Big Data
The Feature Is the Bug
For all the criticism they get, algorithms can be unlikely allies in exposing deep, structural injustices that entrench mass incarceration.
Policing
The Other Gun Violence
Shifting the narrative and policies on gun violence to include killings by police may spare many families from the pain of losing loved ones.
Sentencing
Unfinished Business
Reckoning with the lives of all the men I sent to prison is a necessary, though not sufficient, step to reckon with the untold harm of mass incarceration.
Beyond Reform
Unraveling Carceral Reach
The work of addressing harm without more prisons, police, and punitiveness is daunting. But it can be done. And it’s happening now.
Surveillance
The Case Against E-carceration
Electronic monitoring is not an alternative to incarceration. It's an alternative form of incarceration.
Politics
Carceral Democrats
There is empirical evidence that Democratic governors will outspend and out-incarcerate Republicans if their reelection depends on it. That’s entirely avoidable.
Crimmigration
Immigration Imprisonment Is a Choice
Quickly, legally, and unilaterally, the Biden administration could easily free tens of thousands trapped in ICE detention. Whether it wants to is another story.
Essay
The Keeper and the Kept
The carceral system dehumanizes not just the people we condemn, but also its massive workforce.
Politics
A Seat at the Table
Joel Castón, the first person in Washington, D.C., to run for public office and win while incarcerated, explains how giving people like him a voice is the beginning of the…
Beginnings
Welcome to Inquest
A note from our founding editors
In the States
A ‘Warm’ Closure
The state of Washington plans to close 18 prison units. It sounds like progress. But don't be fooled: It's a problem.
Institutions
Where Reform Goes to Die
In its first six months, the Biden Administration has delivered major criminal justice disappointments. The problem: DOJ is calling the shots.
Decarceral Pathways
The Entrenched Carceralism of Forensics
Forensic science is not an instrument of accuracy or truth. It is a tool of the carceral state that cannot continue to exist in its current form.