News

by Richard A. Webster On September 25, 2023 Earlier this month, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a ruling that, at first glance, appeared to be a major blow to criminal justice reformers seeking to shrink the state’s bloated prison population. But experts say it didn’t completely shut the door on efforts to reduce long sentences and may have…

Placement in a halfway house can significantly improve someone’s chances of reintegrating into society after prison. But numerous people imprisoned in Georgia told The Appeal that they were denied access to the state’s transitional housing programs because of their medical conditions. By C. Dreams On September 25, 2023 In August of 2021, Gus, a prisoner…

Despite repeated efforts at reform, allegations of mistreatment mount at youth facilities across the country. By LaKeidra Chavis On September 23, 2023 This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters here. A decision to remove minors…

By Danny Robbins and Carrie Teegardin On September 21, 2023 Inside Georgia’s prisons, wave after waveof prison employees have become criminals themselves — smuggling in contraband or allowing others to do it and at times pocketing payoffs in the thousands, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found. Prisoners have run elaborate drug-trafficking networks and cybercrime schemes as…

“My daughter has nightmares and wakes up screaming and crying because all she sees is her dad being beaten and strangled and screaming for help.” – Christy Martin, whose daughter’s father was killed in prison. This story is part of Appleseed’s series “Cruel and Unusual” focusing on the people harmed by Alabama’s overreliance on excessive…

By Jonathan Mattise On September 29, 2023 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee and Kentucky can continue to ban gender-affirming care for young transgender people while legal challenges against those state laws proceed, federal appeals judges ruled. In a 2-1 decision by a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel late Thursday, the majority wrote that elected lawmakers…

On September 14, 2023 Twenty-two-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested and forced into a van by Iran’s so called “morality police” in the capital Tehran on 13 September last year. Authorities alleged she was not in conformity with the country’s strict laws on mandatory veiling. She died on 16 September reportedly after suffering a heart…

Women, Girls Are Targets; ICC Mandated to Prosecute Gender-Based Cases On September 8, 2023 (New York) – Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are committing the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women and girls, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Since taking over the country in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed laws and policies intended to deny…

On September 12, 2023 DELIVERED BY Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights AT 54th session of the Human Rights Council Mr Vice President,Excellencies,Colleagues, I am deeply saddened by the continued and widespread deterioration of human rights in Nicaragua. Punishing and locking out those who voice their views, and further intensifying the country’s isolation,…

Nearly 200,000 people, half of whom are children, are now displaced across the country, with 130,000 in the capital alone. On September 11, 2023 PORT-AU-PRINCE, 11 September 2023 – A hotspot of armed violence in metropolitan Port-au-Prince in recent weeks has put thousands of families at risk in the neighborhoods of Carrefour-Feuilles and Savanes Pistaches, and…