America's Prisons – Mass Incarceration, Violence, and the Fight for Prisoners' Rights

With one of the largest prison populations in the world, our American prison system has shocking problems; including abuse, violence and consistent violations of prisoners' rights.

According to studies, the US criminal justice system currently holds almost 2 million people—a 500% increase over the last 40 years; with most of those people in jail awaiting trial. Unfortunately, American prisons and jails can be dangerous. Several of our nation's prisons and jails can be understaffed and over populated. And because of inadequate supervision, people in our prisons and jails are exposed to violence, including sexual violence. To discuss what can be done about prison reform and about prisoners' rights, generally, host Dave Scriven-Young welcomes Hernandez Stroud.

Hernandez Stroud is a counsel in the Justice Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. An authority on prisons and jails, correctional oversight, and constitutional law, he researches the scope of the federal government’s power to fashion structural and systemic reforms that prevent and remedy the failure of state and local criminal justice institutions in observing the rights of the incarcerated under the U.S. Constitution.