13TH | FULL FEATURE | Netflix (2020)

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America. This piercing, Oscar-nominated film won Best Documentary at the Emmys, the BAFTAs and the NAACP Image Awards. US Rating: TV-MA For mature audiences. For more information and educational resources, please visit:

2017 Docuseries Aims to Fact-Check 'America's War on Drugs'

Who’s responsible for the crack epidemic that ravaged black communities across the country? You can read articles below.

THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY:
A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S
INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS

How is sex between cops and detainees in many US states even legal? (May 3, 2018)

New documentary highlights the forced sterilization of women in California prison (2020)

Lawsuits Challenge Treatment of Pregnant Prisoners at Milwaukee County Jail

Shadé Swayzer was eight months pregnant when she was booked into the Milwaukee County Justice Facility in 2016, after she refused to leave a motel room. The severely mentally ill woman was placed in a cell in the jail’s maximum-security section; eight days later, she went into labor at around midnight. When she informed a guard that her water had broken and she was in labor, the guard laughed and left her locked alone in a “cold, dark, unsanitary maximum security cell,” her suit claims. About four hours after that she gave birth to a baby girl, Laliah, who “cried profusely.”

In Secretive Court Hearing, NYPD Cops Who Raped Brooklyn Teen in Custody Get No Jail Time

“They admitted on the record to having sex with her in their van. No jail time is just outrageous. Anna is hysterical.”

Police in many states could legally have sex with a person in custody — until a N.Y. rape allegation

NYPD SCANNER BROADCASTS CALLS TO SHOOT, RUN OVER PROTESTERS. (2020)

There have been several instances in 2020 where police have plowed through peaceful protesters.

‘He just floored it’: Detroit police SUV plows through protesters, flings people who climbed on hood’ (2020)

California is paying inmates $1 an hour to fight wildfires

The inmates are part of a volunteer firefighting program run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Inmates are paid $2 a day, and $1 an hour when fighting an active fire. According to the CDCR, the program saves the state between $90 and $100 million a year, though some critics fear that the financial benefits of cheap prison labor incentivize mass incarceration.

Allow California's Prisoner Firefighters to Work Professionally After Release

But while these men and women may work alongside professional firefighters now, once they get out of prison, their criminal record will make it virtually impossible for them to get hired as city or county firefighters.