Second in a three-part report on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. Level 6 of New Mexico's state penitentiary in Santa Fe is a dense complex of prison cells, stacked tight. As the gate opens, men's faces press against narrow glass windows....
More than three decades ago, The Atlantic published a path-breaking essay that introduced the theory of “ broken windows ” to a broad audience. Its authors, James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, advocated for a fundamental...
Can you imagine living in fear of falling asleep? For thousands of homeless people across the country living in areas with "anti-homeless" laws, getting shut-eye could also mean getting handcuffed. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images. But...
When students show up for an appointment at the Elsie Allen Health Center , which is located on the Elsie Allen High School campus in Santa Rosa, CA, one of the first things they do is answer 16 questions about the...
Nirvana . The word conjures a state of perfect peace. It is the endpoint of the spiritual path and marks the attainment of enlightenment, where there is no more suffering or desire. I’m reading about nirvana for the book I am...
Homeless people will soon have designated spots where they will be able to legally sleep in their cars in Monterey following a Tuesday night vote by the City Council. The 18-month pilot program is dependent on businesses, churches and...
On an unbearably hot August afternoon last summer, I was walking along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo., notebook in hand, when I ran into two good friends who were also on the clock, Joel Anderson of BuzzFeed and Jamelle Bouie of Slate....
The judge in an explosive and controversial Michigan custody case has insisted that three children spend time with their father, despite his long history of documented domestic violence. On Wednesday Oakland County Family Court Judge Lisa...
With an increasing majority of the global population living in cities, the question of urban public health is expanding far beyond its traditional practitioners. Urban planners, designers and developers are increasingly being asked how their...
By the time the first lady of Ruthless Records was in second grade, she realized her family was poor. But as a woman she struggled for more than a decade to stop blaming herself for the physical abuse she said she experienced in her...
Back in June 2015, Gloucester, Massachusetts, police chief Leonard Campanello announced that his officers would no longer arrest drug users who approached them seeking help . Photo by nathanmac87/Flickr . Instead, the department announced...
“As everyone knows, depressed people are some of the most boring people in the world,” Mindy Kaling writes in her bookIs Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? “I know this because when I was depressed, people fled. Except my...
Nearly 80% of U.S. employers now offer workplace health promotion programs aimed at improving the health and productivity of their workers. The most comprehensive of these programs—mainly at larger companies—have employees doing...
Jane Lazarre was pacing the hospital waiting room. Her son Khary, 18, had just had knee surgery, but the nurses weren’t letting her in to see him. “They told us he would be out of anesthesia in a few minutes,” she remembered....
Children who have been abused or exposed to other types of trauma typically experience more intense emotions than their peers, a byproduct of living in volatile, dangerous environments. But what if those kids could regulate their emotions?...