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What’s New
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Prison gerrymandering skews representation, not funding formulas
A new report about Census-guided funding could raise a common misconception about prison gerrymandering and money. We explain how ending prison gerrymandering will have a big impact on political representation, but not funding.
December 9: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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What Trump gets right and wrong about pardons
Pardons aren’t about helping political allies – they’re about bringing a measure of justice to an unjust system.
December 3: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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New resource: One-page guides to state-level prison gerrymandering
Now available: one-pagers highlighting the impact of prison gerrymandering on Black, Native, and Latino residents in 14 states covered by our recently-published reports.
November 28: Prisoners of the Census Blog
Featured report
Bad Behavior: How prison disciplinary systems manufacture misconduct
Every prison system has extensive lists of misconduct rules and punishments for incarcerated people who break them. In a groundbreaking report, we analyzed these policies in all 50 state prison systems and collected testimonies from dozens of incarcerated people to explore the vast range of behavior that counts as an "infraction." We found that the majority of prison disciplinary cases are for minor misconduct and that these systems play a key role in keeping people in prison longer.
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:
Tracking Trump's criminal legal system moves
The Administration is making America's criminal legal system harsher, less effective, and even more unjust.
Research Library
We curate a searchable database of 4,000+ original research reports, organizing each entry by topic and adding brief summaries.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
The U.S. incarcerates nearly 2 million people. Where are they locked up and why? Read our report.
Bad Behavior
This national report explains how prison disciplinary policies manufacture misconduct and severly punish incarcerated people.