Editor’s note, November 30, 2023: Since publication of this story, Grist has won its Freedom of Information Act appeal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and learned the exact locations of all 81 tribal jails and detention facilities in the country. The new data does not change the results of our analysis in this piece, but it does sharpen future researchers and newsrooms’ ability to report on these facilities. With that in mind, Grist has made the data available to the public here. More information on the appeal can be found here.
This story was produced in partnership with the nonprofit newsroom Type Investigations and is co-published with ICT.
In any given year, thousands of people are incarcerated in dozens of detention facilities run by tribal nations or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Often left out of research on climate and carceral facilities, the tribal prisoner population is one of the most invisible and vulnerable in the country.
Now, climate change threatens to make matters worse.
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