Justice
In prison, wheelchair basketball offers a chance at reinvention
At California Medical Facility, playing a sport helps men practice new ways of thinking and form bonds that remain outside of prison walls.
Prisons
Justice
‘Put them down with gas’: Abuse and retaliation inside a California women’s prison
More than a dozen current and formerly incarcerated women spoke to KQED about a pattern of sexual abuse and retaliation that persists at the largest women’s prison in California.
Justice
California restricts parole for sex offenders after near-release of 2 convicted of molestation
People convicted of serious sex offenses must serve at least 25 years in prison and cannot receive parole until age 65 under a new California. Previously, some could earn parole at 50.
Justice
Data from 911 calls at ICE detention centers must be disclosed under new California law
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law compelling the release of information about 911 calls from immigrant detention centers. It followed CalMatters' reporting about alleged rapes at one site.
Justice
They fought wildfires while serving time. A new law gives them a shot at Cal Fire jobs
A new law will give incarcerated firefighters a leg up when applying to entry-level jobs with Cal Fire. ‘Hard-earned experience counts,” one advocate said.
Justice
California has one-quarter of all the nation’s death sentences. Will Newsom commute them all?
More than 560 people still face death sentences in California, despite a longstanding moratorium on executions.
Justice
She made a fatal choice at 22. Now she’s in prison, figuring herself out one day at a time
Grace Coleman woke up in a hospital and learned she caused a fatal crash. Now in a California prison, she's striving to hold herself accountable.
Justice
California prison towns grasp for new jobs after closures: ‘No one is coming to save us’
California is closing prisons because it's incarcerating fewer people. Several towns with shuttered prisons now are struggling to lure new employers.
Justice
US DOJ finds ‘unbroken pattern’ of sexual abuse by California prison staff
A two-year federal investigation found decades of staff sexual abuse against incarcerated women at California correctional facilities.
Justice
A judge sent a doctor to evaluate California’s largest ICE detention center. What he found
Immigration and Customs Enforcement quickly opened a new detention center in a former California state prison last year. Detainees now are suing over their access to healthcare.