Prisons and Jails
Canceled Fines and Fees, $0 Cash Bail. Will Pandemic-era Criminal Justice Changes Stick?
A group that advocates for incarcerated people provides states and localities recommendations for keeping citizens who committed minor offenses out of jails and prisons.
Counties and States Embrace Fentanyl Test Strips in Battle Against Opioids
Arlington County, Virginia announced that it would begin distributing the strips to addiction-prone people leaving the county jail, the latest in a growing number of government agencies to turn to the tests as a way to prevent overdoses.
South Carolina Brings Back the Firing Squad for Executions
Amid a lethal injection drug shortage, the state has put no inmates to death in a decade. Those on death row must now choose between the electric chair and firing squad if drugs are unavailable.
Local Corrections Costs Rose by $25 Billion in Last 40 Years
But the coronavirus has ushered in creative lower-cost alternative jail programs that could last long after the pandemic, local leaders say.
America’s Rural-Jail-Death Problem
Every day, in small towns and cities across the country, thousands of people are booked into local jails, many for minor crimes. Some never come home.
Illinois Becomes First State to Abolish Cash Bail
Judges will instead use a risk assessment tool to determine a defendant's fitness for release. The change is part of a broader criminal justice reform bill Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed this week.
States Offer Perks to Inmates who Get the Covid-19 Vaccine
North Carolina is the latest state to offer incentives—commissary credits, bonus visits and early release—to motivate inmates to receive vaccination shots.
Prioritizing Prisoners for Vaccines Stirs Controversy
A fifth of all state and federal inmates have been infected with COVID-19.
Would Judges Sentence Fewer People to Prison if Local Governments Had to Pay for Their Prison Stays?
In a case where counties had to bear the cost of incarceration, local prosecutors and judges dismissed more cases. For one researcher, this raised a key question: If local governments had to pay for prison sentences, would incarceration rates decrease?
People Convicted of Crimes as Young Adults May See a Chance at Early Release in D.C.
A veto-proof majority of the D.C. City Council passed a bill to open early release to people convicted of crimes they committed before they were 25, saying they deserve the chance for rehabilitation. Victims’ advocates are skeptical.
In One State, a Racial Equity Task Force Suggests 100 Ways to Change the Criminal Justice System
North Carolina’s task force released a sweeping report calling for changes in policing and the courts.
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