In Mississippi, 27,000 people are incarcerated and legislation now in Congress might let them cast their ballots from behind bars.
The nonprofit Common Cause helped to create the National Voting in Prison Coalition.
Keshia Morris Desir, justice and mass incarceration project manager for the group, explained the bill, known as the Inclusive Democracy Act, would restore the right to vote in federal elections for individuals who are incarcerated or on probation and parole.
"What that does is help to disenfranchise the 4.6 million individuals that currently do not have access to the ballot box in federal elections," Morris Desir explained.
Under current state law, Mississippians' right to vote is permanently revoked if they're convicted of one of 23 serious crimes outlined in the law. During periods of incarceration, probation or parole, people also are ineligible to vote in the state. Voting rights can only be restored through action by the governor, or passage of a bill in the Legislature.
Morris Desir noted Maine and Vermont allow people who are incarcerated to vote, as does Washington, D.C. She added a national poll reveals widespread support for maintaining people's voting rights.
"More than 50% of people across the United States support voting for currently incarcerated folks," Morris Desir pointed out. "People across the country know that, you know, just because you made a mistake in your past and you have a criminal conviction does not exclude you from citizenship and your right to vote."
She added the bill would allow voting access only for federal offices -- like president and members of Congress -- but it would not affect state elections unless a state already allows it. Those with restricted voting rights in the state would not have their ballots counted in local elections.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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An Illinois documentary takes a deep dive into the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and the politics that influence its decision-making through one man's fight for a second chance.
"In their Hands" follows the life of Ronnie Carrasquillo, who was charged with murdering a plainclothes Chicago police officer in 1976. He was 18 years old when a judge sentenced him to 200 to 600 years in prison. Despite earning a bachelor's degree in theology and creating a committee with other prisoners focused on education and rehabilitation, Carrasquillo was denied parole more than 30 times.
"Every year I went to the parole board, they said, 'You're the same guy, you're still the same gang kid, you're still the same gang leader,'" Carrasquillo recounted. "So they can evolve, but they want to marginalize me and hold me in that position that 'you're still this.' So I used to say, 'I'm the oldest 18-year-old that you know.'"
Carrasquillo spent nearly 50 years in prison before finally being released at age 65 in 2023. An appellate court ruled his sentence was excessive and his profuse parole denial unfair. The film is available on all PBS digital platforms.
Carrasquillo grew up in Chicago during a time where racial violence and street gangs were prevalent. Along with highlighting the factors leading to Carrasquillo's crime, the documentary offers a snapshot of the kinds of extreme sentences young people receive that lead to mass incarceration.
Dan Protess, producer and director of the documentary, said he used Carrasquillo's story to expose the systemic issues in the criminal legal system, including how officials prioritize economic interests over rehabilitation.
"Who are these parole board members?" Protess asked. "What are the political considerations in their appointment? Who in Springfield, the state's capital, is looking over their shoulders? And what other parties might be able to influence them in their decision-making?"
Protess added he hopes the film draws attention to the parole process he believes often gets overlooked, and the great need for reform.
According to state law, the review board consists of 15 people appointed by the governor and the Senate, who must have five years of experience in areas ranging from law and policing to medicine and social work. At least six must also have juvenile experience and no more than eight members may be of the same political party.
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A bill pending in the West Virginia Legislature would increase the length of penalties for "serious" felony convictions, but critics have said it would contribute to prison overpopulation.
The state Senate passed Senate Bill 136 by an overwhelming margin last week. The House of Delegates has yet to consider the measure.
Kenneth Matthews, West Virginia economic justice associate for the American Friends Service Committee, said extending the minimum time prisoners must serve before a parole hearing would pack the prisons with more people waiting for a conditional release.
"Increasing penalties for offenses will create an increase in the prison population that's already overpopulated and create an increase in the aging (prison) population in the state, which is also overpopulated," Matthews outlined.
West Virginia's overall jail population in 2024 was about 11,000, with an incarceration rate of 674 per 100,000 residents, considerably higher than the national average of 614.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the state's 10 regional jails were initially built to hold 2,883 people -- but they house more than 4,400 people on any given day. The bill's Republican backers, who have a legislative supermajority, said state law is not stern enough on serious offenders.
Matthews countered the numbers do not back up their position.
"West Virginia is already kind of tough on crime," Matthews pointed out. "We're not the lowest in terms of sentencing and penalties in the country or even in our area, and we're not like an outlier in terms of lower penalties for certain offenses."
He added proposed sentences of 40-60 years for murder before people are eligible for parole would significantly expand the number of older, less-dangerous members of the prison population.
"They have a geriatric wing there and they have actually instituted a job, called the orderly, where their whole job is to push individuals around on wheelchairs and take care of their needs throughout the facility," Matthews emphasized.
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Programs allowing incarcerated people to receive reductions in their sentences help lower chances of reoffending, according to a recent analysis.
North Carolina has earned time policies, enabling people to reduce their sentences by up to 30%.
Sarah Anderson, associate director of criminal justice and civil liberties at the conservative public policy think tank R Street Institute, said needs-based assessments when someone enters incarceration typically determine the programs to help a person improve themselves and succeed outside of incarceration.
"Whether it's a literacy program, other education programs, certain job programs," Anderson outlined. "Then for individuals with behavioral health or substance use issues, there's a lot of treatment opportunities."
People who complete evidence-based recidivism-reduction programs can see their time in prison decreased. At least 38 states have either earned time or good time programs, or both. Good time programs reduce sentences by incentivizing good behavior.
Anderson pointed out "truth-in-sentencing" laws became popular during the War on Drugs and required people to serve a certain percentage, usually 85%, of their sentence before becoming eligible for reductions. The approach waned in the 1990s but Anderson noted truth-in-sentencing laws saw a resurgence after the pandemic because of increases in crime, despite evidence such laws do not improve outcomes.
"These types of incentive programs actually work far better to prevent crime in the future than does just requiring somebody serve 85% of a sentence without any type of an incentive to even participate in a productive program while they're incarcerated," Anderson reported.
Anderson emphasized truth-in-sentencing laws also went away because the cost to imprison someone can strain state budgets. The cost to incarcerate someone in North Carolina last year, for instance, was on average more than $50,000 annually. Anderson argued the cost means we should ensure people do not go back to prison.
"It's sort of incumbent on us to make sure that if we're incarcerating people and they are in state custody that we're doing everything we can to make sure that the time that they're spending in there is the only time that they're going to be spending in there," Anderson contended.
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