Incarceration

A new report reveals the full picture of correctional control across the United States, including incarceration, probation and parole. Rates of incarceration and supervision vary widely across the Mountain West.

Imprisonment rates are markedly higher in communities of color across the U.S., according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit group that advocates for criminal justice reform. And its work to spotlight what it calls “the geography of mass incarceration” has recently focused on parts of the Mountain West.

The Public Media Journalists Association selected the bureau's investigation of deaths at tribal jails as the best nationally edited news coverage for 2021.

New research in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that teens haven’t used more illegal drugs over the last decade. However, they are dying from drug overdoses at twice the rate.

Lawmakers are pushing for a "do-over" of an Interior Department contract to review tribal jail deaths awarded to a former official. Nearly half of the deaths he was to review occurred on his watch.

Idaho incarcerates women at a higher rate than any other state in the country, according to an annual report released late last year by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Racial disparities are deeply pronounced in state prisons across the nation – and some Western states top the list.

A federal judge in Nevada has ruled that a law that further penalizes those who re-enter the U.S. after deportation is unconstitutional. Section 1326 says if you were denied entry to the U.S. or were deported at some point, that law makes entering the U.S. a felony. The Nevada judge says it violates the U.S. Constitution because of its racist, anti-Mexican origins. The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing this decision.

Willy Pepion had a cracked skull, and guards at the federal jail on the Blackfeet Reservation dismissed his pleas for help. He died in his cell. Three hours went by until anyone noticed.

"The corrections officers are basically holding these lives in their hands with their decisions."