The Trump administration has expanded immigration detention, drawing criticism from civil rights organizations due to allegations of abuse and inadequate living conditions at detention facilities, as well as the proposed use of warehouses to house immigrants.
In 2025, Georgia enacted a landmark reform that lowers the burden of proof for intellectual disability in death penalty cases and separates the determination of intellectual disability from the determination of guilt, aligning the state with U.S. Supreme Court precedent and reducing the risk of wrongful executions.
The ACLU released a report detailing a letter sent by human rights groups urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end immigrant detention and halt deportations at Camp East Montana, a tent facility located at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas, due to violent and abusive conditions.
Family separations are occurring across the US due to ICE enforcement, resulting in hundreds of immigrant children being placed in government shelters and parents being deported or left with the choice of leaving their children in the care of another safe adult.
A new report from Solitary Watch details systemic abuse in New York prisons, citing physical violence, deprivation of basic resources, and widespread solitary confinement, and calls for urgent and sweeping reforms to ensure humane conditions for incarcerated individuals.
Human rights activists are urging the federal government not to reopen FCI Dublin, California, as an ICE detention center due to its documented history of sexual violence and human rights violations, and the potential for ICE to retaliate against immigrants who testified against former officers.
Residents of Dublin, CA and immigrant justice advocates are urging the City Council to reject any attempt to reopen the former Federal Correctional Institution Dublin as an immigration detention center due to its documented history of staff sexual abuse and dangerous conditions.
Incarcerated women in the U.S. are routinely punished for menstruating due to prison rules that fail to account for basic biological needs, resulting in a punitive environment where menstruation can result in punishment.
American Roman Catholic bishops have issued a rare and nearly unanimous rebuke of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, framing the immigration crisis in moral terms and urging an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.
An investigation by The Atlantic has revealed that the US immigration system is moving too quickly, leaving immigrant families confused and without meaningful access to due process, as evidenced by the case of an El Salvadoran father who was deported despite being cleared of wrongdoing.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has called for prosecutors and elected officials to hold the federal government accountable for human rights violations, citing aggressive immigration enforcement, militarization of law enforcement, and lack of transparency.
Solitary confinement, or “the hole,” is a costly and unregulated practice that violates human rights, increases mental health diagnoses, and disproportionately affects people of color, with many arguing it should be banned.
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) released a report revealing the “human, political and legal effects” of retaining death penalty laws in countries that have halted executions but not repealed capital punishment, urging greater scrutiny of these nations.
The current mass deportation policy in the United States is creating a moral crisis, as it is denying people the right to feel at home and eroding trust in the world, leaving people in a state of existential precarity.
Alabama’s execution of Anthony Boyd using nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has raised national concern over the use of the method, with witnesses describing the execution as “difficult-to-watch” and the US Supreme Court declining to intervene.
Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian-born former professional soccer player, was released after spending more than two years in unlawful U.S. immigration detention following his acquittal on terrorism-related charges, in a case cited as an example of prolonged and inhumane detention practices within the U.S. justice and immigration systems.
The July edition of the Vanguard Incarcerated Press features stories from incarcerated individuals that expose the cruelty of the prison system and highlight the resilience of those who endure it, while also advocating for free speech, human rights, and prison reform.
OK-CADP and State Sen. Nikki Nice gathered at the Oklahoma State Capitol to commemorate the World Day Against the Death Penalty, advocating for the abolition of capital punishment and highlighting the need for a moratorium on executions.
The Marshall Project reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased the use of solitary confinement in detention centers under the Trump administration, causing severe psychological harm to thousands of immigrants, with one mother of three from Mexico being held in a windowless isolation cell with a broken toilet for almost two months.
Vera’s research reveals that ICE is detaining more than 59,000 people across the US, with 17 private facilities holding over 1,000 people per day and 2 facilities exceeding 2,000 people, and the Trump administration has allocated an unprecedented $45 billion for detention and $30 billion for additional enforcement.