Prison

The flow of illicit drugs into the United States has not diminished since the drug lord's arrest.

New and improved facilities are a critical pillar of California's corrections transformation. But bureaucratic roadblocks, indifference from county sheriffs, and critical errors in planning by local officials have meant dozens of California jails remain broken and dangerous.

Under lucrative arrangements, states are increasingly leasing prisoners to harvest food for American consumers at a rate not seen since Jim Crow.

Since 2006 the state has struggled to deal with a cascading series of problems with its prisons and is now undergoing its biggest transformation since 1851.

China and Hong Kong have started using tech to create "smart" prisons. Should the U.S. consider following their lead?

Proposition 47 was meant to prevent minor drug offenders from being incarcerated and instead funneled into treatment. Thus far the plan has seen mixed results.

Ninety-seven percent of prisoners with the disease are unable to access proper medical care in correctional facilities across the country.

Hurricane Katrina forced policymakers in the city and state to fix not only some of the worst circumstances of incarceration, but also to prevent people from being held in dangerous conditions altogether.

A collection of some of our most important and timely stories, from an interview about news consumption habits to a feature story on how gerrymandering amplified the interests of the right.

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The shuttering of a prison debate club shows the precarious nature of free-speech rights among American inmates.

Women wore, and sometimes designed, their own clothes in California prisons until the 1990s, when the state began issuing uniforms to its female inmates.

Across the country, jails are often used as holding pens for people who can't afford to pay bail. Local groups are working to change that.

While most commerce within prisons revolves around food and hygiene products, a recent report found that digital sales are the "future of commissary."

Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.

According to a new report, while the overall number of inmates in the U.S. is declining, some states are still seeing their prison populations rise.

A conversation with Jasmine Heiss from the Vera Institute of Justice about a recent poll that uncovers American's souring sentiment toward incarceration policy.

On the labor issues connected with using inmates as extremely low-paid workers in state and federal prisons.

Este artículo explica los problemas laborales relacionados con el uso de presos como trabajadores extremadamente mal pagados en las prisiones estatales y federales.

Two landmark Supreme Court rulings made clear that juvenile life sentences are unconstitutional. Yet hundreds remain in prison, many of them without access to educational programs.

People wait outside the Kobar prison in Khartoum, Sudan, on February 18th, 2018, to welcome their loved ones after the government released dozens of opposition activists.

Supporters of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel demonstrate with heart-shaped balloons during a motorcade protest on February 14th, 2018, in Berlin, Germany.

A pile of tires burns as prison officers demonstrate in front of Villefranche-sur-Saône prison in Lyon, France, on January 15th, 2018.

Facing a shortage of space for inmates, Missouri's Greene County Jail opted to build an insta-prison in the parking lot. Is that OK?