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Category: Prisons

“We Didn’t Have to Suffer Like That”: Inside a Texas Prison During Hurricane Harvey

Mother Jones Illustration; Bruno Monteny/Getty; kodda/Getty In late August, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the southeast Texas coast bringing with it extreme winds and dropping more than four feet of rain across Houston and the surrounding area. The catastrophic flooding caused thousands to evacuate, including many state prisoners who were moved to drier and safer facilities elsewhere…

28 Doctors Say This Man Is Mentally Ill. Arkansas Is Going to Execute Him Anyway.

Jack Greene appears before the state parole board in October.Kelly P. Kissel/KTHV-TV/AP Jack Greene is set to be the first man executed in Arkansas since April, when Arkansas executed four inmates in an eight-day span. Even though Greene suffers from a severe mental illness, his execution for the 1991 murder of Sidney Burnett is scheduled for November 9. Scott Braden, one of…

When a Small Town’s Private Prison Goes Bust

Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn. Mark Vancleave/ZUMA This commentary was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the US criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter. Bob Thompson, the city coordinator of Appleton, Minnesota, had a bright idea in the spring of 1990. Thompson,…