RESEARCH & JOURNALISM.
Prison Policy Initiative
The numbers on mass incarceration, including the annual Whole Pie report, and the campaign to end prison gerrymandering.
What they do
The Prison Policy Initiative compiles and publishes data on incarceration in the United States and puts it behind advocacy campaigns. Its best-known product is Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, an annual report that totals everyone held in prisons, jails, juvenile facilities and immigration detention. It runs the Prison Gerrymandering Project to end the counting of incarcerated people as residents of prison towns in redistricting, has campaigned against high prison phone rates, and maintains a database of legal resources for incarcerated people. Founded in 2001 by Peter Wagner.
Programs and services
- Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie (annual report)
- 50 state incarceration profiles
- States of Incarceration: The Global Context
- Prison Gerrymandering Project
- Legal Resources for the Incarcerated
- Correctional Contracts Archive
- Research Library
- Prison phone and communications advocacy
The Whole Pie 2025 counts nearly 2 million people held across 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails and other facilities. Source