Truthout
Prison
![An illustration of an emaciated and handcuffed prisoner reaching for rotten food just out of reach](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2024_0116-prison-food2-400x300.jpg)
Food Insecurity in Prison Makes People Like Me Vulnerable to Labor Exploitation
The inadequacy of prison food exposes us to forced labor and sexual abuse in our desperation for adequate nutrition.
![College students and community members wearing face masks hold placards while gathering in Peoples Park to protest against the death penalty, in Bloomington, Indiana, on December 4, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2024_0116-executions-400x300.jpg)
UN Office Warns AL Nitrogen Execution May Violate International Ban on Torture
A planned execution at Alabama's Holman Correctional Facility on January 25 may breach two human rights treaties.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023_1206-prison-cattle-400x300.jpg)
Prison Treats Me Like an Animal. I Write to Reclaim My Humanity.
I’ve been confined for 27 years to a concrete box, and prison staff treat me like an animal branded with a number.
![A digital illustration of four women, somewhat huddled and silhouetted against a sunrise, fostering ten small stars hovering above their hands. The Southern Cross constellation can be seen in the sky behind them.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023-1226-sisters-inside-400x300.jpg)
Abolition Is a Global Movement. Here’s What We Learned From Allies Worldwide.
To make abolition possible, grassroots groups of people directly impacted by incarceration must mobilize globally.
![An empty jail cell in a traditional prison.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/GettyImages-173160629-400x300.jpg)
I’m Serving 40 Years in Federal Prison. Here’s a Glimpse Into My World.
Every day, the conditions of incarceration work to strip away my humanity.
![Demonstrators make noise outside of a jail as a person inside places their hand on a window during an anti-police protest on January 24, 2021, in Tacoma, Washington.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/GettyImages-1230778711-400x300.jpg)
Prison Closure Divides Abolitionist Community in Washington State
Activists are conflicted about whether the move is a win for incarcerated people and allies — or for the carceral state.
![Eric Watkins at his college graduation, Stateville Correctional Center, May 2023.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/EricWatkins_Graduation2-400x300.jpg)
Dems Claim to Oppose Mass Incarceration, But Blue State Commutations Are Falling
Commutations plummeted from 2020 record highs in California and Illinois. Are presidential ambitions to blame?
![Part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a gulf coast refinery covers acres of low-lying marshland in Louisiana, on June 1, 1980.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/GettyImages-768828-400x300.jpg)
How Oil Money Turned Louisiana Into the Prison Capital of the World
A series of events in the 1970s led to the state's penal system becoming intertwined with the swings of its oil economy.
![Mayor Eric Adams speaks during the Thanksgiving Day Parade safety-related announcement in New York City on November 22, 2023.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023_1221-eric-adams-400x300.jpg)
New York City Council Passes Veto-Proof Measure Ending Solitary Confinement
The New York City Council approved bills banning solitary confinement and mandating that the NYPD report street stops.
![A protester stands with a model of a gurney strapped to her back at Amnesty International's Stop Death Penalty in Texas Now demonstration outside the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston, Texas, on November 5, 2004.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023_1212-executions-texas-400x300.jpg)
Report: TX County Lawyers Failed to Provide Basic Services for Death Row Clients
“It is clear that Harris County’s current system of death penalty representation is not working,” the report stated.