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Local prison reform advocates recognized, call for passage of reform bills in state senate
By Thomas O’Neil-White On November 15, 2023 Local and statewide prison reform advocates rallied at Niagara Square Thursday in support of two bills currently making their way through the state legislature. The Elder Parole bill would grant an automatic parole hearing to an incarcerated person 55 years and older who has served 15 years of…
They Were Prosecuted for Using Drugs While Pregnant. But It May Not Have Been a Crime
Dozens of women in Mississippi have been charged with child abuse crimes that, based on existing state law, they may not have committed. By Anna Wolfe On November 18, 2023 Spencer Woods wanted to fight a crime that didn’t exist. As a sheriff’s investigator in Monroe County, Mississippi, near the Alabama border, he would occasionally…
Deaths in Pa. jails are undercounted. Our investigation found dozens of hidden cases
By Joshua Vaughn and Brittany Hailer On November 9, 2023 Jeff Lagrotteria and Tina Talotta waited 30 minutes before doctors would allow them to enter the hospital room where their cousin Anthony Talotta was barely alive, breathing on a ventilator. “Because they had to prepare him for us to see him,” Lagrotteria said, referring to…
A Warden Tried to Fix an Abusive Prison. He Faced Death Threats.
He was tasked with ending abuse at a federal penitentiary, but he says his own officers and the Bureau of Prisons stood in the way. By Christie Thompson, Beth Schwartzapfel, and Joseph Shapiro On November 15, 2023 The handwritten letter arrived days before Christmas 2022. “THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ISSUE!!!” it began. “PLEASE HELP.” Signed…
Colorado banned forced prison labor 5 years ago. Prisoners say it’s still happening
By Meg Anderson On November 13, 2023 After a few months working in his prison’s hot and crowded kitchen, Richard Lilgerose noticed he was having trouble sleeping. “I was always anxious about having to go to the kitchen and work under these conditions for hours upon hours and not knowing when I was going to…
Cash bail policies are under fresh scrutiny
Some places have done away with the system, while others are considering stricter guidelines. By Amanda Hernandez On November 13, 2023 States can’t figure out what to do about cash bail. The system — in which an arrested suspect pays cash to avoid sitting in jail until their court date and gets the money back…
We studied jail conditions and jail deaths − here’s what we found
By Jessica L. Adler On November 13, 2023 The family of Samuel Lawrence, one of 10 people to die in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail in 2023, is fighting for answers and accountability. “I got to think about him every day of my life and I don’t know when the pain stops,” Lawrence’s father, Frank Richardson, told…
Mississippi Jailed More Than 800 People Awaiting Psychiatric Treatment in a Year. Just One Jail Meets State Standards.
Counties are allowed to hold people awaiting court-ordered psychiatric treatment in jails only if the facilities meet safety and health standards, but there’s no funding to help them comply and no penalties if they don’t. By Isabelle Taft On November 13, 2023 Fourteen years ago, Mississippi legislators passed a law requiring county jails to be…
Kids Behind Bars: Chaos, violence and neglect plague youth prisons and detention centers
By Laura A. Bischoff, Cameron Knight, and Amy L. Knapp On November 11, 2023 Ohio’s juvenile prisons and detention centers are supposed to be safe places, where the state’s most troubled children are sent for what might be a last chance to turn their lives around before adulthood. But instead of finding refuge from crime and mayhem,…