Accused of leaking state secrets, journalist Lei Cheng was imprisoned in China for more than three years, where she was detained in tight quarters and kept under constant supervision. “Freedom is wasted on the free,” she says, recounting...

When wildfires rage in California, incarcerated people are often on the front lines fighting the flames. TED Fellow Royal Ramey was one of them. He shares the story of how doing public service in prison inspired him to cofound the...

Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the anti-Putin resistance group Pussy Riot, was named a top enemy of Russia for speaking out against Vladimir Putin's dictatorship throughout the last decade. In this inspiring talk, she tells the...

More than 30 million people in the US are eligible to have their arrest and conviction records cleared -- but most people who qualify either can't afford it or simply don't know it's an option. In this gripping talk, second chance...

America’s epidemic of gun violence gets plenty of coverage, but we don’t focus nearly enough on the victims living with the life-long impacts of that violence. We have the story of what happens when one of those survivors meets the...

Right now, hundreds of thousands of people are "stuck" in the US criminal justice system. They've completed all of their requirements for release, but nobody knows it because the system is run on old databases that don't talk to each...

For years, advocates argued that incarcerated people in the U.S. are overcharged for basic phone calls. A new law aimed at capping those costs recently went into effect, but a new report is sounding the alarm about the escalating costs...

Prisoners inside one of California's prisons are getting the opportunity to be heard -- behind bars and beyond. "Ear Hustle" is a podcast that offers listeners a rare look at inmate experiences, from race relations to sharing a tiny...

Rep. Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania is perhaps best known these days for

her high-profile role as a House manager during former President Tr
ump's
second impeachment trial. But in a deeply personal and revealing
new...

In a pilot project announced this summer, the Department of Education will partner with dozens of colleges to provide higher education to prisoners who can't afford to pay; eligible inmates will be able to apply for federal grants under...

The South Side of Chicago has long been plagued with some of the highest crime rates in the nation, but a man of faith is trying to transform the area by focusing on the everyday needs of those who live there. Jeffrey Brown visits the...

Prison Poetry

Blocks from the White House, DC Central Kitchen is the nation's largest community kitchen, putting out 5,000 meals a day to homeless shelters, schools, halfway houses and other nonprofits. But the kitchen's other output is training men...

Is the aptitude for business (the legal kind) distributed among convicted criminals as it is in the general population? One seasoned executive thinks so, and believes that by hiring the cream of the ex-con crop, his company will have a...

The sea route from Libya to Italy is dangerous, even deadly, for African migrants and refugees who are desperate to cross. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from a Doctors Without Borders rescue ship that's attempting to save...

Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy aims to help troubled youths in Chicago’s Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center address their personal issues by writing poetry about their circumstances and upbringing. Jeffrey Brown talks...

Until 2018, Florida was one of only a few states that banned felons from voting for life. But that year, a two-thirds majority of the state passed an initiative to restore voting eligibility to felons who had served their sentences. It...

Brendan Slocumb spent most of his career as a performer and teacher, but this year released his first book, a mystery called "The Violin Conspiracy." The novel is a reflection of Slocumb's experience in the classical music world, where...

Judy Woodruff talks to Baltimore native Wes Moore about his new book, 'The Other Wes Moore' which explores the stories of two inner-city young men who share the same name, but lead very different lives.

Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy aims to help troubled youths in Chicago's Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center address their personal issues by writing poetry about their circumstances and upbringing. Jeffrey Brown talks...

What makes a person successful? For Professor Angela Duckworth, the answer

is grit, an intangible trait that motivates passion and perseverance.
In a
study at West Point, Duckworth found that grit mattered more f
or...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Financial literacy isn't a skill -- it's a lifestyle. Take it from Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll. As an incarcerated...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. In the United States, two institutions guide teenagers on the journey to adulthood: college and prison. Sociologist...

Community organizer Raj Jayadev wants to transform the US court system through "participatory defense" -- a growing movement that empowers families and community members to impact their loved ones' court cases. He shares the remarkable...