mass incarceration
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Responding to COVID-19 Outbreak Concerns, County Jails and Police Departments Look to Minimize Number of Inmates, Arrests
Jails and police departments around the country are releasing inmates early and reducing arrests in order to reduce the likelihood of a COVID-19 outbreak among those behind bars. Over the last week, Los Angeles County and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, have moved to release hundreds of people held in its jails and prisons. BuzzFeed News reports…
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Jay-Z, Roc Nation File Federal Lawsuit Against Mississippi Prison Officials for Violent Conditions, 'Failure to Meet Basic Human Rights'
I’ve never spent a day of my life in prison, but after a recent rash of stabbings and violent attacks led to the deaths of five inmates housed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, I’m pretty sure there’s a blatant disregard for the safety of those being kept behind bars. Evidently, Jay-Z feels the same way,…
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Tennessee Supreme Court Puts Execution of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman on Hold Amid Concerns of Racial Bias
For the first time since resuming capital punishment last year, the Tennessee Supreme Court has pumped the brakes on an execution scheduled for April 16. The reason? Racism. From the Tennessean: The high court delayed Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman’s April 16 execution to allow a lower court time to consider if racial bias surrounding his trial should…
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Everyone Knows Why Inmates Are Dying in Alabama Prisons. No One Knows How to Fix It
Alabama runs the most violent prison system in America. Inmates in Alabama’s prisons are killed at nearly nine times the national rate. Families have been devastated. The state doesn’t seem to have answers. A study by a criminal justice and civil rights organization concluded that money won’t fix it. Even Donald Trump’s Justice Department called…
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Patrisse Cullors, LA Reform Jails Tackle Mental Health, Mass Incarceration with Mental Health Matters Summit + Day Party
In its commitment to addressing the failures of the prison industrial complex—as it pertains to mental health, drug dependency, chronic homelessness, and other issues—Patrisse Cullors, founder of Reform L.A. Jails, knew her organization would require a unique strategy in order to build a stronger rapport with Los Angeles residents and educate them on the unspeakable…
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Innocence Project New Orleans: A Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years Is Forced to Trade the Truth for His Freedom
A New Orleans man who has long maintained he was wrongly convicted of murder experienced freedom for the first time in 42 years after a virtual deal with the devil won him his liberty, if not true justice. Elvis Brooks, now 62, walked out of Louisiana’s infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, nicknamed “Angola,” on Wednesday after…
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Strangers Chip In When Oklahoma Mom Who Got 12 Years for Selling $30 Worth of Weed Is Tossed in Jail Again When She Can’t Pay Court Fees
Years after an Oklahoma mom was released from prison after being handed a 12-year sentence for making $30 in weed sales, she landed in jail again for not paying court costs related to the case. Luckily for Patricia Spottedcrow, strangers learning of her plight chipped in to pay the $1,139.90 in court costs she still…
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Kamala Harris Releases Criminal Justice Reform Plan to Address Police Brutality, Mass Incarceration, the Drug War
Kamala Harris has a lot of plans. Every other week the California senator introduces a proposal that would end climate change (with a trillion dollars,) create Medicare-for-all (without pushing out private insurers) and fund black businesses (while ensuring that the local Jamaican restaurant never runs out of oxtails). And on Monday, the Democratic presidential hopeful…
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Decriminalizing Sex Work Makes the Entire Black Community Safer
I came out rather late, while I was serving in the military, hundreds of miles away from my parents, siblings and children. I was stationed in Fort Myers, Virginia, and I worked part-time in Washington, D.C. This was also the time when I started transitioning and doing sex work. Since then, I have seen thousands…
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Trump Comes for John Legend and 'Filthy Mouthed Wife' Chrissy Teigen on Twitter; Ends Up With a New Nickname We Can All Agree On
I think it goes without saying that there’s a lot of bad shit happening in the world right now: the Bahamas and the Carolinas continue to recover from the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Dorian, yet another reminder of the coming climate apocalypse; mass shootings are a regular feature of America life and the global economy…