The steady stream of deaths continues as courts deliberate a federal takeover of the city's jails.

Ramel Powell, a 37-year-old held on Rikers Island in New York City Department of Correction (DOC) custody, died in the jail complex on February 19. Powell had been held in city custody for the last 19 months of his life on a parole violation. His death is being investigated as a possible overdose. Powell is the first person to die during their inc ...

84 people have died in LA County jails since the start of 2023.

How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. And even once even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story. When the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researc ...

And is it constitutional?

In 1958, Cincinnati, Ohio, became one of the first jurisdictions to implement a formal “stop-and-frisk” campaign. The program’s focus was on Avondale, a neighborhood that had in recent years become predominately Black following “white flight” and redlining. The Cincinnati Police Department required officers to meet a quota of stops every month and ...