The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) is a

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

oriented American public policy

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

based in Easthampton, Massachusetts. It is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, designated

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

by the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

. It is the "leading public critic" of the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

's practice of counting prisoners as residents of the towns where they are incarcerated, and has conducted research in several states proving that this practice results in distortion of equal representation. The organization produces reports that aim to show the scale of incarceration in the United States. The most well-known of these reports is th
Whole Pie report
which provides a visual representation of all aspects of incarceration in the United States. It also produces

" a report that compares the incarceration rate of every U.S. state to that of nearly every other country on the planet. It also produces research and reports on specific aspects of the criminal legal system, including

" " ttps://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/juryexclusion.html Rigging the jury: How each state reduces jury diversity by excluding people with criminal records" and
Eligible, but excluded: A guide to removing the barriers to jail voting
" Annually, it also publishe

that legislators are likely to take up in the upcoming legislative sessions.

Census work

PPI published the first empirical, district-by-district analysis of the effects of

Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal Statistical System of the United States, U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the Americans, Ame ...

methodology which counts prisoners as residents of towns containing prisons, not their pre-incarceration addresses, and has since been the leading critic of the practice (which it calls "prison gerrymandering") and the distortion of equal representation it causes. Executive director Peter Wagner has testified on the issue before the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humani ...

and the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Apportionment. The Census Bureau's scientific advisors at the

United States National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrell ...

have now recommended that the Bureau begin to collect prisoners' home address information, and the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' editorial board has repeatedly supported PPI's calls for reform. Once an unknown issue, the problem of prisoner miscount has now been identified as "the most controversial issue for the 2010 census." It has published reports about this issue, including, "Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York", "Why the Census Bureau can and must start collecting the home addresses of incarcerated people", and "Phantom constituents in the Empire State: How outdated Census Bureau methodology burdens New York counties". It has also published the Democracy Toolkit, an internet tool designed for rural democracy activists, allowing them to use PPI's research procedures to study their own communities.

Prison and jail telephone industry

PPI's multiple reports on the prison and jail phone industry explain why the industry must be regulated by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

. The reports explain that prison phone bills are so high because of a unique market failure: prison systems and local jails award monopoly contracts to the phone company that will charge the highest rates and share as much as 84% of the profits with the facility. The real customers, the families paying the hefty bills, are left entirely out of the decision-making process. In fact, both parties to these contracts profit from disregarding the interests of the actual consumers of prison telephone services. Aside from the high rates, fees also have an enormous impact on prison phone bills, making up 38% of the $1 billion annual price of calling home.

Jail letter bans

The Prison Policy Initiative published the first-in-the-nation report on the new jail trend of banning letters from home and requiring loved ones to write on public postcards. The National Institute of Corrections called the report, "required reading for policy makers and anyone working with individuals in jail custody."

Sentencing enhancement zones

Many states have laws that enhance sentences based on where an offense takes place. These laws aim to deter offenses near places such as schools, but when the protected areas are too big, the deterrence effect is lost and these policies end up increasing harmful racial disparities. The Prison Policy Initiative's research demonstrated that a Massachusetts drug law that set the penalty by where the offense is located—and not the harm caused by the offense—does not work, can never work, and has serious negative effects. The recommendations of the Prison Policy Initiative's two reports were endorsed by Massachusetts Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

and led to a change in the law.Rethinking Drug-Free School Zones
'' The Valley Advocate'', February 10, 2011

References

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External links