Prison Policy Initiative

Challenging mass incarceration and over-criminalization through research, advocacy, and organizing. Get email updates:

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

🚨NEW REPORT: Most people think of probation and parole as pathways away from the carceral system — but that couldn't be further from the truth.

New data reveal how community supervision has grown in parallel with mass incarceration and widened the net of social control 🧵

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

"No one feels good following cancer treatments like chemotherapy, but recovering in prison is a unique kind of hell"

https://t.co/HewEvxfeHC

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

@BLACKandPINKorg The data is clear: It's time to put an end to the criminalization and mass incarceration of the LGBTQ community.

Learn more here 👇
https://t.co/9BuoA4U3n7

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

🏳️‍🌈 While lawmakers across the U.S. flood your feed with “Happy Pride” messages, here’s a reminder for them that the LGBTQ+ community is overrepresented throughout the entire criminal legal system 🧵

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

@BLACKandPINKorg ➡️ And keep in mind that most states still have laws that criminalize HIV — a virus that disproportionately affects gay & bisexual men.

These laws mean people could be punished for simply having sex while HIV-positive, even if no transmission occurs.

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

Learn more about the cost of mass incarceration in the U.S. 👇
https://t.co/FRE021qrlf

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

A reminder that from 2017-2025, funding for immigration policing and detention swelled by 171%.

That's a ton of taxpayer money that could be invested in community safety, but instead is given to ICE to tear families apart.

[The Associated Press @AP]

BREAKING: The Senate passes a $70B immigration enforcement bill without limits on President Trump's settlement fund. https://t.co/4Q3QX6Dl3H

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

🚨WEBINAR: For incarcerated people, contact visitation, handwritten letters, and phone calls are essential lifelines to the outside world — but these forms of communication are under attack by jails & prisons

Sign up to learn how advocates can fight back:
https://t.co/2U35vQWUIn

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

Incarcerated people can't get left behind in the fight for menstrual equity.

Learn more about how prisons punish people for having periods 👇
https://t.co/h7juLDfJGY

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

Behind bars, pads & tampons are scarce, and the ones sold at commissary cost a fortune.

To make matters worse, menstruation is treated as misconduct: Bleeding through uniforms can lead to severe punishment.

https://t.co/14EJ6WdQYn

[In These Times @inthesetimesmag]

"According to @PrisonPolicy, while the goals of jail construction are safety & solving jail overcrowding, the result is most often...thousands of new jail beds to incarcerate even more people & a windfall for contractors in charge of...building new jails." https://t.co/1Bwhz8LWno

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

More from our latest briefing 👇
https://t.co/dNOXJvKaGg

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

📉 Over 15 years, the overall rate of people on community supervision across the U.S. fell by 31%.

These declining numbers are the direct result of courts placing fewer people on probation and parole boards being stingier with granting release in recent years.

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

Learn more here 👇
https://t.co/Ndu1XzrbWo

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

Just a reminder that since getting back into office, Pres. Trump has slashed billions of dollars in grants that kept communities across the U.S. safe, from mental health services to housing-first programs.

How's that for making America "safe" again?

[U.S. Department of Justice @TheJusticeDept]

Today, we’re excited to announce the Model Cities Initiative which is the next step in this administration's mission to restore law and order, back the Blue, and Make America SAFE again.

Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, we are surging $300 million in grant funds to support 2-4 cities with a population of 100k or more who are serious in reducing violent crime, restoring law and order, and modernizing their public safety infrastructure.

Under @POTUS's leadership, this Department of Justice, and this Initiative is focused on results, and are looking for true whole-of-government partnerships.

Apply now: https://t.co/MyLNClyMZp

Submissions are due September 1st.

[Prison Policy Initiative @PrisonPolicy]

The idea that carceral facilities serve as a refuge for vulnerable people isn't new, but it is incredibly false.

Incarceration in all forms is a nightmare.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

Congressman Jeff Van Drew on Delaney Hall, where detainees are paid $1/day or less for their work and are on hunger strike: "This is better treatment than people generally receive... the conditions are better than 90% of the world lives in, and probably half of America."