The U.S. has the highest reported
incarceration rate in the world. We’ve rounded up some of the best
investigative journalism on U.S. prisons and the problems that plague them. These
stories cover juvenile justice, private prisons, immigration detention and
other aspects of America’s vast incarceration system.

Louisiana Incarcerated:
How we built the world’s prison capital,
The Times-Picayune, May 2012

Louisiana’s incarceration rate tops the U.S.’s, Iran’s and China’s. This
eight-part series explains how it got there: lobbying from private prison
companies, cash-strapped municipalities, harsh sentencing, and limited
rehabilitation for those who make it out.

America’s
Expensive Sex Offenders, Salon, April 2012

Programs that keep some sex offenders detained indefinitely after their
criminal sentences are up have grown drastically in recent years, and so has
their cost—“civil commitment” is on average four times as expensive as
prison. But releasing sex offenders has proven politically fraught. (For a few
state-by-state investigations, see these muckreads on Washington, Virginia,
and New York.)

Bail Burden Keeps U.S.
Jails Stuffed With Inmates, NPR,
January 2010

Thousands of inmates are stuck in jail for petty,
nonviolent crimes simply because they can’t make bail. This NPR series showed
how the country’s bail system “exists almost solely to protect the
interests of a powerful bail bonding industry.”

What
the Jail Guard Saw, Village Voice, July 2007

Some guards at New York City’s prison island, Rikers, weren’t just turning a
blind eye to violence–they were encouraging it. The Voice has been covering
the fallout from Rikers’ “ Fight
Club” ever since, and five years later, they obtained
gruesome photos showing rampant
violence persists, despite the Correction
Department’s efforts.

Hellhole, The New Yorker, March 2009

Atul Gawande looked at the U.S.’s widespread use of
isolation, which has ballooned in the past 20 years. At least 25,000 prisoners
are now held in isolation just in so-called super-max prisons. And their minds
can quickly degrade. “The experience,” Gawande writes,
“typically leaves them unfit for social interaction.”

Why
Are Prisoners Committing Suicide in Pennsylvania?
The Nation, April 2012

An investigation the effects of solitary confinement on mentally ill prisoners
in Pennsylvania. Also see this account
from the Arizona Republic: nineteen prisoners in Arizona have
killed themselves in the last two years, many of them while in solitary confinement—a
widespread practice in the state.

The
Devil’s Playground, Westword, February 2011

Earlier this year the Justice Department laid out new rules
aimed at eliminating widespread sexual abusein U.S. prisons.
This article chronicles the ordeal of one inmate who tried to report rape in a
Colorado prison.

Uncompromising
Photos Expose Juvenile Detention in America,
Wired, April 2012

America locks up children at a quicker rate than all other developed countries,
with about 60,000 juveniles imprisoned on any given day. Photographer Richard
Ross spent five years photographing the little-seen conditions inside 350
correction centers across the U.S.

For
teens guilty of murder, penalties can vary widely,
New England Center for Investigative Reporting, December 2011, and Direct
Fail: Colorado’s policy of sending teens to adult court,
5280 Magazine, December 2011

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision
this week  to strike down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for
juveniles, it’s worth revisiting these exposes of juvenile justice in Colorado
and Massachusetts, two states that often sentence teens as adults.

A
Death in Texas: Profits, poverty and immigration converge,
Boston Review, December 2009

Privately run immigration detention facilities have proliferated along the
U.S.-Mexico border. But the small towns where they’re located have rarely
benefited. (Such tales aren’t limited to the border, as this
report from Georgia tells).

Private
Prisons Profit From Immigration Crackdown, Federal And Local Law Enforcement
Partnerships, Huffington Post, June 2012

The country’s two largest private prison companies have spent tens of millions
on lobbying in the past decade and doubled their campaign contributions, as the
government launched tougher immigration rules. Since 2005, they’ve also more
than doubled their revenues from immigration detention.

Clarification (6/29): We’ve clarified this story to note that the U.S. has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world. There are a few countries—notably North Korea—for which reliable prison statistics aren’t available.