Index/Organizations/Prison Policy Initiative

Prison Policy Initiative

American criminal justice think tank

Fact-Checks

46 results
Jan 22, 2026
Most Viewed

What proportion of ICE detainees had prior deportation or reentry convictions compared with U.S. criminal convictions in 2025–2026?

Across multiple independent analyses of ’s 2025 detention and arrest records, roughly 29–35 percent of people detained had a recorded U.S. criminal conviction, while about 65–72 percent had no crimina...

Nov 26, 2025
Most Viewed

What are the most recent studies on recidivism rates among sex offenders in the US as of 2025?

Recent, high-quality work through 2024–2025 shows observed U.S. sexual recidivism is substantially lower than many public assumptions: pooled routine-sample estimates commonly fall in the single digit...

Jan 15, 2026
Most Viewed

How many ICE arrests in 2025–2026 involved individuals without criminal convictions, according to FOIA data analyzed by independent researchers?

Independent researchers who analyzed FOIA-obtained ICE records — principally the Deportation Data Project and affiliated analyses — conclude that roughly two-thirds of ICE arrests in the 2025–2026 rep...

Dec 7, 2025

How many people of Somali descent were incarcerated in Minnesota prisons from 2020 to 2025?

Available reporting and public-data sources in the provided set do not contain any figure that directly answers “How many people of Somali descent were incarcerated in Minnesota prisons from 2020 to 2...

Jan 24, 2026

is there any report anywhere in the US of local police arresting or blocking ICE agents from committing violence against people?

There is extensive reporting of friction between local officials and including new state laws that would allow , high-profile protests, and court orders limiting ICE crowd-control tactics — but the so...

Nov 22, 2025

which states are soft on felony crimes

No single authoritative list in the provided reporting labels particular U.S. states as uniformly “soft on felony crimes”; instead, coverage highlights shifting policies at both federal and state leve...

Dec 5, 2025

Can local police lawfully detain someone for federal immigration checks during a traffic stop?

Local police can sometimes perform immigration-related functions when formally authorized by federal programs such as 287(g), and the federal government has pushed to expand such cooperation; ICE repo...

Nov 26, 2025

How do arrest and conviction rates differ by race after controlling for age, income, and neighborhood factors?

Available sources show persistent racial disparities in arrests, convictions and sentencing, with Black people arrested and incarcerated at higher rates than White people even after some statistical c...

Oct 9, 2025

Do Republican states have higher incarceration rates than Democratic states in 2024?

The available analyses show that several states with the highest per-capita incarceration rates in 2024–2025 are , but none of the sources present a definitive party-by-party nationwide comparison. Th...

Jan 15, 2026

How has ICE’s public dashboard reporting differed from FOIA releases, and what corrections or coding changes has ICE acknowledged for 2025 data?

ICE’s publicly visible statistics and its FOIA-produced datasets have diverged in important ways: independent researchers obtained detailed, individual-level ICE records via FOIA that reveal missing o...

Jan 15, 2026

Have any US citizens over the age of 18 been deported in the ice raids of 2025

Reporting from major outlets and monitoring groups documents numerous instances in 2025 of U.S. citizens being detained, questioned, handcuffed and in some cases held for hours or days by ICE during l...

Jan 12, 2026

How many documented US citizens have been deported in ice raids during 2025?

Based on the reporting provided, there are no reliably documented cases in 2025 of U.S. citizens being deported as part of ICE raids; major outlets and watchdogs documented multiple instances of citiz...

Dec 5, 2025

What legal and ethical controversies surrounded Donald Trump during and after his presidency?

Donald Trump’s second term has produced a flurry of legal and ethical controversies spanning executive actions, immigration enforcement, executive orders, and questions about fitness for office; repor...

Nov 21, 2025

What is the current incarceration rate disparity between Black and white Americans?

Recent reporting and research show a substantial Black–white incarceration gap, but the size varies by measure and year: several Prison Policy Initiative pieces report that nationally Black people are...

Nov 5, 2025

How do incarceration rates by race look in 2023 according to the Prison Policy Initiative and BJS?

The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) both document persistent racial disparities in U.S. incarceration in and around 2023, but they present different emphases ...

Jan 26, 2026

What independent datasets (TRAC, academic studies) say about interior ICE arrests and deportations in 2025–2026?

Independent datasets and academic analyses indicate a sharp increase in arrests, detentions, and removals across 2025 with evidence that much of the enforcement surge was carried out in communities ra...

Jan 25, 2026

What are the policy arguments and cost estimates for using alternatives to detention for people without criminal convictions?

for people without criminal convictions—such as supervised release, diversion, and —are promoted as fairer, safer, and cheaper than holding people in jail; advocates argue they reduce coerced pleas an...

Jan 16, 2026

How did ICE arrest categories (criminal vs civil) change between 2023 and 2025?

Between 2023 and 2025 ICE’s public arrest reporting and the underlying composition of who was being arrested shifted markedly: official categories and coding practices were changed or obscured by the ...

Jan 13, 2026

How many lawful permanent residents (green card holders) were arrested or deported by ICE in 2025?

No reliable, specific count of how many lawful permanent residents (green card holders) ICE arrested or deported in 2025 can be produced from the reporting supplied: the public coverage and datasets c...

Dec 16, 2025

What percentage of inmates at the federal, state, and local level are illegal aliens

Available federal data show that a large share of federally sentenced non‑U.S. citizens were classified as “illegal aliens” — the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported 88.7% of federally sentenced non‑U...