The Blog

Prison contraband does not enter a correctional facility by accident. Someone brings it in. In some documented cases, that person is a correctional officer. I have spent years reading federal indictments, DOJ press releases, and court records involving contraband inside American correctional facilities. The cases that stay with me are rarely the sensational ones. They are the cases where an officer with legitimate access decides to turn that access into a business opportunity

Healthcare in prisons is one of the most consequential — and least examined — issues in the American criminal justice system. I have spent years reading inspector general reports, federal court records, DOJ investigations, wrongful death lawsuits, and firsthand accounts involving medical care behind bars. The pattern I keep coming back to is uncomfortable: when healthcare in prisons fails, the consequences are not administrative. They are physical. They are permanent. And in

Inmate rights exist inside every correctional facility in America. The harder question is what happens when somebody actually tries to use them. The Constitution does not disappear at the prison gate. The Eighth Amendment restricts cruel and unusual punishment. Incarcerated people retain protections against deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and known risks of serious harm. They also retain important First Amendment protections, including access to courts and th

Prison retaliation is one of the most serious problems inside the American correctional system — and one of the hardest to see from the outside. In my years following prison retaliation cases, I have learned to pay close attention to what happens after somebody speaks up. The original complaint may involve excessive force, sexual abuse, unsafe conditions, falsified records, medical neglect, or staff misconduct. But the next few days or weeks can tell you just as much about th

I have spent years reading documents most people will never see. Internal investigation files. Inspector general reports. State comptroller audits. Federal court records. Staff misconduct findings. Grievance data buried inside government databases. After reviewing enough of those records, I have learned that dangerous prison conditions do not continue only because a facility is overcrowded, understaffed, or badly maintained. Those problems continue because the systems created

The psychological effects of solitary confinement are far more serious than most people understand. I have spent years reading stories, reports, court records, and firsthand accounts from inside correctional facilities, and one thing has become painfully clear to me: isolation is not just a management tool. When it is used carelessly, excessively, or as punishment without real oversight, it can become one of the most damaging forms of prison isolation abuse. Most people hear

Correctional officer misconduct is one of those subjects most people only hear about after something has gone terribly wrong. A beating. A sexual abuse case. A falsified report. A federal indictment. A sentence handed down years after the original incident took place. By then, the public usually sees only the end of the story. What I have learned from looking closely at correctional institutions is that the real story often starts much earlier — inside a housing unit, behind

Prison corruption is one of those subjects most people do not think about until a headline forces them to look. A guard gets arrested. A contraband ring is exposed. An inmate dies under questionable circumstances. A lawsuit reveals years of ignored warnings. Then the story fades. But in my years writing about the US prison system, I have learned that the real problem is rarely one bad incident. It is the pattern underneath it. It is the silence. It is the pressure. It is the