One of the most confounding recent trends in the criminal justice system is the disproportional increase in incarceration in rural areas. The main motivating factors of this trend have yet to be uncovered in their totality. This page seeks to explore the potential driving forces behind this pattern, along with highlighting the rural counties which are fighting this concerning, recent trend.
“Now more than ever, urban and rural communities must come together to solve problems in and across our communities. Bentley and Hower prove we can do it. Join this movement for local action and national unity. We all have a role in shaping the country we wish to live in.“
Philadelphia Inquirer
November 21, 2019
Read More“The scale of the installation, called “Voices from the Heartland: Safety, Justice, and Community in Small and Rural America,” is ambitious and its components intricately detailed. But perhaps most striking is Krimes’s use of artwork and stories from incarcerated people themselves.“
The Marshall Project
September 20, 2019
Read More“Needlessly jailing vulnerable people isn’t only a waste of public money: Even short stints in jail can throw an individual’s life into disarray by forcing them to miss work, isolating them from loved ones, and cutting off any medications they are taking. Considering the enormous human costs of excessive incarceration, policymakers should use this new data to assess whether their jails are being used to protect the public or as a temporary – and ineffective – remedy for social problems.“
Prison Policy Initiative
September 18, 2019
Read More“What we found is that in hundreds of jurisdictions throughout the country, fines are used to fund a significant portion of the budget. They account for more than 10 percent of general fund revenues in nearly 600 U.S. jurisdictions. In at least 284 of those governments, it’s more than 20 percent. Some other governments allocate the revenues outside the general fund. When fine and forfeiture revenues in all funds are considered, more than 720 localities reported annual revenues exceeding $100 for every adult resident.“
Governing Institute
August 31, 2019
Read More“Because prisoners can’t vote in 48 of the 50 states, voters who live near prisons have more political clout per capita. And because prisons are typically built in sparsely populated regions, the count inflates rural voters’ power while diluting urban voters’ power, undermining the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote.”“
The New Republic
August 2, 2019
Read More“While it is well known that public defenders’ caseloads are untenably high in jurisdictions nationwide, prompting lawsuits, the situation is particularly dire in largely rural states such as Louisiana. These so-called legal deserts may have only one or two defense attorneys, who are usually near retirement with no one to take their place.“
The Atlantic
July 18, 2019
Read More“As jail populations have skyrocketed over the past three decades, jails around the country have become dangerously overcrowded. The reflexive response is often to start the long, expensive process of building a larger jail. However, this report provides a roadmap to easier, quicker, cheaper, and more just solutions to jail overcrowding. It is organized around a series of questions that local decisionmakers should be asking and then lays out a detailed briefing on best practices for reducing jail overcrowding.“
Prison Policy Initiative
May 1, 2019
Read More“Fear is palpable in some regions of upstate New York as the Cuomo administration moves ahead with a plan to shut down as many as three prisons. Correctional institutions have long been a prime employer in the communities where they are located. And a sudden move by the state to shut down any of the upstate prisons would come as a kidney punch at a time when most counties are seeing their populations decrease steadily.“
Lockport Journal
April 21, 2019
Read More“The Democrat recommends nearly $259 million in bonding for seven major Department of Corrections building projects — a six-fold increase from his predecessor, Gov. Scott Walker’s last capital budget proposal, which recommended $41.68 million in DOC capital borrowing. The brunt of the Evers recommendations, $194 million, comes in the form of General Funds Supported Borrowing, repaid with General Fund Revenue, with $65 million in Existing/Residual bonding.“
MacIver Institute
March 19, 2019
Read More“The various government agencies involved in the justice system collect a lot of critical data, but it is not designed to help policymakers or the public understand what’s going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build, however, it’s more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture.“
Prison Policy Initiative
March 19, 2019
Read More“As one jail administrator said, the reality in the Kentucky coalfields today is that “state prisoners keep the lights on,” at least when it comes to county jails. The money that the state pays out for locking up state prisoners in local jails has supplanted the role of coal as a revenue source for county budgets.“
Vera Institute
March 4, 2019
Read More“The state prison population has been driven to its lowest point in a decade for a few reasons. Officials attributed the drop to declining crime rates in addition to state legislation that helped non-violent inmates leave prison after serving minimum sentences, eased penalties on low-level offenders and expanded alternative punishment options.“
WITF Harrisburg
February 28, 2019
Read More“Where does Hancock County fit into all of this? Squarely in line with national trends. According to numbers provided by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, the number of inmates held in Hancock County Jail on a typical day increased 21 percent between 2008 and 2018. And upward of three-quarters of these inmates were being held pre-trial.“
The Ellsworth American
January 13, 2019
Read More‘The figures underline what many have already noted as a “rural jail crisis” of overcrowded and outdated facilities, much of it caused by the increase in mentally ill or substance-abuser populations driven by the nation’s opioid epidemic. The data also showed a sharp racial disparity in New York City, which has experienced some of the deepest and longest sustained reductions in crime, as well as jail populations.‘
The Crime Report
December 14, 2018
Read More“As Vera’s Incarceration Trends tool shows, it’s a problem that’s actually in all of our backyards—the place where the solutions also lie because it is city and county officials—such as police, prosecutors, and judges—who decide who and how to arrest, prosecute, and sentence. All people that are directly accountable to their local constituents. “
Vera Institute
December 13, 2018
Read More“‘The research is very clear: There's no increased risk to children on Halloween,’ says Sandy Rozek, communications director for the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws. ‘Virtually all sexual offenses against children are committed by those in their lives, those they already know or are close to—often family members, peers, and authority figures’.“
Reason Magazine
October 22, 2018
Read More“While the program has historically been used to fund public infrastructure, it was not until 1996 that the USDA decided to fund a jail: the Hale County jail in Greensboro, Alabama, for $2.2 million. Since then, according to various records of the transactions, the USDA has funded over $360 million in jail construction in rural areas. “
Vera Institute
October 20, 2018
Read More“Corey Wayne Dean and Zepplin Lee Kennedy escaped the Marion County Jail in Hamilton, Ala., near the Mississippi line, around 1:30 a.m. on March 17, touching off a two-week manhunt. Jail escapes don't happen every day - but they aren't as rare as you might think. An analysis of court records found 45 in 2017.“
Birmingham News
October 9, 2018
Read More“One of the biggest barriers to fighting the spreading opioid epidemic in rural northeast Washington state is the lack of providers authorized to prescribe drugs for treating opioid dependence. That’s why local jails need support for providing medication-assisted treatment, says a local doctor.“
The Crime Report
September 14, 2018
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