mass incarceration

First Analysis of Free Prison Phone Calls Shows They Reduce Violence

The first comprehensive report on the impact of offering free phone calls in United States prisons and jails shows that…

May 11, 2026

Lifers Fall Through the Cracks of the Prison Security Classification System

The Georgia Department of Corrections assigns every person in its custody a security classification: Minimum, Medium or Close. This classification…

May 4, 2026

Prison Suicide Watch Was Once a Staff Job. “Inmate Observers” Are Cheaper.

[Read Part 1 of this story here] Up until 2019, monitoring the people in the suicide watch cells at South…

April 6, 2026

With Suicide Watch Full, Prisoners Now Kept in Makeshift Cells

A decade ago when I transferred to South Central Correctional Facility, a medium-security Tennessee prison privately operated by CoreCivic, there…

April 1, 2026

Georgia Moves Backwards With New Forensic Mental Health Hospital

For the past 16 years, Georgia was under a federal injunction: It could not build any state-run psychiatric hospitals, because…

March 10, 2026

Georgia “One Strike Act”: Even More Life Sentences, Even Less Parole

In late February, senators in Georgia introduced a bill known as the One Strike Act. Though the name—a riff of…

March 2, 2026

Already Killing People, ICE to Scale Up With Warehouse Detention

“No puedo respirar!” Geraldo Lunas Campos yelled as guards pinned him down. I can’t breathe. The moments leading up to…

February 17, 2026

The False Promises of TRICOR, Tennessee’s Prison Jobs Initiative

For the past decade I worked at the print plant at South Central Correctional Facility, one of the few jobs…

February 11, 2026

The Last Days of Parole

For the first time in six years, in 2025 the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles allowed more people…

January 26, 2026

“Your Life Is Over”: Prison Guards on 16-Hour Shifts With No Backup

Three decades ago when I began my prison sentence, corrections officers worked eight-hour shifts. Some did the work well and…

January 6, 2026