Wednesday, February 19 2025:

• The Power and Problem of Criminal Justice Data: A Twenty-State Review, Measures for Justice. January, 2023. "The problem is, [pretrial and bail] data rarely exist, especially in court records. Of the twenty states we collected data from, only two, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, had data on pretrial practices, and these were limited at best."
• Understanding the association between frequent emergency department use and jail incarceration: A cross-sectional analysis, Vidya Eswaran, MD, et al. January, 2022. "[Our research] provides an empiric basis for the idea of a revolving door between the county-level carceral and health care systems."
• Factors Associated with Incarceration in Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness: Results from the HOPE HOME Study, Ilana Garcia-Grossman, MD, et al. June, 2021. "Housing status was dynamic and approximately half exited homelessness during study follow-up; remaining homeless was independently associated with risk of incident incarceration."
• Gender-Affirming Surgical Care in Carceral Settings, Matthew Murphy, MD, MPH, Carl Streed Jr., MD, MPH, and Josiah D. Rich, MD, MPH. January, 2025. "The evaluation process for surgical affirmation should follow WPATH's guidance, including aligning surgical and medical gender-affirming care planning as well as the person's reproductive goals."
• Deaths In Dauphin County Prison (Harrisburg, Penn.), 2008-2022, Jonah Walters, Ph.D, Grace Sosa, and Terence Keel, Ph.D, UCLA BioCritical Studies Lab. June, 2024. "The Dauphin County Office of the Coroner appears to have habitually misclassified in-custody deaths attributable to traumatic violence as 'natural,' especially in cases involving deceased Black men."
• Guilt by Association: How Police Databases Punish Black and Latinx Youth, Andy Ratto, Nina Loshkajian, Eleni Manis, PhD, MPA, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). September, 2023. "California [made] an effort to open the rolls of CalGang after a 2016 audit revealed egregious errors in the database. And the errors were appalling--42 babies under one-year-old were falsely listed in CalGang."
• Setting Bail to Fail: The Gap Between Bail Reform's Goals and Reality (New York), Scrutinize. January, 2025. "Our analysis shows that judges followed rules requiring specific bail options but often set amounts that undermined the statutory intent to provide affordable alternatives, particularly to commercial bonds."
• Women's Incarceration in Idaho: The Problem and a Path Forward, Idaho Justice Project. January, 2025. "In 2022, Idaho had the highest rate of incarceration for women in the nation. The rate (132 per 100,000) was three times the national average (43 per 100,000)."

Wednesday, February 12 2025:

• Lockdowns, Overtime, and Unmet Needs: Why we must solve the current prison staffing crisis, John Howard Association. October, 2024. "As of the end of March 2024, the [Illinois Dept. of Corrections] reported no improvement in staffing with a deficit of 4,314 in authorized facility-based staff, reflecting an overall 29% vacancy rate."
• Communication Impacts People in IDOC and Their Support Systems: Changes are needed to improve outcomes and daily living, John Howard Association. February, 2024. "Today, a 20-minute phone call costs approximately 19 cents. Though this is a huge improvement from prior years, it should be noted that for people in custody without funds, even this nominal amount can be impactful."
• Identification and Health Risks of an Emerging Means of Drug Use in Correctional Facilities, David Kuai et al. December, 2024. "The findings of this case series provide insights into the variable clinical presentations associated with the misuse of [drug-soaked paper] strips among incarcerated individuals."
• Prevalence of Disability Among Older Adults in Prison, Katherine E.M. Miller et al. December, 2024. "The striking disparity in cognitive limitations between incarcerated and community-dwelling older adults uncovered in our study should motivate a need for programs that focus on this population."
• Inspection of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Federal Medical Center Devens, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. December, 2024. "The medical institution had only 1 physician and the Clinical Director (who is also a physician) to manage the care of approximately 941 inmates: 2 of the institution's 6 physicians were on extended leave without pay, and 3 other positions were vacant."
• 1000 Freed and Counting: 2018-2024 Bond Report, Envision Freedom Fund. December, 2024. "In New York, [bond] amounts are higher than ever: Immigration judges in the state currently set the majority of bonds at $10,000 or more, making them the highest in the country."
• Only Young Once: Dismantling Georgia's Punitive Youth Incarceration System, Southern Poverty Law Center. December, 2024. "Georgia spends $217,517 annually to incarcerate a child in its system, only to produce a three year recidivism rate of 35.1%."