Can you help us sustain this work?
Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate
What’s New
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Death Row U.S.A. Fall 2025
by NAACP Legal Defense Fund
December 12: Research Library: Death penalty
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New ICE arrest data show the power of state and local governments to curtail mass deportations
Using fresh data on ICE arrests through mid-October from the Deportation Data Project, we examine how jails continue to facilitate mass deportation, spotlighting important opportunities for resistance at the state and local levels.
December 11: Briefings
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Our most important research and advocacy work in 2025
Highlights of our work include exposing the role jails are playing in Trump’s mass deportation agenda, a new report detailing the current state of youth confinement, and a deep dive into discretionary parole systems.
December 11: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
Featured report
Parole in Perspective: A deep dive into discretionary parole systems
Parole, a release mechanism that could significantly reduce the number of people behind bars, has reached a moment of reckoning. Dysfunctional in some states and banned in others, parole looks very different from state to state. But parole is a system worth having, if states can implement it fairly and broadly.
In this two-part report, Parole in Perspective, we take a deep dive into these systems, providing the most accessible and comprehensive look at how they operate, and what can be done to make them real tools for decarceration.
- In part 1, we examine the composition of these boards and how their hearings work.
- In part 2, we look at parole grant rates and the decisionmaking guidelines and realities that lead to those rates.
Mass incarceration, state by state
Learn about the national prison crisis and how we can begin to turn the tide on mass incarceration. Then, drill down to your state. Be sure to also check out our pages focused on D.C., and the incarceration of Native people.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2024-2025 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
The unmet health needs of people in prison
States fall far short of their duty to meet the health needs of incarcerated people.
All profit, no risk
The bail industry exploits cracks and loopholes in the legal system to avoid accountability, while growing its profits.
Compare your state's use of the prison to the world at large
Criminal justice policy in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.