A fifth-grader from #Brownsville ISD reported being bullied by his principal. Five days later, he was handcuffed and detained. He spent 3 days in solitary confinement.
Today, award-winning incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell announces that all his life's work has been wiped out by the prison communications company Securus.
I was the judge who selected Chris for his INN Nonprofit News Award this year. To know that one business profiting off incarcerated folks could decide to wipe out a respected journalist's lifelong work is infuriating. This is a shameful assault on freedom of the press
“I’m not innocent, I broke the law and deserve to pay for my crime. However, I’m still a human. They even have warnings on the radio ... but we sit here and fry.”
“I’m not innocent, I broke the law and deserve to pay for my crime. However, I’m still a human. They even have warnings on the radio to bring in plants and animals due to the heat, but we sit here and fry.”
They Were Wrongfully Convicted. Now They’re Denied Compensation Despite #Michigan Law.
The state can provide the wrongfully convicted compensation of $50,000 for each year of incarceration, but the law’s narrow criteria and confusion over eligibility leave former #prisoners facing another system that seems stacked against them.
The #Meloni govt is considering putting in #prison journos publishing truthful info in the public interest,if obtained through illegal meansNO matter journos played NO role in any illegality.
It would make illegal legendary scoops:#PentagonPapers, #WikiLeaks,#PanamaPapers,etc.
As someone who has mailed books to an incarcerated friend who was caught up in the USA prison system, I'm happy to be able to welcome @DCBookstoPrisons a #WashingtonDC based #501c3#nonprofit to the Fediverse!
If you would like to help make their presence more visible or to simply show some ❤️❤️ follow @DCBookstoPrisons and boost a post to share with your networks
In 2018, We Reported on an Abusive #Cop. He Was Just Sentenced to a Year in #Prison.
Five years after ProPublica and the South Bend Tribune partnered to investigate #police misconduct in Elkhart, #Indiana, reporter Ken Armstrong reflects on the incremental but powerful impact #journalism can have on communities.
About 90% of those sentenced to prison for a drug offense in Illinois are african-american. White drug users and dealers are rarely arrested, and when they are, they are treated more favorably at every stage of the criminal justice process, including plea-bargaining and sentencing. Whites are consistently more likely to avoid prison and felony charges, even when they are repeatedly caught with drugs.
"Ralph Petty played multiple, conflicting roles in Clinton Young’s case: He was part of the legal team that prosecuted him for murder, and also later argued against Young’s subsequent writs and appeals. At the same time, he was paid to advise and draft opinions for the district judge who ruled on those same appeals."
...
Alexa Gervasi, Young’s lawyer in the civil suit, has argued that was an impermissible and illegal abuse of power. “No one has more power than a prosecutor to take away a person’s liberty, and to allow what happened here to go without accountability, whatever that looks like, but without a court saying, ‘You violated Clint’s constitutional rights and that’s wrong,’ …. it’s self-perpetuating injustice,” Gervasi said. “The brazenness of all of Midland County—it’s an entire county of government officials signing off on this constitutional violation year after year after year for decades. It’s mind-boggling.”
New update: Prosecutors refused to drop charges against 11-year-old #Brownsville boy who was put in #solitary confinement, may actually be bringing MORE charges against him.
According to the findings that were sent to Haaretz, Mara'i's chest was bruised and his ribs and breastbone were broken. There were also signs of external bruises to his head, neck, back, buttocks, left arm and thigh. According to the autopsy report, he was healthy and had no preexisting conditions before his imprisonment....
I've been working on a project with a woman inside Coffee Creek prison. She's collecting accounts from women inside, and her own observations, and is sending them to me to publish. I'll be posting them on a blog as I receive them. This is a way to directly allow those inside to speak for themselves. I don't agree with all of it - but as long as a statement isn't directly inflammatory or bigoted I will publish it. I posted an introduction and brief first statement from the person I'm in contact with. If you'd like to keep up with it you can find the blog linked below.
Today in Labor History November 23, 1903: Army troops were sent to Cripple Creek, Colorado to put down a rebellion by striking coal miners. 600 union members were thrown into a military bullpen, and held for weeks without charges. When a lawyer arrived with a writ of habeas corpus, General Bell, who led the repression, responded "Habeas corpus, hell! We'll give 'em post mortems!” The strike was led by Big Bill Haywood and the Western Federation of Miners, which, at the time, was the most militant union in the country, calling for revolution and abolition of the wage system.
Israel arrests almost as many Palestinians as it has released during truce (www.aljazeera.com)
Over the first four days of Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange, Israel arrests 133 Palestinians while releasing 150....
Six Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons during the war, two found bruised (www.haaretz.com)
According to the findings that were sent to Haaretz, Mara'i's chest was bruised and his ribs and breastbone were broken. There were also signs of external bruises to his head, neck, back, buttocks, left arm and thigh. According to the autopsy report, he was healthy and had no preexisting conditions before his imprisonment....