Truthout
Prison
![A medical worker walks a cooler of supplies through barbed wire gates and into a prison](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/11/2021_1129-prison-covid-400x300.jpg)
Unnecessary and Complicated Transfers Are Spreading COVID in Federal Prisons
Incarcerated people are routinely subject to air, bus and van transport that heightens their risk of contracting COVID.
![A prisoner is seen reading a book through the narrow window of their cell door](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/11/2021_1119-trans-in-prison-400x300.jpg)
North Carolina Prison Has Ignored Woman’s Pleas for Gender-Affirming Surgery
Trans people behind bars are being denied what experts agree is medically necessary care.
![Julius Jones](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/11/2021_1118-julius-jones-400x300.jpg)
Julius Jones Will “Fight Another Day” — Death Sentence Commuted
The governor's office said it didn’t grant Jones a parole possibility because of restrictions in the state constitution.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/11/SEG3-Julius-Jones-400x300.jpg)
Advocates Demand Stay of Execution for Julius Jones in Oklahoma
Advocates in Oklahoma are rallying outside the barricaded governor’s mansion ahead of the planned Thursday execution.
![Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined Senators Ed Markey and Jeffrey Merkley in sending a letter to President Biden requesting a “blanket pardon” for all nonviolent federal marijuana convictions.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/11/2021_1116-elizabeth-warren-400x300.jpg)
Elizabeth Warren Urges Biden to Free People Imprisoned on Marijuana Charges
Warren called U.S. cannabis policy “failed and racist” as Biden faces mounting pressure to take executive action.
![Russell "Maroon" Shoatz is pictured after his release from solitary confinement.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/10/2021_1026-maroon--400x300.jpg)
Former Black Panther Russell “Maroon” Shoatz Freed From Prison After 49 Years
Shoatz was transferred to a hospital in Pennsylvania amid a legal challenge to life in prison without parole.
![Prisoners’ inability to vote means we can’t vote for fair-minded judges who will protect our rights in civil court.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/10/2021_1023-voting-prison-400x300.jpg)
The Right to Vote Should Be Available to Everyone — Including Prisoners Like Me
Prisoners’ inability to vote means we can’t vote for fair-minded judges who will protect our rights in civil court.
![Correctional officers join demonstrators as they gather outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston to protest COVID-19 vaccination and mask mandates.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1235317120-400x300.jpg)
When Prison Guards Refuse Vaccines, Incarcerated People Pay the Price
Over 400,000 vaccinated and unvaccinated guards potentially serve as vectors for spreading disease.
![Former prisoners of Rikers Island, family members of prisoners who have died at the jail and advocates for closing Rikers Island protest the deaths of 12 prisoners in 2021 on October 1, 2021, outside of City Hall in downtown Manhattan, New York.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/10/2021_1021-rikers--400x300.jpg)
Rikers Island and the Shapeshifting Monster of Reform
“We’re talking about a hostage situation and the answer is to free the hostages,” says Kelly Hayes.
![Advocates Demand Action At Rikers Island Jail](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1346194804-400x300.jpg)
Rikers’ Forceful Guard Union Is Deepening the Jail’s Humanitarian Crisis
Rikers Island guards appear to be engaging in work stoppages to demand more guards and less oversight of their abuses.