Next week, Los Angeles voters will decide among three vastly different candidates for the powerful position of top prosecutor in the city with the nation’s largest jail system. The LA County District Attorney’s Office has had disproportionately high incarceration rates for years. Whoever takes the seat has the
On any given day, the Los Angeles County jail system incarcerates more than 5,000 people living with mental illness. That’s around 30% of the total jail population, and the number continues to grow. Over the years, a range of proposals have sought to address the needs of this
Since the 1920s, a small group of local civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama, fought a racist system that terrorized Black Americans and barred them from voting. By the 1960s, the work of the Dallas County Voters League and others had attracted national partners—and a dynamic young pastor and
As the largest jailer in the world, incarcerating an average of around 17,000 people each day, the Los Angeles County, California, criminal justice system has long been in need of reform. Next week, Angelenos will have the opportunity to cast a vote for much-needed progress in the form of
At a heated district attorney debate in Los Angeles last week, DA Jackie Lacey faced questions about why her office incarcerated black Los Angeles residents at 13 times the rate of white residents between 2013 and 2015. Lacey responded by brushing off the racial disparity as a simple fact of
by Prism Staff Across the country, grassroots organizations are fighting for criminal justice reform: advocating for restoration of voting rights, pushing to end pretrial incarceration, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, and more. Check out these groups working on the ground in major cities nationwide, and learn how you can get involved.
The courtroom filled with applause. After 11 years in prison and five rejected appeals fighting his 47-year sentence for a series of armed robberies in Los Angeles, Ruben Martinez Jr. was finally able to walk free. In a courtroom full of Martinez’s family and friends, Los Angeles County District
In a democracy that values widespread participation in the political system, the voting process should be easy and accessible to every eligible citizen. But in the United States, not every state lives up to that ideal. With this year’s Election Day just around the corner, some states have taken
After expressing support earlier this year for revoking protections for noncitizens who are convicted of first-time misdemeanor drug offenses in California, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has reversed course in the face of public scrutiny. This marks the second time since taking office that Lacey has advocated for
On February 20, 2017, Inglewood police discovered an unconscious couple in an idling car. It was 3 a.m. Kisha Michael was a mother of three, Marquintan Sandlin a father of four. The police shot them 20 times after what they have described only as “an unknown exchange.” Two years
With no incumbent on the ballot for the first time in more than a century, San Francisco voters were living through an open race to elect their district attorney. That changed last week when incumbent District Attorney George Gascon announced his premature resignation. Shortly after, Mayor London Breed announced her
In long black peacoats, the five men of the most popular norteño Mexican group in the world, Los Tigres del Norte, walked inside the walls of Folsom Prison—a maximum security facility northeast of Sacramento, California. They were walking the footsteps of people like inmates Luis Flores, Melchor Juárez, and
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