What’s New
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Advocates warn Census Bureau of impending test failure, inaccurate counts of incarcerated people
Without testing improved ways of counting people in correctional facilities, the Bureau is destined to repeat the errors of past decades again in the 2030 Census.
March 5: Prisoners of the Census Blog
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Bad Omens: Reform rollbacks in Washington D.C. are a warning sign for state-level advocates
Bills in Congress that repeal bail reform, worsen mandatory minimums, and further criminalize youth threaten to undo decades of criminal legal system reform in D.C.
March 4: Briefings
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Truth in Sentencing and Illinois Prisons
by Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice
March 4: Research Library: Sentencing policy
Featured report
Following the Money of Mass Incarceration 2026
In this groundbreaking report, the Prison Policy Initiative aggregates economic data to offer a big picture view of who pays for and who benefits when millions of people are behind bars.
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.