I was intrigued to see two new local new reports about significant prison population declines in two states.  Here are headlined, links and excerpts (with links from the originals): “NJ Cut Its Prison Population By 40% During 11 Months Of the Pandemic“: As the coronavirus swept through New Jersey’s prison system last year, killing inmates at the highest rate in the nation for months, state leaders took an unprecedented step: They slashed the…

This new AP article, headlined “Durbin calls for Garland to remove federal prisons director,” reports on a notable call from a notable legislator for federal criminal justice personnel change. Here are the details: The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded Tuesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons after an Associated Press investigation detailing serious misconduct involving correctional officers. Sen. Dick Durbin’s demand came…

The title of this post is the headline of this important recent commentary authored by Jacob Schuman over at The Crime Report.  I recommend the full piece, and here are excerpts (with links from the original): Several times a year, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) publishes research reports on the federal criminal justice system.  These reports are part of the Commission’s statutory mandate and provide vital information and analysis to attorneys, scholars and the…

Wanda Bertram has this notable New Republic commentary fully headlined, “State Prisons Released More People Before Covid-19 Than During It: Prison officials touted a compassionate response to Covid, but the statistics tell another story.”  I recommend the full piece, and here is how it starts (with links from the original): As Covid-19 first spread through the United States, it became clear that jails and prisons would see the worst of it. Already suffering from overcrowded,…

Via email, I learned that the Bureau of Justice Statistics has released this new report providing a US correctional census with “data collected from state, federal, and private adult correctional facilities on the characteristics of facilities by type, operator, size, physical security level, capacity, court orders, and programs.” This report provides a pre-COVID era snapshot o f US carceral realities, as decribed at the start of the 24-page report: At midyear 2019, there were a…

I am pleased to be able to promote here a couple of online events scheduled this week and next organized by OSU’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (which I help direct).  I am quite excited about both events, and here are the titles and short descriptions (with a link to see the panelists and to register): “Addressing Harm: Opioid Settlement Background and Historical Context“ Date: Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021    Time:  Noon –…

Prez Joe Biden campaigned on a promise to “take bold action to reduce our prison population.”  But I cannot think of a single action he has taken over his first 10 months in office, let alone any “bold action,” to reduce the federal prison population.  And the latest numbers from the federal Bureau of Prisons tell a notably story of federal prison population growth, not reduction, so far in the the Biden era. The day…