This new special project from Mother Jones magazine examines the "real price of prisons" as the American inmate population continues to balloon, currently topping two million persons. The site contains a number of brief essays (including two written by New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and the Rev. Jesse Jackson), discussion boards, and a well-organized directory of resources. The heart of the site...

This report, posted May 14, 2001, from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), prepared by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, presents the results of a national study to examine the efficacy of prison privatization. The report looks at the factors that have contributed to the increase in prison populations (which has in turn fueled the movement to privatize prisons) as well as the role...

One policy issue that has befuddled some of the best minds in the federal government is how to reduce the growth and cut the cost of the prison system. Amidst much conversation about the so-called "prison-industrial complex," there is much to be said for such a timely report. Authored by Julie Samuels, Nancy G. La Vigne, and Samuel Taxy of the Urban Institute, this November 2013 report takes a...