“I’m living on the fact that somebody cared for me when I got out. The guys who got out before me helped me when I got out. People who are doing this work helped me, so I’m bound to reciprocate.” More →

November 6, 2015

According to lawyer Douglas Laycock, this religious freedom case is not just about Gregory Holt, the American Muslim convict who now goes by the name of Abdul Maalik Muhammad and who is the plaintiff in Holt v Hobbs. “It’s about all those other prisoners that were not getting their scriptures, not getting their dietary needs, not getting the other things essential to religious practice.” More →

October 3, 2014

A neuroscientist and an ethicist ponder the subject of violence and how to prevent it: “It’s beyond a reasonable doubt now that there is this brain basis to crime,” says Professor Adrian Raine. But “we have to be very careful how we use this information,” warns Professor Paul Wolpe. More →

March 7, 2014

“We are locking people up in solitary confinement to prevent this violent behavior, and in fact it may actually instigate—because of the impact on their mental health—even more violent behavior,” says Heather Rice-Minus, a senior policy advisor for Justice Fellowship. More →

February 28, 2014

“God made us to be in contact with other human beings. And when we take that human contact away, it exacerbates whatever problems that may have been there before. So rather than rehabilitating people, it actually makes them worse,” says Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals. More →

February 28, 2014

“The fundamental problem is that governments that are trying to convict and fine and imprison and execute people have no incentive in giving those people lawyers that will defeat those goals,” says Southern Center for Human Rights president and senior counsel Stephen Bright.  More →

December 20, 2013

It doesn’t make moral, ethical, or fiscal sense, according to Cook County sheriff Tom Dart, to house people who are mentally ill in jails and prisons. More →

June 21, 2013

Watch more of our conversation with author Michelle Alexander about crime, the war on drugs, and the disproportionately high number of African-Americans in prison. More →

June 7, 2013

“These are safe men. Not only will they not create conflict and violence in your community, they can help resolve it,” says Jacques Verduin. His program in San Quentin prison is helping inmates deal with the emotional pain at the root of their criminal behavior. More →

May 10, 2013

“In Louisiana, you’ve got all these prison entrepreneurs who are mostly local sheriffs who have built these prisons, and the prisons function just like hotels. They get a payment per person per day, and if they don’t keep the beds full they’re going to lose money,” says reporter Cindy Chang. More →

January 11, 2013