
  February 8, 2022
• COVID looks like it may stay. That means prison medical copays must go.
  February 2, 2022
• NEW DATA: In the first year of COVID, deaths behind bars were up, releases were down
  January 11, 2022
• Research roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families
  January 4, 2022
• 11 of our most important reports of 2021
  December 20, 2021
• Since you asked: What information is available about COVID-19 and vaccinations in prison now?
  December 16, 2021
• 30 winnable state criminal justice reforms in 2022
  December 15, 2021
• Recent studies shed light on what reproductive “choice” looks like in prisons and jails
  December 8, 2021
• For the poorest people in prison, it’s a struggle to access even basic necessities
  November 18, 2021
• New report: Tracking the companies that have a lock on sending funds to incarcerated people
  November 9, 2021
• The CFPB’s enforcement order against prison profiteer JPay, explained
  October 28, 2021
• Despite Delta variant threat, jails & prisons still putting incarcerated people at risk
  October 21, 2021
• Native people in prisons and jails: data for Indigenous Peoples' Day
  October 8, 2021
• NEW REPORT: How does your state compare to the rest of the world on incarceration? Spoiler: It's not good.
  September 8, 2021
• NEW 50-STATE REPORT: Grading prison system responses to COVID-19
  September 1, 2021
• New research paints a bleak picture of being pregnant, postpartum or giving birth while incarcerated
  August 19, 2021
• How good is your state's public defense system?
  July 27, 2021
• New report: Diversion programs explained
  July 20, 2021
• Having an incarcerated loved one tied to shorter life expectancies and poorer health
  July 13, 2021
• The worst jail assessment we’ve ever seen
  July 6, 2021
• New Data: Jail deaths at record level...even before the pandemic
  June 24, 2021
• New data shows alarming rises in suicide, homicide, and drug and alcohol-related deaths in state prisons.
  June 9, 2021
• Low COVID-19 vaccination rates mean incarcerated people are still at serious risk
  May 19, 2021
• Since you asked: How incarceration exacerbates mental illness
  May 14, 2021
• What drives city incarceration? Not crime rates...
  May 7, 2021
• Over half of all women in U.S. prisons are mothers.
  May 5, 2021
• Data: How COVID-19 increased death rates in Florida prisons
  April 28, 2021
• It is time for Congress to repeal the Prison Litigation Reform Act
  April 26, 2021
• Low rates of COVID-19 vaccinations among corrections officers put incarcerated people at serious risk
  April 22, 2021
• Violent crimes against Black and Latinx people receive less coverage and less justice
  March 18, 2021
• With a new victory in Iowa, our movement to end prison phone exploitation picks up speed
  March 10, 2021
• New graphs reveal overrepresentation of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system
  March 2, 2021
• New 50-state report: How excluding people with criminal records hurts jury diversity
  February 18, 2021
• New data clarifies the link between homelessness and incarceration
  February 10, 2021
• Parole boards released fewer people in 2020 than 2019, despite pandemic
  February 3, 2021
• Parole boards released fewer people in 2020 than 2019, despite pandemic
  February 3, 2021
• 27 state criminal justice reforms that are ripe for victory in 2021
  January 27, 2021
• Why aren't more states using "good time" credits to get people out of prison?
  January 12, 2021
• Incarcerated people are eligible for the new round of stimulus payments
  December 30, 2020
• Prisons shouldn’t be charging medical co-pays – especially during a pandemic
  December 21, 2020
• NEW 50-STATE REPORT: Mass incarceration led to huge increase in national COVID-19 caseloads
  December 15, 2020
• New 48-state survey shows which states are prioritizing people in prison for the COVID-19 vaccine
  December 9, 2020
• New data: Prisons and jails fail to reduce populations as COVID-19 cases climb
  December 2, 2020
• There's now overwhelming evidence that reducing pretrial populations doesn't hurt public safety
  November 18, 2020
• The promise - and peril - of Joe Biden's criminal justice reform platform
  November 16, 2020
• How the war on drugs is driving women's incarceration
  November 11, 2020
• We analyze the new BJS data on US prison populations and Indian country jails
  October 30, 2020
• D.C. data sheds new light on punishments for "technical violations"
  October 28, 2020
• New data: Solitary confinement increases risk of death after release
  October 14, 2020
• Important updates: Court says IRS can’t deny economic stimulus payments to incarcerated people
  October 8, 2020
• NEW: 50-state guide explains who can vote in jail and the barriers to jail voting
  October 2, 2020
• Why are prisons and jails rolling back free phone calls for families in need?
  September 11, 2020
• Halfway houses, explained
  September 10, 2020
• Why lawmakers must do more to support reentry during the pandemic
  September 2, 2020
• The most valuable online resources about American policing
  August 28, 2020
• Half of states fail to require mask use by correctional staff
  August 14, 2020
• New data: Coronavirus isn't over, but most jail populations are rising again
  August 5, 2020
• 17 new charts illustrating the racial disparities in mass incarceration
  July 28, 2020
• New 50-state report from ACLU and Prison Policy Initiative grades states' COVID-19 responses
  June 25, 2020
• A legislative guide for winnable, high-impact criminal justice reforms
  June 11, 2020
• 10 key facts from our work about policing in America
  June 5, 2020
• Our new infographic shows the dysfunction of "compassionate release"
  May 29, 2020
• Senseless “program requirements” keeping people behind bars during a pandemic
  May 22, 2020
• The IRS is wrong: Incarcerated people qualify for stimulus checks
  May 20, 2020
• Updated report: State and federal prisons lag behind local jails in reducing their populations
  May 14, 2020
• New resource: the states with the "oldest" prison populations
  May 12, 2020
• Some federal courts are issuing orders to reduce pretrial detention
  May 6, 2020
• New BJS reports show correctional populations are stagnant, but demographics are changing
  May 5, 2020
• State and federal prisons lag behind local jails in reducing their populations
  May 1, 2020
• Hundreds are still jailed for technical parole violations in NYC. Why?
  April 24, 2020
• How prepared are state prison systems for a viral pandemic?
  April 10, 2020
• We can safely release thousands of people from prison right now - history proves it
  April 9, 2020
• NEW REPORT: Why states should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms
  April 7, 2020
• Special report: what the criminal justice system still needs to do to fight COVID-19
  March 27, 2020
• NEW REPORT: Mass Incarceration - The Whole Pie 2020
  March 24, 2020
• We're tracking what prisons and jails are doing about COVID-19
  March 17, 2020
• Special edition: Five lessons pandemics can teach us about criminal justice reform
  March 6, 2020
• New report and data: The geography of incarceration in New York
  February 19, 2020
• The new BJS statistics on prison and jail mortality, explained
  February 13, 2020
• How counties can strike fairer contracts for jail services
  February 7, 2020
• “What percent of the U.S. is incarcerated?” (And other ways to measure mass incarceration)
  January 16, 2020
• New report reveals where 48,000 children and teens are locked up and why
  December 19, 2019
• New report: State criminal justice reforms that can win in 2020
  December 12, 2019
• How prisons neglect pregnant women: a 50-state survey
  December 5, 2019
• "Consumer protections" are very different for people in prison
  November 21, 2019
• Why is the government releasing less data about the criminal justice system?
  November 14, 2019
• New report, Women's Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, shows that the number of women in local jails is growing
  October 29, 2019
• A review of our work over the last year: new data, graphics, and policy victories
  October 17, 2019
• How race impacts who is detained pretrial
  October 9, 2019
• New analysis shows that local jails impact more people than you think
  September 18, 2019
• Mapping the biggest prison phone injustices by state
  September 11, 2019
• New Prison Policy Initiative report: How many people go to county jails every year?
  August 26, 2019
• After Pell Grants were cut, college participation in prisons dropped by half
  August 22, 2019
• Illinois becomes the third state in 2019 to reform harmful prison co-pays
  August 8, 2019
• Too many women are leaving prison and jail with no resources or support
  July 24, 2019
• The awful consequences of states denying air conditioning in prisons
  June 18, 2019
• Why haven't presidential candidates proposed to end the criminalization of poverty?
  June 12, 2019
• Women make up a growing share of arrests and report more police use of force
  May 14, 2019
• New report: Does our county really need a bigger jail?
  May 6, 2019
• Iowa jails charge exorbitant phone rates; Prison Policy Initiative files objections
  May 2, 2019
• How many people on probation can afford probation fees?
  April 10, 2019
• Victory for phone justice: Securus and ICSolutions abandon attempted merger
  April 3, 2019
• New report: Mass Incarceration - The Whole Pie 2019
  March 19, 2019
• The number of states with deceptive "free tablet" contracts is growing
  March 7, 2019
• How fair is your state's parole system? We gave it a letter grade
  February 26, 2019
• New 50-state report: State of Phone Justice
  February 11, 2019
• How “progressive” states can be oppressive for people on parole
  January 9, 2019
• #Bestof2018
  December 31, 2018
• New report ranks all 50 states on “correctional control,” showing huge state disparities in use of probation
  December 11, 2018
• New survey suggests jail guards are to blame for most contraband
  December 6, 2018
• Our most important successes over the last year
  November 29, 2018
• New report: The eight most effective ways to shorten long prison sentences
  November 15, 2018
• New report gives visual breakdown of women's incarceration, with a close-up on jails
  November 13, 2018
• New York State’s parole reforms haven't gone far enough
  November 7, 2018
• New report, Getting Back on Course, shows that prison permanently hinders education
  October 30, 2018
• States are asking the wrong people for input on parole decisions
  October 25, 2018
• New data shows police twice as likely to use force against people of color
  October 18, 2018
• Iowa and Utah end a costly law from the War on Drugs
  August 31, 2018
• Why algorithmic risk assessments might treat young people unfairly
  August 22, 2018
• New report - Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people
  August 14, 2018
• We reply to Securus: The prison phones market is broken enough
  August 3, 2018
• How to spot the hidden costs in a “no-cost” tablet contract
  July 26, 2018
• NYC to make calls from jail free
  July 19, 2018
• New report - Out of Prison & Out of Work
  July 10, 2018
• New report compares U.S. state incarceration rates with 166 countries around the world
  June 5, 2018
• Urging the Florida DOC to protect in-person visits
  May 31, 2018
• New report - The Company Store: A Deeper Look at Prison Commissaries
  May 24, 2018
• Essie Justice sheds new light on women with incarcerated loved ones
  May 15, 2018
• Prisons and jails can track your phone without a warrant
  May 11, 2018
• Probation is shrinking, but still a major driver of incarceration
  April 26, 2018
• Target will compensate 41,000 victims of criminal record discrimination
  April 12, 2018
• Massachusetts gets closer to protecting in-person jail visits
  March 29, 2018
• What 10.6 million jail admissions a year actually looks like
  March 22, 2018
• New report - Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018
  March 14, 2018
• N.J. and Cali. make progress to protect in-person visits
  March 7, 2018
• New report - Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie
  February 27, 2018
• Bringing Latinx voices into the conversation on mass incarceration
  January 24, 2018
• New data shows that the "gender divide" in prison populations is widening
  January 17, 2018
• New report - The Gender Divide: Tracking women’s state prison growth
  January 9, 2018
• #BestOf2017
  December 29, 2017
• Criminal justice campaigns that can win in 2018
  December 20, 2017
• Media raises urgent questions about banning jail visits
  December 14, 2017
• Tracking the impact of the prison system on the economy
  December 7, 2017
• A year of hard-won victories
  November 16, 2017
• The dismal state of transgender incarceration policies
  November 9, 2017
• How American women are left to rot in jail
  October 27, 2017
• New Report - Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017
  October 19, 2017
• Jail phone companies are flooding money into sheriff races
  October 12, 2017
• Even video conferencing enthusiasts recognize harms of jail video calling industry
  September 28, 2017
• The parallel epidemics of incarceration & HIV in the Deep South
  September 14, 2017
• Increasing need to eliminate money bail
  August 29, 2017
• What Trump gets wrong about “Stop-and-Frisk” policing
  August 17, 2017
• “Too cruel to be true?” Boston Globe slams Sheriff for banning in-person visits
  August 9, 2017
• Protecting in-person visits in prisons and jails
  July 28, 2017
• New data shines a light on "prosecutor politicians"
  July 20, 2017
• New report on the exploitive prison tablet industry
  July 6, 2017
• Mental health issues in prison and jail rampant. Treatment? Not so much.
  June 29, 2017
• The downstream effect of 35 years of jail growth?
  June 20, 2017
• For families of incarcerated dads, Father's day comes at a premium
  June 13, 2017
• New Report - Era of Mass Expansion: Why State Officials Should Fight Jail Growth
  May 31, 2017
• Washington Post editorial in support of phone justice
  May 27, 2017
• Why are Black women disproportionately affected by HIV?
  May 18, 2017
• Uncovering the risk of solitary confinement for people over 45
  May 2, 2017
• The steep cost of medical co-pays in prison puts health at risk
  April 19, 2017
• How much do incarcerated people earn in each state?
  April 13, 2017
• Bill takes aim at outdated War-on-Drugs era policy
  April 7, 2017
• Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017
  March 14, 2017
• Food for thought: Prison food is a public health problem
  March 8, 2017
• Telephone justice and video visitation updates
  February 9, 2017
• Following the Money of Mass Incarceration
  January 25, 2017
• President Obama’s parting reminders on criminal justice reform
  January 10, 2017
• Another century of mass incarceration?
  January 4, 2017
• Data update: Incarcerated population inching down
  December 29, 2016
• Jail mortality numbers and probation rates are still sky high
  December 22, 2016
• New report finds that 12 states and Washington D.C. still automatically suspend driver’s licenses for drug offenses unrelated to driving
  December 12, 2016
• Massachusetts charges monthly probation fees to people who can’t afford them
  December 8, 2016
• This Giving Tuesday, justice reform needs your support like never before
  November 29, 2016
• Celebrating our 15th year fueling justice reform
  November 8, 2016
• Untangling Police Poll Data
  November 4, 2016
• Video visits are not #RealVisits
  September 29, 2016
• The criminal justice system is riddled with racial disparities
  August 19, 2016
• Prison commissary giants prepare to merge
  July 7, 2016
• New report and infographic: How does your state's incarceration rate compare to the nations of the world?
  June 16, 2016
• New Research Clearinghouse updates for June 9, 2016
  June 9, 2016
• New Report: Incarceration and supervision by state
  June 1, 2016
• Tallying the extent of the Clinton-era crime bills
  May 25, 2016
• President Obama's record on clemency: A premature celebration
  May 19, 2016
• New Report: Money bail and the poverty of people in jails
  May 10, 2016
• 20 years is enough: Time to repeal the Prison Litigation Reform Act
  May 6, 2016
• Seeing eye to eye: understanding the limits of video visitation
  April 22, 2016
• Driver's license victory in Massachusetts
  March 17, 2016
• This Pi Day, new report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2016
  March 14, 2016
• FCC, your work isn't over. Protect families from new technologies.
  February 12, 2016
• Report: Is electronic messaging in prisons and jails innovative or exploitative?
  January 21, 2016
• Massachusetts is one step closer to ending relic from War on Drugs
  January 15, 2016
• Year in Review
  December 31, 2015
• New report: Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2015
  December 8, 2015
• This Giving Tuesday, help us uncover the U.S. incarceration crisis
  December 1, 2015
• New report: How does women’s incarceration in your state compare to countries across the world?
  November 18, 2015
• A historic victory for prison and jail phone justice
  October 22, 2015
• Separation by Bars and Miles: New report finds that great distances discourage visits
  October 20, 2015
• FCC commissioners reveal details of their proposal to protect all families of incarcerated people
  October 1, 2015
• Jails matter. But who is listening?
  September 25, 2015
• Prison industry vendors react to "prison reform" talk
  September 3, 2015
• New BJS report shows suicide in jails is a national crisis
  August 4, 2015
• PPI's recent collaborations with its Young Professionals Network and interns
  July 22, 2015
• New report provides the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned
  July 9, 2015
• Uncovering Securus' prison phone profits
  July 6, 2015
• The prison phone industry's new business model: Fee Harvesting
  June 25, 2015
• New animation illustrates the real size of Connecticut Sentencing Enhancement Zones
  June 18, 2015
• In memory of Nils Christie, 1928-2015
  June 10, 2015
• Securus ends its ban on in-person visits, shifts responsibility to sheriffs
  May 6, 2015
• Steep costs of phone calls, for-profit video visits, high-fee release cards, and more
  April 14, 2015
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should regulate jail release cards
  March 18, 2015
• New Study: Maryland taxpayers spend $288 million a year to incarcerate people from Baltimore City
  February 25, 2015
• New videos: Video visitation is not "just like Skype"
  February 18, 2015
• Portland, Oregon Sheriff reverses ban on in-person visits in Multnomah County jails!
  February 9, 2015
• Prison and Jail Video Visitation: A forward-looking idea implemented badly
  January 14, 2015
• Best of 2014
  December 29, 2014
• Serial's $2,500 Phone Bill and the Prison-Calling Racket
  December 18, 2014
• New opportunity to weigh in on FCC prison phone regulation
  December 2, 2014
• Dallas County approves video visitation contract
  November 12, 2014
• FCC's new prison phone ruling released
  October 27, 2014
• FCC considers next steps to protect families from predatory prison and jail telephone industry
  October 17, 2014
• Annual Report, FCC prison and jail phone reform, and more
  October 3, 2014
• New figures show that mass incarceration is getting bigger
  September 16, 2014
• Dallas County protects visting hours, rejects Securus video visitation contract
  September 10, 2014
• PPI’s Aleks Kajstura presents at FCC workshop on further regulation of the prison phone industry
  August 22, 2014
• High prison phone rates cost parents their parental rights
  August 12, 2014
• The Atlantic: Leader of the Unfree World
  July 24, 2014
• How does incarceration in your state measure up in the global context?
  June 12, 2014
• Three massive new briefings on race, rates and states
  May 29, 2014
• Mass., stop suspending driver's licenses for unrelated drug convictions!
  May 22, 2014
• PPI helps VlogBrothers take on mass incarceration
  April 10, 2014
• New report exposes flaws in Connecticut's sentencing enhancement zone policy
  April 1, 2014
• Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
  March 13, 2014
• PPI weighs in on video visitation in New York Times "Room for Debate"
  February 24, 2014
• Valentine's Day victory for families
  February 14, 2014
• New York Times: Phoning From Prison, at Prices Through the Roof
  February 3, 2014
• FCC should remain persistent on prison phone progress
  January 17, 2014
• New York Times editorial: Unfair Phone Charges for Inmates
  January 7, 2014
• Honoring Nelson Mandela, Freedom Fighter
  December 12, 2013
• Tell the FCC to protect ALL families from outrageous prison phone charges
  December 4, 2013
• How does the FCC's prison phone regulation affect your phone bill?
  November 21, 2013
• Securus thinks families should pay $15 for a single phone call
  November 13, 2013
• Zones, phones, and maps, oh my!
  October 11, 2013
• New video: Why jails should not ban letters from home
  September 9, 2013

• Home
• About
• COVID-19
• Publications
• Issues
• Data
• Blog
• Contact
• Careers
• Donate