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News
December 20, 2015
Spotting the ‘Red Flags’ of Abusive Prison Guards
Under pressure, New York says it will better track correctional officers
By
Tom Robbins
Commentary
May 28, 2015
How Nebraska Repealed the Death Penalty
A deep-red state shows the way, with conservatives in the lead.
By
Shari Silberstein
Closing Argument
March 25, 2023
New FBI Data Shows More Hate Crimes. These Groups Saw The Sharpest Rise.
Bias-related crimes rose in 2021 to nearly 11,000 incidents.
By
Weihua Li
and
Jamiles Lartey
Jackson
June 20
Mississippi Wants to Allow Some Votes From Jails and Prisons. Red Tape May Stop It.
A new state law will allow more people in jails and prisons to cast absentee ballots, but many obstacles remain.
By
Caleb Bedillion
Life Inside
August 13, 2020
During the Pandemic, a Prison Funeral for Our Angel
Despite coronavirus-related lockdown and a skittish staff, prisoners at California Women’s Facility pulled off a full-fledged memorial service for a beloved long-termer.
By
Michele Scott
News and Awards
May 6
The Marshall Project Wins the Dart Award for “The Mercy Workers”
Our feature on mitigation specialists who help save people from the death penalty was recognized for making “significant contributions to public understanding of trauma-related issues.”
By
The Marshall Project
Life Inside
December 18, 2020
A Question of Violence
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas is barred from COVID-related release from San Quentin because his 20-year-old crime was violent. GoFundMe cancelled his legal defense campaign for the same reason. Here’s what it’s like to live with the scarlet letter V.
By
Rahsaan "New York" Thomas
Closing Argument
November 11, 2023
Supreme Court Takes on Gun Cases as State Laws Shift
The court is considering the safety of victims of domestic violence, bump stocks and more.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Life Inside
January 26, 2017
The Implications of Trying to Kill Yourself on Death Row
Is dying sooner better than being executed later?
By
George T. Wilkerson
Coronavirus
April 22, 2020
Is Domestic Violence Rising During the Coronavirus Shutdown? Here’s What the Data Shows.
Reports of domestic abuse in three cities have dropped. But police and experts say that may be a problem.
By
Weihua Li
and
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
July 1, 2015
How the Law Will Adapt to Oregon’s Legalized Pot
Expunged arrest records, and new jobs for police dogs.
By
Maura Ewing
,
Carl Stoffers
,
Simone Seiver
and
Eli Hager
News
August 6, 2018
Senators Take Aim at Bail Industry Backers
Cory Booker and Sherrod Brown, both Democrats, want answers from the insurance industry.
By
Joseph Neff
Life Inside
February 13, 2015
Love in Solitary
A relationship told through letters.
Compiled by
Caroline Grueskin
Coronavirus
May 21, 2020
Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort Got to Leave Federal Prison Due to COVID-19. They’re The Exception.
Just a small fraction of federal prisoners have been sent home. Many others lack legal help and connections to make their case.
By
Joseph Neff
and
Keri Blakinger
News
November 21, 2017
43 States Suspend Licenses for Unpaid Court Debt, But That Could Change
Lawsuits say the practice severely penalizes those too poor to pay.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
December 1, 2016
‘Please Find My Grandson’
What I saw tracking down the mentally ill in jail.
By
Margaret Altman
Investigate Your State
October 3, 2023
How to Report on Banned Books in Prisons in Your State
Prisons are among the most restrictive reading environments in the United States.
By
The Marshall Project
Commentary
June 26, 2015
Fact-Checking Season 3 of Orange Is the New Black
A former CO — and first-time OITNB-watcher — weighs in.
By
Carl Stoffers
Violation
December 11, 2023
The Court Ruling Jacob Wideman Was Waiting For
A “Violation” podcast update brings listeners the latest news in Wideman’s case, including his reaction to a ruling that leaves him few paths to freedom.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Commentary
May 22, 2016
Pretty in Pink Handcuffs
We’re going to shackle you while you give birth, but you’ll look great.
By
Bill Keller
News
February 2, 2017
Watch: A New Documentary’s Rare Access Inside Solitary
A filmmaker spends a year inside a Virginia supermax facility.
By
Celina Fang
Analysis
September 23, 2019
Do Deportations Lower Crime? Not According to the Data
A new study casts doubt on the effectiveness of a program that encourages local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
By
Anna Flagg
News
May 10, 2019
Treatment for Opioid Addiction, With No Strings Attached
Some doctors are abandoning the long-held belief that treating addiction is impossible without talk therapy.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
March 2, 2015
No Jail Time for Attica Guards
Brutal beating resolved with a misdemeanor plea.
By
Tom Robbins
and
Lauren D'avolio
Closing Argument
August 19, 2023
Battles Over ‘Progressive’ Prosecutors’ Decisions Heating Up
Conservatives target local elected officials in fights over marijuana, abortion and sentencing
By
Jamiles Lartey
News
May 11, 2020
A Growing Number of State Courts Are Confronting Unconscious Racism In Jury Selection
“A judge who deals with prosecutors every day is not going to say, ‘You intentionally discriminated on the basis of race, and you lied about it with pretextual reasons.’”
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
February 24, 2015
Debtors’ Prisons, Then and Now: FAQ
Congress outlawed them. The Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional. Yet they live on.
By
Eli Hager
Feature
February 10, 2022
The Rise and Fall of a Prison Town Queen
A family feud over drugs, money and fried fish roils the heart of the Texas prison system.
By
Keri Blakinger
Feature
December 2, 2021
She Was Having a Seizure. Police Shocked Her With a Taser.
How an Alabama teen sought justice after a violent police encounter upended her life.
By
Wendy Ruderman
and
Abbie VanSickle
News
June 8, 2020
The Short, Fraught History of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ American Flag
The controversial version of the U.S. flag has been hailed as a sign of police solidarity and criticized as a symbol of white supremacy.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Cary Aspinwall
Life Inside
March 15
Boxer Shorts Blues: My Path to Gender-Affirming Underwear in Prison
Nonbinary writer K.C. Johnson soon learned that behind bars, even their underwear was subject to deliberations.
By
K.C. Johnson
The Frame
March 13, 2016
The Radio Show That Reunited Inmates and Families
“Shout outs” on the air led to van rides to the supermax.
by
Lisa Iaboni
Q&A
June 16, 2015
The Corizon CEO on Losing Its Contract With Rikers
"You win some, you lose some."
By
Maura Ewing
News
August 14, 2017
Crowdsourcing the Charlottesville Investigation
The mixed blessing of an internet posse.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Simone Weichselbaum
Feature
October 3, 2018
Banished
After passing a series of restrictive housing laws, Miami-Dade County faces an odd predicament: bands of nomadic sex offenders and a cat-and-mouse game to move them.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
and
Emily Kassie
Feature
May 8, 2018
The Connecticut Experiment
Young brains are still evolving. One prison is trying to take advantage of that.
By
Maurice Chammah
Feature
December 15, 2021
Essential but Excluded
Immigrants put seafood on America’s tables. But many have been shut out of pandemic aid — and so have their U.S. citizen children.
By
Julia Preston
and
Ariel Goodman
Feature
January 9, 2020
Think Debtors Prisons Are a Thing of the Past? Not in Mississippi.
How the state’s “restitution program” forces poor people to work off small debts.
By
Anna Wolfe
and
Michelle Liu
Life Inside
October 25, 2018
Freaky Friday, Prison-Style
At a Kentucky prison, inmates and staff switch places during a “re-entry to society” role-playing game.
By
Derek R. Trumbo, Sr.
Life Inside
October 6, 2016
How a Phone Changed My Life on Death Row
“I felt like a virgin on my wedding night — eager to put this thing to use, not sure if it’ll hurt.”
By
George T. Wilkerson
Feature
May 22, 2017
The Accusation
Katie's father went to prison for raping her and her brothers. It was an unthinkable crime that broke her family apart. So why couldn't she remember it?
By
Maurice Chammah
News
December 23, 2014
PowerPoint Justice
When prosecutors slide around the law.
By
Ken Armstrong
The Lowdown
February 11, 2015
Conjugal Visits
Why they’re disappearing, which states still use them, and what really happens during those overnight visits.
By
Dana Goldstein
Life Inside
August 4, 2022
Prison Money Diaries: What People Really Make (and Spend) Behind Bars
We asked people in prison to track their earning and spending — and bartering and side hustles — for 30 days. Their accounts reveal a thriving underground economy behind bars.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Cleveland
December 21
Lost Your License in Ohio Due to Debt? A New State Bill Might Fix That
A Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 report helped spark a bipartisan bill to end spiraling financial strain on hundreds of thousands of drivers.
By
Mark Puente
, The Marshall Project and
Tara Morgan
, News 5 Cleveland
Life Inside
December 6, 2018
Should I Have Let My Friend on Death Row Kill Himself?
“We don’t live on death row; we wait to die.”
By
Paul Brown
Feature
April 9, 2018
Spying on Attica
How nearly 2,000 cameras tamed America’s most notorious prison
By
John J. Lennon
Feature
June 13
Serving Time for Their Abusers’ Crimes
The Marshall Project found nearly 100 people who were punished for the actions of their abusers under little-known laws like “accomplice liability.”
By
Shannon Heffernan
The Lowdown
February 12, 2015
Prison Personals
How prison pen pal services became the new OkCupid.
By
Simone Weichselbaum
Commentary
February 26, 2015
The Great Empiricist
Thurgood Marshall’s unsentimental views on race and the death penalty.
by
Evan Mandery
Analysis
December 15, 2016
How Blacks and Whites Die Differently in Prison
New federal data shows some stark racial disparities.
Story and graphics by
Yolanda Martinez
Testify
October 26, 2022
How We Analyzed Cases of People Cycling In and Out of Cleveland’s Courts
The Marshall Project examined tens of thousands of criminal cases in Cuyahoga County.
By
Ilica Mahajan
and
David Eads
Cleveland
August 10
No License to Drive: Why So Many Ohioans Are Barred From Driving
Hundreds of thousands of Ohio drivers are suspended, mostly for unpaid fines.
By
Mark Puente
, The Marshall Project and
Tara Morgan
, News 5 Cleveland
Feature
October 23, 2015
Exclusive: Obama Calls the Death Penalty “Deeply Troubling.”
A one-on-one interview with the president.
By
The Marshall Project
Quiz
July 24, 2016
Is It Time to Roll Back the Laws on Spreading HIV?
Take our quiz on which criminal penalties remain in force.
By
Deonna Anderson
News
March 27, 2015
West Virginia Loosens Anti-Truancy Laws
But does the state go far enough?
By
Dana Goldstein
Analysis
September 1, 2022
How We Tracked Prosecutions for Pregnancy Loss
Where we got our data and how we analyzed it.
By
Cary Aspinwall
and
Andrew Rodriguez Calderón
The System
November 11, 2020
The United States of Incarceration
The United States locks up more people per capita than any other developed country. Here’s why.
By
Nicole Lewis
and
Annaliese Griffin
Commentary
November 13, 2018
Voters Want Criminal Justice Reform. Are Politicians Listening?
Midterms show wide support across party lines for changing the system.
Daniel Gotoff
and
Celinda Lake
Crime on the Ballot
November 9, 2016
Law and Order Trumps Reform
There’s a new sheriff in town.
By
Bill Keller
The Lowdown
November 19, 2014
Fakeup
How women in prison remake makeup.
By
Simone Weichselbaum
News
January 20, 2015
The Near Death of Mark Christeson
He was nearly executed because his lawyers missed a filing deadline. Now the Supreme Court has weighed in on what should happen next.
By
Ken Armstrong
Life Inside
January 22, 2016
How I Experience Female Contact in Prison
On being pent up.
By
Rahsaan Thomas
Analysis
August 28, 2019
Is It Time to Remove Immigration Courts From Presidential Control?
Calls grow to create an independent court system that protects immigration judges from political pressure.
By
Julia Preston
Life Inside
January 10, 2019
Why Showering in Prison Is Hell
“Step by step, I shuffle forward amid the mass of bodies, waiting to get inside.”
By
Jason Wright
Commentary
May 21, 2015
The ‘South Texas Family Residential Center’ Is No Haven
It’s an internment camp.
By
Carl Takei
Feature
June 22, 2015
How the Right got Religion on Justice
Pat Nolan and a movement that may have found its moment.
By
Bill Keller
Feature
June 1, 2015
After Lethal Injection
Three states, three ways to kill a human being.
By
Maurice Chammah
,
Eli Hager
and
Andrew Cohen
Violation
March 22, 2023
A Summer Camp Murder. Two Sons, Lost.
The premiere of “Violation,” a podcast from The Marshall Project and WBUR, examines the decades-long ripple effects of an inexplicable crime.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Violation
April 5, 2023
‘A Trap for the Unwary’: The Power and Paradox of Parole Boards
Part Three of the “Violation” podcast examines America’s opaque parole system and how Jacob Wideman prepared to argue for his release.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Feature
July 21, 2020
They Agreed to Meet Their Mother’s Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.
A Florida family opted for restorative justice over the death penalty for the man who murdered their mom. What happened next made them question the very meaning of justice.
By
Eli Hager
Commentary
February 27, 2015
The Killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson
How a post-Civil War massacre impacted racial justice in America.
By
Debo Adegbile
Feature
June 28, 2015
This is Rikers
From the people who live and work there.
By
The Marshall Project
Feature
February 3, 2016
Policing the Future
In the aftermath of Michael Brown's death, St. Louis cops embrace crime-predicting software.
By
Maurice Chammah
, with additional reporting by
Mark Hansen
News
February 4, 2016
Six States Where Felons Can’t Get Food Stamps
Few holdouts remain, as drug-war-era bans on benefits are lifted.
By
Eli Hager
Cleveland
November 16
In Ohio, Losing Your License Is Easy. Getting It Back Is Complicated.
Here’s everything you need to know about the time-consuming — and expensive — process.
By
Rachel Dissell
, The Marshall Project, and
Kellie Morris
, Cleveland Documenters
Life Inside
July 19, 2018
It’s Surprisingly Tough to Avoid Snitching in Prison
How hard could it be not to betray your friends?
By
George T. Wilkerson
Life Inside
November 15, 2018
Even My Dreams Are Behind Bars
After being locked up for years, a prisoner’s ability to see freedom fades.
By
Felix Rosado
Life Inside
January 11, 2018
The Curious Case of the Prisoners in the Wrong Cellblock
A mystery unfolds during an urgent phone call.
By
Sterling R. Cunio
Español
March 5, 2021
Lo que las personas en prisión deben saber sobre la vacuna contra el COVID-19
Más de 100 personas encarceladas en todo el país nos plantearon sus preguntas sobre la vacuna. A continuación explicamos si es segura, cuándo estará disponible y más
Por
Ariel Goodman
.
Quiz
June 30, 2016
How Much Do You Know About the Death Penalty in the U.S.?
Forty years ago, we restored capital punishment.
By
Emily Hopkins
Analysis
November 26, 2019
Why Police Struggle to Report One of The Fastest-Growing Hate Crimes
Gender has passed religion and sexual orientation as one of the most common motivations behind hate crimes, but recognizing it is a challenge for many police departments.
By
Weihua Li
Cleveland
March 13
Ohio Is Among 34 States That Criminalize People Living With HIV. Who Gets Prosecuted?
Cuyahoga County prosecutes the most people under laws with heightened penalties.
By
Rachel Dissell
, The Marshall Project, and
Ken Schneck
, The Buckeye Flame
Analysis
September 26, 2016
Who is ICE Deporting?
Obama’s promise to focus on “felons not families” has fallen short
By
Christie Thompson
and
Anna Flagg
News
June 9, 2016
The Scandal-Singed DAs Who Want to Be Judges
For decades, California prosecutors covered up unethical deals with jailhouse informers.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Southside
November 1, 2018
The Gun King
A middle-class college student from the Chicago suburbs used Facebook to sell firearms to gangsters. But was he a kingpin or a scapegoat?
By
John H. Richardson
Feature
February 28, 2015
Attica’s Ghosts
A savage beating, a culture “beyond repair.”
By
Tom Robbins
Feature
January 18, 2022
Anatomy of a Murder Confession
Texas Ranger James Holland became famous for cajoling killers into confessing to their crimes. But did some of his methods — from lying to suspects to having witnesses hypnotized — ensnare innocent people, too?
By
Maurice Chammah
News
March 29, 2016
DOJ Tells Prisons to Put Safety First in Housing Transgender Inmates
Rules from 2012 are too often ignored, advocates say.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
May 5, 2016
My Father Killed Two People
On living with, and sharing, that information for a lifetime.
By
Pamela Brunskill
Commentary
August 12, 2016
End Prisons-for-Profit
A scathing report calls for “better oversight.” That’s not enough.
By
Carl Takei
Life Inside
August 25, 2016
What I've Learned Cutting Hair in Jail
“They look tired, ragged, and sick, more so than they thought they would.”
By
Andre Lyons
Life Inside
January 29, 2016
What It’s Like to Be Moved From Cell to Cell, Prison to Prison
An endless shuffle takes a toll.
By
Arthur Longworth
Q&A
March 2, 2016
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Remembers Rodney King and the L.A. Riots
‘Rodney King is in the lineage of Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Trayvon Martin — that lineage of violation.’
By
Bill Keller
Commentary
July 3, 2018
Revolutionary Moments in Law Enforcement
Had British authorities and their soldiers exercised de-escalation tactics, would the United States exist today?
By
Robin Washington
Commentary
August 15, 2018
What ‘Enemies Of The People’ Truly Means — And Why The Media Are Not
Journalists expose systems that don’t work, and officials often agree.
By
Carroll Bogert
News
October 24, 2017
Innocent, Disabled and Vulnerable
A judge protects an exonerated man from his lawyer.
By
Joseph Neff
News
January 4, 2018
The Latest Big Win for Prison Privatization
It just got a lot harder to send a care package to New York prisoners.
By
Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge
Life Inside
May 17, 2018
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things on Death Row
Not even an extra boiled egg.
By
Timothy White
Analysis
December 16, 2016
Why Congress May Bring Criminal Justice Reform Back to Life
Four reasons a bipartisan bill has a better chance than you think
By
Bill Keller