July 6, 2017
Categories: Justice Reform

a Prison Policy Initiative Report
by Joshua Aiken
Press Release
May 31, 2017

One out of every three people behind bars is being held in a local jail, yet jails get almost none of the attention that prisons do. Jails are ostensibly locally controlled, but the people held there are generally accused of violating state law,
and all too often state policymakers (and state reform advocates) ignore jails. In terms of raw numbers state prison reform is the larger prize, but embracing the myth that jails are only a local matter undermines current and future state-level reforms. Jails may be
locally controlled, but jail practices reflect state priorities and change state-wide outcomes. To read the rest of this report, please click here