The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, both in absolute numbers and on a per capita basis. Reveal Digital’s American Prison Newspapers collection is designed to elevate incarcerated voices and offer new breadth and depth to our understanding of prisons and imprisonment. On Wednesday, March 23rd, our own formerly incarcerated engagement editor Morgan Godvin will join interdisciplinary prison scholar Ashley Rubin for a conversation about this history of mass incarceration. The event, hosted and moderated by Knowable Magazine, is free to watch. Registration is open now!
We are actively seeking new content for the American Prison Newspapers project, please see our submissions guide. Here is a roundup of past stories we have published that can help explain various facets of the complex history of mass incarceration. We welcome reader feedback for coverage.
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Were Early American Prisons Similar to Today’s?
January 19, 2022
A correctional officer’s history of 19th century prisons and modern-day parallels. From Sing Sing to suicide watch, torture treads a fine line.
![Female prisoners at Parchman sewing, c. 1930
By Mississippi Department of Archives and History [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons](https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Parchman_Female_Prison_Sewing_1050x700.jpg)
A History of Women’s Prisons
March 4, 2015
While women's prisons historically emphasized the virtues of traditional femininity, the conditions of these prisons were abominable.
50 Years Later: The Evolution of Prison Policy
January 4, 2022
Buried within Adelante is evidence of a fleeting attempt at prison reform and oversight in Connecticut. Is history repeating itself?
Introducing American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside
September 22, 2021
This overlooked corner of the press provided news by and for people who were incarcerated. A newly available archive shows it worked hard to reach outside audiences too.
Bringing Education to Prisoners
October 23, 2015
Is there an alternative to the punitive treatment of criminals? We look at the history of correctional education reforms within the American prison system.
How Mass Incarceration Has Shaped History
September 28, 2020
A historian argues that it's time to look at the consequences of locking up millions of people over several decades.
Lesbians in Prison: The Making of a Threat
March 14, 2021
A scandal at a Massachusetts women's prison marked a change in the construction of the "dangerous" female homosexual.
What the Prisoners’ Rights Movement Owes to the Black Muslims of the 1960s
January 22, 2018
Black Muslims have been an influential force in the prisoners' rights movement and criminal justice reform as early as the World War II era.
Would Formerly Incarcerated People Vote Democratic?
March 3, 2020
Conventional wisdom says that Republicans don't want to give ex-felons voting rights because they'll end up voting for Democrats. But is this true?
The Problem With Privatizing Prisons
May 15, 2017
If private prisons make their profit from criminal society, its goes against business sense to reduce criminality.
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