Crime, Reform & Abolition

562 posts

Q&A: The women behind ‘Belly of the Beast’ talk reproductive injustice and incarceration

Between 1909 and 1979, 20,000 people—primarily women of color—were forcibly sterilized in California. A part of the growing eugenics movement, compulsory sterilizations were part of a broad campaign aimed at controlling the bodies and determining the futures of women who lived at the deepest margins of society.

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11 Min
By: Tina Vásquez

Climate change puts the health and lives of incarcerated people at risk

In the midst of the new threats that have surfaced this year—namely the COVID-19 outbreak—people have been grappling with the fact that even when the pandemic ends and personal and government mandated lockdowns are lifted, the world will still have to contend with a planet that is rapidly

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8 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

California ‘bans the box,’ protecting formerly incarcerated people in the college admissions process

Keisha Murphy is on the frontlines of fighting COVID-19 as a registered nurse based in San Bernardino County, California. While the pandemic poses new challenges to her important work, the road to her nursing career was also riddled with obstacles for one reason: Murphy’s prior felony conviction. Murphy had

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8 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

North Carolina organizers fight to remove a racist sheriff and Confederate monuments

When Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson talks about what inspired him to run for the North Carolina office he now holds, he often cites the state’s perhaps most famous sheriff: TV’s Andy Griffith. Johnson, who supported the arrest and pepper spraying of demonstrators at a peaceful get-out-the-vote rally

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8 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

Workers’ rights, racial justice, and more were on the ballot this year. Here’s where voters stood.

While much remains uncertain about the results of this year’s election, across the country results have begun to roll in on key down-ballot races and ballot initiatives that addressed some of the most major issues facing the United States. As Prism previously reported, affirmative action, criminal justice reforms, the

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7 Min
By: Prism Staff

Texas organizers partner with a local sheriff to bring in-jail voting within reach

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people detained within Texas’ Harris County jail system have been speaking out through phone calls and letters, sharing with loved ones about the conditions inside and their ever present fears as the virus spreads. This election season, more of those inside are hoping

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5 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

How to Make it Happen: What it takes to bring in-jail voting to your community

Voting rights have been a major focus during this election year, and even in the face of ongoing suppression, voters are using early voting opportunities and mail-in ballots to ensure their voices are heard. In cities across the country, efforts to expand access to the vote have extended to those

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2 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

White sheriffs find political home with far-right organizations

In the midst of a pandemic, thousands of Americans nationwide have taken to the streets with a demand: Abolish the police. Two years prior, the case against sheriffs gained steam—inspired by a speech former Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave to the National Sheriffs Association in which he called the

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8 Min
By: Tamar Sarai, Tina Vásquez

What’s at stake: Cash bail, prison labor, sentencing guidelines and more in criminal justice

This article is part of Prism’s Election 2020: What’s at Stake coverage. This year has been a watershed moment that has raised the nation’s awareness and outrage about police violence and the injustices of the criminal legal system. As the country pivots from a whirlwind summer and

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5 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

Settlements for police brutality and killings aren’t enough

October 23rd marks one month since a grand jury announced that it would not indict Louisville former detective Brett Hankison, and Officers’ Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly for the death of Breonna Taylor. The public remains angered by the lack of accountability for these law enforcement officials responsible. The world

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4 Min
By: Tamar Montuma

Cook County Jail revs up for in-person voting

Like voters across the country, those inside Cook County jail are revving up for one of the most important and crucial elections in recent decades. However, in addition to the presidential race, Katrina Phidd, communications associate at Chicago Votes, says that voters inside have been particularly intrigued by local races.

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5 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

Jailed voters can swing elections if they know and can exercise their rights

A new report released by the Prison Policy Initiative outlines a different kind of voter suppression than has typically made headlines this election season: the de facto disenfranchisement of people incarcerated in local jails. According to PPI, an overwhelming majority of the 746,000 people detained in U.S. jails

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5 Min
By: Tamar Sarai

Showing 12 of 562 total posts

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