70 Million

Peabody Award-nominated  podcast 70 Million is coming back for our fourth season! Join us for more in-depth reporting and rich narrative storytelling from communities impacted by the carceral complex. We'll bring you updates from previous seasons and new dispatches from the frontlines of criminal legal system reform.  First episode launches September 13, 2021.

Find more information—including transcripts and resource guides—and catch up on our past three seasons here.

There’s a place in rural St. Johns, Arizona, where teens who have encounters with officers of the law can play pool, make music, and get mentored instead of going to jail. It’s called The Loft, and it’s the brainchild of a judge who wanted to save the county hundreds of millions of dollars and divert young people towards the support many were not getting at home. Reported by Ruxandra Guidi.

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.

The saying goes that “justice delayed is justice denied.” One part of Illinois’ judicial system has had an outsized role in delaying justice for decades: the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court. Home to Chicago, Cook County’s court system is massive, with more than a dozen courthouses generating millions of records. And in the records disarray, residents were mired in years-long delays that cost them time and opportunities. Reported by Mark Betancourt...

Nearly one in two Black women in the US have a loved one who has been impacted by our carceral system. Many become de facto civilian experts as a result. Some rise to lead as outside catalysts for change. And now, scores of Black women are joining the ranks—as officers of the court, police, judges—to manage and advance a system that has had such an outsized impact on their lives. Reported by Pamela Kirkland.

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.

This special roundtable of experts looks at how policing and incarceration practices are impacting COVID-19 rates in BIPOC communities around the country. 

Because being jailed means an increased risk of getting COVID-19, those released might unknowingly bring the virus home, putting their loved ones and communities at risk...

We wanted to see what has happened since we first reported on mental health interventions for arrestees in Miami, how the "bond angels" save lives in New Orleans, and what the digital police surveillance network called Project Greenlight has meant for Detroit. Reported by Danny Rivero, Eve Abrams and Sonia Paul. 

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.

A legal matrix that incentivizes criminal convictions can motivate unethical prosecutors to bend or break the rules. In New York, a group of law professors is trying to curb that by pushing the system to discipline its own. Reported by Nina Sparling.

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.

Many organizers in St. Louis have given up on reforming the criminal legal system. Now, they’re working to abolish it. And they’re starting with the closure of one notorious jail. To reach their goal, they’ve decided to get involved in electoral politics. Reporter Chad Davis takes a look at what happens when you go from agitating from the outside to working with those in power. Co-reported with Carolina Hidalgo.

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.

Police encounters during a mental health crisis have a greater chance of turning deadly if you're Black. New response mechanisms bypass law enforcement and result in helpful interventions. Reporter Jeneé Darden looks at how folks in Northern California are trying to reimagine crisis response services. 

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript on our website here.

Texas conservative lawmakers and bail reform advocates have long debated what bail reform can look like for those who cannot afford to bail themselves out of jail. Journalist Andrea Henderson looks closely at a new bail law some activists consider a setback. 

Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.