Sarah Shourd

America's prison-industrial complex incentivizes imprisonment and disproportionately hurts minorities. Now, pols are vowing to end it. But what will that actually look like?

Despite a new settlement that bans indefinite solitary confinement in California, prisons are finding new secondary excuses to lengthen time in the SHU.

Ever since the Navy implemented a new participatory theater program to show sailors when to turn in a peer or superior for sexual assault, reporting is higher than ever.

<p>I was a hostage in Iran for over a year, and I'm certain my release was part of a larger deal. Still, I believe this one with Iran is necessary—and encouraging news for American hostages still in the country.</p>

Civil rights advocates lobbied Facebook to stop automatically deleting all profiles of current American prisoners, The Daily Beast has learned.

After a half-decade and a mandate by the U.N. to investigate solitary confinement practices, U.N. torture rapporteur Juan Mendez had to find a backdoor into an American jail.

After a decade in prison for an alleged bomb plot, Eric McDavid was released this month—ten years early—after documents proved that he was entrapped by the FBI. Here’s his story.

No outdoor exercise and no family visits, but when video visitation cost $1 per minute, Cheshire County Jail is an expensive form of progress.

The US should be more flexible and honest regarding its policy of never paying ransom for hostages.

As Israel mourns its politicians vow retribution. Hamas threatens to “open the gates of hell.” Could U.S. diplomacy have prevented the tragedy? The sad fact: it didn’t.