Jail

Pre-trial detention hurts defendants and taxpayers.

Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.

A new policy brief uses psychotropic medications as a proxy for mental illness, and finds that, despite criminal justice reforms in the state, the population of mentally ill inmates in jails is growing.

A new poll from the MacArthur Foundation finds most Americans' sentiments about the justice system are at odds with the Trump administration's punitive policies.

In Alaska, a point-based system will replace cash for determining who the state will release on bail.

A new report finds that rural jails buck the trend of declining inmate populations.

A new consultancy firm offers advice for first-time detainees, from someone who’s been there.

Movies and television don't do an adequate job capturing the day-to-day loneliness and the feelings of exclusion and shame.

Twenty years after abolishing parole, one state is examining the impact (and the politics).

More than 20 years ago, the international community agreed that teenagers should only be jailed as a last resort—and never placed in solitary confinement.

New research suggests that maintaining methadone treatment in jails and prisons would save lives.

Research shows that Republican-leaning states are less likely to pass laws to protect against wrongful convictions.

Pediatricians and psychologists say unnecessary restraints can traumatize kids and encourage worse behavior.

The only federal law that regulates detention conditions for juveniles is due for an upgrade.

While Baltimore erupts, the Supreme Court considers a timely case.

Some argue that taking parents who have committed a crime out of the family might be good for children, but the data is in. It’s not.

"Even a prison cannot ignore biology."

Cory Booker and Rand Paul’s REDEEM Act.

As a new class-action lawsuit out of California’s infamous Pelican Bay State Prison that may definitively determine the future of solitary in that state moves forward, more people are taking the position that the practice amounts to inhumane punishment.

Gradual advancements in the art and science of fire investigation continue.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed in Washington 2003. It still hasn’t been fully implemented.

Prisoners’ advocates call the reforms a step forward, but they don’t address discrimination in presidential pardons or apply to everyone serving harsh sentences from outdated guidelines.

A Department of Justice study also shows the number of reports of sexual assaults is rising, but rarely results in prosecution.

So now what?