The following post originally appeared on Justice Fellowship’s weblog.  To learn more about Justice Fellowship and its work to reform the criminal justice system, visit www.justicefellowship.org.

An investigation has revealed that California’s prisons have been routinely sterilizing female prisoners. The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) released a report that found that prison doctors have performed tubal ligations on nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals.

The dire consequences of a felony conviction last far longer than a term of years in prison followed by additional years of parole. In addition to those direct punishments, offenders are denied licenses for many jobs, lose their right to vote, and cannot possess guns.

I have some very good news: after nearly four decades of explosive growth, the prison population in the U.S. has dropped for the second year in a row. Inmate counts fell in about half the states in each year, according to the December 2012 data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

A new report finds that there has been a significant narrowing of the racial disparities in prison population. That is welcome news to PFM. Racial disparity in prisons is obvious the minute you enter a correction facility.  There is no denying it.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without possibility of parole (LWOP) on June 25, with a narrow exception that a juvenile might receive an LWOP sentence if the sentencing judge makes a specific finding that such a penalty is appropriate.

For over a decade Prison Fellowship and Justice Fellowship have fought to eliminate rape in American’s prisons. We worked hard to pass the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The legislation required the Department of Justice to issue standards that will hold prison officials accountable.

Governor Nathan Deal has signed a criminal justice reform bill that will keep the public safe while cutting the costs of state prisons by reserving expensive prison beds for the most violent criminals. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports reforms from House Bill 1176 are projected to save Georgia taxpayers $264 million over the next five years.

It’s no secret that every state government is facing difficult budget decisions, and Kansas is no exception. One part of the budget that is expanding faster than nearly all others is the cost of prisons.

It costs Kansas $341 million each year to house about 8,700 inmates, with another 7,000 in county jails, draining resources that could be devoted to education, hospitals and highways.

The Supreme Court demands end to prison overcrowding, ruling that California prisons violate the rights to appropriate medical and mental health care.

Attorney General Eric Holder proposes to seriously weaken standards intended to hold prison officials accountable for eliminating rape in their prisons.

It isn’t often that we hear much about prison rape – except in jokes on late night TV. However, it is not a laughing matter.

Until this past December, conservatives have often turned a blind eye to the excesses and failures of the criminal justice system. I was certainly guilty of that when I was in the California State Assembly. However, the current fiscal crisis, in which every state faces a deficit, has prompted these conservatives to speak out.

Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank visited Prison Fellowship’s Virginia headquarters in October for a special screening of her new film, Conviction. Following the sneak preview, Swank chatted with Prison Fellowship and a live audience about wrongful convictions and the role churches can play in advocating for reform.

Ending prison rape is a cause that recently brought together an unlikely group of organizations. Normally opposed to one another, leaders from both the left and right joined together to call on Attorney General Eric Holder to quickly adopt standards that will hold prison officials accountable for combating rape in prisons across America.

Ending prison rape is a cause that brought together an unlikely group of organizations which are usually doing combat with each other. Leaders of groups from the left and right gathered to call attention to their letter which presses Attorney General Holder to speed up the process for adopting standards that will hold prison officials accountable for combating rape in prisons.

For more than 14 years, Prison Fellowship’s reform arm, Justice Fellowship, has worked to make sentences for drug crimes fairer. We have been part of a large number of groups working to narrow the disparity in sentences between crack and powder cocaine.