David M. Shapiro

An inmate looks out a window in his solitary confinement cell at the main jail in San Jose, California, in 2019.

David M. Shapiro: It’s time to abolish long-term solitary confinement

February 15, 2023 at 8:05 p.m.

Texas prisoners living in solitary confinement are leading a hunger strike and risking starvation to highlight the cruelty they face on a daily basis — and that is only the...

The name of Daunte Wright appears at a makeshift memorial to George Floyd outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis on April 12, 2021. Wright died on April 11, 2021, after an officer shot him during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, near where Derek Chauvin is on trial in the death of George Floyd.

Op-ed: How strengthening 1871’s Ku Klux Klan Act could deter police shootings now

April 17, 2021 at 3:24 a.m.

Exactly 150 years ago Tuesday, on April 20, 1871, this nation's greatest remedy for police brutality — the provision used to sue Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis and Darren Wilson in...

Jeff Sessions’ memo on criminal sentencing marks the latest move in a law-and-order counter-reformation.

No denying: Sessions’ moves revive allegations of racism

May 11, 2019 at 9:03 a.m.

If a racist were in charge of criminal justice for the U.S., what would he do? Exactly what Attorney General Jeff Sessions is doing. Sessions' memo on criminal sentencing to...

Gov. Bruce Rauner recently vetoed a bill with the potential to reduce prison recidivism.

Stop suing ex-prisoners to recover room-and-board costs

May 11, 2019 at 8:33 a.m.

Illinois prisons are in crisis. They are among the most overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded in the nation — but Gov. Bruce Rauner has established himself as a barrier to serious...

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