bolts

bolts, 4 months ago to random

Around the country, incarcerated people and their families often pay exorbitant fees to keep in touch. But San Francisco recently doubled down on its commitment to decouple carceral communications from a profit motive: https://boltsmag.org/san-francisco-free-jail-phone-calls-tablet-services/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

San Francisco has expanded its free jail phone calls by offering tablets and their content at no cost to incarcerated people, part of a wave of institutions decoupling carceral communications from a profit motive.

NEW in Bolts: https://boltsmag.org/san-francisco-free-jail-phone-calls-tablet-services/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

After Kansas’ Johnson County voted for Joe Biden in 2020, Republican Sheriff Calvin Hayden went on a crusade claiming that elections are marred by widespread fraud and ramping up investigations.

He's one of the hundreds of sheriffs who are up for reelection this year. https://boltsmag.org/prosecutor-sheriff-elections-that-will-shape-criminal-justice-in-2024/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Democrats in November won control of Dauphin County, home to Pennsylvania's capital city of Harrisburg, for the first time since the Civil War. The majority flips tomorrow. https://boltsmag.org/dauphin-county-commissioners-jail-deaths/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

New Hampshire's supreme court told plaintiffs that it won't review state maps, but that lawmakers could pass redistricting reform. And yet, the legislature is already gerrymandered, a circular dynamic that explains why voting groups tried to turn to courts. https://boltsmag.org/partisan-gerrymandering-rucho-and-new-hampshire/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Michigan automatically registers people to vote when they get a driver's license.

This year, it adopted a new law to also register people automatically when they sign up for Medicaid, obtain a Native American tribal ID, or are released from prison.
https://boltsmag.org/michigan-automatic-voter-registration-prison/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

As counties across the country prepare to elect their DAs and sheriffs, Bolts guides you through the early hotspots from Los Angeles to Atlanta and Fort Worth. https://boltsmag.org/prosecutor-sheriff-elections-that-will-shape-criminal-justice-in-2024/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

A former member of Alabama’s parole board told Bolts she began to oppose parole applications due to pressure by the governor.

“There were cases where I did not vote to parole even though I knew I needed to because I was afraid of losing my job.” https://boltsmag.org/alabama-parole-board/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Aggravated by routinely poor health care, jail deaths are a crisis all over the country—including in states such as Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and West Virginia that will be electing all of their sheriffs in 2024. https://boltsmag.org/prosecutor-sheriff-elections-that-will-shape-criminal-justice-in-2024/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

The Wisconsin supreme court today, in a 4-3 ruling, overturned the state's legislative maps as unlawful gerrymandered and ordered new maps by the 2024 elections. https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/12/wisconsin-supreme-court-orders-new-legislative-maps-for-2024/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Justin Douglas, a pastor who was fired for welcoming LGBTQ+ people, scored a shock upset last month when he won a commissioner seat in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

He spent only $12,000 on his campaign, and focused on an unusual strategy for an election candidate: denouncing mounting jail deaths. https://boltsmag.org/dauphin-county-commissioners-jail-deaths/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

North Carolina’s supreme court earlier this year ruled that it won't consider partisan gerrymandering lawsuits. “Courts are not intended to meddle in policy matters,” Chief Justice Paul Newby wrote.

Now New Hampshire has followed suit: https://boltsmag.org/partisan-gerrymandering-rucho-and-new-hampshire/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Counties across the nation are electing DAs and sheriffs next year. @taniel guides you through the early hotspots in his latest for @bolts: https://boltsmag.org/prosecutor-sheriff-elections-that-will-shape-criminal-justice-in-2024/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

Gerrymandering contributed to a startling dearth of competition this fall. In Mississippi and Louisiana, all legislative elections that pitted candidates of different parties were decided by more than 10 percentage points. https://boltsmag.org/2023-legislature-elections/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

The threat that new conservative justices in Florida would shrug off partisan gerrymandering complaints has made the state’s existing protections against partisan gerrymandering virtually toothless. https://boltsmag.org/partisan-gerrymandering-rucho-and-new-hampshire/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

More than 600 legislative races were held throughout 2023. The result: Democrats won five additional legislative seats. This echoes Republicans' disappointing 2022, a midterm cycle that saw Democrats defy recent history by holding off the GOP. https://boltsmag.org/2023-legislature-elections/

bolts, 5 months ago to random

John Roberts said in 2019 that the U.S. Supreme Court should not consider partisan gerrymandering claims, but that this doesn't “condemn complaints about districting to echo into a void.”

What's happened since then suggests otherwise. https://boltsmag.org/partisan-gerrymandering-rucho-and-new-hampshire/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Chicago created a new police team to rebuild community trust. Instead, those officers harassed hundreds of thousands of Black and Latinx drivers.

New in @bolts: https://boltsmag.org/chicago-community-safety-team-policing-traffic-stops/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Annalyse Gosselin spent $5,000 over 15 months just to talk to her boyfriend, who is incarcerated in a Massachusetts prison. A law that went into effect yesterday will eliminate the exorbitant changes going forward: “It will honestly be the best thing.” https://boltsmag.org/massachusetts-prison-jail-phone-calls/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Trans women in New Jersey prisons say they are routinely isolated for all but one or two hours a day, despite a landmark 2019 reform to reduce solitary confinement in the state.

Read our latest investigation from the Garden State.

https://boltsmag.org/new-jersey-trans-women-solitary/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Trans women's isolation inside New Jersey prisons highlights the limits of a landmark solitary confinement law passed by the state in 2019.

New in @bolts: https://boltsmag.org/new-jersey-trans-women-solitary/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Do you know who is responsible for counting, canvassing, and certifying elections in your state?

With critical elections around the corner in 2024, our guide helps you explore the relevant offices in each and every state.

https://boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-ballot/who-counts-our-elections/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Over the last two years, Democrats have flipped five legislative chambers around the nation. They are Michigan's House and Senate, Minnesota's Senate, Pennsylvania's House, and, this fall, Virginia's House. https://boltsmag.org/2023-legislature-elections/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Election maps in Louisiana are facing litigation for diluting the power of Black voters.

“When you gerrymander people’s power away, you can’t elect candidates of choice,” says Ashley Shelton, who heads the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. https://boltsmag.org/2023-legislature-elections/

bolts, 6 months ago to random

Daniel McCaffery, Pennsylvania's newest justice, described his approach to election cases to Bolts: "If we’re going to err, we should always err on the side of including votes, as opposed to disqualifying votes for technicalities." https://boltsmag.org/democrats-pennsylvania-election-2023/