Truthout
Prisons & Policing

I Faced Death by Incarceration. The UN Heard My Plea to Abolish Life Sentences.
The United Nations is calling on the U.S. to abolish life without parole prison sentences.

Cities Like Portland Are Spending Staggering Amounts on Police PR Budgets
Police departments are spending big on media manipulation and pro-policing propaganda across the country.

Private Equity Is Using Prison Phone, Food and Health Systems to Rack Up Profits
Private equity firms are capturing systems people in prison use and making them even more brutal and unaccountable.

LA Sheriff Promised Reform and Accountability. Critics See Neither a Year Later.
After decades of broken promises and empty rhetoric, reform advocates have reason to be skeptical.

NYPD Spends $390 Million on Radio System Despite NYC’s Massive Budget Cut
Amid massive budget cuts to services like libraries, New York City has made millions available to its police force.

Despite State Bans, Police Continue to Shackle Pregnant People in Custody
U.S. jails admit roughly 55,000 pregnant people each year.

New Policy Will Ban Chicago Police From Joining Hate and Extremist Groups
Investigations found that multiple Chicago police officers are associated with hate and extremist groups.

Police Violently Attack Demonstrators at Ceasefire Protest at DNC Headquarters
Organizers of the protest say police injured around 90 demonstrators in total.

From Death Row, Keith LaMar Has Built a Movement for Love, Art and Abolition
LaMar's album "Freedom First," recorded with pianist and composer Albert Marquès, has become a key part of his campaign.

Protesters Hoped to Plant Trees at Cop City Site. They Were Tear Gassed Instead.
Police attacked protesters in a militarized response to a nonviolent Stop Cop City action this week in Georgia.

Texas Police Put an 11-Year-Old Into Solitary Confinement
A fifth-grader reported being bullied by his principal. Five days later, he was handcuffed and detained.

Stop Cop City Activists Plan Mass Return to Weelaunee Forest
The mass mobilization against the military-style 85-acre police training facility will take place November 10-13.

Attica Was More Than a Riot. It Offered a Framework for Revolutionary Struggle.
Orisanmi Burton discusses the Black radical organizing that preceded and followed the Attica prison uprising.