Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

Jacob Kang-Brown | January 8, 2026

How many jail stays are due to missed court dates?

Failing to make it to a court appearance – routine for attorneys and witnesses – leads to 19 million additional nights in jail each year for people accused of crimes.

Emily Widra | December 18, 2025

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.

More briefings

Jacob Kang-Brown and Brian Nam-Sonenstein | December 11, 2025

New ICE arrest data show the power of state and local governments to curtail mass deportations

Using fresh data on ICE arrests through mid-October from the Deportation Data Project, we examine how jails continue to facilitate mass deportation, spotlighting important opportunities for resistance at the state and local levels.

Miriam Vishniac and Emily Widra | November 12, 2025

Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods

Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal troubling trends in how the carceral system punishes people for a physiological process they have no control over.

Emily Widra | October 28, 2025

Almost half of all incarcerated people are in rural jails and prisons and at risk of losing access to hospitals

The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the closure of many rural hospitals, leaving people in the surrounding communities — including those in prisons and jails — facing elevated healthcare costs and limited access to necessary healthcare.

Emily Widra | August 19, 2025

New study finds confined neurodivergent youth of color are particularly vulnerable to physical assault by staff

A new study analyzing a national survey of youth in custody reveals stark disparities in rates of staff physical assault among Black and neurodivergent youth.

Leah Wang and Bianca Schindeler | July 1, 2025

Birth behind bars: Ten years of U.S. jail births covered in the news highlight horrific experiences and minimal data collection

For some of the thousands of pregnant people entering jails each year, at what might be their moment of greatest need — going into labor — jails turn a blind eye, harming mothers, newborns, and their families. The latest project from our partners at Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People, or ARRWIP, illuminates these haunting stories and the dire need for data and education about pregnancy in jails.

Jacob Kang-Brown | June 24, 2025

New research: More evidence that county jail incarceration harms health, raising death rates

The health burdens of jail expansion are heaviest in places that already lock a lot of people up. Those places also would see the largest benefits from decarceration, including fewer deaths each year.

Mike Wessler | June 11, 2025

Can they do that? A primer on the powers — and limits — of the president and federal government to shape the criminal legal system

The Trump Administration has made a lot of claims about how it will change the criminal legal system. We explain where the president and federal government have full control over the system, where they have some influence, and where their power ends.

Iolanthe Brooks | June 5, 2025

“You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives

Moving people between prisons can improve their access to treatment, programs, and visitation — but transfers can also be deeply traumatizing, disruptive, and destabilizing. In this briefing, we use transfer records and interviews with dozens of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers to examine how often people are moved, why they’re moved, and how this little-discussed aspect of prison life impacts them.

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Short, timely investigations and issue explainers

How many jail stays are due to missed court dates?

Failing to make it to a court appearance – routine for attorneys and witnesses – leads to 19 million additional nights in jail each year for people accused of crimes.

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.

More briefings

New ICE arrest data show the power of state and local governments to curtail mass deportations

Using fresh data on ICE arrests through mid-October from the Deportation Data Project, we examine how jails continue to facilitate mass deportation, spotlighting important opportunities for resistance at the state and local levels.

Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods

Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal troubling trends in how the carceral system punishes people for a physiological process they have no control over.

Almost half of all incarcerated people are in rural jails and prisons and at risk of losing access to hospitals

The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the closure of many rural hospitals, leaving people in the surrounding communities — including those in prisons and jails — facing elevated healthcare costs and limited access to necessary healthcare.

New study finds confined neurodivergent youth of color are particularly vulnerable to physical assault by staff

A new study analyzing a national survey of youth in custody reveals stark disparities in rates of staff physical assault among Black and neurodivergent youth.

Birth behind bars: Ten years of U.S. jail births covered in the news highlight horrific experiences and minimal data collection

New research: More evidence that county jail incarceration harms health, raising death rates

The health burdens of jail expansion are heaviest in places that already lock a lot of people up. Those places also would see the largest benefits from decarceration, including fewer deaths each year.

Can they do that? A primer on the powers — and limits — of the president and federal government to shape the criminal legal system

The Trump Administration has made a lot of claims about how it will change the criminal legal system. We explain where the president and federal government have full control over the system, where they have some influence, and where their power ends.

“You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives

Stay Informed

Recommended Reading:

50 state incarceration profiles

The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons

Incarceration and supervision by states

Prison Gerrymandering Project