Video Playlist

Reimagining Prison Event

On October 10, 2018, the Vera Institute of Justice and staff and residents of the T.R.U.E. unit at Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut convened to Reimagine Prison in the United States.

The event, and coinciding report release, culminated the work of Vera’s Reimagining Prison project, launched in June 2016 at historic Eastern State Penitentiary, with the goal of transforming the how, what and why of incarceration in this country in pursuit of a dramatically smaller correctional system that places human dignity at its philosophical and operational core.

The event includes a simulcast and a discussion with incarcerated young men and corrections officers from the Connecticut prison where the T.R.U.E. unit operates as an example of radical reimagining and re-engineering.

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“People Want Safety, They Want Accountability, and They Want Justice.”

Vera’s Chief Advocacy Officer, Ellen Flenniken, explains why being serious about public safety requires moving beyond failed “tough-on-crime” policies.

Public safety is rarely measured by crime statistics alone: it is defined by how people actually feel about their communities and the country as a whole. To address public concerns effectively, we must first understand how perceptions—and misperceptions—of crime are formed. Vera’s Chief Advocacy Officer Ellen Flenniken and Senior Writer Alex Pareen ...

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September 24, 2026
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154 Dead in Los Angeles Jails Since Start of 2023

Thirty-one people have died in county jails so far this year.

How are people dying?It typically takes months for Los Angeles County to publicly issue causes of death for people who have died in LA County jails. And 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 h ...

News
September 23, 2026
News