Long hours and heavy caseloads make it tough for Champaign County’s public defender office to compete with private firms and better-resourced government jobs. A new law could provide more support to public defenders.

When formerly incarcerated people are able to obtain work, it tends to be a low-paying position, keeping them well below the poverty line. “The No. 1 contributor to recidivism is poverty,” says a spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative.

A local attorney criticized the Erie County’s sheriff’s office lack of transparency. “If you live in a society where you can’t question or criticize law enforcement, you don’t have a democracy anymore.”

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Illinois abolished cash bail in the fall of 2023. Then, in 2024, it passed a law allocating millions to programs that provide services to people who are awaiting trial, with the idea of helping bail reform succeed.

Voting access advocates argue that Ohio’s ban on grace periods for mail ballots will be particularly harmful to those most likely to return ballots via the mail—namely, older and disabled voters who may lack mobility.

A workforce development program inside prison has helped many people in Oregon find good-paying work after their release. But the program could end soon, since state lawmakers this summer failed to renew funding for it.

In New Orleans, the newly elected sheriff may preside over the construction of a new psychiatric jail that community advocates fear could be commandeered by ICE: “Once a carceral facility is built, there’s no control over what bodies are put there.”

Despite several attempts to export the idea, Seattle remains the only U.S. city with a democracy vouchers program, which provides money to residents to donate to the local candidates of their choice.

Michael Broadway died from an asthma attack on a scorching day inside an Illinois prison. Witnesses said a nurse didn't want to climb the stairs to his cell. A friend in a nearby cell put it plainly: “staff in these prisons DO NOT see us as human beings.”

In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that neither the federal constitution nor federal law ban mid-decade redistricting. But Congress has the authority to create a prohibition where then-Justice Anthony Kennedy found none.

Shannon McChristian’s opposition to a new prison in her Arkansas community has changed her thoughts on incarceration generally. “As I’ve come to know more and more, I’ve just been horrified about our entire prison system.”

Sharone Mitchell, Jr., the Cook County Public Defender, has championed bond reform in Illinois, and he is alarmed by President Trump’s demand that the state bring back cash bail.

People already released on parole under New Mexico’s Second Chance Act, which banned life without parole for juveniles, fear they could be sent back to prison because of a recent opinion by the state’s attorney general.

This year, Democrats gained 25 state Senate and House seats held by the GOP, out of 118 that were up for election. That’s a haul reminiscent of 2017, when Dems flipped 20 percent of GOP-held legislative seats in the run-up to the 2018 midterms.

A fight over a prison closure in California in 2022 offered a window into the challenges of reducing incarceration when local economies are so tied with keeping the status quo, but it also offered glimpses of different possible futures.

The Hawaii Constitution "offers safety to Hawaii’s people that exceeds the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections,” Hawaii Justice Todd Eddins wrote in a recent ruling, taking a shot at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, a Florida law that guts the powers of civilian oversight boards went into effect. “They’re making it seem un-American to question policing," said one critic.

“It’s a solution to a non-existent problem. I don’t see where this is doing anything to help voters. It’s only going to disenfranchise people,” says an Ohio election official about the state’s new ban on grace periods for mail ballots.

A citizen journalist joined the Massey Commission to address what he saw as a pattern of disrespect from local police. “I signed up to be on the commission because my thought process is that we have to change things right now for the future generation.”

Recent research found that traffic stops by police in Hillsborough County, Florida reduced voter turnout in 2014, 2016, and 2018 federal elections.

“Solitary 100 percent makes it harder to return to society as productive members. It creates a deep-seeded hate and distrust for the system and all connected to it,” says Kwaneta Harris, who has experienced the practice in a Texas prison.

“Expanding community oversight of policing has been an uphill battle for decades,” says state Senator Angela McKnight, who represents Jersey City. She is a sponsor of a bill that would strengthen investigatory powers for civilian oversight boards.

Chicago’s chief prosecutor has removed protections that civil rights advocates say could prevent wrongful convictions. She has pared back her office’s lists of police with serious credibility issues.

Lorelei Cloud was born 3 years before Native Americans living on tribal lands in Colorado were guaranteed the right to vote. She is now vice chair of the Southern Ute Tribe. “I don’t want future generations to have to deal with any of what we’ve had to.”

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“One of the few things that people have when they’re behind bars is hope, and everything that crushes it is a heartbreak,” says an attorney who has represented prisoners applying for parole.

A judge has tossed the racketeering charges filed by the Georgia attorney general against activists who protested against Atlanta's Cop City facility.

Shane Sherman was released from prison in June and got a job at a construction company in Central Oregon, but didn’t have winter workwear. A state workforce development program gave him clothes. Now, that program is set to run out of money.

State supreme courts are a battlefield for pressing issues, from abortion rights to ballot access. But do you know how your court works? Our guide breaks down the structure and procedures of every single state’s highest court.

One of our most-read stories in 2025: In a string of rulings, Hawaii Justice Todd Eddins has rebuked the originalist approach preferred by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, calling it "white noise." “A constitution adapts,” he wrote. “Due process is agile.”

In the wake of Ohio’s ban on grace periods for mail ballots, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Republican, offered his advice to voters: “Don’t vote by mail, because there are too many bad things that can happen. Do it in person if you can.”

A 1967 federal law currently requires that states use single-member districts. Advocates for multi-member proportional representation would love to see Congress revisit this.

One of our most-read stories this year: A Pennsylvania county stopped charging people 'lodging fees' for detaining them in jail. Then it forgave $65 million in these fees. “What a light of hope this has been,” said one woman whose son owed $17,000.

Missouri’s referendum on minimum wage and paid sick leave last year won by a margin of 58 to 42 percent statewide. Under a proposal advanced by the GOP, it would have failed because it didn’t win more than 50 percent in every congressional district.

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What have we been up to in 2025? Here's a thread by our editor-in-chief on some of our team's favorite stories on the nuts and bolts of local politics, criminal justice, and voting rights this year.

Leaders of Ohio’s association of election officials scrambled to provide feedback before state legislators approved a ban on grace periods for mail ballots. “There wasn’t enough time to even have a meeting.”

Last month, Maine voters rejected a measure with restrictions on voting, 64 to 36 percent. “It sends a strong message that Mainers agree: We should not be making it harder for people to have their voices heard,” the Maine secretary of state told Bolts.

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North Carolina raising the cost of products sold in state prisons by five cents is a significant increase to incarcerated workers who typically earn between forty cents and $1.25 per day.

New Mexico officials granted Jesse Tooker parole on the life sentence he received when he was 17. But they didn’t agree to release him, saying an opinion issued by the state’s attorney general is keeping him behind bars.

An Alabama prison guard who left incarcerated people unsupervised in outdoor cages for hours was suspended for three days. But he was still allowed to participate in executions as part of the team of officers who administer the death penalty:

Did you know? Last year, Minnesota eliminated prison gerrymandering. The law, signed by Tim Walz in the spring, ended the practice of counting incarcerated people where prisons are located, which skews political power within the state.

2025 was just as busy as 2024, so we’ll forgive you if you missed some of our articles at @boltsmag.org! Our team chose just 10 of our favorite pieces of the year. It was very hard to choose—but these are articles I'd love for you to not miss. (And: thank you for reading us!) 🧵

Survivors of domestic violence who went to prison for crimes related to their abuse have for years asked California lawmakers to make courts take that abuse into consideration. For the third year, California killed such a reform.

A voting rights advocate says Ohio's new ban on grace periods for mail ballots could cause major problems for voters. “Where is the sense that our lawmakers are protecting our right to vote?”

Six states adopted new congressional maps this year, and a few more have started the process. So where does that leave the count of the overall partisan shift? You asked, we answered: boltsmag.org/mid-dec...

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From the legacy of the internment of Japanese Americans, to who profits from jailing immigrants, you asked us critical questions about the network of immigrant detention. Here’s what you wanted to know: