In November, The Marshall Project celebrated 10 years of nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism about the criminal justice system. News Inside, which delivers our work directly to hundreds of prisons and jails across the country, exemplifies our unwavering commitment to truth in an era where facts often take a backseat.
News Inside Issue 18 provides a glimpse into the first-ever Sing Sing Film Festival, which took place in October. Organized by The Marshall Project, the festival trained a diverse group of men housed at New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility to evaluate recent criminal justice documentaries for story, style, depth and authenticity. The jurors spent a week deliberating before ultimately choosing one of five finalists for the top prize. Our lead feature story, “Incarcerated Men at Sing Sing’s First Film Festival Reflect on Movies, Justice, and Change,” explores jurors’ favorite movie memories and their personal connections to the medium.
“How Efforts to Cut Long Prison Sentences Have Stalled” examines how — across the country — reform efforts aimed at paring back long sentences are bumping up against resistance from victims’ rights groups and a resurgence of “tough-on-crime” politics.
In “A Criminal Justice Journalist Wrestles With Doubts in the Jury Box,” veteran reporter and Marshall Project senior editor Tom Meagher shares his experience serving as a juror this year in a Newark, New Jersey, criminal trial.
Issue 18 also includes all your favorite features, including the “Outside” comic, “Reader to Reader” advice column and our “Thinking Inside the Box” quiz.
Happy holidays and New Year. And don't forget — you can sign up incarcerated friends for our free subscription service by filling out this registration form.
Table of Contents
- Page 4: How Efforts to Cut Long Prison Sentences Have Stalled
- Page 5: How Mississippi’s Lifetime Voting Ban Keeps Thousands From the Polls
- Page 8: A Criminal Justice Journalist Wrestles With Doubts in the Jury Box
- Page 10: They Were in a Mental Health Crisis at a Hospital. This Is How They Landed in Jail.
- Page 14: She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad Just Before Giving Birth. Then They Took Her Baby Away.
- Page 19: Incarcerated Men at Sing Sing Share Their Views on Movies and Justice
- Page 25: How 1,200 Kids in Cuyahoga County Had Attorneys Lacking Qualifications
- Page 18: The History of Cleveland’s Black Shield Policing Group
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