Our recent research, published in Science Advances, finds that US prison deaths increased 77%, or 3.4 times the increase in the general population, in 2020 relative to 2019. See media coverage in The Guardian and Courthouse News Service.

Naomi F. Sugie and Carol Joan Newark. 2023. “Restricting Food Stamps is Soft on Crime.” Newsweek. June 1.

In this policy brief, we summarize key findings from new research evaluating the recidivism consequences of the federal SNAP ban, which excludes people from accessing food stamps for their lifetimes.

Excited to continue collaborating with Kristin Turney (Sociology, UCI), Keramet Reiter (CLS, UCI), Monik Jimenez (Harvard), and our amazing graduate students to understand mortality in US prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic!

New grants from National Science Foundation and Alliance for Safety and Justice support voter outreach via text messaging to system-impacted groups, to address misinformation about legal eligibility and to promote voter engagement.  The grant will fund research focused on the 2022 and 2024 elections.

PrisonPandemic received a new grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Digitizing Hidden Collections program to support its digitizing and archiving activities. It received a new grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to fund sustainability and public engagement.

I recently had the pleasure to speak with UC-Berkeley Professor Samuel Lucas about a forthcoming paper on welfare receipt and political participation. Punchline – food stamps receipt is related to future likelihood of voting, especially among people who are the least interested in government and public affairs.

Delighted to join the Council and Megan Kurlychek on 11/17/20 to discuss the current state of research.  Find recordings of prior hearings, including this one, here.

In conversation with Priscillia Hunt (RAND), along with Peter Leasure and Michael Vuolo, about improving career prospects through federal, state, and local policies.

See our new commentary on Medium (along with Kristin Turney and Keramet Reiter).