During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death toll among incarcerated individuals in the U.S. skyrocketed at a rate over three times higher than the general population, according to a new study. The numbers, thought to be the most comprehensive review of state and federal-level prison data to date, paint a grim picture of the pandemic's impact behind bars. Older prisoners bared the brunt of the crisis and experienced a disproportionate rise in deaths.

Last week, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee passed the Federal Prison Oversight Act with a 41-1 vote. The legislation, introduced last year, hopes to shine a light on the shadowy agency that has faced numerous reports of abuse, neglect, and unconstitutional conditions inside several federal facilities across the country by establishing an Ombudsman within the DOJ who would be tasked handling complaints from incarcerated individuals, corrections staff and others, as well as provide for risk-based assessments of federal prison facilities.

This week, the Maryland Department of Corrections announced a new agreement with the University System of Maryland that will create a framework to bring higher education programs to every state-run prison utilizing newly reinstated federal Pell grants allowing incarcerated people to pursue bachelor’s degrees. The first-in-the-nation deal follows the passage of legislation to reshape prison education this year: one bill that establishes a prison education delivery reform commission to develop strategies to improve learning in state-run facilities, and another bill that would implement new requirements and better track educational outcomes.

The myth that coming into contact with fentanyl through the air or by touching it has been debunked continuously by public health experts over the years, but it nevertheless continues to spread among law enforcement, and now policymakers. This year, proposed legislation in Florida, West Virginia, and Tennessee aims to criminalize exposing first responders to fentanyl, perpetuating a dangerous myth of passive overdose risk. Despite expert pushback, policymakers are advancing these bills that could exacerbate the opioid crisis.

The tactics law enforcement use to restrain and deescalate suspects aren’t supposed to lead to death. Yet, they have. Deaths following the use of Tasers or physical restraint don't always make national headlines, which means just how often and in what ways police tactics are leading to death can be difficult to track, until now.

A federal judge has ordered the Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin to be overseen by a "special master," marking the first time a Bureau of Prisons facility has faced such oversight in U.S. history. The decision follows scathing criticism from the judge, who accused the BOP of disregarding inmates' constitutional rights, and comes after lawsuits by incarcerated women alleging sexual assault and retaliation, as well as an FBI raid and the removal of top administrators.

A report in NPR this week looks at the challenges of caring for an increasingly elderly prison population in the United States. As those sentenced to long terms of incarceration continue to age, their healthcare demands rise, and facilities across the country are finding themselves ill-equipped to deal with the needs of this population. Experts argue that soon we will be at a tipping point where states will either need to adapt their facilities rapidly to meet the needs of their ballooning elderly population, or look at alternatives like early release.

According to a new study released last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses over unpaid traffic tickets is robbing the state of a significant portion of its workforce. According to the study, 14.4% of the Ohio labor force could be at risk of leaving it in any given year due to such suspensions.

The United States Sentencing Commission held the first of two days of testimony on updated sentencing guidelines Wednesday. The hearings come after an open public comment period for the guidelines ended last month. Among other changes, the proposal would alter how sentences for offenses committed prior to the age of eighteen are considered in the calculation of a defendant’s criminal history score, and eliminate the consideration of offenses for which a person of any age has been acquitted during subsequent interactions with the justice system.

This week, the Louisiana legislature is meeting for a special session on crime, and is on the verge of rolling back significant reforms to its criminal justice system that first passed in 2017. Lawmakers and Governor Landry have blamed them on a rise in crime despite data to the contrary.

On February 8, newly-elected Governor Jeff Landry issued a proclamation for a highly-anticipated special session on crime that included twenty-five policy priorities. The 38 bills that resulted from the call could have disastrous fiscal, safety, and longterm economic effects on the Pelican State without improving public safety.

A new report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general exposed a distressing reality around inmate deaths within federal prisons, noting that 344 inmates in federal prison having died from suicide, homicide or accidents over an eight-year period. More than half of those deaths—187—were suicides. The investigation reveals systemic failures in mental health care and suicide prevention protocols, finding that most non-medical deaths in federal facilities could have been prevented.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt spoke out against the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture during his 2024 State of the State address, acknowledging its inherent unfairness and calling for comprehensive reforms. Stitt's stance adds momentum to the growing movement against this widely criticized practice, which allows law enforcement to seize property from individuals, often without criminal charges or due process.

Housing over 157,000 inmates at an annual cost exceeding $8 billion, the US federal prison system is facing increased scrutiny as its level of understaffing becomes potentially dangerous and a disturbing pattern of abuse at women's prisons has unfolded in the public eye. CBS’ 60 Minutes sat down with Colette Peters to talk about her culpability in the abuses, her efforts to right the plagued agency, and where federal incarceration goes from here.

Five years after the federal First Step Act reshaped America's criminal justice landscape, U.S. Senator Durbin and First Step Act beneficiary Matthew Charles joined forces to defend its success and advocate for continued policy progress on its five year anniversary. The Act's impact on reducing recidivism, federal prison overcrowding, and unfair sentencing practices was on clear display during last week's Senate hearing on the law.

President Biden’s 2020 campaign website included an extensive section on criminal justice reform. Four years later, the site has been scrubbed and journalist Max Burns faced a wall of silence from democrat lawmakers and national criminal justice organizations while researching a column on what happened to Democrats’ justice reform priorities since the last election.

The U.S. is facing a dire shortage of affordable and timely addiction treatment centers for adolescents amidst a worrying uptick in overdose deaths within this age group, according to a study led by Oregon Health & Science University. With nearly half of the facilities requiring upfront costs of about $26,000 for a one-month stay, and wait times averaging nearly a month, vulnerable youth are left without accessible care.

In one of the few major cities in the nation experiencing an uptick in violent crime, Washington, D.C. leaders are split on the policy changes that could address the nation's fourth highest homicide rate as well as a spate of car jackings that have left residents unnerved. For some, the progressive policing changes that saw significant support in D.C. in the past are no longer an option, and Mayor Bowser says the pendulum is swinging back to a bipartisan middle.

This year proved to be a rollercoaster year for advocates concerned with preserving CARES Act home confinement, and the thousands who have been safely living in their communities since they were released during the pandemic. Following a major spring win with a final rule from the DOJ allowing those placed in the program during the COVID pandemic to serve the remainder of their sentences on home confinement, Sen. Marsha Blackburn recently introduced a Senate resolution that threatens to send them all back to prison despite the program's overwhelming levels of success, and quickly approached the required 30 Senate co-sponsors to bring the effort straight to the floor. 

Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the first automatic “Clean Slate” expungement law in the nation, enacted legislation this week to expand eligibility for Clean Slate to low-level felonies. Governor Shapiro promptly signed the bill on Thursday, delivering a years-long goal of bipartisan sponsors, Representatives Jordan Harris (D) and Sheryl Delozier (R), and a gift to the people of Pennsylvania who will have better access to jobs and housing in the new year as a result of the law.