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Inside Story
February 16, 2023
Changing Perceptions of Prisons and Policing
We explore prison tourism and the balance between glorification and education, and meet two detectives trying to change the image of policing.
By
Lawrence Bartley
and
Donald Washington, Jr.
Life Inside
July 20, 2017
The Accident That Changed My Life in Prison
An inmate remembers his bond with a prison employee who was more than just “one of them.”
By
Derek R. Trumbo, Sr.
News and Awards
June 4, 2018
How You Can Support Our Work
By
Bill Keller
News and Awards
November 7, 2022
Emma Carew Grovum Joins The Marshall Project as First-Ever Director of Careers and Culture
By
The Marshall Project
News
May 6, 2016
America’s Loudest Sheriffs: A Reading Guide
Milwaukee’s David Clarke is the latest in a long line of controversy-courting lawmen
By
Maurice Chammah
Life Inside
August 8, 2019
I Had a Shitty Job in Prison
“Down in a wastewater-treatment pit, I kept furiously shoving the black liquid toward the pump, with a squeegee.”
By
Adrian Drepaul
Life Inside
August 31, 2017
I Set a Defendant Free And Got Blamed When He Raped Someone
A judge explains how he decides whether to release a defendant before trial without bail — and how it can go bad.
By
Ronald Kessler
Justice Talk
February 22, 2016
What You Need To Know About Predictive Policing
Key background reading before our discussion on predictive policing on Wednesday, February 24th.
By
Blair Hickman
News Inside
May 5, 2020
Incarcerated Lives Matter
Issue 4 of News Inside features a prison-specific coronavirus survival guide and results from our groundbreaking political survey of incarcerated people.
By
Lawrence Bartley
The Frame
November 29, 2018
Working Their Way Home from Prison
Brian L. Frank photographs young men in a California prison camp and on their journeys to freedom.
Photographs by
Brian L. Frank
News
April 20, 2018
A Lawyer Who Helped an Exoneree Blow Through $750,000 Is Under Investigation
The North Carolina State Bar probes Patrick Megaro.
By
Joseph Neff
News and Awards
August 16, 2017
How You Can Support Our Work
If you believe in what we do, become a member today.
By
Bill Keller
News Inside
March 17, 2021
You Blocked My Freedom and My Liberty, But Don’t Block My News
Getting News Inside into prisons and jails isn’t easy during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we remain committed to putting lifesaving information in your hands.
By
Lawrence Bartley
Life Inside
July 25, 2019
It Was My Job to Tell the Truth About Jails
“Anyone not touched by the system was unlikely to understand: Going to jail actually marks a story’s beginning.”
By
Robin Campbell
Life Inside
June 25, 2020
How My White Privilege Protected Me In Jail
Being locked up for a crime I didn’t commit was hard. But nothing compares to the humiliation and harassment that my elderly, disabled, Black cellmate experienced.
By
Michelle Hadley
Life Inside
August 11, 2016
I'm a Judge and I Think Criminal Court Is Horrifying
“I was shocked at the casual racism emanating from the bench.”
By
Hon. Shelley C. Chapman
Closing Argument
September 10, 2022
Why Record Heat Can Be Deadlier in Prisons
Corrections officials across most of the nation have not prepared for warmer summers and record heat waves.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Closing Argument
August 26
Cruel Summer: When Basic Survival Can Become Illegal
Extreme heat heightens the tensions between homeless communities and the police.
By
Geoff Hing
Analysis
August 21, 2020
COVID-19’s Toll on People of Color Is Worse Than We Knew
New data shows deaths from all causes—COVID and otherwise—have gone up 9 percent among White Americans, but more than 30 percent in communities of color.
By
Anna Flagg
,
Damini Sharma
,
Larry Fenn
and
Mike Stobbe
News
March 10, 2015
The $14 Million Death Sentence
Louisiana tried to sentence five men to death for the murder of a prison guard. It wasn’t cheap.
By
Maurice Chammah
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
News and Awards
November 15, 2014
Why The “Marshall” Project?
Thurgood Marshall was a towering figure in the civil rights movement and the first African American justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
By
The Marshall Project
Commentary
April 18, 2016
Some of Our Best Work of the Past Year
From David Simon's Baltimore anguish to elite police fraternities to teens behind bars.
By
Bill Keller
News
November 24, 2015
The $33 Test in Prison That Could Save Countless Lives on the Outside
Treating Hep C isn’t cheap, but experts say it’s cost-effective.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Commentary
August 2, 2018
In Trump Country, ICE May Chill Immigrants’ Crime Reports
Fewer calls on opioid abuse may mean sicker, and more dangerous, rural communities.
Tonyaa J. Weathersbee
News and Awards
May 26, 2020
The Marshall Project and Sundance Institute Announce Short Film Grantees
Films offering new perspectives on criminal justice in the United States to be made through a new initiative from The Sundance Institute and The Marshall Project
By
The Marshall Project
Life Inside
November 13, 2019
What I Think About When I Think About Freedom
“It’s conflicting, I imagine, to hear how someone who once took a life thinks about living a good life.”
By
John J. Lennon
The Frame
November 25, 2019
How This Prison Collaborated on a Larger-Than-Life Work of Art
French artist JR worked with California prisoners to create his latest installation.
By
Celina Fang
Life Inside
March 28, 2019
In Military Prison I Learned The True Meaning of Service
It took me more than 20 years to become a lieutenant colonel. Then I was sent to Leavenworth.
By
Ken Pinkela
as told to Joseph Darius Jaafari
Commentary
December 1, 2017
Cyntoia Brown and Our Twisted System
The process that sent a teenage sex-trafficking victim to prison for life didn’t fail. It worked as it was designed to.
By
Donovan X. Ramsey
Commentary
April 17, 2017
Law Partners
A prosecutor on what his wife, a defense attorney, taught him about justice.
Jesse Weinstein
Life Inside
October 27, 2016
After Nearly 20 Years in Prison, a Parking Lot Was Heaven
The terror and joy of stepping outside.
By
Carlos Flores
News
August 21, 2016
Does College Hazing Defy the Laws It Spawned?
Many states bar dangerous rituals, but little seems to change.
By
Josiah Bates
News
August 28, 2015
Back on the Agenda: Nebraska’s Death Penalty
A grassroots effort aims to restore what the legislature just ended.
By
Maurice Chammah
Life Inside
July 28, 2016
How Being a Sports Bookie Helped Me Live Comfortably in Prison
Even when I was being paid in mackerel and stamps.
By
Anonymous
as told to
Maurice Chammah
Commentary
January 19, 2017
Dear President Trump: Here’s How to get Right on Crime, Part 3
Listen to Pence, Carson, Priebus, Kushner — and look out your window.
Marc Levin
Commentary
February 28, 2017
How Immigrants Make Communities Safer
Immigrants may actually bring down crime in areas where they live.
Chiraag Bains
Life Inside
October 1, 2020
Being a Prison Firefighter Taught Me to Save Lives
I first joined the San Quentin fire department to get my own room, eat well and train dogs. It ended up being the most important experience of my life.
By
Rasheed Lockheart
, as told to
Christie Thompson
Life Inside
July 15, 2022
My Prison Gets So Hot, the Floors Sweat
Survival tips include, “Wait it out” and “Buy another fan, bro.”
By
Demetrius Buckley
News Inside
March 24, 2022
Freedom, Family and Faith
Issue 10 of News Inside explores the topics our incarcerated readers told us they care about most.
By
Lawrence Bartley
Commentary
March 6, 2016
The First Time Texas Killed One of My Clients
An attorney pieces together a life cut short.
By
Burke M. Butler
Commentary
March 16, 2015
The Gatekeepers
Four ways prosecutors can improve their decision-making.
By
Brian Elderbroom
and
Lauren-Brooke Eisen
News
January 27, 2016
San Quentin Puts on a Happy Face
A field trip to California’s oldest prison.
By
Bill Keller
and
Neil Barsky
Commentary
October 13, 2015
What Can Reforming Solitary Confinement Teach Us About Reducing Mass Incarceration?
It’s not about non-violent offenders. And it won’t be cheap.
By
Taylor Pendergrass
Life Inside
August 30, 2018
Breaking the Unwritten Rule of Prison
Or, what happens when guards and prison staff interact as just human beings.
By
Lyle May
Life Inside
February 15, 2018
A Black Mother’s Survival Guide for Her Teenage Son
"The only right you have, I told him, is to make it home alive."
By
Meredith Walker
as told to
Alysia Santo
Commentary
March 13, 2018
Let’s Put an End to Prosecutorial Immunity
“The time has come to create some level of accountability for prosecutors.”
Frederic Block
Commentary
November 19, 2018
Here's Why Jeff Sessions' Parting Shot Is Worse Than You Thought
Former attorney general’s directives make it easy to render federal action against abusive police departments ineffective.
By
Christy E. Lopez
Life Inside
December 21, 2017
When a Gay Inmate Loses the Ability to Blend In
Outed by Accident, More Vigilant by Necessity
By
Stephen Wilson
Life Inside
May 25, 2017
Prison Is Killing My Prison Romance
A reflection on “the improbability of us.”
By
Arthur Longworth
Feature
September 7, 2016
When the Money Runs out for Public Defense, What Happens Next?
Massive caseloads, long wait lists, group plea deals, and other realities of a funding crisis.
By
Oliver Laughland
News
October 5, 2016
Making the Case Against Banishing Sex Offenders
Legislators won’t touch the subject, but courts are proving more sympathetic.
By
Maurice Chammah
News
July 13, 2015
For the First Time, Vermont Will Search Prison Staffers
The drug use that plagues the state now haunts its cellblocks.
By
Carl Stoffers
Analysis
July 13, 2016
Protesting at the Republican Convention? Here’s How to Stay Out of Jail
Tip No. 1: Don’t talk back to a cop (and a lot of them will be there).
By
Simone Weichselbaum
Life Inside
August 4, 2016
The Absurd Things I Heard Through the Vents in My Prison Cell
“The man proceeded to make car noises.”
By
Dylan Jeffrey
News
January 16, 2017
When Are You Too Stoned to Drive?
The question is trickier than you’d think for police, and the courts, to answer.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
January 19, 2017
‘Not Just Another Lost Cause’
How the justice system saved an addict.
By
Abby Frutchey
News
March 1, 2017
A Better Way to Treat Addiction in Jail
Medications are effective, but jails are still slow to provide them.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Commentary
June 15, 2017
After Creating Danger, Can Cops Use Force with Impunity?
A recent Supreme Court decision left open that possibility. That’s bad for the public, and for police.
By
Chiraag Bains
Analysis
October 18, 2017
A Long Decline in Executions Takes a Detour
Recent court rulings and start-stop access to lethal drugs push numbers up this year.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Tom Meagher
Life Inside
November 5, 2020
A Pacifist's Plan to Survive the Violent World of Prison
I once surveyed a plot of land for a future prison. Now I live in one.
By
Ryan M. Moser
News
July 6
‘This is Major Trauma’: New Accounts of Abuse at Federal Prison Prompt Calls for Investigations
More than 120 prisoners held at a special unit in Thomson Penitentiary reported mistreatment, lawyers’ committee report says.
By
Christie Thompson
, The Marshall Project and
Joseph Shapiro
, NPR
Life Inside
December 10, 2020
Notes From a Wild Election Week Behind Bars
“From time to time you hear someone shout something like, ‘Trump cannot be stopped!’ or, ‘Let’s get this White Nazi out of power!’ There is no gray area.”
By
Christopher Blackwell
Closing Argument
August 12, 2023
What the New Wave of Prison Art Tells Us About Incarceration Today
From LEGO sculptures to psychedelic quilts, several new exhibits convey the prison experience in ways that transcend words alone.
By
Maurice Chammah
Life Inside
October 20, 2023
Here’s How I Use My Story to Teach Incarcerated Kids That Writing Matters
At 18, Bobby Bostic was sentenced to 241 years in prison. Now out on parole, he’s sharing the healing power of writing in juvenile detention centers.
By
Bobby Bostic
Closing Argument
February 10
The AI Lawyer is Here
How Artificial Intelligence is making its way into the legal system.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Justice Lab
December 4, 2014
The Misleading Math of ‘Recidivism’
Even the Supreme Court gets it wrong.
By
Dana Goldstein
News
December 8, 2014
What it’s Like to be Black In the NYPD Right Now
“Morale is already dead.”
By
Simone Weichselbaum
and
Christie Thompson
Feature
February 6, 2015
Start Me Up
Is entrepreneurship the way from prison to prosperity?
By
Eli Hager
Commentary
February 24, 2015
A Most Unsurprising Riot
Life inside the infamous Willacy immigration prison.
By
Carl Takei
News
November 17, 2014
Obama’s Prison Crisis
Crowded cells, aging inmates, soaring costs.
By
Andrew Cohen
Commentary
June 22, 2015
Kalief Browder was a Good Kid. Should That Matter?
The not-so-nice kids don’t deserve to be brutalized, either.
By
Nell Bernstein
News
May 7, 2015
Older Prisoners, Higher Costs
A tough, new report says it’s time for federal prisons to release the elderly and infirm.
By
Andrew Cohen
News
November 12, 2015
Kentucky’s Protracted Struggle to Get Rid of Bail
‘Is there any better way than money’?
By
Alysia Santo
News
August 18, 2015
A Second Jailhouse Snitch Claims a Secret Deal With Texas Prosecutor
Another death penalty case, another accusation of misconduct.
By
Maurice Possley
and
Maurice Chammah
News
June 26, 2020
What Are Cops Really Thinking When Routine Arrests Turn Violent?
“You have to use a lot of force, or you are going to die.”
By
Simone Weichselbaum
and
Jamiles Lartey
News
March 8, 2018
Convicted of a Drug Crime, Registered with Sex Offenders
In Kansas, even many minor drug offenders must appear on the state’s public registry. A new bill would change that.
By
Maurice Chammah
News
March 14, 2019
New York City’s Bail Success Story
Judges have drastically cut back on bail and jail in criminal cases, a new study shows. And defendants are still showing up in court.
By
Eli Hager
Life Inside
May 2, 2019
What I Learned When I Googled My Students’ Crimes
“I wondered if I knew more of their history if I would still view them the same way.”
By
Kimberly Malone
Life Inside
June 6, 2019
Coulda Been a Contender
I had a shot at being the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Then I was convicted of murder.
By
Kassan Messiah
as told to
Eli Hager
Commentary
November 15, 2017
A ‘Routine’ Stop Almost Ended My Career Before It Started
Sometimes there’s danger in speaking out against perceived police misconduct.
Johnathan S. Perkins
Life Inside
November 16, 2017
Prisoner to Violence
After a bloody fight in the yard, an inmate reflects on his behavior.
By
Demetrius Buckley
News
September 13, 2016
When an Old Law Makes It Hard to Fix a Troubled Jail
A federal statute from the Carter era favors negotiation, but that can take a long time.
By
Alysia Santo
Crime on the Ballot
October 18, 2016
New Strategy for Justice Reform: Vote Out the DA
A battle in Tampa reflects a shift across the country.
By
Maurice Chammah
Q&A
January 22, 2017
The Return of ‘To Catch a Predator’
Talking to Chris Hansen as he revives his trademark stings.
By
Maurice Chammah
Case in Point
October 16, 2017
A Tragedy of Errors
The corkscrew case of Rogers Lacaze.
By
Andrew Cohen
Life Inside
October 19, 2017
I Served 26 Years for Murder Even Though the Killer Confessed
One of the strangest, cruelest stories of wrongful conviction you’ll ever read.
By
Alton Logan
and
Berl Falbaum
Feature
November 2, 2020
Prison Is Even Worse When You Have a Disability Like Autism
State officials often fail to identify prisoners with developmental disorders, a group that faces overwhelming challenges behind bars, from bright lights to noises to social dynamics.
By
Chiara Eisner
Life Inside
July 29, 2021
A Filthy New Orleans Jail Made My Son Sick. The ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Medical Treatment at Angola Prison Killed Him.
This spring, a judge ruled that the healthcare at the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights. Lois Ratcliff tells the horrifying story of her son Farrell’s decline and death.
By
Lois Ratcliff
as told by
Jamiles Lartey
The Lowdown
January 8, 2021
A Civilian's Guide to Insurrection Legalese
Everyone's talking about sedition, treason and conspiracy. Here's what these terms actually mean and how they've been enforced.
By
Eli Hager
,
Maurice Chammah
and
Christie Thompson
Feature
June 9, 2022
Rethinking Prison Tourism
Many former prison sites draw on the spooky and salacious to entertain visitors. But some are having second thoughts.
By
Hope Corrigan
Life Inside
June 10, 2022
The ‘Foul-Mouthed Pagan Lesbian’ Who Inspired My Jail Memoir
Keri Blakinger’s new book, “Corrections in Ink,” began with Susan Begg, an older woman the author met on her second day in jail. If only Susan had lived to see it in print.
By
Keri Blakinger
Death Sentences
June 29, 2022
The Supreme Court Let The Death Penalty Flourish. Now Americans are Ending It Themselves.
As Roe v. Wade ends, a look back at how the court reversed itself on capital punishment — spurring an anti-death penalty movement.
By
Maurice Chammah
Closing Argument
July 22
‘Concrete Coffins’: Surviving Extreme Heat Behind Bars
Record temperatures in much of the U.S. threatening more people in prisons.
By
Jamiles Lartey
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
Closing Argument
March 9
These States Are Once Again Embracing ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Laws
Louisiana is one of several states passing punitive measures in response to public fears.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Cleveland
March 21
Cleveland Promised Oversight of Police Surveillance. The Work Hasn’t Been Done.
In 2022, Mayor Bibb pledged to form a panel to address concerns over cameras and high-tech tools. It’s finally set to happen.
By
Mark Puente