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The history of Rikers is a warning about putting the onus of reform on infrastructure rather than the systems that lead to incarceration. If new prisons are built to replace it, it won't be long before they too will be judged inhumane.
To save the planet, a Green New Deal has to transform our entire society. Part of that transformation must include the deconstruction of our system of mass incarceration.
Prisons are uniquely closed and inaccessible parts of our government. When you combine that secrecy, lack of oversight and lack of transparency with an unpopular, politically powerless and literally captive population, it’s a recipe for bad outcomes
Officials at Danville Correctional Center had removed some 200 books from a prison library and banned for use in the education program “several classic books of African American history"
The California Institution for Men is an important reminder that the U.S. practiced in the past what prison reformers admire as humanistic punishment elsewhere.
Inmates and visitors who have lost loved ones to murder meet inside a Los Angeles prison to talk about healing and justice
In three decades of advocating for prison abolition, the activist and scholar has helped transform how people think about criminal justice.
The 2020 Democratic campaign is already shaping up to be a battle of big ideas. But when it comes to reforming our criminal legal system, the conversation hasn’t been as visionary — in fact, it’s been almost exclusively backward looking.
The technology also allows authorities to mine call databases and cross-reference the voices of individuals prisoners have spoken with.
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