Crime Story Daily

PM Stories A Short History of Biden VP Kamala Harris’ Record on Criminal Justice Meghan Roos, Newsweek Harris and Biden once were at odds on criminal justice issues. Finding common ground helped lead him to pick her as his running mate. Michael Kranish, Washington Post Give Kamala Harris a Break Peter Beinart, The Atlantic San Francisco becomes first county in the nation to offer free calls to jail inmates Carla Marinucci, Politico LA County Report Shows Arrests, Bookings Down Dramatically During COVID-19 Elizabeth Marcellino, City News Service In Harris County, A Group is Working to Expand Voting Access in Jails Michael Barajas, Texas Observer Minnesota nonprofit...

PM Stories COVID Has Reduced Prison Populations Around the World—Creating a Rare Chance to Fix the System Gavin Butler, Vice Amid COVID-19, California releases some inmates doing time for murder. Advocates push to free more Richard Winton, Anita Chabria, and Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times Leaving Gun Towers and Barbed Wire for a Healing House Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times Breaking Out With A Bar of Soap Keri Blakinger, The Marshall Project Prison’s Other Death Sentence (Washington) Levi Pulkkinen, Crosscut We Must Change How Our Criminal Justice System Treats People with Mental Illness Christine Montross, Time How Leander Perez’s Vicious Racism Backfired and Saved Jury...

PM Stories The Federal Bureau of Prisons response to the coronavirus has been disastrous and deadly Natalie Chwalisz, Washington Post As Bureau of Prisons Enters “Phase 9” Of COVID-19 Plan, BOP Staff Wonder If There Is A Real Plan Walter Pavlo, Forbes Jails and prisons have reduced their populations in the face of the pandemic, but not enough to save lives Emily Widra and Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative “I Had Hit The Lottery”: Inmates Desperate To Get Out Of Prisons Hit Hard By The Coronavirus Are Racing To Court Zoe Tillman, BuzzFeed News Inside the federal prison where three out of every four...

This is a curated selection of highlights from Crime Story Daily this week. On the criminal justice policy front: Pieces from The Intercept and The Appeal highlight major gains for the progressive prosecutor movement in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries. In both Pima County (Tucson), Arizona, and Washtenaw County (Ann Arbor), Michigan, longtime prosecutors with punitive records retired this year, triggering competitive three-way Democratic primaries to replace them. And in both, the most progressive candidate – civil rights attorney Eli Savit in Michigan, and former public defender Laura Conover in Arizona – prevailed on Tuesday. A piece from HuffPost focuses on St....

PM Stories New York Attorney General Sues to Dissolve the NRA Will Van Sant, The Trace The Fall of the NRA Adam Winkler, New Republic Black Lives Matter movement sparks ‘collective awakening’ on marijuana policies Natalie Fertig, Politico As Decriminalization Drives Reforms For Marijuana Convictions, Activists See Others Serving Time Left Behind Tana Ganeva, The Appeal California plans early release of many more prison inmates due to coronavirus Los Angeles Times One Journalist Is Chronicling San Quentin’s Huge COVID-19 Outbreak – While Locked Inside Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones Can Jurors Save the Justice System? James M. Doyle, The Crime Report Illinois Has Promised to “Infuse Love” in...

PM Stories How California reduced its inmate population to a 30-year low Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle Even in Pandemic, Prison Releases Pose Political Risk Marisa Lagos, KQED Split 5 to 4, Supreme Court Rules for California Jail Over Virus Measures Adam Liptak, New York Times San Quentin faces California’s deadliest prison outbreak after latest COVID fatalities Abené Clayton, The Guardian My Friend Died in San Quentin Due to COVID-19. His Death Was Entirely Preventable. Adnan Khan, The Appeal More than 500 inmates at Arizona prison test positive for COVID-19, according to corrections officials April Siese, CBS News Woman asked for compassionate release. The prison refused....