mass incarceration
-
Appolition Is the App That Takes Spare Change and Turns It Into Bail Money
When it comes to incarceration, being able to be granted bail and then to come up with the bail money are two of main components that keep people locked up. According to National Bail Out, on a daily basis, 700,000 people are behind bars simply because they cannot afford bail. But social engineer Kortney Ziegler…
-
Study Shows That Black Men Serve Longer Prison Sentences Than White Men Convicted for the Same Crime; Also, Water Is Wet
I’m taking it for granted that anyone who knows anything about the American criminal-justice system could hazard a guess that black men end up serving longer prison sentences than white men who commit the same crimes. But just in case you needed solid evidence to cite in your next argument with your racist aunty, a…
-
Philly Residents Proved How Voting Can Help End Mass Incarceration
When talking about inequality in the criminal-justice system, we often focus on the war on drugs, crooked cops or the prison-industrial complex. But insiders know there is one part of America’s legal system that has an outsized influence on convictions, sentencing and incarceration: Local prosecutors. Here are a few facts that bear witness to the…
-
Investigation Finds Prison Guards Forced Inmates to Walk Around Naked Wearing Leashes
A state investigation details the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners at an Alaska correctional facility. The investigation reveals an incident in which corrections officers forced male inmates to strip naked in front of female guards, placed dog leashes around their necks and paraded them around the prison before forcing them to sleep nude in…
-
How 1 Black Woman Goes Inside Fla.’s Toughest Prisons to Help Inmates Get ‘Free on the Inside’
Facing a decade and a half in prison couldn’t stop her. Losing a loved one to suicide didn’t destroy her. Battling loss and pain while raising three children was not enough to make her quit. “Black Girl Magic” is a beautiful phrase. It summons up the image of some supernatural divination that has been arbitrarily…
-
2 Arrested at Baltimore City Council Hearing That Proposes Mandatory Minimum for Handgun Possession
All hell broke loose and two people were arrested at a Baltimore City Hall hearing for a proposed mandatory one-year sentence for possession of an illegal handgun—a bill that some say will continue to exacerbate the mass incarceration of young people of color. The Baltimore Police Department says that two unidentified men, a 29-year-old and…
-
New Study: Young Black Men Are Serving the Longest of Increasingly Longer Prison Sentences
Although criminal-justice reform has gotten a lot of airtime in the last few years—with some victories in dribs and drabs—a recent study found that the average amount of time served behind bars rose by about five years from 2000 to 2014. Not surprisingly, black men were serving the longest sentences. The Urban Institute released its…
-
Mo. Parole Board Plays Dumb Games With Prisoners, Urging Them to Say Words Like ‘Platypus’ and ‘Hootenanny’ During Hearings
In more news from the world of the white and privileged, members of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole callously played with inmates during their parole hearings by trying to get them to say ridiculous words such as “platypus” and “manatee,” or mention specific song titles, for points. Don Ruzicka, a member of the…
-
Donald Trump Will Light Up the White House in Blue to Support Police Who Face ‘Unfair Defamation and Vilification’
President Donald Trump believes that his fellow politicians are not as supportive to police as they should be, and he said Monday that officers on the beat are subject to “unfair defamation and vilification” that have made their jobs more dangerous. Trump spoke at an annual memorial for officers slain in the line of duty,…