Through its In Our Backyards (IOB) project, Vera put a spotlight on the expansion of local jail incarceration in rural counties across the United States. As of 2023, the IOB project has wound down and is incorporated into Vera’s Beyond Jails Initiative, which continues to focus on rural and smaller counties.
Read some of the stories and reports from In Our Backyards here:
In Our Backyards Stories
Special ReportThe Stories
A False Choice
How one Texas county is using women’s incarceration to justify a new jail
The Fox Designing the Henhouse
The cycle of jail expansion and construction in Terre Haute, Indiana
Funding Jail Expansion in California’s Central Valley
Photo credit: Sugelema Lynch
No Chance Alamance
Immigration Detention and Jail Expansion in the North Carolina Piedmont
If You Build It
How the Federal Government Fuels Rural Jail Expansion
Binghamton, NY | Photo by Jack Norton
“We Are Not Going to Rest”
Organizing against Incarceration in Upstate New York
This Is by Design
Jail, Justice, and Race in Southwest Georgia
Perry County, Kentucky. Photo by Jack Norton
Keeping the Lights On
Incarcerating the Bluegrass State
Baker County Detention Center, Florida (Photo by Jack Norton)
Federal Farm Aid for the Big House
Crisis at the Crossroads of America
Jail Expansion as Prison Reform in Indiana
More than a Jail
Immigrant Detention and the Smell of Money
No One Is Watching: Jail in Upstate New York
Montgomery County
Life and Jail in Southern Colorado
Alamosa and Pueblo Counties