Barring Prisoners From Voting Undermines Democracy

Thor Benson / Truthdig May 13, 2016 In most states, people's firsthand experience of the criminal justice system can’t be part of the political debate on how to reform it. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

America’s Killer Prisons

By John Kiriakou / OtherWords Feb 24, 2016 Inmates across America die every day because of substandard medical care. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Chelsea Clinton Attacks Bernie Sanders: ‘We Are Not Electing a King’

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Feb 17, 2016 The former first daughter joined her father in hitting out at her mother's rival Tuesday, leveling harsh criticism at Bernie Sanders' proposal to end mass incarceration in the U.S. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Report: Nebraska Routinely Holds Children in Solitary Confinement

Staff / Truthdig Jan 7, 2016 A civil rights report reveals that young offenders in the state's detention facilities are sometimes put in isolation for days, weeks or months for “relatively minor infractions.” Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

America’s Incarcerated Population, Bigger Than Any Other Nation’s, Grew Even More Last Year

Staff / Truthdig Dec 31, 2015 The Intercept reports that the federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that “about 1 in 36 adults in the United States was under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2014.” Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

How Prisons Rip Off and Exploit the Incarcerated

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jan 9, 2015 Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges discusses the forms of slavery and exploitation that thrive in today's U.S. prison system with Eddie Conway (at right), a former leader of the Black Panthers who was imprisoned for over 40 years. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Louisiana’s Incarceration Is a Private Business

Donald Kaufman / Truthdig Jan 5, 2014 Louisiana has assailed its residents to a level unequal to any other state, entering the new year with another signature No. 1 ranking in lockups. It has created a system more efficient and despondent than state run prisons or regular privatization. The costs are low, profits high and human life is a commodity that allows the market to keep growing.Louisiana has created a system more efficient and despondent than state run prisons or regular privatization. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Journalist Shane Bauer on Inhumane Prisons From California to Iran

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jul 12, 2013 More than 12,000 prisoners in California have endured five days of hunger striking to end harsh punishment, redefine gang activity, improve food quality, increase access to health care and education services, and bring an end to solitary confinement, which they call "indefinite state-sanctioned torture." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Boys in Custody and the Women Who Abuse Them

By Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica Jul 4, 2013 A new report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that in the vast majority of cases of sexual abuse in prison, it was female staff members who were targeting and exploiting the male teens in their custody. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Pussy Rioter Moved to Solitary Confinement

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 23, 2012 Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot jailed for performing an anti-Putin “punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral this year, has been transferred to a solitary cell at Berezniki penal colony, apparently at her own request. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Alexander Cockburn’s Amerika

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 7, 2012 Two percent of the U.S. adult population in lockup; 600,000 “stop-and-frisks” in New York City; three-quarters of a million people booked as official sex offenders. Counterpunch editor Alexander Cockburn thinks it's time we revisit the notion of “fascism.” Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Locking Down an American Workforce

By Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman, TomDispatch Apr 20, 2012 Prisoners, whose ranks increasingly consist of those for whom the legitimate economy has found no use, make up a virtual brigade within the reserve army of the unemployed whose ranks have ballooned along with the U.S. incarceration rate. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )