Why Inflation Price Hikes Are Even Worse Behind Bars
The Marshall Project reviewed commissary prices from 26 state prison departments in 2022, finding that prices for food and hygiene products have soared across prisons due to the lack of …
Conflicts of Interest
Revenue, Race, and the Potential Unintended Consequences of Traffic Enforcement Reform
Highly publicized killings of people by law enforcement during traffic stops have led to a growing interest in traffic enforcement reform. While some see automated traffic enforcement and unarmed civilian …
United States Department of Justice “Dear Colleague” Letter (revised and updated)
On April 20, 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Office of Justice Programs, and Office for Access to Justice revised the 2016 Dear Colleague to include an updated discussion …
SMH: The Rapid & Unregulated Growth of E‑messaging in Prisons
Text-based electronic messaging or “e-massaging,” not to be confused with emailing, has exploded in the past decade. At least 43 state prison systems and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) …
Police Killings and Municipal Reliance on Fine-and-Fee Revenue
Between 2016 and 2021, more than 400 unarmed people were killed by police during traffic stops. In addition, metropolitan areas that rely more on revenue from fines and fees experience …
Fines and Fees: Consequences and Opportunities for Reform
The utilization of fines and fees in the criminal legal system for revenue generation raises substantial questions regarding equity and may create perverse incentives for government entities dependent on the …
Local Governments Collected $9 Billion in Fines And Fees in 2020
The use of fines and fees to generate revenue can be exploitative and a conflict of interest when relied on as an essential source of revenue. Using data from the …
Policy Blueprint For Ending Carceral Profiteering
Each year, over 4,000 private corporations generate $80 billion by exploiting incarcerated people’s need to stay in contact with their loved ones and access medical care, quality food, and hygiene …
Regressive Revenue Perpetuates Poverty: Why Georgia’s Fines and Fees Need Immediate Reform
More than 300 localities in Georgia use revenue from fines and fees to balance their budgets, and 20 percent do so at rates researchers consider high and abusive. Georgians who …
State Of Phone Justice 2022: The Problem, The Progress, and What’s Next
As a result of actions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and efforts at the state and local level, prison and jail phone call fees have steadily reduced over the …