Although the FCC has curbed the cost of phone calls in jails and prisons, telecom companies have found new ways to raise prices for incarcerated people.

In July, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limited the rates that prison telecommunications companies can charge for phone and video calling services in prisons and jails. Historically, those rates have been exorbitant—a 15-minute phone call could cost more than $12—making it incredibly difficult for incarcerated people to communicate wi ...

Sixty-eight people have died in LA County jails since the start of 2023.

How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. However, even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story: when the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researchers ...

Forcing incarcerated people to endure dangerously high temperatures does not make anyone safer.

When California’s workplace safety board created important indoor heat protections for workers earlier this year, the policy exempted prisons. California’s governor cited cost concerns, but this unjust exclusion was facilitated by the sadly pervasive perception that people who live and work in prisons deserve tortuous conditions. In Louisiana, whe ...