What’s New
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Coming Home?
Assessing the Housing Needs of People Nearing Release from Illinois Prisons by Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice
December 31: Research Library: Reentry and recidivism
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Our favorite journalism about the criminal legal system in 2025
And some commentary and editorial writing, too.
December 22: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Large Minnesota study underscores disproportionate rates of health problems among recently incarcerated and unhoused people
In a study of more than 4.3 million people in Minnesota, researchers found widespread disparities in health conditions between the general population and people who were recently unhoused, jailed, or imprisoned.
December 18: Briefings
Featured report
Building exits off the highway to mass incarceration: Diversion programs explained
"Diversion program" can refer to a wide variety of initiatives to keep people out of jail. We wrote one report that explains them all. Our report envisions the criminal justice process as a highway, with five major "exits" off the road to incarceration — that is, five basic types of diversion programs. We compare and contrast the different programs, showing how the best programs get people off the highway to incarceration as early as possible, long before jail time or arrest.
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:
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons
It can strengthen connections, but instead has been used to sap money from incarcerated people.
Incarceration and supervision by states
Probation and parole are the leading forms of mass punishment in America.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.