Dr. Christine Montross says people with serious mental illnesses in the U.S. are far more likely to be incarcerated than to be treated in a psychiatric hospital. Her new book is Waiting for an Echo.
"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had already been receiving reports on the terrible conditions in the jails that made sickness a normal thing," says a leading Philippine human rights lawyer.
Indiana prisoners say they can't protect themselves from the virus, as the governor resists calls to reduce overcrowding. "Scared for our lives," says an inmate.
The U.N. human rights chief says authorities should look for ways to release people in detention who are especially vulnerable to the disease, such as those who are elderly or who have health issues.
Some prisons are waiving fees for hygiene supplies and county jails are releasing certain inmates early to combat the potential threat posed by the Covid-19 virus.
Inmates and guards don't have the option of staying home during a coronavirus outbreak, so detention centers risk becoming "incubators" for the disease. Some are scrambling to mitigate the risk.
Sarah and Andy were in love and also advocates, determined to keep drug users from dying. But when his own addiction reemerged, Andy's fear of returning to prison kept him from the best treatment.
The Justice Department's civil rights division will examine conditions at four state prisons, including the oldest, Parchman, where a prison riot broke out on Dec. 29.
For people who have been incarcerated, head and neck tattoos are often a barrier to reentering society and getting jobs. Some former inmates are removing their tattoos to help leave the past behind.
An 8-year-old girl was strip searched at Buckingham Correctional Center last month. A prison spokesperson says the prison staffer who approved the search didn't have the authority to do so.
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.
![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")
