After the failed execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Atmore, Alabama, on Nov. 21, the state’s governor announced a temporary pause in executions to review Alabama’s use of lethal injections on death row inmates. Smith was the third Alabama man to endure a botched lethal…
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the government agency responsible for more than 150,000 inmates inside 122 facilities across the country, has been operating in crisis mode for months. Widespread corruption, abuse among workers, critical staff shortages and the rampant spread of COVID-19 among prisoners…
A federal correctional institution in Dublin, California, is under scrutiny once again. Former prison chaplain James Theodore Highhouse faces several charges, including sexual abuse and making false statements to investigators. Highhouse is the fourth employee at the federal prison charged with sex crimes in the…
Popular culture often depicts prisoners as effectively having no rights at all. Guards and inmates alike often get away with various forms of abuse and neglect in films and other media. This is partially true. Prisoners in the United States do temporarily lose some of…
It has been 18 years since Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which officially called for a zero-tolerance policy while aiming to curb the sexual violence plaguing correctional institutions across the country. Unfortunately, female prisoners continue to suffer sexual abuse while incarcerated at alarming…
Abuse is all too common in U.S. jails and prisons, with both inmates and correctional officers physically, sexually, and psychologically assaulting inmates. Certain populations face a greater risk of prison abuse, including those who are young or appear weak, have a mental illness or physical…
Prison abuse is a widespread problem in the United States. With about 2.3 million people in jails and prisons, the cost of staffing and running these facilities costs billions of dollars each year. Along with America’s mass incarceration, the penal system has been a breeding…
U.S. jails and prisons have been under fire for decades for the conditions in which inmates endure. Lawsuits against staff, facilities, and even states for prison abuse and inmate rights violations emerge year after year. Physical and sexual abuse, demeaning treatment, threats, and unsanitary conditions…