Because 90% of all prisoners in the United States are in state facilities, the work that states are doing to reduce their prison populations is crucial. Attempting to end mass incarceration necessitates realizing this is a situation requiring not one national solution, but fifty state solutions. Below are current state solutions that could be effectively modeled by other states for meaningful reform.
"When progressive reformers win in law enforcement and criminal justice races, they are doing so in spite of the Democratic Party, not because of it. All of this would seem to be an easy fix, but it gets to the root of the matter. Does the Democratic Party really care about black people or do they just want our votes?"
The Intercept
August 19, 2018
Read More"Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez has said the facility within the Del Valle jail is needed because the county’s current facilities are in poor physical shape. The setup splits the female population into four facilities, she said, which is inefficient and at times uncomfortable for the women who have to walk through men’s facilities."
Austin American-Statesman
August 11, 2018
Read More"Congress has to take on many priorities. However, the fact that a staggering 2.3 million sit incarcerated in the purported “land of the free” demonstrates injustice of epidemic proportions—one that requires the immediate attention of both Congress and the public at large."
Alamosa Valley Courier
August 11, 2018
Read More"Gov. Scott Walker declined to meet with his corrections secretary as a crisis unfolded at the state’s teen prison and his staff deliberately kept him from visiting the facility, according to a new book by Walker’s former prisons chief."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 10, 2018
Read More"'I think anybody who's talking about that is driving away from the real issue in this race,' Walker said. 'I don't hear from voters about visiting anybody other than visiting victims of crime, who want me to focus on making sure that the violent criminals who'd be let out under the Democrat plan are not going to be let out any time soon'."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 9, 2018
Read More"Nestled away in the 200-page document was a policy to offshore around a third of Puerto Rico’s prison population – 3,200 inmates – to private facilities thousands of miles away within the US. The board claim the policy will help to save close to $400m over four years. The government insists it will be voluntary. But advocates describe it as a disaster waiting to happen."
The Guardian
August 7, 2018
Read More"These items, be they unattended vehicles or packages, are intended to be stolen. Police typically leave them in high-crime neighborhoods in spots where thieves are most likely to take them. A parked bait car, for instance, would be left in an area where car theft is a problem. Bait devices are rigged with surveillance equipment and tracking devices so that authorities, usually waiting nearby, can quickly catch offenders who make off with them."
Vox
August 7, 2018
Read More"'When you announce a clemency initiative and you raise hopes and expectations, frankly it’s cruel to not actualize it,' said Steve Zeidman, director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the CUNY School of Law, which is currently helping about 25 people with clemency applications and worked with Judith Clark on her application. 'Multiple people on the inside have told me that false hope is worse than no hope at all'."
The Appeal
August 6, 2018
Read More"SQ 781 requires that the money saved from not warehousing people whose lives were salvageable must be diverted annually to county governments for use on community rehabilitation programs, such as mental health and substance abuse services."
Tulsa World
August 5, 2018
Read More"In January 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he would pursue an end to money bail for nonviolent offenders, as well pre-trial reforms, including timely evidence discovery and speedy trial requirements. But Governor Cuomo’s budget bill did not include any of these proposed criminal justice reforms, leaving room for Nixon to challenge him on these issues from the left."
In These Times
August 3, 2018
Read More"Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the libertarian group bankrolled by the billionaire Koch network, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which defends the Bill of Rights and has been associated with progressive policies, have teamed up to host a bipartisan panel to discuss ways to end mass incarceration in Missouri."
Missouri Net
July 27, 2018
Read More"Mass incarceration has torn families apart and decreased the resources our state could be using to actually keep people safe: better schools, universal health care and good-paying jobs."
Amsterdam News
July 26, 2018
Read More"The Arizona Ground Game hosts community forums every month in hopes of educating our community on controversial issues that can become complicated once you dive into the details....On Tuesday evening, TAGG brought Joel Feinman, head of the Pima County Public Defender’s office and adjunct professor in political science at the University of Arizona, to Pueblo High School’s Little Theater to talk about the causes of and solutions to mass incarceration."
Tucson Weekly
July 19, 2018
Read More"To be sure, all of this may come to naught. Sessions could convince the president to veto a joint bill if it includes sentencing reform, and wary Republicans could desert en masse. But supporting sentencing reform, even if it’s doomed, means being on the right side of history. That’s worth something — especially in the Trump era."
Houston Chronicle
July 9, 2018
Read More"Oklahoma has now overtaken Louisiana as the state with the highest incarceration rate in the country, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative. Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with John Carl, a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Oklahoma, about how the rate got so high and what kind of overhaul is in motion."
WBUR Oklahoma
July 2, 2018
Read More"One seemingly good policy is rehabilitation certificates. When a court certifies a former prisoner as having been rehabilitated, it sends a signal to employers that this isn’t one of the scary ex-convicts they might have a picture of in their mind."
WKMS--Murray State
June 25, 2018
Read More"The report describes Florida as a perfectly baffling case: From 2000 to 2015, jail admissions dropped, the statewide jail population dropped, and the overall rate of prison admissions dropped by nearly a third — but the total number of inmates in state prisons still somehow increased."
Miami New Times
June 18, 2018
Read More"Last year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics ranked Oklahoma second behind Louisiana. Due to prison reforms enacted in Louisiana, officials anticipated Oklahoma would become the incarceration leader. The new ranking became official earlier this month."
Tulsa World
June 17, 2018
Read More"Those involved with the judicial system, from probation officers to public defenders, were seeing the same trend: Young men who had never been in trouble before suddenly were appearing in court."
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
June 16, 2018
Read More"Ending mass incarceration will require a fresh and holistic look at our societal values and priorities. Our challenge is to overcome the ideology that made it so easy for states to create the system of mass incarceration."
Prison Policy Initiative
June 5, 2018
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