United States

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how United States incarcerates — plus relevant research.

• Expanded indigent defence funding2019–ongoing

  pre trial detention · active

  California significantly increased state funding for county public defender offices from 2019 onward, including grants tied to early-representation (within 24 hours of arrest) and bail-review advocacy.

• First Step Act2018–ongoing

  sentencing · active

  Bipartisan federal legislation that reduced mandatory minimums for some drug offences, expanded earned-time credits for participation in rehabilitative programmes, and retroactively applied the Fair Sentencing Act's crack/powder cocaine disparity reduction.

• Proposition 47 — reclassifying nonviolent drug/property crimes2014–ongoing

  sentencing · active

  California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014, downgrading six categories of nonviolent property and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanours, with savings reinvested in mental health, drug treatment, and victim services.

7,437 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Recent reports

• Florida State Prison30 Jun 2026

  the men Feddon was counseling. Walls was moved from death row, at Union Correctional Institution, about an hour west of Jacksonville in the northeast part of the state, to nearby Florida State Prison. There he was placed in one of the three cells, known as death watch, that sit 30 feet from the execution chamber. And with that, Feddon was drawn into the strange, intimate work of accompanying a

  propublica · source

• Union Correctional Institution30 Jun 2026

  ng been a stronghold of capital punishment. In November, DeSantis set the execution date for Frank Walls, one of the men Feddon was counseling. Walls was moved from death row, at Union Correctional Institution, about an hour west of Jacksonville in the northeast part of the state, to nearby Florida State Prison. There he was placed in one of the three cells, known as death watch, that sit 30 feet

  propublica · source

• Lapd Metropolitan Detention Center26 May 2026

  to 2,072 during the same period this year. (Judges did not include trespassing in the charges scheduled for Fridays.) ProPublica found the number of people at Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center who are designated as “transient” or homeless has soared in recent years, to nearly 12,000 in 2025, from 3,670 in 2022. Last week, nearly 53% of people booked at the jail were recorded as

  propublica · source

• Louisiana State Penitentiary22 May 2026

  rs has increased by about 8%, and Landry’s budget indicates that number will continue to rise. The governor is asking for an additional 688 beds at the state’s largest prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which will require the hiring of 150 correctional officers. A corrections department spokesperson said the increased capacity is necessary because under the previous

  propublica · source

• St. Johns County Detention Center28 Apr 2026

  ighlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. For 30 minutes, Brian Tracey lay naked and unable to breathe on the floor of the medical ward at the St. Johns County Detention Center, a low-roofed building south of Jacksonville, Florida. It was Dec. 15, 2023, the day Tracey was supposed to be released from jail. By the time deputies noticed him, it was too late. His

  propublica · source

• Lapd Metropolitan Detention Center4 Mar 2026

  This has occurred as the average daily population at the jail from July 2024 through June 2025 reached its highest point in a decade. On some days last year, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center held more homeless people than the largest local shelter . Homeless Inmates Drive Increases in County Jail Admissions Over the past three years, the number of jail bookings marked as

  propublica · source

• Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center4 Mar 2026

  ublica analysis. This has occurred as the average daily population at the jail from July 2024 through June 2025 reached its highest point in a decade. On some days last year, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center held more homeless people than the largest local shelter . Homeless Inmates Drive Increases in County Jail Admissions Over the past three years, the number of jail bookings

  propublica · source

• Ouachita Parish Correctional Center3 Dec 2025

  Jimmie Duncan, Louisiana Death Row Inmate Released on Bail, Could Still Face Execution — ProPublica Jimmie “Chris” Duncan walked out of the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center and into the arms of his parents last week after spending the last 27 years on death row. Seven months ago, a Louisiana district court judge vacated his murder conviction for killing his former girlfriend’s toddler, c

  propublica · source