Launched as part of Prison Visiting Week for Vera’s Reimagining Prison initiative, this explainer video focuses on alternative approaches to incarceration in use by countries such as Germany. Comparatively, “tough on crime” practices in the U.S. have been ineffective. We spend $80 billion on incarceration per year, yet more than half the people who ...

Vera @ Chicago Ideas - Part II

The Vera Institute of Justice teamed up with Chicago Ideas to reenvision the American prison system, and imagine a society in which prisons serve as rehabilitation facilities for communities and citizens, rather than as crippling institutions. The conversation combined performance, first-person testimony, and compelling dialogue that all looked int ...

Before hurricanes Helene and Milton, officials failed to evacuate people in jails and prisons—yet most states rely on incarcerated people to work disaster response for little to no pay.

Incarcerated women fill sandbags before Hurricane Dorian in Florida in 2019. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA via Getty) When the need arises for disaster preparation, response, and recovery efforts, incarcerated people are put to work. With cleanup efforts underway in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, they have cut down trees and cleared hundreds of miles of ...