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.
TOPICS
Institutions & Practices
UNDERSTANDING HOW CARCERALISM OPERATES
176 posts in ‘Institutions & Practices’
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.
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.
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
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…
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…
In Depth
The Myth of Forever Sleep
A new book examines why states continue to sell the American people on the utility of lethal injection—despite its well-documented, monstrous failings.
first person
I Walked Past Him
In prison, a cancer diagnosis might as well be a death sentence.
interventions
Patients Need Care, Not Policing
Providing hospital inpatients who use drugs with safe ways to do so is a critical part of what it means to “do no harm.”
Beyond Reform
Punishment in All but Name
Drug diversion programs are hyped by reformists as alternatives to prison—but they function just like punishment and people often end up incarcerated anyway.
democracy & power
The Canary in the Coal Mine
A number of factors—including a willingness of law enforcement to collude with federal authorities—make Los Angeles a distressing bellwether of a country succumbing to authoritarianism.
first person
Never Forget Attica Day
Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.
A closer look
The Dystopia of the World’s Tallest Jails
New York City’s plan to replace Rikers with skyscraper jails is a cautionary tale of how decarceral talking points can be misappropriated.
Life Inside
Reclaiming Health Worthiness
Faced with often deadly medical neglect, incarcerated women form networks of care that provide the life-sustaining support the state fails to give.
first person
108 Degrees
Eight Virginia prisons currently have no air-conditioning. We go to sleep in sweat and wake up in sweat, with no respite from dangerous heat.
A closer look
Not Fit for Human Consumption
Prisons serve bad, inadequate food as a way to cut costs. Providing this inhumane service is now a profitable sector of Wall Street.
Policing
Injured, Not Dead
After Jason Salters was violently attacked by NYPD officers simply for doing his job, he discovered how little accountability exists for non-fatal incidents of police violence.
interventions
More Violence at the Door
Domestic violence survivors shouldn’t have to survive police violence, too. It is time to follow the evidence to interventions that actually work.
public health
Punished for Getting Sick
Prisons are sites of pervasive medical neglect, both creating and worsening disability. Never was this more the case than during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Depth
Just Learning
Incarcerated people are eligible for Pell Grants again—but will prisons actually allow us to flourish as college students?
In Depth
Turning Death into a Commodity
ShotSpotter has leveraged gun violence into a multimillion-dollar business that promises safety but delivers only increased policing and drain on the public’s resources.
first person
What’s in a Name?
Being forced by prison authorities to publish anonymously caused me to reflect on the long history of Black authors choosing names in response to state violence.
Beginnings
When Treatment First Met the Prison
During the mid-twentieth century, the Bureau of Prisons ran two “narcotic farms” that muddled medical care with incarceration, part of a growing trend that criminalized addiction.
Beyond Reform
Pinkwashing Prisons
Efforts to improve incarceration for women ultimately support a system that is worse for all.
first person
39 Years
I rejected a plea deal and chose instead to go to trial. I would not understand until too late that I had placed a target on my back.
first person
On Aging and Dying in Captivity
This year I passed a grim milestone: I’ve now been in captivity longer than I’d been alive when I was arrested.
Life Inside
Death by Design
There are no good prisons—but even minor design changes could make them less awful to be trapped inside.
In Depth
The Hidden War Fueling New York’s Prison Guard Strike
The deadly labor action can best be understood in the context of white supremacy and class struggle.