32 new reports on race, policing, probation, and more.

Criminal Justice Research Library for February 1, 2023 Bringing you the latest in empirical research about mass incarceration

We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 32 new reports to the Research Library [[link removed]]: COVID-19 [[link removed]] Impact of COVID-19 on State and Federal Prisons, March 2020-February 2021 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2022 ( See our analysis of this report here [[link removed]].) "Almost 2,500 state and federal prisoners died of COVID-19-related causes during the 12 months from March 2020 to February 2021." Jails in Indian Country, 2021, and the Impact of COVID-19, July-December 2020 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2022

"About 5,780 persons were admitted to Indian country jails in June 2021, up 8% from the 5,330 admissions in June 2020." Changes in the Use of Telehealth Services and Use of Technology for Communication in U.S. Community Supervision Agencies Since COVID-19 [[link removed]] by Jill Viglione and Thuy Nguyen, May, 2022

"Our results indicated that agencies who implemented more COVID-19 mitigation strategies were more likely to institute changes to meet more safely face-to-face with individuals on supervision." Conditions of Confinement [[link removed]] Department of Corrections: Significant Deficiencies Demonstrate Need for Overhaul of the Prisoner Grievance Process [[link removed]] by Vermont State Auditor's Office, December, 2022

"The recordkeeping system that DOC uses to collect information on grievances-- the Offender Management System (OMS)--does not have reliable, basic information to determine the number, type, status, or outcome of prisoner grievances." Inside Illinois Civil Commitment: Treatment Behind Razor Wire [[link removed]] by Civil Commitment Working Group Illinois, November, 2022

"While anecdotal reports do reflect incremental improvements to conditions after recent leadership changes at Rushville, the fact remains that Rushville is not a treatment center, it is a prison full of people who are serving de facto life sentences." "Not for Human Consumption": Prison Food's Absent Regulatory Regime [[link removed]] by Amanda Chan and Anna Nathanson, May, 2021

"With the passage of the [Prison Litigation Reform Act]...Prisoners lost one of their tools for seeking humane food conditions, and they continue to suffer the consequences." Crime and Crime Rates [[link removed]] Criminal Victimization, 2021 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2022

"From 1993 to 2021, the rate of violent victimization declined from 79.8 to 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older." Drug Policy [[link removed]] Using the Americans with Disabilities Act to Reduce Overdose Deaths [[link removed]] by David Howard Sinkman and Gregory Dorchak, January, 2022

"The Department [of Justice] has a powerful enforcement tool to address the opioid crisis: helping jails and prisons satisfy their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing all medications used to treat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)." General [[link removed]] The Birth of the Penal Organization: Why Prisons Were Born to Fail [[link removed]] by Ashley T. Rubin, June, 2019

"We move away from the question, "Why do prisons fail?" and ask instead, "Why do we repeatedly expect prisons to succeed?"" Health impact [[link removed]] History of Incarceration and Its Association With Geriatric and Chronic Health Outcomes in Older Adulthood [[link removed]] by Ilana R. Grossman et al, January, 2023

"In this study, at least 1 in 15 older US adults reported a history of incarceration in their lifetime. Past incarceration was associated with many chronic diseases and geriatric syndromes even after accounting for socioeconomic status." Performance Measures for Medication-assisted Treatment in Correctional Settings: A Framework for Implementation [[link removed]] by Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, December, 2022

"An individual released from custody may not realize that even brief incarcerations could result in reduced tolerance levels and resuming use at the same rate and/or dose of pre-incarceration, leading to a fatal unintentional overdose." Federal Deaths in Custody and During Arrest, 2020 - Statistical Tables [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2022

"Federal law enforcement agencies reported 65 arrest-related deaths and 614 deaths in custody in fiscal year (FY) 2020." Legal Reactivity: Correctional Health Care Certifications as Responses to Litigation [[link removed]] by Spencer Headworth and Callie Zaborenko, August, 2021

"We find that corrections actors tend to adopt [third-party correctional health care] certifications when directly threatened by elevated rates of litigation in their states." Can There Be Acceptable Prison Health Care? Looking Back on the 1970s [[link removed]] by Susan M. Reverby, January, 2019

"[Formerly incarcerated physician Alan] Berkman's argument--that control rather than care underlies the medical rationale in prison health care--still undermines humane treatment of incarcerated people." Right to a Healthy Prison Environment: Health Care in Custody Under the Prism of Torture [[link removed]] by Juan E. Mendez, January, 2019

"A healthy [prison] environment requires structural integrity of prison systems, access to medical care and treatment, health care services, including dental, psychological, and rehabilitative services, and opportunity for prisoners to exercise." Incarceration Rates Growth Causes [[link removed]] Federal Prisoner Statistics Collected under the First Step Act, 2022 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2022

"The federal prison population increased more than 3%, from 151,283 at yearend 2020 to 156,542 at yearend 2021." Prisoners in 2021 - Statistical Tables [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2022

"The U.S. prison population was 1,204,300 at yearend 2021, a 1% decrease from 2020 (1,221,200) and a 25% decrease from 2011 (1,599,000)." Jails [[link removed]] Jail Inmates in 2021 - Statistical Tables [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2022

"At midyear 2021, 29% of jail inmates (185,000) were convicted, either serving a sentence or awaiting sentencing on a conviction, while 71% of inmates (451,400) were unconvicted, awaiting court action on a current charge or held in jail for other reasons." Police and Policing [[link removed]] Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2020 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2022

"About 21% of U.S. residents age 16 or older had contact with police in 2020. Black (6%) and Hispanic (3%) persons were more likely to experience the threat or use of nonfatal force during their most recent police contact than white persons (2%)." Poverty and wealth [[link removed]] At What Cost? Findings from an Examination into the Imposition of Public Defense System Fees [[link removed]] by National Legal Aid & Defender Association, July, 2022

"In the overwhelming majority of states, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not mean that counsel for those who cannot afford it is provided free of charge." Pretrial Detention [[link removed]] Freedom Denied: How the Culture of Detention Created a Federal Jailing Crisis [[link removed]] by Alison Siegler, October, 2022

"Our courtwatching data reveal the myriad ways in which judges detain federal arrestees in contravention of the legal standards in the [Bail Reform Act of 1984]." The benefits of live court date reminder phone calls during pretrial case processing [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Russell Ferri, March, 2022

"Court date reminders [via phone call] reduced the failure to appear (FTA) rate by 37%. The results suggest the timing of the reminders was not important." Probation and parole [[link removed]] An eye on reform: Examining decisions, procedures, and outcomes of the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision release process [[link removed]] by Christopher M. Campbell et al, September, 2022

"All interviewees discussed how "articulating their rehabilitation" or "demonstrated insight" were both critical in the process and yet very difficult to achieve, often due to poor communication skills." Race and ethnicity [[link removed]] Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice [[link removed]] by National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, November, 2022

"This report offers an account of the research evidence that can inform the public conversation and the policy discussion over reducing racial inequality in the criminal justice system and advancing racial equity." Racial Disparities in the Administration of Discipline in New York State Prisons [[link removed]] by State of New York Offices of the Inspector General, November, 2022

"Of DOCCS employees who issued 50 or more Misbehavior Reports during the period reviewed, 226 employees issued them to only non-White incarcerated individuals, including 114 employees who issued them to only Black or Hispanic incarcerated individuals." Recidivism and Reentry [[link removed]] Sticky Stigma: The Impact of Incarceration on Perceptions of Personality Traits and Deservingness [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Bridget Brew et al, July, 2021

"Members of marginalized groups who are most likely to experience incarceration or have an incarcerated loved one continue to face informal social exclusion and the attendant consequences long after the formal punishment." Sentencing Policy and Practices [[link removed]] Final Report of the Illinois Resentencing Task Force [[link removed]] by Illinois Resentencing Task Force, December, 2022

"A resentencing system that allows both prospective and retroactive application will have the greatest impact on the prison population and address the disparate impact of mass incarceration." Reflections on Long Prison Sentences: A Conversation with Crime Survivors, Formerly Incarcerated People, and Family Members [[link removed]] by Susan Howley, Council on Criminal Justice, January, 2022

"Most participants across the two groups said they did not equate long sentences with accountability." Trials [[link removed]] Data on Adjudication of Misdemeanor Offenses: Results from a Feasibility Study [[link removed]] by Abt Associates and Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2022

"By focusing on misdemeanors, BJS is addressing a substantial gap in criminal justice statistics, as very little empirical information exists about misdemeanor charges filed in state, county, and municipal courts." No Justice, No Pleas: Subverting Mass Incarceration Through Defendant Collective Action [[link removed]] by Andrew Manuel Crespo, April, 2022

"Courts and prosecutors simply do not have the resources to sustain mass incarceration while affording everyone accused of a crime the constitutionally guaranteed right to a trial." Women [[link removed]] Pregnancy, Systematic Disregard and Degradation, and Carceral Institutions [[link removed]] by Lauren Kuhlik and Carolyn Sufrin, 2020

"We describe violations of constitutional and clinical standards of reproductive care behind bars... these reproductive coercions are grounded in historical legacies of slavery and the ongoing reproductive control of black and other marginalized bodies." Youth [[link removed]] Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence [[link removed]] by Sentencing Project, December, 2022

"Compared to probation and other community alternatives, incarceration most often results in higher rates of rearrest and reincarceration [for young people]." Please support our work [[link removed]]

Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Other news: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration [[link removed]]

New data that is only available because many states have ended prison gerrymandering gives the clearest picture yet of where people in prisons come from.

In this new report [[link removed]] we look at the national geographic trends of mass incarceration. The data busts some of the most common myths about mass incarceration.

How a Medicare rule that ends financial burdens for the incarcerated leaves some behind [[link removed]]

In this recent briefing [[link removed]] we examined a new Medicare rule that addresses a long-standing problem in the program that unfairly punished incarcerated people.

Unfortunately, by not making this change retroactive, thousands of older, formerly incarcerated people are still being unfairly penalized.

Please support our work [[link removed]]

Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Our other newsletters General Prison Policy Initiative newsletter ( archives [[link removed]]) Ending prison gerrymandering ( archives [[link removed]])

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