Prisons
We will work with partners to develop bold ideas to transform culture, improve conditions, and reduce the reach of our corrections system.
The United States is home to 5 percent of the world’s population and nearly 25 percent of its prisoners, and our prisons are excessively punitive, often subjecting people to inhumane conditions. We incarcerate people of color at disproportionately higher rates. And because few prisons offer treatment, job training, or cultures of respect and dignity, many people are set up to fail when they come home.
Working with partners, we’re developing an ambitious strategy for reforming state and federal prisons. As prisons are among the most understudied and opaque public institutions in our country, we are exploring opportunities to invest in projects that can effect change. We want to open these institutions to public view, develop cultures of respect and dignity, safely reduce the prison population, and better prepare people for success in their communities. And we’re interested in working with state governments to make reentry more successful, particularly when it comes to improving health care, education, and employment prospects, both in prison and after release.
Safe, Small, and Humane: A Vision for Prison Reform
It’s time to transform our nation’s prisons. We’re supporting bold ideas to safely reduce prison populations, improve culture and conditions, increase transparency, and bolster prospects for successful reintegration.
Read moreStories
See all
