What’s New
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Prison Policy Initiative honored to receive the Paul H. Chapman award On Saturday, I was honored to accept, on behalf of the Prison Policy Initiative, the Foundation for Improvement of Justice’s Paul H. Chapman Award for our report and campaign to end Massachusetts’ suspension of drivers licenses for unrelated drug offenses.
September 30: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Girls are being put behind bars more and more. Will Congress do anything to help? While comprehensive criminal justice reform for adults has failed to pass in Congress, a bill lingering in the Senate….
September 30: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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13 United States Senators ask Census Bureau to count incarcerated people at home Thirteen Senators call on the Census Bureau to count incarcerated people at home starting in the 2020 Census.
September 30: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community by Professor Matthew Desmond, Harvard University; Professor Andrew Papachristos, Yale University; Professor David Kirk, University of Oxford
September 30: Research Clearinghouse: Community Impact
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Protecting visitation and mail in Massachusetts prisons The Massachusetts prisons system wants to make it harder to visit and harder to mail materials to incarcerated people. We tell them that’s a bad idea.
September 28: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Why do we lock up the innocent? 90 second explainer Bill Newman takes on injustice 90 seconds at a time. In the newest episode of his Civil Liberties Minute podcast, he takes on the practice of locking up poor people because they can’t afford bail.
September 27: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Statement in Response to Federal Appeals Court Decision In Cranston "Prison Gerrymandering" Case Court allows prison gerrymandering in Cranston, RI. City still has no logical reason for counting all people incarcerated by the state as residents of a single ward.
September 21: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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100,000 people call for an end to prison gerrymandering An overview of the comment letters calling on the Census Bureau to end prison gerrymandering.
September 8: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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Prison Policy Initiative dispels the myth that a prison cell is a “usual residence” Our comment letter to the Census Bureau makes four key arguments for ending prison gerrymandering.
September 6: Prisoners of the Census Blog
Featured campaign
Protecting family visits from the predatory video visitation industry
For-profit video visitation has been quietly sweeping the nation's state prisons and county jails. But instead of using the technology to keep families connected, county jails and private companies are creating and profiting off of misery. All too often, county jails and private companies work together to supplant traditional human contact with video chats, which are sold at a price tag of up to $1.50/minute. For our January 2015 report and more on communities that have fought back, visit the issue page.
Unpacking mass incarceration
Learn about the national prison crisis and how we can begin to turn the tide on mass incarceration. Then, drill down to your state.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2014-2015 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.
Legal Resources for Incarcerated People
The internet's first always-up-to-date list of organizations that provide legal services and resources for incarcerated people, organized by state.
Tracking State Prison Growth in 50 States
State-by-state briefing on prison growth (and occassional contraction) from 1978 to 2012
Events
Nothing scheduled right now. Invite us to to your city, college or organization.