The state executed four people this year, while Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama executed a total of 20 others. Forty states have abolished the death penalty, paused executions or have not executed anyone in the past 10 years.
The state, under court order, reduced its prison population from about 136,000 to 92,000 over the past decade, but the percentage of people behind bars with mental illness continues to grow.
Work that began as a civic hack — a part-time passion project for a group of Google engineers — is bringing corrections operations into the 21st century, helping tens of thousands move out of the system.
The death rate in the state’s prisons increased 34.6 percent from 2018 to 2022, which saw 135 deaths. This year is surpassing 2022’s rate even as the pandemic has waned and physical mail was stopped last year.
Fourteen organizations across the state will receive part of $2.5 million in grant funding to help former inmates get back into the workforce. Two of the organizations are based in Lowell.
Dallas County is locking up minors for months longer than national standards recommend and administering more punitive rulings than other counties. Families worry their children are locked inside for most of the day.
The $380 million plan will turn a portion of the Marin County, Calif., prison into a Scandinavian-inspired rehabilitation center, including a new education and vocation space. However, the plan does not commit to a set number of prison closures.
A federal court officially repealed California’s 2020 law that would have banned private immigrant detention facilities in the state; now other states are scaling back their legislation, hoping less severe policies will pass.
Some point to pretrial release from jail to explain increases in homicides and other violent crimes. But as a new study shows, the data doesn't support that argument.
The bill would have given young offenders the opportunity to apply for parole after 30 years in prison, a full 10 years less than the law currently allows. State Sen. Drew Springer’s bill will not advance after he explained it wrong.
A proposal would expand the “ban the box” concept to the private sector, barring most contractors who do business with the city-parish from asking job applicants about their criminal history until late in the hiring process.
Laws that were enacted to provide community-based alternatives to the state’s youth prisons may actually be fostering a new “shadow” juvenile system in which officials are circumventing transparency laws behind closed doors.
New Mexico and Minnesota are the two most recent states to allow people previously convicted of felonies to vote upon leaving prison, following 21 other states. Ten more states are considering similar legislation.
Nearly 10 percent of the state can’t participate in elections because they have been convicted of a felony. Restoring the right to vote to those who have completed their time is complicated and frustrating, advocates say.
The legislation that awaits Gov. Beshear’s signature would increase the starting pay of security workers at juvenile detention centers, with the hopes of retaining staff, and require better mental health services for the youths.
Twenty-seven states allow capital punishment, but public support for it has declined over the decades. Fifty-five percent of Americans support the death penalty for convicted murderers, the second-lowest support since 1972.
