The Prison Policy Initiative finds that black, Latino, and Native American/Alaska Native Americans are overrepresented in Massachusetts prisons and jails, while white Americans are underrepresented. In the 2010 census, while whites constituted 64% of the United States population, they constituted 39% of the nation’s incarcerated population at a rate of 450 per 100,000 (Sakala 2014). This graph depicts incarceration rates by race/ethnicity in Massachusetts based on the 2010 census. The rate for African Americans stands at a striking 1,502 people incarcerated per 100,000. This is over 6 times higher the rate for whites in the state. This graph, along with the Prison Policy Initiative’s briefing report “Breaking Down Mass Incarceration in the 2010 Census: State-by-state Incarceration Rates by Race/Ethnicity,” shows...

After being convicted of a felony, individuals lose many rights of citizenship, including the right to vote; the right to sit on a jury; the right to possess firearms; the ability to travel abroad to some countries; certain employment opportunities; access to food stamps, public housing, and other social services; and often parental benefits. Felons are paradoxically rightless citizens in that they are beholden to the nation, but cannot enjoy the benefits.

After Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear ordered the automatic re-enfranchisement of ex-felons in November 2015, only Iowa and Florida permanently ban all persons with felony convictions from voting. While some states restore rights immediately following release from prison, most require convicts to complete parole and probation before...

Written by - Nico Sedivy

In contemporary America, we associate voluntary imprisonment mainly with acts of civil disobedience, meant to demonstrate and protest injustice. However, in medieval Europe, pious individuals would willingly confine themselves to small, solitary cells in churches to spend their time in prayer, religious study, and contemplation. These people were called anchorites, if men, and anchoresses, if women. One anchoress in England was Julian of Norwich.

Written by - Maria Camila Arbelaez

Skeletons of Christian bodies were martyred during Roman times and then discovered and made relics by members of the the Catholic Church throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. This elevation of the skeletons represents an enduring testament to the immortality and auspiciousness attributed to Christians that were captured and killed by the Roman Empire. The so called “catacomb saints" were found in Italy’s catacombs, where thousands of Christian and Jewish bodies were left during times of religious intolerance. A tradition was thus created in which the skeletons were cared for and intricately decorated with the finest jewels and royal garb of the time. The Vatican would determine whether a skeleton was...