If we want to live in a democracy, we have to have universal suffrage. Period.

Bridging the years with books: Moms in prison read to their children in voice recordings. Entering its 15th year, the Storybook Project rewards inmates who have maintained good behavior behind bars with a chance to reach out to the children.

A one-time contender for China’s presidency, Sun Zhengcai, was sentenced to life in prison for accepting over 170 million yuan ($27 million) in bribes.

Men serving prison sentences in Texas can earn up to a master’s degree behind bars, but the educational glass ceiling for women incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice remains an associate’s degree plan. The same gulf exists between job certification programs offered to men and women in Texas prisons, according to a new report by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. Men, who can choose from a list of 21 professions, have the option of walking out of prison a certified welder...

A Youngstown, Ohio couple whose toddler died from a drug overdose was sentenced to prison Friday. Joshua Essad, 32, and Sara Loth, 31, pleaded guilty of reckless homicide and child endangerment Friday, for the death of their 16-month old child. According to Youngstown police, the child died from exposure to the drug carfentanil in July. Carfentanil is around 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 5,000 times more powerful than heroin.

As darkness fell, nerves got rattled and rumors spread.

South Carolina Emergency officials responded overnight to what one agency called a...

An incarcerated journalist reports on the impact of surveillance on a culture of violence.

Mentally ill prisoners are spending weeks at Tasmania's Risdon Prison because the state's mental health facility is full, critics say — but the Government says it is not aware of any capacity issues at the centre.

A US man who was cleared of murder after spending 45 years behind bars has said he’s “not a bitter man”. Richard Phillips, 71, had his conviction erased last year but has now been exonerated and will not face a second trial. Mr Phillips, from Detroit, smiled as he said the criminal justice system "works - it just didn't work fast enough".

Julian Douglas is thankful to be free after spending three long years in Rikers Island for a crime he did not commit. “The worst part wasn’t physical, it was more mental. That’s where most of my pain came from,” he said. On March 30 2015, 70-year-old Leta Webb was killed with a single gunshot to the head after answering the door to her family’s home in Jamaica, Queens.. Detectives began a manhunt for Webb’s killer and brought Douglas in for questioning. He was on parole and lived in the area. From the very beginning he insisted he was innocent. A witness placed him near the scene of the crime, picking him out of a lineup.

Shoplifting has become something of a lifeline for Japan's elderly population. As Bloomberg reports, nearly one in five women in prison is 65 or older. These elderly women commit minor crimes in order to escape poverty and solitude. Often, women are repeat offenders so that they can return to prison once they are released. To serve...

Japan has the world’s oldest population, with more than a quarter of its citizens aged 65 or older. The ageing population has already put a strain on Japan’s financial system and retail industry. But in recent years, another unexpected trend has been unfolding: In record numbers, elderly people in Japan are committing petty crimes so they can spend the rest of their days in prison.

Since 2009, the maximum security prison has been home to music workshops put on by Carnegie Hall and led by some of New York City's top musicians.

Reading, education can help ensure that prisoners who gain freedom, keep it.

A federal judge sentenced former pharmaceutical executive and hedge-fund manager Martin Shkreli to seven years in prison Friday following his earlier conviction on three of eight counts of securities and wire fraud charges. According to reporters present in the Brooklyn courtroom, Shkreli gave an emotional and tearful speech prior to his sentencing, taking blame and responsibility for his actions and saying he had changed as a person since his conviction

Teaching prisoners philosophy may sound unconventional, but my research has shown that it not only helps people survive the prison experience but it could also help reduce levels of violence and intimidation. Studies have shown that prisoners get through their incarceration by putting on a front or a prison persona which helps them to navigate life behind bars. But by sitting down and talking through philosophical issues, I was able to provide a space where they could drop their macho fronts and learn to talk with each other about life, morality and identity.

When Lamonte McIntyre was exonerated for a double murder in October, he walked out of a Kansas prison with a clean record – but not a dime to his name, reports CBS News' Dean Reynolds. After losing 23 years of his life behind bars, the state is offering him nothing. Kansas is one of 18 states that offer wrongfully convicted prisoners no compensation at all upon their release.

An estimated 77 million Americans have a debt that has been transferred to a private collection agency. Thousands end up in jails. More than 6,000 debt collection firms operate in the United States, collecting billions of dollars each year.

Americans' reliance on household debt ─ and poor people's struggles to pay it off ─ has fueled a collection industry that forces many of them into jail, a practice that critics call a misuse of the criminal justice system. The accusation is documented in a report by The American Civil Liberties Union, which spent more than a year investigating collection methods across the country, saying it found more than 1,000 cases in 26 states in which judges, acting on the request of a collection company, issued arrest warrants for people they claimed owed money for ordinary debts, such as student loans, medical expenses, unpaid rent and utility bills.