The Marshall Project — Jail and Prison Conditions — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Jail and Prison Conditions

Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.

Posts tagged The Marshall Project

How This Prison Collaborated on a Larger-Than-Life Work of Art

“For three days in October, giant faces were visible from the air over the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, California. They were portraits of 48 currently or formerly incarcerated people, correctional officers and victims of crimes, assembled in a large-scale mural made up of paper strips. A few days later the mural was gone, disintegrated by the Southern California wind and sun and carefully taken apart by the prisoners who live there. In collaboration with the men depicted in the artwork, the French artist JR created an ephemeral window into the lives of those affected by the U.S. prison system.“

The Marshall Project

November 25, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesNovember 25, 2019The Marshall Project, California, California Correctional Institution, Tehachapi, JRComment

For My Incarcerated Clients, There Is No Winning

“I like to think of myself as a legal problem-solver for incarcerated people. Identifying the problems to solve is often the hardest part. My heart goes out to the people whom I’ve been able to get to know and from whom I’ve learned about the struggles they face to stay alive in a prison cell for decades.“

The Marshall Project

October 17, 2019

Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesOctober 17, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

I Host a Popular Podcast. I’m Also in Prison.

“Ear Hustle is the award-winning podcast about life inside prison—specifically my prison, San Quentin—that has around 30 million downloads in total. It's the brainchild of Nigel Poor, a professor who taught for years at San Quentin, Earlonne Woods, a man who was serving a life sentence for attempted robbery under California’s three-strikes law, and Antwan “Banks” Williams. The original plan was to circulate the show only inside the prison, but then they got permission to enter a Radiotopia “Podquest” contest.“

The Marshall Project

September 26, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesSeptember 26, 2019The Marshall Project, EarhustleComment

What Gate Money Can (And Cannot) Buy

“Roughly 600,000 people are released from federal and state prison each year, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Experts often say the first 72 hours after release are critical to determining whether a former inmate’s path will lead away from prison or make a sharp U-turn. But what resources prisons provide to help people navigate those first moments on the outside varies widely from state to state.“

The Marshall Project

September 10, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesSeptember 10, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

Want to Time Travel Back to the 80s? Visit a Prison “Typing Room”

“But the most striking anachronism in the legal library is the electric typewriter, a true icon and state-of-the-art staple of the 1980s. It's always fun to watch the faces of criminal justice students touring the prison, wide-eyed and fearful. We are the wild beasts in the zoo that they've been told about and here we are in our natural habitat, here in the legal library fighting our cases on typewriters. They're probably thinking, Good Lord! How do you edit? How do you copy/paste? How do you spell-check?“

The Marshall Project

September 5, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesSeptember 5, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

It's Risky Brewing Prison Hooch. I Learned the Hard Way.

“Later that day, I found the dorm wino and let him know that it was over. When he asked why, I told him what had happened. He laughed at me for a minute and said, ‘Now you see why I don’t make it’.“

The Marshall Project

June 20, 2019

Food ConditionsPhillip ReevesJune 20, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

The Underground Art of Prison Tattoos

“Body artists and the people who manufacture tattoo machines are highly respected by other inmates, but they are viewed warily by guards and corrections officials who say tattoos carry health risks. (Nobody in prison has access to a sterilized tattoo parlor.) As a result, inmates who are caught freshly inked or making tattoo machines can be disciplined and put into solitary confinement, sometimes for days.“

The Marshall Project

June 7, 2019

Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesJune 7, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

Mentally Ill and Languishing in Jail

“But Pennsylvania is one of many states that has far too few hospital beds for the mentally ill defendants who need them, leaving people like Elle to languish in jail while they wait for a spot. It has ranked among the worst states when it comes to these wait times, a nationwide problem that experts say may be linked to the downsizing of psychiatric hospitals and inadequate community mental-health resources. “

The Marshall Project

June 6, 2019

Mental HealthPhillip ReevesJune 6, 2019The Marshall Project, PennsylvaniaComment

I Developed Agoraphobia in Prison

“I used to go out to the exercise yard completely alone. But one day when I was out there, it was suddenly like all the air around me became a pressure force. I felt like I was between two pillars of concrete that were moving and crushing me, like I was having a heart attack. I couldn’t breathe. I started banging on the door to the yard to go back inside. I knew I needed to get out of this open area. I ran back to my cell. And within minutes, I was okay again. “

The Marshall Project

May 30, 2019

Solitary ConfinementPhillip ReevesMay 30, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

I Lost 25 Pounds in 4 Months Eating Prison Food

“I put in a grievance about this, issue and it was ‘lost in the mail,’ even though of course it wasn’t even leaving the building. I tried again, and the grievance officer told me to ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Alas, all because of a single tiny little grain. But the smallest things loom large in prison.“

The Marshall Project

May 28, 2019

Food ConditionsPhillip ReevesMay 16, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

The Death Chamber Next Door

“Serving a prison sentence is difficult in and of itself. The deplorable living conditions, the separation from loved ones, the brutality—you know about all of this. But do you know what it’s like to serve your time at a prison where executions are occurring? That was my reality when I was incarcerated at the Huntsville Unit, where the state of Texas housed the busiest death chamber in the country.“

The Marshall Project

April 25, 2019

Death in Prison, Death RowPhillip ReevesApril 25, 2019The Marshall Project, TexasComment

My Passover in Prison

“Religious seders (which means “order” in Hebrew) are not prison-friendly. They involve food and drinks that are inaccessible to inmates. Things like four cups of grape juice per person, and stacks of unleavened bread called matzoh. I was anxious imagining how the administration would react to me wanting to celebrate Passover. I went to our rabbinical chaplain and asked for help.“

The Marshall Project

April 18, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesApril 18, 2019The Marshall Project, Judaism, PassoverComment

When Prisons Cut Off Visits—Indefinitely

“In 1995, Michigan prison officials implemented a controversial new policy: Any inmate found guilty of two substance-abuse violations would lose all rights to visits, except from their lawyer or minister. The state prison population had grown significantly in the early 1990s, as had the use of drugs inside. Guards worried contraband was being smuggled into facilities and wanted to limit the number of outsiders coming in.“

The Marshall Project

April 9, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesApril 9, 2019The Marshall Project, MichiganComment

Introducing News Inside

“My ambition is for News Inside to be distributed throughout all 50 states; we are fundraising to expand the program. Over the years I watched many friends go home. I always felt a surge of jealousy, followed by a wave of guilt, accompanied by a hope that the departing friends would not forget me. Maybe they would send a letter, photos, food packages or something to make us smile, to show they cared. Now that I have been released, News Inside is my way of not forgetting.“

The Marshall Project

March 28, 2019

Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesMarch 28, 2019The Marshall Project, News InsideComment

Members of Congress Seek Answers From Prisoner Transport Company

“Ever year, tens of thousands of people are driven to face criminal charges in faraway jurisdictions by for-profit prison transportation companies, which are supposed to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency has penalized one prisoner transport company—not PTS—after an inmate fled an unlocked van and was found in a cornfield in 2011.“

The Marshall Project

February 28, 2019

Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesFebruary 28, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

The Surprisingly Nomadic Lives of Prisoners

“The nomadic aspect of prison life isn't generally seen on TV dramas or movies about "the big house." Most people, when they think about it at all, assume that cellmates are often stuck together for decades, in a pact of camaraderie born of shared circumstances. On the contrary, even the best buddies don't usually stay together for long. We live like hermit crabs, schlepping our stuff here and there, taking up a new shell for a while, when we're told to, then moving on.“

The Marshall Project

February 14, 2019

Access to Outside World, Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesFebruary 14, 2019The Marshall Project, MissouriComment

Breaking the Unwritten Rule of Prison

"But human beings just insist on being social creatures, and no matter how much you indoctrinate or denigrate them, they remain as much. Officers are not emotionless robots any more than death-row prisoners are reducible to the crimes for which we have been convicted and sentenced."

The Marshall Project

August 30, 2018

Death RowAnthony BradleyAugust 31, 2018The Marshall Project

The Awful Thing I Saw in Prison That Stunned Me Into Silence

"It was the kind of moment that you witness but your brain just rejects; you can’t believe what you just saw."

Marshall Project

August 23, 2018

Jail & Prison ConditionsAnthony BradleyAugust 28, 2018The Marshall Project

Why Incarcerated People At Poultry Plants Deserve Better

"In Alabama, the state we examined most closely, it’s a sweet deal for the companies and the state. The plants get highly vulnerable workers who are unlikely to complain about low wages or unsafe working conditions. The state, in turn, reaps millions to help pay for its mass incarceration operations. For prisoners, however, work release can be a double-edged sword."

The Marshall Project

August 13, 2018

Prison ProgramsAnthony BradleyAugust 14, 2018The Marshall Project, Alabama, Work release

How I Befriended a Prisoner on Suicide Watch

"Inmates with mental health issues have psychiatrists around during the day, but how many inmates are they really going to get into it with? Nobody wants extra paperwork. I had a lot of time to sit and listen on the 24-hour suicide watch."

The Marshall Project

August 9, 2018

Death in Prison, Mental HealthAnthony BradleyAugust 13, 2018The Marshall Project, Suicide