News & Commentary
ICE’s Lack of Transparency About COVID-19 in Detention Will Cost Lives
ICE has been demonstrably dishonest with the courts and public about matters related to COVID-19 — so we're filing a FOIA request to uncover more information.
When a Two-Year Sentence Becomes a Death Sentence
The refusal to let pregnant people out of prison shows just how deep our mass incarceration obsession runs — particularly in Indian Country.
During COVID-19 Crisis, We Must Prioritize the Release of Pregnant People
Lauren Kuhlik, Equal Justice Works Fellow, ACLU National Prison Project
Our Vision for Equitable Marijuana Reform
Marijuana arrests clog the criminal legal system with people who should not be there. This puts even more people in harm’s way as COVID-19 threatens to devastate jails and prisons, where the virus can spread rapidly. Officials must respond by reducing both arrests and the incarcerated population. Learn more.Legalizing marijuana, w
Immigration Detention Was a Black Box Before COVID-19. Now, it’s a Death Trap.
We have experienced unprecedented, unchecked growth in the detention of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers over the last decade. Since Donald Trump took office, this problem has reached historic levels.
Federal Bill Would Release Vulnerable People from Prisons to Help Stop Spread of COVID-19
The Emergency Community Supervision Act requires the Bureau of Prisons to immediately place vulnerable individuals in home confinement or other community supervision outside of prison.
After a Lifetime Apart, COVID-19 Prison Release Reunites Mother and Daughter
“You’re on the list.”It took a few seconds for Chalana McFarland to grasp what was happening. Her name was one of just a few on the list of people who would be released from prison early due to COVID-19. Behind her stood a line of dozens of other women waiting to see if they made it. Only some of them had. But as Chalana received the news, they started cheering, and caused such an uproar that the correctional staff had to reprimand them. That’s when it finally clicked for Chalana — after 15 years in prison, she was finally going home. Chalana immediately contacted her daughter.“I was watching a movie with my roommate when I got the news,” says Nia, who is 19 and lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where she attends university. “At first I was like, ‘What?’ I didn’t think it was real. Then I just fell over crying. I couldn’t even talk. Later, when we talked on the phone, I could hear the happiness in my mom’s voice that this was all finally going to be over.”
New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us
These critical reforms are more urgent than ever, but they were needed long before the pandemic. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country on earth, with four percent of the world’s total population and 21 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.
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