by Marie Gottschalk
For more than a decade now, politicians and policymakers — from Barack Obama to Donald Trump — have lauded Texas as a model for criminal justice reform. They have praised the Lone Star State for being “smart on crime” and for incubating Right on Crime, the criminal ...
Dear Human Rights Supporter,
As we end 2020, the Covid pandemic is ravaging our nation’s prisons and jails with no end in sight. Even as vaccines are being approved to inoculate people against Covid, government agencies are announcing that the staff but not the prisoners, will be the priority in ...
by Andrew Stewart
Every year, over 650,000 people are released from state and federal prison systems while 11.6 million cycle through local jails. Traditionally, the exit process has included the return of money held by the person prior to incarceration, and sometimes wages earned while serving their sentence or money ...
by Paul Wright
Originally we were planning to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Prison Legal News (PLN) in the May 2020 issue. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting prisoners and the criminal justice system we decided to postpone it until later in the year given the urgency of reporting on ...
by Derek Gilna
In a clear victory for prisoners and their families, a federal judge has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make stimulus payments previously denied to people in prison and jail. Affected individuals must apply no later than October 30, 2020 for ...
For Nearly 50 Years, the Delancey Street Foundation Has Offered an Alternative to Prison.
But Does the Celebrated Program Really Work?
by Julia Lurie, Mother Jones
The headquarters of the Delancey Street Foundation occupies a piece of prime real estate near the base of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, tucked between ...
Visits to Icelandic Prisons Shine Light on America’s Complacency Toward the Suffering of Incarcerated People
by Doran Larson
After 40 years of an inter-partisan tougher-on-crime-than-you arms race, sentencing reform (and a desire to reduce prison costs) is one issue that now brings Republicans and Democrats together. No other advanced democracy ...
