What’s New
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Caging compassion: Recognizing and resisting carceral humanist narratives in criminal justice reform
Advocates for criminal justice reform are often caught between the immediate need to address the dehumanizing….
January 30: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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Resource spotlight: Data projects tracking police misconduct, use of force, and employment histories
The need for law enforcement transparency, oversight, and accountability has never been clearer. We highlight data projects that have helped document and investigate misconduct, as both data sources and as models for others who want to contribute to these collective efforts.
January 26: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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New study: Kids who need treatment for opioid use disorder rarely get it
A new nationwide study published in Health Affairs finds that adolescents aged 12 to 17 struggle to access and remain engaged in treatment, often because they are not offered youth-tailored treatment and gold-standard opioid use disorder medications.
January 22: 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:
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.