mass incarceration

“The Great Meltdown”: In Prisons, a Drug War Without Harm Reduction

Those of us incarcerated by the Georgia Department of Corrections got used to the drones a while ago. They've been…

October 7, 2022

Harm Reduction for Electronic Monitoring, Until We Can Abolish It

A new American Civil Liberties Union report on electronic monitoring (EM) lays out a blueprint for reducing systemic harms created…

October 4, 2022

Don’t Brag About Hiring People With Criminal Records If You Ignore Those of Us With Felonies

The first thing employers are going to ask me when I get out of prison and start applying for jobs…

September 27, 2022

Will Tennessee’s Initiative to Formally Outlaw Slavery Help Prisoners?

A ballot initiative in Tennessee would formally outlaw slavery in the state constitution. It would nullify an exception currently in…

September 21, 2022

Restoring Pell Grants to Prisoners Boosts Our Education—in Theory

In 2023, the Education Department will restore Pell Grant eligibility to incarcerated students and allow any nonprofit higher education facility…

September 20, 2022

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner the Latest Target of Anti-Reform Backlash

On September 13, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a resolution holding Philadelphia’s district attorney, high-profile reformer Larry Krasner, in…

September 15, 2022

American Bar Association Calls for the Abolition of Life-Without-Parole

The life-without-parole sentence is barbaric. Decarceration activists call it “death by incarceration.” Pope Francis denounced it as “a hidden death…

August 16, 2022

Why Many of Us Began Playing the Stock Market From Prison

On a Monday morning in June, Derek Collier smiled from atop his bunk in Washington state's Monroe Correctional Complex. His…

August 11, 2022

Biden’s “Safer America Plan” Involves Hiring 100,000 More Cops

On July 21, the Biden administration released its “Safer America Plan,” part of its budget for the 2023 fiscal year.…

July 26, 2022

How Prison and Parole Can Pull You Into a Debt Trap

In her late 20s, Laura* sold an eighth of Vitablend to a person who turned out to be an undercover…

July 20, 2022