Missouri Department of Corrections

For years, the Missouri Department of Corrections was not actually keeping track of the people who died in state prisons — with partial counts, missing names and flat-out wrong information being standard procedure. That is, until a Marshall Project reporter started asking questions.

For years, the Missouri Department of Corrections cobbled together death records from multiple sources. New data reveals, for the first time, that hundreds of people died in state prisons between 2018 to 2024.

Lethal injection is tainted with error, ineptitude and secrecy that's led to many botched executions and unnecessary suffering. Missouri passed a law shielding the identity of the people involved in lethal injections, following a scandal over the credibility of its chief executioner.

Judy Henderson spent 35 years in prison for a murder conviction, despite maintaining that she was innocent. Freed by the Missouri governor, Henderson's new autobiography “When the Light Finds Us,” documents the cruelty of the state's prisons and what it took her to keep going.

As the heat index hit 105 degrees, lawyers requested swift cooling measures in a Missouri prison with no A/C. One man shares the dangerous conditions inside while people await a judge’s ruling.

The working group established by Gov. Mike Kehoe to look at the regulations governing parole has met twice since a public hearing in June. Neither the public nor the media was notified of either meeting.

A Black transgender woman sued the Missouri Department of Corrections, claiming officers kept her isolated for six years based on a policy that singles out people with HIV. Missouri is now changing its policy as a result of that settlement.

Kansas City’s Transition Center has trained experts in conflict resolution, job training and wellness. Classes are giving hope to an increasing number of repeat offenders that they can make long-term changes and stay out of prison.

Lawmakers voted to repeal the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act, a 1988 law now seen as a property rights violation and a barrier to a fresh start after prison.

Honesty Bishop was attacked by her cellmate. Missouri prison officials deemed her sexually active and kept her in isolation for over six years.

Deandre Pointer took a plea deal in 2023 to end his court challenge to a 2005 conviction for first-degree murder. Then he found out how the Department of Corrections awards credit for time served.

Around half of all new admissions to Missouri's prisons come from people who have violated their probation or parole. Those cases sent more than 5,000 Missourians back to prison last year — and a lack of transparency is a reason.