Prison Policy Initiative

🚨NEW REPORT: Most people think of probation and parole as pathways away from the carceral system — but that couldn't be further from the truth. New data reveal how community supervision has grown in parallel with mass incarceration and widened the net of social control 🧵

Incarcerated people can't get left behind in the fight for menstrual equity. Learn more about how prisons punish people for having periods 👇 prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/11/1…

Behind bars, pads & tampons are scarce, and the ones sold at commissary cost a fortune. To make matters worse, menstruation is treated as misconduct: Bleeding through uniforms can lead to severe punishment. truthout.org/articles/bleed…

"According to @PrisonPolicy, while the goals of jail construction are safety & solving jail overcrowding, the result is most often...thousands of new jail beds to incarcerate even more people & a windfall for contractors in charge of...building new jails." inthesetimes.com/article/no-new…

More from our latest briefing 👇 prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/06/0…

📉 Over 15 years, the overall rate of people on community supervision across the U.S. fell by 31%. These declining numbers are the direct result of courts placing fewer people on probation and parole boards being stingier with granting release in recent years.

Learn more here 👇 #solutions" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">prisonpolicy.org/federaltracker…

Just a reminder that since getting back into office, Pres. Trump has slashed billions of dollars in grants that kept communities across the U.S. safe, from mental health services to housing-first programs. How's that for making America "safe" again?

The idea that carceral facilities serve as a refuge for vulnerable people isn't new, but it is incredibly false. Incarceration in all forms is a nightmare.

It’s important for all jurisdictions to implement reforms to reduce and avoid correctional control as safely, efficiently, and as quickly as possible. To learn more about what probation & parole look like in your state, check out our new briefing 👇 prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/06/0…

Overall, correctional control is practiced at an enormous scale in the U.S., and probation and parole are poorly designed systems. Keep in mind that they come with excessive conditions, setting many up for failure and landing thousands of people in incarceration.

🚨NEW: 3.5 million people are on probation or parole in the U.S. That's more than 1.5x the number of people locked up, making community supervision the leading form of correctional control. How did we get here? New data reveal how probation & parole have changed over time 🧵

"I worked a prison job that paid the average incarcerated person $12 to $16 dollars a month... And while the United States Constitution declares prisoners to be in servitude, it also means to be a slave to the economic serving of the state." vera.org/news/paying-fo…

June is National PTSD Awareness Month – a condition that disproportionately affects incarcerated people. Not only does the criminal legal system cause mental health issues, but it exacerbates existing problems in an already-vulnerable population.

Incarcerated people have more chronic medical conditions than ever. Yet healthcare behind bars is blocked by expensive copays, limited resources, & understaffing – creating a situation in which each year spent in prison takes *2 years* off an individual’s life expectancy.

I have been trying to get answers on our Monroe County jail phone call fund. This is a 2024 paper by @PrisonPolicy on the overall topic. Lots of relevance here. prisonpolicy.org/reports/shadow…

Reminder to lawmakers across the U.S. wishing the LGBTQ+ community a Happy Pride Month: Lesbian, gay, & bisexual people are 2.25x more likely to be arrested than straight individuals. It’s time to stop the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people.