A closer look
Inside Georgia’s Youth Detention Crisis
Even as crime falls in Georgia, the state pours vast resources into abusive youth facilities that disproportionately harm Black children, according to our investigation.
advocacy
The Oscars in Solitary Confinement
‘The Alabama Solution’ might win an Academy Award this weekend. Meanwhile, its incarcerated filmmakers are in lockdown because there’s no legal protections for imprisoned whistleblowers.
Defending Prison Journalism
“We have journalists every place in the world except in prisons.”
Incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell discusses his recent book on solitary confinement, and what it would take to level the playing field for incarcerated writers.
Decarceral Pathways
The Endless Punishment
A recent book contributes firsthand testimony on the violence of solitary confinement and helps frame the question of why it has proven so central to mass incarceration.
A closer look
Punishing Through Bureaucracy
An obscure policy claimed to reward me for doing the work of rehabilitation—by sending me back to a high-security prison.
interventions
A Path Forward
After losing my son to gun violence, I started interviewing people who had taken a life in order to understand how we were trapped in the same cycles of suffering—and…
organizing
What Solidarity Looks Like
A collaboration between the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago and Northwestern University is helping to save lives by honoring multiple forms of expertise.
activism
Iron Bars to Iron Will
People ask me now, three years since my release, what freedom feels like. It feels like the protests in Minneapolis.
first person
The Reality of Love Behind Bars
Neither of us imagined that love and prison were compatible until we met. Now the state is weaponizing our marriage.
A closer look
Carceral AI is here. It’s time to fight back.
Facial recognition is just the tip of the iceberg. Today, AI is being used to monitor social media, track ICE targets, and classify swaths of the population as “future” criminals.
Carceral AI
A series focused on how AI is worsening mass incarceration.
activism
“I Was Just a Body”
Temp agencies rely on a constant stream of formerly incarcerated workers to keep jobs unstable and wages low.
interventions
The ICE Reformation Trap
Professionalization will not make immigration policing less violent. It will only increase its capacity, authority, and scope.
first person
“One Minute Remaining”
As an incarcerated mother, I have fought to remain in my children’s lives. I’ve done everything I could—and it still wasn’t enough.
A closer look
The Myth of Pro-Family America
Trump’s allies incite moral panic about shrinking white families, even as the state dismantles families of color—a paradox rooted in slavery and eugenics.
Defending Prison Journalism
“I Want to Find the Connectedness in Everyone.”
The nation’s best-known prison journalist discusses his book ‘The Tragedy of True Crime’ and the challenges faced by those who write from inside.
advocacy
Ending Felony Disenfranchisement
More than half of states do not automatically restore voting rights upon release from prison. A short film contributes to the effort underway in Georgia to end this anti-democratic practice.
first person
CPS Stole My Children
When I was falsely accused of abuse, North Carolina took away my sons. The charges were dropped but I still may never see them again.
legal history
The Racist Roots of the Death Penalty
Racial injustice was central to the establishment of the U.S. death penalty. Ending racial injustice must be central to its abolition.
Defending Prison Journalism
What Is the Role of the Prison Journalist?
A former editor-in-chief of a prison newspaper examines the responsibility of prison journalists, the constraints they work under, and why reporting from inside matters.
A closer look
My Father’s Cell
When my father was twenty-one—my age—he had already been in prison for two years.
books
The Year in Books
Join Inquest’s staff in reading not-to-be-missed titles from 2025.
A closer look
Reentry Never Ends
When reincarceration rates are treated as the sole measure of success, we undervalue the work formerly incarcerated people do to heal and confront their traumas.
first person
‘You Will Lose Your Teeth’
I aged into adulthood under the violent custody of New York’s Downstate prison. My journey to manhood has required me to prove I’m neither a monster nor a statistic.
A closer look
In the Dayroom
When Rikers furniture proves so unwieldy that her inside–outside book group can’t even form a circle, the author goes on a search to understand why U.S. prison furnishings are so…
culture
The Prison Spectacle
How reality TV turns incarceration into entertainment—and helps strengthen the very systems of violence it claims to expose.
In Depth
Why Are Freed People Still in My Prison?
In Texas, when someone makes parole, they will only be released once they have an approved home. Many of us have nowhere to go, and no one to help us…
Futures
The Fight Over Prison Flipping
As shuttered jails and prisons become luxury venues, a growing movement is calling for community-led alternatives that honor the sites’ violent histories.
A closer look
Indentured Citizens
Making incarceration profitable—for both the state and corporations—generates untold hardship not only for incarcerated people but also for their families and communities.
Defending Prison Journalism
A series in which incarcerated journalists across the nation, alongside experts and activists working to support them, share essential insights into the challenges at hand and the path forward.