Transcending trauma: Former lifers extol benefits of emotional awareness therapy

by Steve Brooks

November 21, 2025

AFTER BEING WAREHOUSED in a California prison for decades before their release, formerly incarcerated men and women visited San Quentin Rehabilitation Center for a symposium on emotional awareness and healing.

Read more from Local News Matters – Bay Area here.

The U.S. flouts the UN and international accountability. Again.

By Nadia Ben-Youssef

November 6, 2025

This week, the U.S. government was meant to be reviewed at the United Nations as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, a peer-to-peer assessment of every country’s human rights record. In August, the Trump administration withdrew from the process and the U.S. is set to become the first country ever to avoid review. There will be more developments coming from Geneva later this week, but for now we wanted to share more about what this unprecedented moment means

Read more from the Center for Constitutional Rights here.

California shrank prisons with sentencing changes. A new study shows how that’s working

by Cayla Mihalovich

September 25, 2025

Several new California laws gave incarcerated people a second chance at freedom. A new report provides the first in-depth look at how they’re working.

Read more from CalMatters here.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Initiated Resentencing

By: Alissa Skog and Johanna Lacoe

 September 24, 2025

POLICY BRIEF: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Initiated Resentencing   This brief is part of the Second Look Research Series. 

In 2018, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) implemented a new process to identify and refer incarcerated people for resentencing under Penal Code § 1172.1 (then codified as § 1170(d)). This initiative aimed to reduce sentencing disparities and recognize rehabilitation during incarceration. Though prosecutors and courts can also initiate resentencing under this law, this data is not tracked statewide and not included in this analysis.

Read more from the California Policy Lab here.

Illustration by Gabriel Hongsdusit, CalMatters

California names the 5th state prison to close because of falling inmate population

by Adam Ashton

August 5, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom has moved to close five state prisons because of California’s falling incarcerated population. The next one in line is in Riverside County.

Read more from CalMatters here.

California AG Opposes 50-Years-to-Life Sentences for Youth Offenders

By Graciela Tiu

August 1, 2025

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California attorney general has reversed his previous position and now opposes sentencing violent youth offenders to terms longer than 50 years to life, according to an article from The San Francisco Chronicle.

This change in opinion from Attorney General Rob Bonta comes as a case reaches the state Supreme Court regarding whether lengthy terms — any longer than 50 years — for youth offenders constitute life without parole or de facto death sentences, which have been prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court, reports the Chronicle.

Read more from the Davis Vanguard here.