CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

America’s Carceral System Locks Up Lots of Creativity

According to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative, U.S. taxpayers and families of system-involved people pay at least $445 billion every year to keep people incarcerated. Which is to say, we in the U.S. spend an astronomical amount of money to lock people up.

Meanwhile, conditions for incarcerated people have been getting steadily worse. Take one program — The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. Created by Congress over two decades ago, the PREA supposedly created a zero tolerance policy for prison rape and federal standards to address the issue. Last year, the Trump administration canceled the estimated $16 millionDOJ spent on it. The PREA Resource Center temporarily shut down in 2025. Today it is operating in a limited........

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