Videos

Featured

• 3:40Mass Incarceration in the USOur collaboration with Hank Green of VlogBrothers explains what's wrong with mass incarceration in under 4 minutes(Hank Green of vlogbrothers with Visually and kurzgesagt and the Prison Policy Initiative.)
• 26:52Bernadette Rabuy on C-SPAN Senior Policy Analyst Bernadette Rabuy discusses our report Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie on March 26, 2017. (C-SPAN)

Prison telephone justice

• 4:37Inmates' debt to society more than just time: Price of phone calls brings in millions per year.(TMJ4 News)
• 5:02Executive Director Peter Wagner on Al Jazeera's America Tonight on September 30, 2015In the era of smartphones and unlimited long distance, individual telephone calls are almost too cheap to measure. But for one group of people -- families separated by incarceration -- telephones are both a critical lifeline and an unaffordable luxury. (Al Jazeera's America Tonight)
• 2:24The high cost of calls home from the Hampden County JailPeter explains the perverse incentives that lead the Hampden County Jail to charge unconscionable sums for telephone calls home.
• 1:55Eric Lotke: My book is fiction, but $1/minute phone calls from prison are real.
• 12:402014 David Carliner Public Interest Award Presentation(American Constitution Society)
• 51:56Hi-Priced Cell CallsBrian Lehrer interviews Drew Kukorowski on WNYC, Dec. 2012.(Brian Lehrer Show)

Prison gerrymandering

• 13:02What's the Solution to prison Gerrymandering?Legal Director Aleks Kajstury discusses how prison gerrymandering distorts political represenation.(The Mehdi Hasan Show)
• 0:48Defending Prison-Based GerrymanderingPrison-based Gerrymandering is a way to bulk up an election district with prisoners who cannot vote. It increased political power for those living near a prison, while diluting it everywhere else- especially from where the prisoners come from.
• 2:21Anamosa - GerrymanderingA clip from Gerrymandering (2010) by Jeff Reichert.
• 2:07Prison gerrymandering in Massachusetts: The Census Bureau's prison miscount & town meeting
• 1:43How Prison-based Gerrymandering Changes District Lines
• 3:53How Massachusetts Can Avoid Prison-Based Gerrymandering
• 12:402014 David Carliner Public Interest Award Presentation(American Constitution Society)
• 3:20So You Want to Be a Legislator(Bruce Reilly)
• 3:46Redistricting and the Prison Population(Students at DePauw University)
• 2:31Prison gerrymandering skews democracy, not fundingEric Lotke explains why the U.S. Census Bureau's method of counting incarcerated people undermines democratic fairness, not the bottom line. In a year-long research project, Eric found that the federal funding formulas generally are not impacted by the Census Bureau's prison miscount.

Jails banning letters

• 2:25NC prisons now only allowing digital scans of mail for inmatesCommunications Director Mike Wessler discusses how a new policy prohibiting physical mail in North Carolina prisons harms incarcerated people and their loved ones.(CBS 17)
• 3:49Why Jails Should Not Ban Letters From HomeLeah Sakala explains her report Return to Sender: Postcard-only Mail Policies in Jails

Video visitation industry

• 0:54Talk to the foreheadThe for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails often claims it is “Just like Skype.” But is it really?
• 0:59Options of one
• 0:45Only $29.95
• 1:06Family time?

War on drugs

• 1:48End driver's license suspensions for drug offensesThese laws fail to deter drug crimes and they cause real harm.
• 4:21Sentencing Enhancement ZonesOne of the worst ideas to come out of the War on Drugs

About us

• 1:52Fueling the movementHeather Thompson, Raj Jayadev and Norris Henderson on how the Prison Policy Initiative helps their work.
• 12:402014 David Carliner Public Interest Award Presentation(American Constitution Society)

Board

• 0:55Amanda Alexander on using PPI's work and joining the board
• 1:55Eric Lotke: My book is fiction, but $1/minute phone calls from prison are real.
• 1:52Fueling the movementHeather Thompson, Raj Jayadev and Norris Henderson on how the Prison Policy Initiative helps their work.
• 51:56Hi-Priced Cell CallsBrian Lehrer interviews Drew Kukorowski on WNYC, Dec. 2012.(Brian Lehrer Show)
• 2:31Prison gerrymandering skews democracy, not fundingEric Lotke explains why the U.S. Census Bureau's method of counting incarcerated people undermines democratic fairness, not the bottom line. In a year-long research project, Eric found that the federal funding formulas generally are not impacted by the Census Bureau's prison miscount.

In the news

• 13:02What's the Solution to prison Gerrymandering?Legal Director Aleks Kajstury discusses how prison gerrymandering distorts political represenation.(The Mehdi Hasan Show)
• 2:25NC prisons now only allowing digital scans of mail for inmatesCommunications Director Mike Wessler discusses how a new policy prohibiting physical mail in North Carolina prisons harms incarcerated people and their loved ones.(CBS 17)
• 4:37Inmates' debt to society more than just time: Price of phone calls brings in millions per year.(TMJ4 News)
• 18:09John Oliver cites our work on wages for incarcerated people in a segment on prison labor(Last Week Tonight)
• 26:52Bernadette Rabuy on C-SPAN Senior Policy Analyst Bernadette Rabuy discusses our report Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie on March 26, 2017. (C-SPAN)
• 5:02Executive Director Peter Wagner on Al Jazeera's America Tonight on September 30, 2015In the era of smartphones and unlimited long distance, individual telephone calls are almost too cheap to measure. But for one group of people -- families separated by incarceration -- telephones are both a critical lifeline and an unaffordable luxury. (Al Jazeera's America Tonight)
• 51:56Hi-Priced Cell CallsBrian Lehrer interviews Drew Kukorowski on WNYC, Dec. 2012.(Brian Lehrer Show)
• 0:30Chris Hayes gives shout-out to Peter Wagner(MSBNC)

Artistic collaborations

• 10:44Proliferation(Paul Rucker)