We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 24 new reports to the Research Library:

Community Impact

• Afterward by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, April, 2023
  "Fewer than half [of respondents] felt better after the person who killed their loved one was incarcerated. Fewer than half felt safer."
• When You Are a Hammer, Every Problem Looks Like a Nail: Why Building New Prisons Will Do Nothing To Solve Old Problems in Alabama by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, May, 2020
  "Alabama has the distinction of being the only state in the country to violate CRIPA, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, throughout its entire prison system."

Conditions of Confinement

• United States Department of Justice Investigation of Alabama's State Prisons for Men by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, October, 2019
  "A warden at Holman, a maximum-security prison, informed the DOJ that on any given day there are "probably 11" security staff per shift for the entire complex of 800 prisoners."

Drug Policy

• A Bitter Pill by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, September, 2022
  "While it's rare for people whose only offense is simple possession to land in prison, it is far from unheard of...Convictions for these collateral offenses can be what...sends them to prison for crimes that are driven by addiction, not malice."

Economics of Incarceration

• Shadow Budgets: How mass incarceration steals from the poor to give to the prison by Prison Policy Initiative, May, 2024
  "Most [welfare fund] policies are so vague that prison officials enjoy wide discretion to spend incarcerated peoples' money as they please -- sometimes spending it on luxury perks for staff."
• Workers Doing Time Must Be Protected by Job Safety Laws by National Employment Law Project, April, 2024
  "Excessive carceral costs and fees coupled with strong incentives for early release push incarcerated workers into accepting dangerous assignments."
• A Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Impact of Ending Slavery and Involuntary Servitude as Criminal Punishment and Paying Incarcerated Workers Fair Wages by Edgeworth Economics and Worth Rises, January, 2024
  "Once the adjustments to paying incarcerated workers are achieved the total fiscal benefits to incarcerated workers, their families and children, crime victims, and society at large is between $26.8 billion and $34.7 billion per year."
• Revenue Over Public Safety by Brennan Center for Justice, July, 2022
  "Officials seeking to alleviate prison and jail overcrowding by renting space from other jurisdictions have created a market in incarcerated people...federal government has exacerbated demand for bed space, such as through immigration enforcement."

Felon Disenfranchisement

• Out of Step: U.S. Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective by Sentencing Project, June, 2024
  "Among other types of reforms, most U.S. states no longer disenfranchise individuals permanently for life and many no longer disenfranchise individuals upon release from incarceration."

General

• Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024 by Prison Policy Initiative, March, 2024
  "Looking at the "whole pie" of mass incarceration opens up conversations about where it makes sense to focus our energies at the local, state, and national levels."
• The First Step Act's Prison Reforms by Brennan Center for Justice, September, 2022
  "The Act excludes those convicted of many crimes [from receiving Earned Time Credits]. These exclusions prevent nearly half of the federal prison population from benefiting from credits...[and] appear to serve no policy purpose."

Health impact

• Eight Key Considerations for Successful Implementation of New Medicaid Reentry Policies by Health and Reentry Project, June, 2024
  "Successful implementation of these policies requires that correctional facilities have data and IT systems that can share eligibility, enrollment, and pertinent patient clinical information across community and correctional systems."
• Medicaid's New Role in Advancing Reentry: Key Policy Changes by Health and Reentry Project, March, 2024
  "The minimum services states must provide to be approved for a waiver are: case management, medication assisted treatment (MAT), and a 30-day supply of medications upon release. States can go above and beyond these three services..."
• Recommendations for Medicaid Coverage of Opioid Use Disorder Services in Jails and Prisons by Health and Reentry Project and Viaduct Consulting, LLC, January, 2024
  This slide deck covers findings from three reports encouraging state and local governments to expand access to quality, evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder in prisons and jails by leveraging Medicaid coverage.
• Breaking Ground: How California is Using Medicaid to Improve the Health of People Leaving Incarceration by Health and Reentry Project, May, 2023
  "Incarcerated adults who are enrolled in Medi-Cal and meet specific criteria and all Medi-Cal/CHIP-enrolled youth in youth correctional settings will qualify for Medi-Cal pre-release services."
• Death Traps An examination of the routine, violent deaths of people in the custody of the State of Alabama by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, November, 2020
  "2020 is on pace to be one of the most deadly years on record in Alabama prisons, with deaths by homicide between January and July at 10 compared to seven for the same time period in 2019."

Poverty and wealth

• Taken for a Ride How Excessive Ticketing Propels Alabama Drivers Into a Cycle of Debt, Incarceration, and Poverty by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, July, 2023
  "The municipal court judge in Jacksonville won't issue a warrant of arrest until a person fails to appear in court three times for a given charge...In Anniston, however, a person can be arrested after missing a single court date."

Probation and parole

• Hepatitis C-related knowledge and attitude among adults on probation in a large US city by Matthew S. Minturn et al, July, 2024
  "Continuing to look for ways to educate and engage adult probation clients in testing and treatment for HCV should be a priority for practitioners, public health professionals, and law enforcement professionals."

Sentencing Policy and Practices

• The Second Look Movement: A Review of the Nation's Sentence Review Laws by Sentencing Project, May, 2024
  "In addition to California, four states - Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington - have enacted prosecutor-initiated resentencing laws that allow prosecutors to request the court to reconsider a sentence."
• Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Challenges and Impact by Louisiana Legislative Auditor, February, 2024
  "[Those] released based on Justice Reinvestment Initiative good time changes do not appear to return to custody at a higher rate than the overall return rate."
• Condemned: The habitual felony offender act in Alabama by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, March, 2023
  "At a minimum, Alabama should provide a mechanism for judges to review the sentences of people serving life without parole under the Habitual Federal Offender Act."

Sexual offenses

• Sex Offense Civil Commitment Minnesota's Failed Investment and the $100 Million Opportunity to Stop Sexual Violence by Mitchell Hamline School of Law, April, 2024
  "As of September 1, 2023, only 21 of the 946 people committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program have been fully discharged from the program (~2%), while at least 94 have died during their commitment (~10%)."

Youth

• Pediatric Health and System Impacts of Mass Incarceration, 2009-2020: A Matched Cohort Study by Samantha Boch et al, May, 2024
  "Our study finds vast disparities between youth with documented probable contact to the justice system and matched youth."
• Protect and Redirect: America's Growing Movement to Divert Youth Out of the Justice System by Sentencing Project, March, 2024
  "Among the most promising recent developments in youth diversion is the growing focus on restorative justice alternatives to formal court processing."