The Constitution is important. Full stop. It does many things, chief among them being defining and protecting the rights of people in the United

Progressive Voices Speaking Out
The Constitution is important. Full stop. It does many things, chief among them being defining and protecting the rights of people in the United
Prison reform and prison labor are topics we’ve written about before on the Occasional Planet. American prisons are making tons of money hiring out
The criminal justice system is, by the admission of many liberal politicians, in desperate need of change. Prisons are overcrowded as a result of
In 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery, but there was a loophole. Prisoners were exempt. Since the passage of the amendment, prisons and businesses
It’s absolutely true that Mitch McConnell and the Republicans obstructed every Democratic initiative. On the other hand, Democrats didn’t give people a reason to
In a move that demonstrates a small—and too rare—step toward common sense in lawmaking, Missouri has rescinded [mostly] an 18-year-old law that banned people
I’d almost forgotten about the three friends who, while hiking in Kurdistan in 2009, were lured across the Iraq/Iran border and then held prisoner
The Bill of Rights may have been passed over 220 years ago, but it seems to still not have been fully enacted. “Missouri executed
I think it’s time to talk about an issue that isn’t glamorous or infamous, but it is so subtle and so completely off the
Just a few hours before convicted serial murderer Joseph Paul Franklin was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 19, 2013, two