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Category: Prisons

How a Domestic Violence Loophole Could Doom a Campaign to Cut Oklahoma’s Harsh Prison Sentences

Shepard Sherbell/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.For the last four years, the fight against mass incarceration in Oklahoma has been a story of unlikely success. In 2016, after decades of creeping prison populations, the state’s incarceration rate reached levels so astronomical that…

California Needs More Firefighters—But It’s Preventing Skilled Former Inmates From Helping

Inmate firefighters, left, battle the Quail Fire burning near Winters, Calif., on Sunday, June 7, 2020. Noah Berger/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.California is burning: Ongoing blazes have devoured more than 1 million acres this year so far, killing at least seven people and destroying hundreds…