Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 46 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

For People Just Leaving Prison, a Novel Kind of Support: Cash

Patricia Leigh Brown

July 07, 2022 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The Returning Citizen Stimulus program provides temporary cash assistance to people recently released from prison, who face steep barriers to finding jobs and stable housing when transitioning out of incarceration. The payments started in 2020 and have helped more than 10,000 former inmates get on their feet, with 42 percent of recipients finding employment within five months of their release.

Read More
Go to Original Story
India's 'Open Prisons' Are a Marvel of Trust-Based Incarceration

Kavitha Yarlagadda

May 12, 2022 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Rajasthan

The Sanganer open prison serves as an important alternative to traditional incarceration in India by remaining open for 12 hours a day and allowing inmates to go out. It is one of 88 open prisons in India that works on a model of reform and helps inmates to keep their connection with work, family, and society. In doing so, it enables the development of trust as well as skills that can help them not just during incarceration but also after release.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Online network matches inmates with services after release, similar to a dating site

Caitlin Schmidt

March 05, 2022 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

The Inside Out Network is an online service that allows people who are incarcerated to search for and connect with organizations providing re-entry support, helping them begin to create a plan before they are released. So far, at least 1,600 people incarcerated in Arizona have enrolled in the program.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Prison reform curbs some solitary confinement, but how much?

Rachel Riley

October 10, 2021 |

The Everett Daily Herald (HeraldNet) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Washington state prison officials say they have tried for years to reduce their use of solitary confinement. They made some progress toward that goal until the pandemic. Despite that complication, hundreds still live for months or even years in near-total isolation, which critics liken to torture and blame for psychological damage to incarcerated people. Advocates for strict limits or abolishing the practice say the state has maintained the use of solitary under a variety of euphemisms. Pending legislation would impose stricter limits, which prison officials oppose on safety grounds.

Read More
Go to Original Story
People in Solitary Confinement and Volunteers Team Up to Garden, Imagine a World Without Prisons

Roshan Abraham

May 27, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

The Solitary Gardens project started in New Orleans and has been copied in multiple other places as a combination art exhibit and therapeutic link between incarcerated people and the outside world. People on both sides of the prison walls collaborate in pairs to design a garden that grows flowers and herbs chosen by the incarcerated person. The gardens match the tiny dimensions of a solitary-confinement cell. The healing herbs are used to help others, and the exercise overall gives incarcerated people a sense of connection to the earth, part of the project's prison-abolition message.

Read More
Go to Original Story
These gardens ask visitors to reconsider solitary confinement

Anna Deen

December 23, 2020 |

Grist |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Solitary Gardens is an art project that protests prisons' solitary confinement conditions. Incarcerated people connect with volunteers on the outside who plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs in beds matching the tiny dimensions of the prison cell that confined Herman Wallace for a record 41 years in Louisiana. The people inside prison imagine their garden, often with memory triggers of what they have lost, and their gardener carries out their plan. The idea is to make a place for grief, healing, public service, and public education, as the gardens in four cities teach about solitary confinement.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Prisons' Use of Solitary Confinement Explodes with the COVID-19 Pandemic, While Advocates Push for Alternatives

Jean Casella Katie Rose Quandt

April 10, 2020 |

Solitary Watch |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisiana

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues on, prisons are having to figure out ways to keep it from spreading across inmate populations. A popular response has been cell lockdowns, drawing criticism from advocacy organizations and judges across the country. Being compared to solitary confinement, which takes extreme physical and mental tolls on individuals, groups like Amend, the Vera Institute, and the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture are offering alternative plans that are less punitive while still protecting those experiencing incarceration.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Pennsylvania will no longer hold death-row prisoners in endless solitary confinement

Samantha Melamed

November 18, 2019 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

Following an ACLU-led civil-rights lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Department of Correction has implemented huge changes to the treatment of death row inmates. In prisons across the state, individuals who have been sentenced to death no longer have to undergo strip searches, are allowed to have contact visitations with family and friends, can apply for prison employment, and socialize with others in their unit.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Reimagining New York Jails Without Solitary Confinement

Reuven Blau Rosa Goldensohn

August 19, 2019 |

The City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Solitary confinement was once thought of as one of the only effective punishments for violent prison inmates. As more research surfaces showing the severe damage it does to mental health, the racial bias of those placed in solitary, and its relative ineffectiveness, more cities, like New York City, are exploring alternatives to the practice. In places such as Denver, Chicago, and San Francisco, rather than invoking a punitive approach, city officials are offering positive reinforcement – and seeing positive results.

Read More
Go to Original Story
As Alabama grapples with solitary confinement, other states offer blueprints for change

Melissa Brown

March 24, 2019 |

The Montgomery Advertiser |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montgomery, Alabama

The use of solitary confinement, or administrative segregation, in prisons is facing pushback across the country. In Alabama, a federal judge tasked the Department of Corrections to investigate how other states are reforming their use of solitary confinement – especially for those with mental health concerns. Recognizing that isolation often leads to increased bad behavior, states such as North Dakota and Colorado have placed stronger limitations on the use and deployment of administrative segregation.

Read More
Go to Original Story