Prison reform

People gathered at City Hall in October 2022 for a rally to protest deaths in New York City's Rikers Island jail complex.

Maryland’s Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in the Democratic State Legislature Maryland’s Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in the Democratic State Legislature

Lawmakers “had the opportunity to do something that would have made a huge systemic change and put the state on the right path—and they didn’t,” said the bill’s author.

May 25, 2023 / Victoria Law

A prison inmate makes one of her daily allotment of six phone calls at the York Community Reintegration Center on May 24, 2016 in Niantic, Connecticut.

Even After a Landmark Bill, the Fight for Prison Phone Justice Isn’t Over Even After a Landmark Bill, the Fight for Prison Phone Justice Isn’t Over

The FCC needs to understand its landmark mission.

Feb 15, 2023 / Wanda Bertram

Sterilization Survivors Who Won Reparations Now Face Another Challenge—Getting It

Sterilization Survivors Who Won Reparations Now Face Another Challenge—Getting It Sterilization Survivors Who Won Reparations Now Face Another Challenge—Getting It

Advocates and incarcerated survivors wonder if enough is being done to inform and assist all survivors in California, who have until the end of the year to apply for compensation.

Jan 3, 2023 / Victoria Law

A Judge Dismisses the Murder Charge Against a Domestic Violence Survivor

A Judge Dismisses the Murder Charge Against a Domestic Violence Survivor A Judge Dismisses the Murder Charge Against a Domestic Violence Survivor

Two weeks after the Manhattan DA filed a motion to dismiss Tracy McCarter’s murder indictment, Judge Diane Kiesel agreed to drop the charge against her. 

Dec 2, 2022 / Victoria Law

India Spellman pictured incarcerated.

India Spellman Was Wrongfully Convicted When She Was Just 17 India Spellman Was Wrongfully Convicted When She Was Just 17

That was over a decade ago. When will she walk free?

Nov 8, 2022 / Alyssa Oursler and Anna DalCortivo

Meet the Woman Leading the Charge Against Bail Reform in New York

Meet the Woman Leading the Charge Against Bail Reform in New York Meet the Woman Leading the Charge Against Bail Reform in New York

The murder of her son radicalized Madeline Brame. Now, the right has embraced her as the muse of the movement to quash the most progressive bail reform law in the US.

Nov 8, 2022 / Sam Russek

Geneva Cooley, 72, walks out the main gates to the Julia Tutwiler Prison

Prisoner Advocates Turn to the UN to End Extreme Prison Sentences Prisoner Advocates Turn to the UN to End Extreme Prison Sentences

In a sharply worded complaint to UN special rapporteurs submitted on Thursday, advocacy groups call for an end to "death by incarceration" sentencing in the US.

Sep 15, 2022 / Victoria Law

Heads of Sakira Cook, left; Andrea James, right.

Without “Roe,” Who Is Holding Prosecutors to Account? Without “Roe,” Who Is Holding Prosecutors to Account?

A conversation with Andrea James, the executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Sakira Cook, the co–interim vice pr...

Aug 18, 2022 / Q&A / Laura Flanders

These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement

These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement

A corrections officers’ union in New York is campaigning against new restrictions on solitary confinement—and it’s not the only union in the country opposing prison reforms.

Aug 16, 2022 / Victoria Law

The Arizona Prison System Is Censoring “The Nation.” We’re Doing Something About It.

The Arizona Prison System Is Censoring “The Nation.” We’re Doing Something About It. The Arizona Prison System Is Censoring “The Nation.” We’re Doing Something About It.

Arizona prison authorities are stopping incarcerated people from reading The Nation. We’re working with the ACLU’s National Prison Project to assert their First Amendment rights.

Jul 25, 2022 / D.D. Guttenplan, Bhaskar Sunkara, and Katrina vanden Heuvel

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