By David C. Fathi September 3 David C. Fathi is the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. Prisoners across the United States began a strike Aug. 21 that is scheduled to last until next Sunday. The strike’s organizers are encouraging their fellow prisoners to refuse to work and to engage in other forms of […]
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In this section you'll find recent developments and news stories that are relevant to our work.
Update on Prison Strike Demanding End of “Slave Labor”: After 10 Days, Protests Spread to 11 States From Democracy Now!
Prisoners across the country join work stoppages, hunger strikes and commissary boycotts in at least 11 states to protest prison conditions and demand the end of what they call “prison slavery.” Organizers report prisoners in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Indiana are demonstrating. Individuals in Texas, California and Ohio have gone on hunger strike, including […]
Tempering The Cost Of Aging, Dying In Prison With The Demands Of Justice From KUNC.org
Photo: Meredity Nierman / WGBH A Massachusetts state prison is expanding the graveyard where it buries inmates who die in custody, one consequence of the state’s huge increase in aging prisoners. And as more inmates age and die behind bars, the cost of their care is skyrocketing, fueling new efforts to release prisoners who are too […]
FDC withdraws proposed rule to cut prison visitation hours From WCTV
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CNS) — Prison reform groups are celebrating a victory after a proposed rule to cut visitation hours in Florida prisons was withdrawn after extensive public outcry. The Florida Department of Corrections had been trying to cut prison visitation hours since February. The department was met with outrage from families of those behind bars. “I […]
Despite Privatization, Prison Health Costs Continue To Rise From WUSF
As a candidate, Gov. Rick Scott pitched the idea of having private companies provide health care to the state’s prisoners in a plan to save taxpayers $1 billion over seven years. But in the first five years of privatization, the cost has climbed from $278 million to $375 million. Privatization isn’t the only cause for […]
Florida inmates’ families will have to pay for video “visits” From the Tampa Bay Times
TALLAHASSEE — Faced with in-person visitations slashed in half and an offer to pay for the privilege, a coalition of inmate families and reformers announced Thursday they will fight the Florida Department of Corrections where hurts: in the pocketbook. The Campaign for Prison Reform said it will boycott a new FDC program that will allow […]
Florida prisons see visitation upheaval as corrections officials cite contraband crisis From the Florida Times-Union
After a ramp up of enforcement that led to thousands of prisoner visitor strip searches beginning last summer, the Florida Department of Corrections will cut visitation days in half, saying it can’t safely facilitate the process. Since July, Florida corrections officials have implemented a contraband crackdown that has weighed heavily on inmates’ girlfriends, wives and […]
Arizona death row inmates die from hepatitis C, not lethal injection From KHOU
PHOENIX — Since executions were put on hold by a federal judge in 2014, five Arizona death-row inmates have died of “natural causes.” All of them were related to hepatitis C infections, according to attorneys and relatives of the dead prisoners. The medical director at the Arizona prison complex that until last year housed the majority of death […]
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018 From the Prison Policy Initiative
By Peter Wagner and Wendy Sawyer March 14, 2018 Press release Can it really be true that most people in jail are being held before trial? And how much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs? These questions are harder to answer than you might think, because our country’s systems of confinement are so […]
Prisoner Rights Advocates Rally Against Visitation Cutbacks In Florida Prisons From WUFT
They arrived in street-parked caravans carrying stark white banners and neon signs with slogans like, “Invest in people, not in prisons.” Several of them donned black-and-white striped prisoners costumes as they gathered to the screech of the megaphone and the beat of a snare drum. Around 50 protesters were barred from the building by police tape. […]