The US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. When it comes to violent offenders and the Black community, the system isn’t working, argue criminologists.
Living conditions in a solitary cell at New York’s Rikers Island jail.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Every day, tens of thousands of American prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement. This is how that looks for those behind bars, and those guarding them.
The execution chamber inside Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
In 1972, justices handed down a decision that attacked discriminatory and capricious death sentences. But it left the door ajar for states to continue the practice.
Female prsioners wave goodbye to their fellow inmates following their release from Chikurubi prison on the outskirts of Harare in Zimbabwe in April 2021. Zimbabwe released about 3,000 prisoners due to COVID-19.
(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world released many prisoners, but this has now slowed or stopped. Here’s why those releases should continue.
University study programs in prisons can increase inmates’ chances of success after release.
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Christopher Havens is a prison inmate serving time for murder. He’s also a mathematics whiz who’s advocating for more math in prison as a way to improve the chances of prisoners after release.
The Justice Department has approved alternatives to lethal injections for federal executions. But no method of capital punishment has been without gruesome stories of what went wrong.
An inmate at California Men’s Colony prison.
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently opened a unit for people suffering dementia. But is incarceration a ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment for those who don’t understand why they are behind bars?
An inmate inside the nursing unit at Louisiana State Penitentiary.
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In the 10 years leading up to 2016, the rate of prisoner mortality rose by 15%. End-of-life options can be limited for inmates.
A ministry program student at a Texas prison. Some inmates cite religion to avoid gang recruitment.
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images
Gangs are still a significant reality in US prisons. But most inmates say that their power has been watered down, and they no longer rule facilities with an iron fist.
The number of prisons in the US swelled between 1970 and 2000, from 511 to nearly 1,663. Here’s the story of why one town in Arkansas welcomed a correction facility.