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In Iowa, A Commitment To Make Prison Work Better For Women

Joseph Shapiro

October 17, 2018 |

NPR |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

At the Iowa Correctional Institution For Women officials are shifting how they deal with inmates, who have been punished at higher rates than inmates in men’s prisons for things like being disruptive. It’s part of a trend in 15 states called gender-responsive corrections that recognizes the role of trauma in many women’s lives and that they are less likely to be violent. It means more freedom to move around, no full strip searches and fewer punishments for minor violations.

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How to make prisons more humane

Dylan Matthews Byrd Pinkerton

October 17, 2018 |

Vox |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Bismarck, North Dakota

A North Dakota prison looks to Norway's prison model that focuses on prisoner rehabilitation rather than punishment. By giving offenders responsibility, private space, and access to the outside world, these prisons have found lower rates of recidivism and more success with rehabilitation.

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This 24-year-old lawsuit could radically alter public education in North Carolina

Michael Cooper

October 15, 2018 |

Scalawag |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, North Carolina

Twenty years ago, five, poor, rural counties sued the state of North Carolina for failing to provide students with a good education, and won. In 1997 the Chief Justice Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the case known as Leandro v. State. However, the decision wasn’t really enforced by the government, and until 2017 a court appointed agency was hired to investigate the state. “Leandro sets the bar but you still need to have elected officials, school officials and court officials willing to uphold it,”

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How Malmö turned around some of its worst schools

Richard Orange

October 15, 2018 |

The Local |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Malmö

Malmö's Örtagårdsskolan once ranked as one of Sweden's lowest-performing schools, shunned by parents from an affluent neighboring housing development. Management of Malmö's schools shifted to centralized municipal school organizations, more money was pumped into troubled schools, and class sizes shrank. While it remains a magnet for recent immigrants, one school's investment in quality teachers and other resources has improved its rankings and made it attractive once again to parents seeking the best education for their children.

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How a Booming City Can Be More Equitable

Barry Yeoman

October 15, 2018 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

Durham, North Carolina works to maintain diversity of communities and perspectives by evaluating the inequities built into their current housing laws and economic opportunities. In redevelopment planning, the city also incorporates artists and activists into planning to ensure the city doesn't lose diversity of culture in its renewal plans.

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Changing the environment in Iowa's prisons to change results for women

Jessica Pupovac

October 14, 2018 |

Chicago Reporter |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Mitchelville, Iowa

The Iowa Correctional Institution for Women has reformed how inmates are treated, adapting approaches informed by gender and past trauma. A new campus provides private counseling suites and a mental health unit, larger cells with light controls and a visitation area with play space and a garden so women can engage with their children. Disciplinary policies have also shifted toward building women up for returning to society rather than automatic discipline for small infractions.

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A small state with big ideas on rehabilitating female prisoners

Kari Lydersen Sydney Boles

October 14, 2018 |

Chicago Reporter |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Vermont

Across the United States, women statistically receive a higher rate of disciplinary tickets for minor infractions compared to their male counterparts. In Vermont, however, where corrections falls under the Department of Human Services, employees of the correctional facilities are trained in gender-informed practices to better suit their responses to women and men offenders.

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The Crime Machine, Part II

PJ Vogt

October 12, 2018 |

Gimlet Media |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

CompStat seemed like a miracle of technology and data when it was rolled out in New York City in the 1990s. Crime dropped as police leadership demanded precincts report every crime and what they were doing about it at weekly meetings where they were pressured to conform to this new system. But this also resulted in police distorting actual crime data to avoid reporting crimes in their districts and the push for increased police activity resulted in cops targeting minorities for minor offenses.

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The Love Story that Upended the Texas Prison System

Ethan Watters

October 11, 2018 |

Texas Monthly |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

An unlikely relationship between Frances Jalet, an attorney, and Fred Cruz, an inmate, led to some of the most historic rulings against the Texas Department of Corrections. Jalet became a plaintiff in one of the suits, and alongside two dozen other inmates, called the Eight Hoe squad, they drafted a lawsuit. Despite targeted attacks against Jalet and the inmates by prison leadership, they won in the courts. In 1980, a federal judge declared that the Texas Department of Corrections was operating unconstitutionally.

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The Crime Machine, Part I

PJ Vogt

October 11, 2018 |

Gimlet Media |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The creation of CompStat fostered a huge drop in crime rates in New York City by the 1990s. The idea came from an odd and obsessive transit cop was to track every single crime daily in every precinct and use that data to systematically go after everything from murders to low-level crimes once ignored by police. It was a drastic shift in the way NYPD worked and was credited with making the city far safer, but was also flawed.

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