We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 20 new reports to the Research Library:

COVID-19

• COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal and Medical Distrust Held by Correctional Officers by Erin Michelle Turner Kerrison & Jordan M Hyatt, July, 2023
  "[In a sample of PA Department of Corrections staff], 73.5% non-security personnel answered that they would accept a vaccine, compared to half (48.8%) of corrections officers."

Conditions of Confinement

• Contraband and Interdiction Modalities Used in Correctional Facilities by Urban Institute, February, 2024
  "Facilities participating in the [survey] reported on several strategies that were only used on incarcerated individuals, the most common of which included strip searches (91%), cell searches (98%), and opening and searching mail (97%)."
• Breaking news from inside: How prisons suppress prison journalism by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2023
  "46 states and the federal government maintain the right to read and censor communications with the media. These policies are broadly explained as maintaining "security and order" -- a vague justification left to the discretion of prison officials."
• Discretion in the Prison Justice System: A Study of Sentencing in Institutional Disciplinary ProceedingsPaywall :( by Timothy J. Flanagan, July, 1982
  "Only about 3% of the [prison disciplinary infraction] cases in the sample resulted in dismissal of charges. Confinement to cell for a period of time was the modal disposition category, representing almost 30% of the outcomes."

Drug Policy

• Oregon shouldn't go backwards on drug decriminalization by Prison Policy Initiative, February, 2024
  "There is no evidence that Measure 110 was associated with a rise in crime. In fact, crime in Oregon was 14% lower in 2023 than it was in 2020."
• Addicted to punishment: Jails and prisons punish drug use far more than they treat it by Prison Policy Initiative, January, 2024
  "Many people who use drugs and need care are arrested and jailed over and over until, finally, one event lands them in prison. We estimate that more than 578,000 people (47%) in prison in 2022 had a substance use disorder in the year prior to admission."
• Effect of Continuing Care for People with Cocaine Dependence on Criminal Justice Sentences by Alexandra S. Wimberly, Jordan M. Hyatt, & James R. McKay, January, 2019
  "People with cocaine dependence [in an] intensive outpatient program & a telephone-based continuing care intervention had 54% lower odds of a criminal sentence in the 4 years after enrollment...compared to those [in only an] intensive outpatient program."

Economics of Incarceration

• Fair Chance Act failures? Employers' hiring of people with criminal records by Sharon S. Oselin, Justine G. M. Ross, Qingfang Wang, & Wei Kang, November, 2024
  "Only 25.8% of hiring decision makers indicated they would have seriously considered someone with a criminal conviction for the last entry-level/non-degreed position they hired for though there is variation based on the type of crime."
• Data Privacy in Carceral Settings: The Digital Panopticon Returns to Its Roots by Stephen Raher, May, 2024
  "Communication technologies [are now] widespread [in jails and prisons] & the companies providing these services are embarking on a new line of business: monetizing the involuntary collection, sharing, and analysis of data collected from captive consumers."

Gun Control

• Evaluating Firearm Violence After New Jersey's Cash Bail Reform by Jaquelyn L. Jahn, Jessica T. Simes, & Jonathan Jay, May, 2024
  "Although New Jersey's pretrial detention population dramatically decreased under bail reform, the study did not find evidence of increases in overall firearm mortality or gun violence, or within racialized groups during the postpolicy period."

Health impact

• Hungry and Malnourished: Food Service in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections by Pennsylvania Prison Society, May, 2024
  "70-80% of survey respondents in Pennsylvania prisons reported being hungry every day between meals, [...] menus likely contribute to diet-related illness, [... and] hunger forces people to buy expensive junk food from commissary."
• The Consequences of Incarceration for Mortality in the United States by Sebastian Daza, Alberto Palloni, & Jerrett Jones, April, 2021
  "We estimate that incarceration's adult mortality excess translates into a loss of between 4 and 5 years of life expectancy at age 40."

Jails

• New data and visualizations spotlight states' reliance on excessive jailing by Prison Policy Initiative, April, 2024
  "In 28 states & D.C., more than 10% of the jail population is held on behalf of a state or federal authority. This both skews the data and gives local jail officials a powerful financial incentive to endorse policies that contribute to jail expansion."
• Unhoused and under arrest: How Atlanta polices poverty by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2023
  "Most strikingly, we find that 1 in 8 Atlanta city jail bookings in 2022 -- or 12.5% -- were of people who were experiencing homelessness."

Mental Health

• Share of Adult Suicides After Recent Jail Release by Ted R. Miller, Lauren M. Weinstock, Brian K. Ahmedani, et al., May, 2024
  "Among 7 million adults released from incarceration in 2019, nearly 20% of suicides occurred among those who were released from jail in the past year and 7% were by those in their second year of jail release."

Pretrial Detention

• Testing the effects of a prosecutor policy recommending no-money release for nonviolent misdemeanor defendants Paywall :( by Smith, A., Maddan, S., King, C., & Elshiekh, N., October, 2020
  "Defendants released on no-money bail were less likely to fail to appear, and defendants charged with [nonviolent misdemeanors] were less likely to be rearrested pending disposition."

Sentencing Policy and Practices

• Failure to Appear Across New York Regions by Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, June, 2024
  "In 2022, NY's failure to appear (FTA) rate for released cases was 17%. There was little variation by region (16% in NYC, 18% in NYC suburbs, 20% in Upstate). However, among individual counties... FTA rates ranged from 7% to 30%."

Women

• Since you asked: How many women and men are released from each state's prisons and jails every year? by Prison Policy Initiative, February, 2024
  "Even though prison and jail populations have unfortunately largely rebounded since [COVID-related population reductions], there were still 29% fewer releases from prisons and jails in 2022 compared to 2019."

Youth

• Inequities in Mental Health Services: A 16-Year Longitudinal Study of Youth in the Justice System by Maria Jose Luna, Karen M. Abram, David A. Aaby, Leah J. Welty, & Linda A. Teplin, June, 2023
  "Among a random sample of youth experiencing detention in Chicago in 1995, less than 20% of youth who needed mental health services received them in the following 20 years."
• Electronically Monitored Youth: Stigma and Negative Social FunctioningPaywall :( by Marijana M. Kotlaja & Lindsey E. Wylie, March, 2023
  "Juveniles who felt more stigmatized for being on an EM, also experienced greater negative experiences within their social world and social functioning than youth who did not feel stigmatized."