Nine states have created corrections ombudsman positions since 2018, while another two have created quasi-oversight bodies, according to Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas, which runs the National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight.
“It’s greater recognition of deaths in custody, of the violence going on inside, of poor conditions,” Deitch said.
“A lot of those are coming to light through journalistic accounts and through advocates’ reports and from people who have been incarcerated, but it’s also the fact that legislators are recognizing that what we’re doing now isn’t working. There are high recidivism rates, and we’re spending a lot of money on prisons and not knowing if they’re getting anything of real value from it, given the high recidivism rates and the poor conditions.”