The Bureau of Prisons has announced four awards related to its operations at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas. In total, the agreements are worth more than $1.3 billion over the life of the contracts, which could remain active for up to ten years.

More than two months since President Donald Trump signed into law the First Step Act, the development of a risk assessment tool central to its implementation is still stalled.

The administration’s attitude has helped to make the last year one of the most promising for the private prison industry, but local initiatives continue to combat its expansion at home.

FOIA is both a vital tool for the public to gain access to government records, and a frustrating process that reveals infuriating facts and sometimes even more infuriating government employees - as well as super helpful public servants who replenish your faith in humanity just enough to keep you filing FOIAs another day.

Here’s the best and worst of some of MuckRock’s recent interactions with the keepers of public information.

Private prisons were still on notice at the start of the year, but they quickly regained their footing. Here are some developments from this year in privatized incarceration.