News & Commentary about Conditions in Jails and Prisons

The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

Jul 27, 2023

No One Should Die In Custody

A nutraloaf, a meal typically given to inmates for misbehavior.

Nov 23, 2022

Two Cups of Broth and Rotting Sandwiches: The Reality of Mealtime in Prisons and Jails

Oct 20, 2022

LA County’s Failure to Invest in Alternatives to Incarceration Fuels Inhumane Jail Conditions

With helmets, gas masks and armed with shotguns, state police overlook the Attica prison yard which is filled with prisoners, face down in mud with their hands behind their heads. Other policemen are in orange ponchos are walking and searching the prisoners in Sept. 1971.

Sep 26, 2022

50 Years of Fighting for the Rights of Incarcerated People

Stephen Pevar discussing unjust illegal actions taken against Native American families by the state of South Dakota at a press conference.

May 6, 2022

45 Years of Defending Liberty

A stack of books behind a chain-link fence.

Apr 18, 2022

A Student’s Journey: Fighting for Education Rights While in Prison

A guard tower over the fence at a correctional health care facility.

Jan 31, 2022

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is Still Delaying My Health Care, Despite a Court Order

An empty solitary confinement cell at New York's Rikers Island jail.

Apr 9, 2020

I’m Queer and I’ve Been in Solitary. Ellen Isn’t Experiencing What I Did.

Empty cells at Arkansas Department of Correction prison in Malvern, Ark.

Sep 3, 2019

A New York Jail Forced a Trans Woman Into a Men’s Facility

May 25, 2018

The Trump Administration Is Attacking Trans People in Federal Prison