Truthout
Prisons
![Book cover for Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/06/2022_0609-rikers-book-400x300.jpg)
We Both Were Incarcerated at Rikers Island. Now We’re Discussing Its History.
I met Jarrod Shanahan before my own sentence at Rikers. His new book details how the jail “took New York City hostage.”
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/04/2022_0427-biden-sessions-400x300.jpg)
Biden Embraces Some Harm Reduction Policies — But Doubles Down on Drug War
Biden’s recent budget request includes $355 million in additional funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
![Leah Eggleson, pictured with her kids, faces a possible life sentence for defending herself against her abuser.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/04/2022_0418-a-400x300.jpg)
A Survivor of Violence and Her Sibling Share How the Legal System Punishes Them
Twenty-two-year-old Leah Eggleson is facing a 20-to-life sentence for defending herself against her abuser.
![A collage of two photos: On the left, a photo of Kenyairra and her older sister Kenyonna English at her aunt Penny's house in 2008. This photo was taken just days after the burial of Kenyairra's older sister Stacia Davis who passed away from cancer. Kneyonna (left) wears black earrings and a white sweater. Kenyairra (right) leans her head onto her sisters' left shoulder while holding up a peace sign. They both have gentle smiles. On the right, a black and White photo of Kenyairra and her younger brother Hywel Bowman celebrating his high school graduation at the Radisson Inn located in Madison, WI Spring 2018. Her hair is in locs and is braided back. She wears a jersey that reads "dope" across the waist. Hywel is wearing a backwards baseball cap and a white polo shirt. Kenyairra (left) rests her elbow on her brother's right shoulder. Their smiles are big and joyous. This photo was taken just 5 months before Kenyairra would be charged for defending herself.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/04/2022_0411-madison-p-400x300.jpg)
A Survivor of Violence Is Being Punished in “the Best Place to Live in America”
Survivors of violence face double persecution: first at the hands of abusers, and then at the hands of the legal system.
![Javon Kennerson was one of dozens to die in LaSalle Corrections custody from lack of or delayed medical treatment.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-685920566-400x300.jpg)
In an Ominous Pattern, People Are Dying Once Transferred to Louisiana Prison
Javon Kennerson was one of dozens to die in LaSalle Corrections custody from lack of or delayed medical treatment.
![Prisoner reading letter, shining a light up at him and through the darkness around cell](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0328-prison-pen-pal-c-400x300.jpg)
Prison Pen Pals Chip Away at the Prison-Industrial Complex One Letter at a Time
Letters are a source of hope. Policies banning physical mail are yet another attack on incarcerated people.
![Looking through a narrow window into solitary confinement room at a prisoner, all overshadowed by a COVID molecule](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0321-covid-solitary-b-400x300.jpg)
COVID-Fueled Solitary Confinement Still Plagues Prisons and Jails
Two years into the pandemic, prisons are still using torturous conditions over depopulating prisons to stop the spread.
![The book cover for The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer's Life in Prison](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0314-sentences-that-create-us-400x300.jpg)
Prisons Aim to Stifle Creativity. Here’s a Book That Pushes Back.
"The Sentences That Create Us" is a how-to-write manual pitched perfectly for incarcerated people who want to write.
![An officer checks on prisoners at Santa Rita Jail on April 5, 2018, in Dublin, California.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0302-prison-400x300.jpg)
Incarcerated Organizers Are Resisting Amid Deteriorating Conditions
“These folks inside have had enough,” says organizer Brooke Terpsta.
![Prisoner in orange jumpsuits walks away from open prison cell bars, all casting long shadows ahead](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/02/2022_0217-prisoner-step-400x300.jpg)
In Prison, We Celebrated the First Step Act. We Realized It Falls Far Short.
At its worst, the First Step Act further reinforces the discriminatory nature of the U.S. criminal legal system.