Incarceration Has Always Threatened Health. COVID-19 Just Worsened the Problem.
Co-published with the Philadelphia Inquirer. During the pandemic, jail populations — largely poor people who can’t afford bail — have been some of the hardest hit by the …
Why I Check the “Black” Box
Co-published with Slate. I learned racial ambiguity was not something I could afford.
Life Inside a Pre-Release Center: Like Prison, But More Work
Co-published with VICE News. Life in pre-release is like a grim resource-management video game where you have to juggle ironclad schedules and severe punishments for small …
The President’s War on Dissent Is Using Trumped-Up Federal Charges
Co-published with The Intercept. From J20 to Black Lives Matter, the Trump administration is using inflated federal charges to expand repression of dissent.
California Could End Cash Bail. But Is This Alternative Any Better?
Co-published with The Appeal. Proposition 25 would replace the current system with an even more punitive one, some criminal justice reform groups say.
How Prison Officials Block Access to the Media
Co-published with The American Prospect. Journalists are having trouble contacting sources, and inmates who speak on the record face retaliation.
Patrolling Minneapolis’s Native American History
Co-published with The New York Review of Books. Despite their relatively small numbers, Native organizers in Minneapolis are central to the activist fabric of the city …
After George Floyd, Who Will Police Minneapolis?
Co-published with The New York Review of Books. In Minneapolis, a debate rages over whether to reform or abolish the city’s police force. But all efforts …
A Book Critic on What’s Wrong and Right With “Black Lists”
Co-published with The Intercept. We are in the era of Black Lives Matter but anti-racism books should not hold value only in relation to troubled times.
Pulling Down ‘the Wall of No’ on Police Reform in Minneapolis
Co-published with The New York Review of Books. An intimate look at how Minneapolis is rebuilding — and reforming — itself after the police killing of …
Trapped: How Juvenile Courts Saddle Families with Impossible Debt
Co-published with Slate. Most states let courts fine teenagers. The debt is taking down their whole families.
No Money, No Lawyer, No Justice
Co-published with The New Republic. The vast, hidden inequities of the civil legal system.