The state has started to reduce overdose deaths by offering counseling and medication for opioid addiction in prison. Research finds the treatment helps inmates avoid relapse after release.
A U.S. District judge issued the ruling Tuesday in a class action lawsuit brought by inmates who argued the prisons' conditions were cruel and unusual punishment.
The abbreviated story of Martin Sostre, a revolutionary prisoner who challenged and changed the American prison system from his cell in solitary confinement.
Several states across the U.S. are curbing their use of solitary confinements in prison. But in New York, corrections officers say it's a necessary tool to keep the guards and prisons safe.
A group of inmates in Texas says poorly ventilated, steel and concrete cellblocks bake like ovens. The inmates are suing the state prison system, arguing the heat is killing older and infirm convicts.
Nuevo León Gov. Jaime Rodriguez Calderón, whose state includes the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, says some 12 people were hospitalized following Wednesday night's riot.
A federal judge said Monday she was considering an agreement between Arizona and an inmate to end a claim of racial segregation in the state’s 10 prisons.
Many federal inmates have access to email but defense attorneys say they don't trust it, because prosecutors have used those emails as evidence in court.
Baby boomers with the skill are retiring and not enough young people are replacing them. In Georgia, inmates are given access to heavy tools and blowtorches so they can get a welding certificate.
The state agrees to stop placing inmates in solitary confinement solely because of a gang affiliation. The changes could move more than 1,500 inmates out of solitary.
The heavy reliance on solitary confinement in New Mexico went unquestioned for decades. Now, the state is gradually shifting away from the practice, though it probably won't ever fade from the system.
Early experiments in isolating inmates took place at a Philadelphia prison in the 1800s. Though discredited as cruel, the practice was later revived nationwide during the drug war.
A 2013 investigation resulted in the indictment of "25 people — including 13 women working as corrections officers" on racketeering and drug charges. Nearly 20 more faced other charges.
Many of the inmates died of natural causes, but a series of suspicious deaths — against the backdrop of a shrinking budget and staff shortages — has lawmakers calling for a prison oversight board.
With a single move, Rikers Island prison has taken the lead on prison reform on one issue: It banned the use of solitary confinement for inmates under 21 years old.
When a pregnant woman gives birth at the Nevada Department of Corrections, she will no longer be restrained, shackled or otherwise restrained when delivering
![Imam Yannis Warrach helps prisoners resist radicalization at a top-security prison in Normandy. He says radicals recruit newcomers by "brainwash[ing]" them "little by little."](https://knpr.org/sites/default/files/public/styles/thumbnail/public/images/npr-story/534128683_447409346.jpg?itok=zCBxPqMB "Eleanor Beardsley, NPR")
