prisons

Glynn Simmons reacts as he leaves court after a judge ruled to approve his "actual innocence" claim during a hearing at the Oklahoma County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla.

National

An Oklahoma judge ruled a man who spent 48 years in prison for murder is innocent

3:30pm December 20, 2023

by The Associated Press

Glynn Simmons, 71, was released in July after prosecutors agreed that key evidence in his case was not turned over to his defense lawyers. He is the longest imprisoned U.S. inmate to be exonerated.

Soldiers patrol from on top of an armored vehicle as supporters of presidential candidate Daniel Noboa, of the National Democratic Action Alliance political party, attend a rally downtown in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023.

World News

A 7th man accused of killing an Ecuador presidential candidate is slain in prison

1:21am October 09, 2023

by The Associated Press

The killing of the seven suspects happened a little more than a week before Ecuador holds a presidential runoff election and as officials struggle to explain how this was possible.

Fulton County Jail is seen on April 2, 2013, in Atlanta. The Justice Department announced that it has opened a civil investigation into the conditions at the facility.

Feds to investigate Georgia's Fulton County Jail for filthy, dangerous conditions

2:31pm July 13, 2023

by Jaclyn Diaz

The investigation into the Atlanta-based jail comes almost a year after the death of Lashawn Thompson who died in a bedbug-infested cell in Fulton County Jail's psychiatric wing.

Larry Jordan, 74, served 38 years in an Alabama prison and is in poor health now. One reason the U.S. trails other developed countries in life expectancy, experts say, is that it has more people behind bars and keeps them there far longer.

Health & Safety

When a prison sentence becomes a death sentence

5:38am April 27, 2023

by Fred Clasen-Kelly

As U.S. life expectancy falls, experts say incarceration has serious health impacts. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of people in prison or jail in the developed world.

People walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Processing Center operated by GEO Group Inc. in Adelanto, Calif. The company is facing a lawsuit for the alleged use of hazardous chemicals in the facility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National

GEO Group sickened ICE detainees with hazardous chemicals for months, a lawsuit says

9:11am March 25, 2023

by Jaclyn Diaz

The Social Justice Legal Foundation says one of the country's largest private prison operators knowingly exposed ICE detainees to the disinfectant HDQ Neutral.

Two of artist Dean Gillespie's miniatures in the traveling visual arts exhibition Marking Time, which examines mass incarceration.

'Imagining Freedom' will give $125 million to art projects focused on incarceration

10:45am February 15, 2023

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

Since 2020, the Mellon Foundation has given over $40 million to arts and humanities projects addressing mass incarceration. In all, it says, it will donate $125 million to such efforts.

Queue Listen Now

NC inmate safety, juvenile justice changes begin Wednesday

3:53pm December 01, 2021

by Associated Press

Some North Carolina laws that took effect on Wednesday are designed to protect expectant mothers behind bars, keep more elementary school-age children accused of misdeeds out of court and force pol

Police walk on the roof of the Litoral Penitentiary on Saturday after riots broke out inside the jail in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

World News

Dozens of inmates die in a battle between prison gangs in Ecuador

2:42pm November 13, 2021

by The Associated Press

A prolonged gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador's largest prison was the latest violence to hit the Litoral Penitentiary, which recently saw the country's worst prison bloodbath.

State prisons are grappling with how to deal with an increase in overdoses due to alcohol and drug abuse.

National

Overdose Deaths In State Prisons Have Jumped Dramatically Since 2001

3:49pm July 15, 2021

Deaths from drugs and alcohol have increased by more than 600% in state prisons in the last two decades, giving lie to the idea that sending addicts to prison can help them stop using.

Sonia Doe, pictured here, reached a settlement with the New Jersey Department of Corrections that will make it standard for the state to assign prison stays to a person based on their gender identity, not the sex assigned at birth.

National

New Jersey Prisoners Will Be Placed Based On Gender Identity Under A New Policy

9:49am June 29, 2021

by Jaclyn Diaz

As part of civil lawsuit settlement, the New Jersey Department of Corrections has agreed to make it customary for prisoners to be assigned a prison stay in line with their gender identity.