MEDIA FELLOWSHIP
RURAL (IN)JUSTICE
COVERING AMERICA’S HIDDEN JAIL CRISIS
Sponsored by John Jay College’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice, the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
On July 10-11, 2018, John Jay’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice (CMCJ) held a two-day conference to kick off a year-long media fellowship program designed to strengthen the capacity of journalists in rural and smaller jurisdictions to investigate the causes of the growth in jail populations, and report on policy remedies and alternatives.
The conference, “Rural (In)Justice: Covering America’s Hidden Jail Crisis,” will bring together selected journalists with a VIP list of experts, practitioners and academics to explore the factors driving the increase in jail populations in smaller towns and rural communities across the United States, and the best practices underway to address a crisis often overlooked in discussions about mass incarceration.
Twenty-eight journalists, most of them from small and rural communities in the US heartland, where the crisis is most keenly felt, were chosen as Reporting Fellows to attend the conference, which launches a one-year reporting and mentoring program on jail issues.
Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s recently elected District Attorney, headed the list of speakers. Other speakers included: Cherise Fanno Burdeen, CEO of the Pretrial Justice Institute; Judge Steven Leifman, associate administrative judge for the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida; Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues; Tona Monroe, Blount County (TN) Commissioner;
State Rep Chuck Elfstration (GA); John Tilley, Justice Cabinet Secretary (KY); G. Larry Mays, author of “Trouble in the Heartland;” Larry Amerson, former president of the National Sheriffs Association; Christian Henrichson of the Vera Institute of Justice; and Emily West of the MacArthur Safety & Justice Challenge.
The Rural Justice reporting fellowship is one of the ongoing programs administered by the John Jay College Center on Media, Crime and Justice (CMCJ) to help journalists expand their evidence-based reporting on criminal justice topics. CMCJ is a member of the Research Consortium of John Jay College.
RELATED RESOURCES/COVERAGE
The Crime Report, Nov. 22, 2019
https://thecrimereport.org/2019/11/22/why-do-rural-areas-keep-building-new-jails/
The Crime Report, Oct. 24, 2018
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/10/24/safety-and-justice-challenge-expands-to-12-new-cities/
Rural Blog by Al Cross. Aug. 22,2018
Marianne Dodson and Dane Stallone/TCR July 11, 2018
Laura Binczewski, TCR July 12, 2018
Lucas County, Ohio: A Case Study in Fixing America’s Broken Jails
Elena Schwartz, TCR, July 11, 2018
Re-think Sentencing for Violent Offenders: Philly DA Larry Krasner
Elena Schwartz, TCR July 12, 2018
FELLOWS STORIES
Deborah Berry, USA Today
Money bail targeted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, progressives who want to end US ‘debtor prison’ system July 25, 2018
Paul Cuno-Booth, Keene Sentinel
Sept 2, 2018
Danielle Danford, Leader-Register
Nov 19 2018
Rural Jails Struggle to Cope with Rise in Mentally Troubled Inmates
June 25, 2019
Kelsey Davis, Mississippi Today
Suit accuses Cleveland of routinely incarcerating ‘mentally disturbed individuals’
Whitney Downard, Meridian Star
Dec. 21, 2018
Whittney Evans, WCVE
Jan 23, 2019
Driving While Poor: How Unpaid Traffic Fines Land Some Motorists in Jail
James Farrell, Fremont Tribune
Jan 19, 2019
Life After Prison: Nebraska’s ‘Growing Pains” With Probation Reform
Oct. 24, 2018
‘Kindness of Strangers’ a Last Resort for the Rural Mentally Ill
Oct 22, 2018
Dan Glaun, MassLive
July 28, 2019
Nicholas Graziano, The Cortland Standard
Dec 29, 2018
A Rural Corrections Officer’s Life: Quiet Job—‘Until All Hell Breaks Loose’
Dec. 24, 2018
Matthew Hopf, Herald-Whig (IL)
Jan. 14, 2019
Illinois Jail Uses Video to Address Inmate Mental Health Issues
Eric Jankiewicz, NationSwell, Butler Eagle
Jan 28, 2019
For the Mentally Troubled, a Pennsylvania Jail Offers ‘High-Visibility’ Cells
Aug 31, 2018
Eric Killelea, Hibbing Daily Tribune
July 14, 2019
Drug and Alcohol Court Aims to Stop Revolving Door July 1, 2019
Courts Try a New Approach to Continuing Problem June 30, 2019
Ben Kleppinger, The Advocate-Messenger
Are defendants in Boyle and Mercer counties kept locked up for being poor? June 23, 2018
Can Boyle and Mercer change course on incarceration? Preliminary data says peak jail population could be close to 700 by 2040 July 14, 2018
Ky. justice secretary talks jail reform in NYC July 16, 2018
Report: Boyle, Mercer Countries Need a Bigger Jail, Sept. 21, 2018
Boyle, Mercer Counties Least Likely to Let Defendants Out With No Money Feb 15, 2019
Sept 26, 2018
Elizabeth Murray, Burlington Free Press
Nov 20, 2018
Do America’s Sick, Aging Inmates Deserve the Right to Die at Home?
Kyle Ocker, The Daily Iowegian
Feb 4, 2019
Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune
Dec 10 2018 (part 2 of series)
SIDEBAR story Dec. 10, 2018
Northland Officials Keep Watch as Bail Reform Gains Momentum
Dec 9, 2018 PART 1
St. Louis County seeks to Buck Trend as Jail Growth Surges Nationwide
Aprile Rickert, News and Tribune
Nov 19, 2018
Opioid Crisis Adds New Burden to Rural Indiana Courts and Jails
Dec 4, 2018
How a Rural Indiana Jail Deals with ‘Exploding’ Female Population
Mitch Ryals, The Inlander (Spokane)
Dying Inside: Grappling with a string of suicides in the Spokane County Jail July 12, 2018
Another Spokane County Jail inmate found dead, sixth to die in custody in past 13 months July 18, 2018
Inmate death in Spokane County Jail is seventh in 14 months Aug. 9, 2018
Spokane County sheriff says Geiger officials tainted a rape investigation into one of their own Aug 23, 2018
Sept 2, 2018
H. Rose Schneider, Altamount Enterprise
Nov 1, 2018
Renatta Signorini, Tribune-Review
Feb 16, 2019
Jessi Stone, Smoky Mountain News
Covering the rural jail crisis, 18 July 2018
Many rural county jail populations are growing at a higher rate than urban county jails or even state prisons, according to research done by the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Vera Institute of Justice.
The cost of incarceration August 1, 2018
As The Smoky Mountain News embarks on a yearlong investigative project to explore the rural jail crisis, we wanted to first take a look at how much incarceration is costing the taxpayers in Western North Carolina. Financial data was collected from the four counties in our coverage area — Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain — to analyze how much each spends annually on local detention centers and how it impacts the overall county budget. What we’ve found is that costs are rising annually and budgeting can be difficult with so many fluctuating expenses to consider.
Snapshots of WNC jails: Not all jails are created equal August 8, 2018
In a criminal justice system that is often operated under rigid regulations and protocols, people may be surprised to find the disparities within the walls of local jails. All the jails have the same basics — sally port, booking area, magistrate office, holding cells, inmate pods and control rooms with security cameras — but each facility is set up a little differently.
High pressure, low pay: Detention officers pay price for crowded jails August 8, 2018
Taxpayers aren’t the only ones paying the price for the growing number of incarcerations and overcrowded jails.
To build or not to build: Sheriffs assess need for future jail expansion August 8, 2018
When county jails are constantly at or over capacity, the easiest answer seems to be to build a bigger one.
Civil rights advocates call for death of bail bonds August 21, 2018
The use of bail bonds dates back centuries as a means to settle disputes peacefully and to ensure a defendant shows up to court by having a friend or family member agree to pay the debt if the accused flees.
Case study, Durham County: Changes can begin by offering pre-trial services August 21, 2018
The Durham County Detention Facility opened in the summer of 1996 with a capacity of 576 single cells. By 2005, the jail was at or over capacity a majority of the time.
Women behind bars: Female jail population quadruples since 1970 August 15, 2018
Women make up the fastest growing segment of inmates in the U.S. correctional system. According to a 2016 study conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice, the number of women in jail grew from under 8,000 in 1970 to over 110,000 in 2014 and nearly half of them are in small county jails.
Jail program offers wake up call for women August 15, 2018
At 27 years old, Samantha Ledford found herself addicted to prescription pills and heroin. Her daily life had become consumed with finding her next high and there didn’t seem to be a way out.
Greg Wehner, Southampton Press,27East.com
SEPT 10, 2018
Monetary Bail Amounts Could Soon be a Thing of the Past in New York
California recently enacted legislation to remove monetary bail from its justice system, making it the first state to take such measures. Some legislators in New York say the Empire State could follow suit in the coming years.
Alyssa Zhu, Springfield News-Leader
Dec 26, 2018
Missouri’s Trailer Jail: Innovative Solution or ‘Recipe for Disaster’?