Despite what the evidence says, many states have given in to rhetoric that targets deep-seated fears and expanded the registry model. Now, at least 22 states & D.C. have registries for people with criminal convictions beyond those required by federal law:

Spending nearly $500 million on useless DHS jets is outrageous, but that's still only a fraction of what the government burns through each year on Trump's deportation agenda. In 2025, the U.S. spent almost $55 BILLION on immigration policing & detention alone.

Between 2025 and 2026, the number of people detained by ICE on any given day grew by nearly 60%. Thanks to Trump's deportation agenda, expanded immigration detention accounts for almost all of the growth in mass incarceration since last year.

Keep in mind that incarcerated people suffer disproportionately from all types of medical conditions. The U.S. has built a legacy of exploiting and neglecting the needs of vulnerable people.

Prisons & jails are often thought of as de facto treatment facilities, where people can get free healthcare, but that misconception couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, healthcare behind bars is abysmal at best and costs a fortune.

Now, a year later, data from @americanprogress.bsky.social reveals a reality that advocates across the country saw coming: Deploying the National Guard did not make cities safer and is a massive waste of money. www.americanprogress.org/article/the-...

It's true that violent crime across the U.S. has seen a historic drop, but that is not to Trump's credit. In fact, crime has been on a downward trend for years now:

During Pres. Trump's second term, he has deployed, threatened, or tried to deploy the National Guard in 11 cities — including DC, exactly 1 year ago today. The result? An expensive failure that has drained taxpayer dollars and not made communities any safer 🧵

Remember: Summers are only getting hotter, and heat waves are getting deadlier, especially for people behind bars. The system is not willing or capable of protecting folks from the effects of climate change. It's time to decarcerate.

💰Since 2017, police funding has increased rapidly, now costing the U.S. more than $200 billion a year. Keep that in mind the next time somebody tries to use calls to "defund the police" as a scapegoat.

While Americans struggle to buy groceries, ICE is burning through nearly $14,430,000 per day on the detention of 65,000 people.

A blistering reminder that only 5 U.S. states provide air conditioning in all prison units. And states like Texas and Florida, known for sweltering heat, are not among them:

Private prisons are bad, but they’re a small part of the system. Mass incarceration is driven by public policy & spending — choices made by your elected officials.

Not only are prisons lethal, but the incarcerated population is rapidly aging. Older people now make up 5x as much of the prison population as 3 decades ago. Turning prisons into “makeshift nursing homes” is one of the U.S.'s most wasteful, morally bankrupt experiments to date.

Remember: Summers are getting hotter, and heat waves are getting deadlier, especially for people behind bars. What’s clear is that the system is not willing or capable of protecting folks from the effects of climate change. It's time to decarcerate.

Right now, there are fewer than 53,000 "cool beds" available in TX prisons (beds in air-conditioned areas), and a formula decides who gets to access them. That leaves thousands of vulnerable folks—even those who suffer from medical conditions—exposed to deadly temperatures.

❌ Myth: Guaranteed income creates a disincentive to work ✅ Reality: Guaranteed income actually helps people find suitable and sustainable work that leads to more stable employment:

Hundreds of girls in the US are confined by the juvenile justice system for “status offenses,” like running away or truancy. Confinement for these offenses is particularly troubling because those behaviors tend to be responses to abuse. More care, less confinement.

As the U.S. expands criminalization, the situation is particularly dire for folks who struggle with mental illness. One study shows that forced hospitalizations double the risk of being charged with a crime and risk of death by suicide/overdose in the 3 months after discharge:

Older adults who have ever been behind bars are expected to live nearly 6 fewer years than similar peers who have never been incarcerated. Mass incarceration is shaving years off people's lives:

ICE's deportation agenda wouldn't be possible without the help of local police. Take a look at Florida, which requires local law enforcement to collaborate with federal agents. As a result, the state has had much higher rates of immigration-related arrests:

Disability Pride Month may be ending, but the U.S.'s rampant criminalization & incarceration of people with disabilities remains a crisis. People with disabilities are overrepresented at all stages of the criminal legal system, from jail and prison to probation and parole.

A reminder on the 61st anniversary of Medicaid: Expanding public benefits is good for public safety. Expanding Medicaid ➡️ fewer arrests

👉 In 2024, there were fewer than 100,000 federal bookings. 📈 Now, the Trump admin projects that in 2027 it will book 250,000 people into jail — with a primary focus on immigration-related criminal charges. This rapid expansion of the federal system makes us all less safe.

ICE detention costs far more than other forms of confinement and supervision. And releasing people while they await their day in court costs $0 — a far better use of resources.

1 in 61 people nationwide are under some form of correctional control — and the vast majority of them are on probation or parole. Mass punishment in the U.S. is off the charts, even in "progressive" states.

🚨NEW: Pres. Trump's belligerent use of policing and prosecutions has already left its mark on the federal system. Over the last two years, federal incarceration and detention have grown by 12%, with immigration detention and prosecution being a main driver. 🧵

Courts and jails are often unequipped to accommodate people with disabilities, leaving their needs unmet. With this combination of factors, it is perhaps no surprise that people in state prisons are much more likely to have disabilities than the US population as a whole.

For people with disabilities, interactions with law enforcement are also much more likely to turn violent or deadly, according to research from the Ruderman Foundation. rudermanfoundation.org/media-missin...

And in adulthood, people with disabilities are also at high risk for arrest because of the criminalization of behaviors related to disability, like substance use or atypical reactions that are interpreted as “disorderly conduct.”