incarceration

Hopes of Shutting Rikers Grow Under Mamdani, as Deaths Continue

On March 25, 39-year-old Barry Cozart collapsed at Rikers, New York City’s notorious island jail complex. He’d been held on…

April 15, 2026

Oklahoma Prisoners Can Now Buy “Jail Puff” Vapes and Pouches

Oklahoma has just begun allowing prisoners to purchase safer nicotine products—vapes and pouches—at commissary. Some jails already permitted this, as…

March 30, 2026

ICE Unleashed as Trump’s War on Immigrants Escalates

As President Donald Trump's war on immigrants escalates, hundreds of Venezuelans were deported to be incarcerated in El Salvador on…

March 19, 2025

New Jersey Governor Issues Pardons for Dozens of Drug-War Convictions

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) has announced pardons for dozens of people with older convictions, most of whom had drug…

December 18, 2024

How We Still Find Joy After Decades in Prison

After nearly 30 years in prison, I still find moments of joy and happiness. I wondered if anyone else was…

May 13, 2024

For Decades, Tattoos Helped Me Make Sense of Death and Prison

I got my first tattoo at 15, a Grim Reaper profile with the scythe arcing over its head. My father…

November 17, 2023

WV Governor, Chief of Staff Fighting Subpoena for Jail Civil Rights Suit

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) is fighting a deposition that would require him to testify in October 24 in…

October 20, 2023

Trying to Make Friends as an Adult, After an Adult Life Spent in Prison

The other day I was in Walmart when a little girl, maybe 8 or so, struck up a conversation. Her…

October 13, 2023

Harm Reduction Meets People Where They’re at, Unless They’re at a Prison

Harm reductionists on the outside often say the work happens in a legal gray area. That real harm reduction plays…

June 27, 2023

Making Phone Calls From Our Prison Costs Us More Than Just the Money

Thirty years ago, Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) prisoners were only allowed one 15-minute phone call per month. You made…

June 12, 2023