First Nations children are 20 times more likely to be incarcerated. Governments need to consider raising the age of incarceration and pursuing culturally-led care for these children.
People with disability in prison may need help with personal hygiene, reading, filling in forms, understanding rules, participating in criminal justice proceedings, or making complaints.
Activists protest for the end of shackling pregnant women during birth in prison in New York in 2015.
Yanina Manolova/Associated Press
Tennessee and Wisconsin are among the states that can jail pregnant women because of illegal substance use, despite major medical groups saying that this practice isn’t effective.
Thousands of imprisoned persons in Ontario faced barriers to voting in the June 2 provincial election. Many will also be explicitly barred from voting in the upcoming municipal elections in October.
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Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University
Elections Ontario must ensure imprisoned people are provided information on their candidates, registration assistance and facilitation by Elections Ontario employees on voting day.
An inmate can be seen inside a segregation cell at the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., in 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University and Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Solitary confinement is still a common feature of prisons across Canada and in its most populous province, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a practice that amounts to torture.
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences, as well as disparities in social determinants of health, can significantly affect development and health in children.
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Adverse childhood experiences like abuse, neglect and dysfunction at home may not seem like primarily medical problems, but they have significant and enduring impact on physical and mental health.
A protester walks with a Canadian flag as police move in to clear downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill of protesters after weeks of demonstrations.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Suggesting jail or prison is appealing because it is tangible and the process is familiar, but we must ask what is a better, effective and safe way to de-escalate potentially violent situations.
In 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with his brother Tamerlan, put bombs along the Boston Marathon route, killing and injuring many.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Punishment for crimes allows a society to express its values, but a theorist of criminal law and punishment argues it could also reinforce prejudicial stereotypes about racial and ethnic groups.
Medical experts have recommended that HIV criminal laws be revised.
Spencer Platt / Staff / via Getty Images News
The Attica uprising marked a milestone in the prisoners’ rights movement. Many of the grievances aired in 1971 are still relevant to today’s incarcerated population.
While prison may isolate people from the larger community, it does not isolate them from COVID-19.
Scott Olson/Staff/Getty Images News
New research shows correctional officers are vectors of infection, driving COVID-19 rates both inside prisons and in their communities.
Youth in New Mexico used their own experiences with arrest and incarceration to advocate for others.
Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A youth group gives juvenile offenders a chance to advocate for change in the justice system.
Research shows providing a college education to inmates increases their chances of finding work upon release.
Tara Bahrampour/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Formerly incarcerated Americans face food insecurity rates double that of the general population. A 1996 law that prohibits drug felons from getting crucial benefits may be partially to blame.
A Texas woman shows a picture of her 21-year-old son, who has been incarcerated during the pandemic.
AP Photo/LM Otero
Alexander Testa, The University of Texas at San Antonio and Chantal Fahmy, The University of Texas at San Antonio
For the 6.5 million Americans who have an incarcerated family member, COVID-19 has made an already stressful situation much worse by drastically limiting communication and raising fears of death.
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.
Even though a House majority voted to impeach, President Trump, the process will likely not be finished before he’s left office. A philosopher argues why the impeachment is an important moral action.
William King circa 1890.
Public Records Office, Victoria
Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University