Prison Factsheets:

Census Bureau

• Redistricting Matters: Small changes in the boundary lines mean huge electoral effects, [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative. March, 2007. (Uses some simple illustrations to demonstrate why redistricting matters.)
• Three trends in New York that require a changed Census [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative. March, 2007. (Discusses changes in New York State's demographics and prison policies that require a change in how the Census Bureau counts people in prison.)
• How prisons alter the one-person one-vote principle [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative. March, 2007. (Uses a New York district to show how including prison populations changes the shape of prison districts.)
• Diluting democracy: Census quirk fuels prison expansion, [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative. April, 2004.
• Prisoners distort democracy in St. Lawrence County, NY Prison Policy Initiative. February, 2004. (the impact of counting prisoners as residents on redistricting in rural county legislatures)

Crime

• Concerns Over Rising Crime in Context [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. March, 2007. "This factsheet is intended to put the 24-month trend of rising crime in 56 jurisdictions in context for people concerned about juvenile justice policy."
• Corrupting Justice: A Primer for LGBT Communities on Racism, Violence, Human Degradation & the Prison Industrial Complex, [PDF] American Friends Service Committee. 2005. "Applying the principles of nonviolence, healing justice & human rights to the struggle for LGBT liberation"
• Close to Home: Developing Innovative, Community-Based Responses to Anti-LGBT Violence, [PDF] American Friends Service Committee. 2005.
• Crime Facts [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative and American Friends Service Committee, Arizona. April, 2004. (7 quick factoids)
• Who is at the greatest risk of crime victimization? Who has confidence in the criminal justice system?, Prison Policy Initiative and Western Prison Project. July, 2003.

Death Penalty

• Why Abolition of The Death Penalty is a Queer issue, [PDF] American Friends Service Committee. 2005.
• Facts about the Death Penalty [PDF] Death Penalty Information Center. November, 2003. (4 pages, probably updated frequently)
• Most Capital Defendants Do Not Receive Adequate Legal Representation [PDF] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 2002. (Factual evidence of inadequate representation in death penalty cases and attempts to correct this deadly problem.)
• Racially Discriminatory Application of Death Penalty [PDF] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 2002. (Factual evidence of racial bias in death penalty cases and reasons why patterns of discrimination in capital sentencing persist.)
• Juvenile Death Penalty Facts: Kentucky [PDF] Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. 2002.
• Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct Are Common in Death Cases [PDF] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 2002. (how fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system can lead to wrongful convictions)
• The National Death Penalty System is Seriously Flawed Resulting in Wrongful Convictions and Death Sentences, [PDF] American Civil Liberties Union. 2002.
• MCC Washington Office Guide to the Death Penalty [PDF] Mennonite Central Committee. December, 2001.

Drugs

• (New) Potential Savings in New York State's 2007-08 Budget Comes to Over $210 Million, [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. February, 2007. "Potential annual savings from repealing the Rockefeller drug laws would amount to $217,400,000."
• (New) Drop the Rock: Repeal The Rockefeller Drug Laws, [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. February, 2007. "At great expense to the taxpayer, [the Rockefeller drug] laws fill our prisons with low-level, non-violent offenders."
• (New) Trends in New York State Prison Commitments [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. February, 2006. (Comparison of violent and non-violent offender incarceration in New York State since 1980.)
• Are the Rockefeller Drug Laws Racist? [PDF] Drop the Rock Campaign. May, 2002. (Rockefeller Drug Laws are NYS harsh mandatory minimum laws)
• Rockefeller Drug Laws & Education Tough on Crime or Tough on Students, [PDF] Drop the Rock Campaign. May, 2002. (How the drug laws skew government priorities toward prison and away from education in NY)
• Drug Users and the Structure of the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001.
• Substance Abuse Treatment in the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001. "About 80 percent of inmates in correctional facilities have substance abuse problems."
• Drug Use, HIV, and the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001.
• Substance Abuse Treatment for Drug Users in the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001. "The number of inmates has surged in recent years, largely because of drug-related arrests and prosecutions."
• Drug Treatment in the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Office of National Drug Control Policy. March, 2001.

Families

• (New) Imprisonment and Families Fact Sheet [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. March, 2007. "88% of fathers in New York State prisons report that their children live with their mothers, while only 20% of incarcerated mothers in New York report that their children live with their fathers."
• Prisoners with Children: Facts and Figures at a Glance, [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Resources for Dads Behind Bars and Those Working with Them Family and Corrections Network. 2002. (This Incarcerated Fathers Library page contains 10 factsheets, and then links to other resources on incarcerated fathers.)

Felon Disenfranchisement

• Felon Disenfranchisement: Jim Crow Redux [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative and Western Prison Project. December, 2005.
• Political Punishment The Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement for Rhode Island Communities, [PDF] Rhode Island Right to Vote Campaign. September, 2004.
• Disenfranchised Veterans in the United States [PDF] Sentencing Project. June, 2003.
• Tools for Democracy Restoring Voting Rights to Citizens with Felony Convictions, [PDF] Demos USA. 2002. (4 page)

General

• (New) Immigration and the Criminal Justice System Fact Sheet [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. August, 2006. (Figures on non-citizens in US and NY prisons.)
• Facts About Prisons and Prisoners [PDF] Sentencing Project. 2003. "Black males have a 32% chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives; Hispanic males have a 17% chance; white males have a 6% chance."
• Facts about prison and prisoners [PDF] Sentencing Project. August, 2002.
• Viral Hepatitis and the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. January, 2002.
• Providing Services to Inmates Living with HIV [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001.

International Comparisons

• The United States stands alone on high incarceration Prison Policy Initiative and Western Prison Project. July, 2003.

Juveniles

• (New) Youth Confined in OCFS Facilities [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. November, 2007. "Over half the youth in state custody were convicted of misdemeanors."
• (New) Juvenile Detention in New York City [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. November, 2007. "African American and Latino youth comprise 95% of the youth entering detention, while they comprise less than two-thirds of all youth in New York City."
• (New) LGBT Youth in Detention: Myth and Reality, [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. January, 2006. (List of concerns and answers to the problems facing LGBT youth in detention.)
• MCC Washington Office Guide to Juvenile Justice [PDF] Mennonite Central Committee. June, 2003.

Mandatory Minimums

• California's Three Strikes Law Fact Sheet [PDF] Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes. March, 2004. "California’s Three Strikes law is the harshest in the country. No other state allows someone to be convicted under Three Strikes for a nonviolent offense."
• Three Strikes Myths & Facts, [PDF] Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. 2003.
• Primer on mandatory sentences [PDF] Families Against Mandatory Minimums. 2002. "Mandatory sentencing was once America's law-and-order panacea. Here's why it's not working."(12 pages, 6 statements and facts, quotes from judges and sympathetic profiles of prisoners serving long sentences)

Media

• Off Balance: Youth, Race & Crime in the News [PDF] Building Blocks for Youth. 2002. (Perceptions versus reality on youth crime.)
• Recommendations For The News Media for Fair Youth Crime Coverage [PDF] Building Blocks for Youth. 2002. (Suggestions to News Media on Reporting on Youth, Race & Crime)

Organizing

• Anarchist Black Cross Information and Resources [PDF] Anarchist Black Cross. 2002. "This guide is intended to give potential organizers a glimpse of the tendencies, ideas and experiences that have been a part of the Anarchist Black Cross over the last 15 years, and to empower individuals to create individual ABC groups of their own."

Prison and The Economy

• Why does prison building continue as crime drops? [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative and Western Prison Project. April, 2003.
• Real Cost of Prisons timeline Real Cost of Prisons Project. 2003.
• The CCPOA and California State Politics [PDF] Prison Activist Resource Center. 2002. (2 pages)
• MCC Washington Office Guide to the Prison Industrial Complex [PDF] Mennonite Central Committee. May, 2001.

Racial Disparities

• Incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment [PDF] Prison Policy Initiative. April, 2003. (1 page PDF, the same facts as the first page of prisonsucks.com)
• People of Color and the Prison Industrial Complex [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Fair Reporting on Youth Crime: Community Involvement, [PDF] Building Blocks for Youth. 2002. (Fighting For Fair Media Coverage of Youth Crime: Recommendations For Child Advocates, Youth Groups And Civil Rights Organizations)
• Racism and the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Prison Activist Resource Center. 2002. (3 double sided factsheets on African Americans, Latino and Native Americans and the criminal justice system)

Reentry

• Obstacles to Re-Entry Flowcharts Real Cost of Prisons Project. 2004. (3 pages)
• Prisoners Re-Entering the Community [PDF] Sentencing Project. 2002.
• Helping Inmates Return to the Community [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001.

Rural Issues

• Rural Prisons: The Development of Last Resort, [PDF] National Resource Center on Prisons and Communities. August, 2003.
• Prisons and Rural Economic Development: Jobs [PDF] Tracy Huling. February, 2003.

State Specific

• (New) Prisoner Profile [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. March, 2006. (Demographic data on prisoners in New York State and City.)
• (New) Basic Prison and Jail Fact Sheet [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. March, 2006. (Provides basif facts about the New York State and City prison systems.)
• (New) Disciplinary Confinement in New York State Prisons [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. March, 2004. "Prisoners with mental illness are disproportionately represented in disciplinary segregation."
• Colorado Prison Facts [PDF] Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. 2002.

Women

• (New) Women in Prison Fact Sheet [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. March, 2007. "As of January 2007, more than 42% of women in New York’s prisons have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, compared to nearly 12% of male inmates."
• Breaking the Barriers For Women on Parole, [PDF] Milton Marks. December, 2004. (Statistics by gender for the California corrections system.)
• Women in Prison [PDF] Sentencing Project. May, 2003.
• "Cadillac Health Care" for Women Prisoners?: Case Studies from the Inside, [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Access to Medical Care in California's Women's Prisons: An Overview, [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Women and the Drug War: Facts and Figures at a Glance, [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Women Prisoners: Facts and Figures at a Glance, [PDF] Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. September, 2002.
• Women in Prison in the U.S. & N.Y. [PDF] Correctional Association. 2002.
• Women, Injection Drug Use, and the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2001. "Women inmates have consistently higher rates of drug use and HIV infection than do male inmates."
• Women in Prison Sexual Assault and Misconduct Against Women in Prison, [PDF] Amnesty International. 2001.

Factsheets Page Updated On: 30-Dec-2007 - 21:31:58
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This page lists ready-to-distribute-to-the-public factsheets on prison issues. Factsheets are listed chronologically by date of first publication in one category only.