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2023-08-03
Annie E. Casey Foundation;
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has found large and widening gaps in youth detention by race and place in its three-year analysis of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on juvenile justice systems. When it comes to the odds of being detained, young people in the United States live in different worlds, depending on their race and the region and jurisdiction where they reside. The disproportionate use of detention for Black youth — already distressingly high before the pandemic — has increased. Also, over that three-year period, where youth lived mattered to a greater extent to their odds of being detained than it did before.
2023-08-01
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights;
In July of 2021—after decades of organizing by young people and their families—California made a bold decision to close the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). As a result, California counties are now responsible for treating, caring for, and even locking-up young people who would have otherwise been reprimanded to DJJ.To facilitate this realignment, California is distributing over $500 million in grants to local counties, including Alameda. It has been nearly 3 years since these funds began flowing in, but according to young people themselves, they still do not have access to improved services. So we asked ourselves, where is the money going? And perhaps more importantly, we asked the youth: where should these funds be going? What is the county doing since realignment funds first began flowing to Alameda in 2020? Are they receiving the support they need? What services do they prioritize for youth justice in their county? What aspirations do they hold?To find out, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) and Ceres Policy Research conducted a youth-led, community-driven research project in Alameda County. This project aimed to assess the impacts of the current youth justice system, gathering input from impacted families, youth, and community leaders to build a shared strategic vision for youth justice in Alameda County, and beyond. The results are outlined in this report.
2023-06-21
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights;
California is at the forefront of climate change. In the last ten years, the Golden State has experienced large-scale wildfires, surging temperatures, and devastating flooding, among other climate hazards, that have caused harm to human health and the natural environment. This series of climate hazards has made it evident that the effects of climate change will continue to intensify, have the greatest impact on already vulnerable populations, and, most critically, the California carceral system is not prepared to respond to climate hazards in or near prisons.Our first-of-its-kind report was developed through a mixed methods approach, using interviews with experts, a survey of nearly 600 currently incarcerated people in all 34 of California's prison facilities, and a spatial analysis, we concluded that incarcerated people face unique challenges during climate hazards and thus must be included in any measure of vulnerability to ensure their safety and well-being.Our report seeks to:Understand the risks that incarcerated people in California state prisons face as climate change related hazards such as wildfires, floods, and extreme temperatures, accelerate.Put forth policy solutions that protect taxpayer interests, keep incarcerated people safe, and ensure our government institutions are held accountable.
2023-05-01
Louisiana Public Health Institute;
Incarcerated women have unique healthcare needs and during their incarceration, are only able to access medical and mental health services offered through the prison, jail, or detention center where they are housed. Women are a small percentage of the total incarcerated population, raising concerns that their distinct healthcare needs are overlooked.In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature requested the Louisiana Public HealthInstitute (LPHI) to study the current policies in Louisiana's correctional facilities regarding pregnancy management and care and maternal health, the implementation and enforcement of Act No. 761 of the 2012 Regular Session, Act No. 392 of the 2018 Regular Session, and Act No. 140 of the 2020 Regular Session. LPHI sent out 67 public records requests asking for all current policies regarding pregnancy management, health care services, and mental health services for all incarcerated populations in January 2022. Receiving accurate and current information from all facilities has been exceptionally challenging due to non-responsive facilities or incomplete responses.
2023-02-16
Freedom for Immigrants;
Inter-detention transfers are a cruel and traumatizing form of abuse inflicted upon people in immigration detention. Functioning to further isolate and dehumanize immigrants, transfers are characteristic of the detention system itself; they're used to deprive people of their human dignity and restrict the most basic human elements of autonomy and freedom of movement. FFI's "Trafficked and Tortured" report, released in February 2023, uncovers how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) weaponizes inter-detention transfers of people in its custody to pad the agency's budget and as a harsh form of retaliation, torture, and labor trafficking. The report includes interactive maps visualizing thousands of ICE Air flight routes, including "circular transfers."
2023-06-28
Human Rights Watch;
In recent years, less than 4 percent of people sentenced to life without parole in California have been released due to changes in state law and executive power. At the time research began, there were only 143 people who fit this description. This report focuses on the historic release of these individuals and examines the positive contributions they have made with their second chances.Using statistical data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and qualitative data from a series of interviews conducted with individuals formerly sentenced to LWOP in the state of California, this report sheds light on the positive impact these people can have on society. Notably, the interviews were conducted with 110 out of the 143 individuals who had been released, representing approximately 77 percent of the total population. This comprehensive sample reinforces empirical research suggesting that LWOP sentences are unnecessary when it comes to promoting public safety. Moreover, it contends that LWOP sentences are counterproductive to public safety because they deprive communities of the unique and valuable contributions individuals with the sentence can make.
2023-05-23
Safety and Justice Challenge;
Immigration status impacts the way people, especially people who are Latino/a, experience local justice systems—from arrest and detention to data sharing with immigration officials. And a Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) report on immigration enforcement policies and trends of detention shows the landscape differs widely between communities. Even among SJC cities and counites, some jurisdictions limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, others may only share data or only detain people for immigration and customs enforcement, and others cooperate across many dimensions of the system. The report includes recommendations for communities committed to reducing the overuse of jails including limiting data sharing and outsourcing of jail beds and identifying the ways immigration policies affect their systems.
2023-05-23
Safety and Justice Challenge;
The MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) in 2015 with the goals of safely reducing jail incarceration and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system.Many organizations and agencies within local criminal justice systems receive federal financial assistance and are thus legally obligated to provide language services. When law enforcement agencies, court systems, and correctional systems provide adequate language services they strengthen access to justice for people who are limited English proficient (LEP) - e.g., providing life-saving public safety assistance, supporting victims of crime, and delivering vital medical and behavioral care to people who are incarcerated. While national guidance for improving language accessibility exists, the extent to which language services are available in local justice systems is relatively unknown.
2023-07-11
Safety and Justice Challenge;
Domestic violence is one of the most prevalent crimes in the United States, and even more prevalent for women who are or have been incarcerated. About 75% of women who have been or are incarcerated have experienced domestic violence. This trauma can lead to victims feeling isolated, alone, shamed, or even like they're at fault for what has happened. In some cases, survivors start having suicidal thoughts or ideation. When domestic violence victims become criminal defendants or are incarcerated, they still need full wrap-around services, including advocacy, support, safety planning, and community resources. Domestic violence survivors face an increased risk of incarceration. In some cases, they may be arrested after using self-defense against their abusers or kidnapping their children to protect them. In other situations, their abusers may force them to commit crimes, or they may run into trouble with the law due to an addiction stemming from trauma. Some domestic violence survivors even recant reports of abuse because of threats from the abuser.
2023-07-11
Safety and Justice Challenge;
Reducing jail populations – and the collateral consequences of criminal legal system involvement – requires jurisdictions to critically examine why and how people are entering the system to begin with. Much of the research around jail reform focuses on the pretrial population; however, with rising numbers o individuals under probation supervision and jail commonly being used to detain those awaiting a hearing on a probation violation, reform efforts to understand how violations contribute to the overall jail population are essential. To learn more about the impact probation revocations have on jails and to advance promising strategies to address them, CUNY ISLG funded the Urban Institute through the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) to conduct a mixed-methods study on how people on probation end up in jail incarceration and the impact of a program aimed at improving these outcomes with transitional housing support through the Adult Probation Department (APD) in Pima County, Arizona. Using administrative data from the Pima County Jail and APD, case record reviews, and interviews with APD leadership, probation officers, judges, community-based housing providers, and people on probation, this study aimed to decipher the system-level trends in jail incarceration for probation violations and the key pathways to jail incarceration for those individuals currently on probation. It also sought to understand the impact of the transitional housing support program on short and long-term outcomes for people on probation receiving funding from APD for transitional housing.
2023-03-01
Prison Policy Initiative;
With growing public attention to the problem of mass incarceration, people want to know about women's experiences with incarceration. How many women are held in prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities in the United States? Why are they there? How are their experiences different from men's? Further, how has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the number of women behind bars? These are important questions, but finding those answers requires not only disentangling the country's decentralized and overlapping criminal legal systems, but also unearthing the frustratingly limited data that's broken down by gender.This report provides a detailed view of the 172,700 women and girls incarcerated in the United States, and how they fit into the even broader picture of correctional control. We pull together data from a number of government agencies and break down the number of women and girls held by each correctional system by specific offense. In this updated report, we've also gone beyond the numbers, using rare self-reported data from a national survey of people in prison, to offer new insights about incarcerated women's backgrounds, families, health, and experiences in prison. This report, produced in collaboration with the ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice, answers the questions of why and where women are locked up — and so much more.
2023-03-14
Prison Policy Initiative;
Can it really be true that most people in jail are legally innocent? How much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs, or the profit motives of private prisons? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed decisions about how people are punished when they break the law? These essential questions are harder to answer than you might expect. The various government agencies involved in the criminal legal system collect a lot of data, but very little is designed to help policymakers or the public understand what's going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build — and as the pandemic raises the stakes higher — it's more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture.Further complicating matters is the fact that the U.S. doesn't have one "criminal justice system;" instead, we have thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, these systems hold almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.This report offers some much-needed clarity by piecing together the data about this country's disparate systems of confinement. It provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration and overlooked issues that call for reform.