Think Justice Blog

Series: Covid-19

Coronavirus, Mental Health, and the Enduring Importance of Health-Centered Crisis Response

The novel coronavirus and efforts to contain it have brought about seismic life changes—including the loss of lives and livelihoods—known to lead to mental health crises, and some police departments, like those in Dayton, Ohio and Portland, Oregon, have report ...

Series: Covid-19

Communities Need State and Local Deportation Defense Programs Now More Than Ever

Nearly nine in 10 people in the United States support government-funded attorneys for people in immigration court, according to groundbreaking public opinion polling released today by the Vera Institute of Justice. The poll suggests what many of us already kno ...

Series: Covid-19

Public Health and Public Safety: The Critical Role of Police During the COVID-19 Crisis

As the full scope of the crisis of COVID-19 in American correctional facilities has come into focus, it is important to recognize the critical role police play as gatekeepers to the rest of the system.

Series: Covid-19

Facebook Post Put High School Student in a Detention Facility Now Struck by Coronavirus

Abigail Hernandez, now 23, ended up at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility because of a Facebook post. At the time, she was in a high school program for children with serious cognitive impairments. Her ability to comprehend consequences could be compared to ...

New Data: Second Chance Pell Continues to Open Doors for More Students

April is Second Chance Month, and it’s a time for many of us working in the criminal justice space to remind lawmakers and other decision makers of the transformative power that postsecondary education holds for people in prison. Five years ago, the U.S. Depar ...

Series: Covid-19

Unaccompanied Children Suffer as Hearings are Sped Up, Switched to Video During COVID-19 Crisis

Shortly before most schools in the United States closed due to the novel coronavirus, an immigration detention facility in Houston established a shaky video connection to a court in Atlanta. Little voices cracked through halting audio as two dozen children app ...

Series: Covid-19

Two Years in Jail, Never Convicted of a Crime, Now Vulnerable to Coronavirus

Shonday Williams knows what coronavirus feels like. It put her in the hospital, killed her mother’s fiancé, and now, she fears, may threaten her brother. He is among the two-thirds of people in local jails—more than 490,000 across the United States—who have no ...

Series: Covid-19

Use this Data to Hold Your Local Jail Accountable During the Pandemic

On Monday, America crossed the threshold of 10,000 deaths from COVID-19. As bad as things are on the outside, the pandemic pales in comparison with the horrors that are being faced by people behind bars right now. “Prisons are kill-boxes. Incarcerated people a ...

Series: Covid-19

Albany, Georgia Reduces Jail Population by 27 Percent in Response to Coronavirus

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country, high incarceration rates in small cities and rural counties—often overlooked in discussions of mass incarceration—threaten to compound a mounting crisis. Decades of investment in carceral infrastructure, ...

Series: Covid-19

In a Precarious Economy, Governments and Courts Must Take Immediate Action to Reduce Criminal Justice Fines and Fees

Poor conditions, inadequate access to health care, and overcrowding put incarcerated people at a uniquely high risk of infection by COVID-19. But there is also a separate, less obvious threat caused by the pandemic, faced not only by those behind bars but also ...

Series: Covid-19

COVID-19 Imperils People in Rural Jails

People in jails and prisons are among the most at risk for contracting COVID-19—and rural America is home to a large number of prisons and crowded jails. As the number of COVID-19 deaths grows rapidly in rural counties, people who reside and work in jails are ...

Series: Covid-19

Law Enforcement Best Practices Can Help Halt the Spread of COVID-19 by Keeping People Out of Jail

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, hit American correctional facilities this week. Two of the largest jails in the country, Rikers Island in New York City and Cook County Jail in Chicago, have multiple confirmed cases.