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Criminal Justice and Prisons

Biden Gave Trump The Blueprint To Lock Up 30,000 Migrants

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “expand” a migrant detention center located within the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. Prior to the release of the executive order, the administration announced that 30,000 migrants would be detained at Guantánamo. “We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. This will double our capacity immediately,” Trump said. But according to Department of Homeland Security and Navy documents from 2021 and 2022 reviewed by Drop Site News, the Trump administration may not be able to detain that high of a number of migrants at the facility — at least not immediately.

Despite Pardons, Many Formerly Incarcerated Black People Still Face Uncertainty

Michelle West waited 32 years. Convicted in 1994 of nonviolent drug offenses, she was ordered to federal prison for two life sentences , plus an additional 50 years. On Sunday, former President Joe Biden commuted her sentence, meaning she will walk away from a low-security correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut , this week as a free woman. Kemba Smith Pradia waited 24 years . She had been out of federal prison since 2000, after former President Bill Clinton commuted her 294-month sentence. But it took another 24 years, until Biden’s final full day in office, for her federal drug conviction to be cleared from her permanent record.

Pentagon Directive To Expand Access To Military Courts Falls Short

More than two years after ProPublica sued the Navy over its failure to provide public access to military courts, the Department of Defense has for the first time directed U.S. military branches to give advance public notice of preliminary hearings, a crucial milestone in criminal cases. These “Article 32” hearings end with a recommendation about whether the case should move forward, be dismissed or end in a nonjudicial punishment. DOD General Counsel Caroline Krass issued the guidance earlier this year, directing the secretaries of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Homeland Security (which oversees the Coast Guard) to post upcoming preliminary hearings, provide access to certain court records and publish results of military trials — known as courts-martial — on a public website.

Hyperimperialism, The Fall Of Syria And Capitalist Gangsters

As 2025 begins, California is on fire. And it feels like much of the rest of the world is burning, too. From the slaughter in the Middle East to a new Cold War brewing in Asia, everywhere we look is filled with uncertainty. At home, the California wildfires have exposed much of the true face of capitalism. From prison laborers risking their lives for pennies by fighting the blazes to massive price hikes for rents in Southern California, the U.S. is crumbling. Yet externally, America is as aggressive as ever. Only last month, it helped force through a coup against the Assad government in Syria, and Trump has made noises about using force against Panama, Greenland, and has threatened Canada, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations in the Global South.

Joe Biden Grants Clemency To Leonard Peltier

With literally minutes left in his presidency, Joe Biden on Monday granted clemency to Leonard Peltier, the ailing Native American rights activist whom the U.S. government put in prison nearly 50 years ago after a trial riddled with misconduct and lies. In a statement as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration was underway, Biden announced he is “commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.” Shortly afterward, Peltier said he’s ready to get back to his family. “It’s finally over – I’m going home.” he said in a statement. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.”

Trump’s Felony Conviction Appeal Will Show How Fully He’s Above The Law

Donald Trump has always maintained that the laws don’t apply to him. But he failed to convince New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to delay sentencing him this month following the May 2024 jury verdict finding him guilty of 34 state felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal in New York v. Trump. Trump appealed Merchan’s denial of his motion to put off the sentencing. Justice Ellen Gesmer, a New York appeals court judge, affirmed Merchan’s ruling that the sentencing should proceed. She was not convinced that presidents-elect enjoy presidential immunity.

Baltimore Media Create A False Impression That Youth Are Responsible For A Lot Of Very Dangerous Crime

Some listeners may know the Sentencing Project for their work calling out racial disparities in sentencing associated with crack versus powder cocaine, and mandatory minimums. A recent project involves looking into another factor shaping public understanding and public policy around criminal justice—the news media. In this case, the focus is young people. “The Real Cost of ‘Bad News’: How Misinformation Is Undermining Youth Justice Policy in Baltimore” has just been released. We’re joined now by the report’s author. Richard Mendel is senior research fellow for youth justice at the Sentencing Project. He joins us now by phone from Prague.

US System Of Prison Injustice

I wrote in October that Joe Biden, in his four years as president, did literally nothing to improve the situation in prisons and jails across the country, either through the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), over which he has direct authority, or through enlightened policies that might filter down or set the standard in state prisons and in local jails. As we bump up against the end of the Biden administration, I wanted to take a look at this president’s final year in office and at what legacy he’s leaving in criminal justice.

US Transfers 11 Detainees Out Of Guantanamo Bay Prison

The United States sent 11 Yemeni detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Oman, the Pentagon said on Monday, leaving 15 people at the infamous detention centre. The transfer was initially slated for October 2023 but the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza delayed the transfer, according to an admission from US officials in May last year. "The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," the US military said in a statement.

This Argentine Prison Cooperative Ended Recidivism

One man bakes bread while a couple of others prepare pizzas for lunch. Nearby, a large farm buzzes with activity as many men cultivate leafy greens while others tend to chickens. Adjacent to the kitchen lies a soccer field, surrounded by lush plants and a pond teeming with fish. Just meters away stands a library where several men either watch an educational program on television or immerse themselves in books. In a nearby carpentry workshop, three men work on furniture and model ships, while another room serves as a textile workshop.

Biden Commutes The Sentences Of All But Three On Federal Death Row

President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, reclassifying sentences of all but three men to life without parole. This follows months of activists calling on Joe Biden to commute all federal death sentences. The three remaining on death row were convicted for mass shootings: Robert Bowers who killed 11 Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Dylann Roof for the 2015 shooting that killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured hundreds.

Reproductive Justice Organizers Find New Ways To Help Incarcerated Moms

Reproductive justice advocates in the South can rarely depend on laws on the book to safeguard incarcerated pregnant people. Instead, they’ve learned to create their own aid. Motherhood Beyond Bars, a reproductive justice group in Georgia, was originally centered on helping pregnant people inside prisons. After finding it increasingly difficult to work internally at the Georgia Department of Corrections, the group decided to devote its resources towards helping inmates from the outside. “The number of problems and fires we’re trying to put out has kind of exceeded even our expectations of what folks would need our help with,” said Amy Ard, executive director of Motherhood Beyond Bars, or MBB.

Cops Are Making Their Own Crack Cocaine!

Florida’s Broward County is poised to erase the criminal convictions of thousands of people who were arrested for purchasing drugs, particularly crack cocaine. Why, you may ask? Did the holiday season lead Broward county’s Supreme Court to suddenly grow a heart, Grinch-style, realizing punitive measures to address drug use and addiction will never help people? No, it’s because it was found that those drugs were produced by the cops themselves in the Sheriff’s office. You sure did read that right. As reported by Democracy Now, “For years, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office produced crack cocaine to be sold by undercover police to the public.”

Biden Should Commute All Current Death Sentences To Life In Prison

Two days ago, President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden for any federal crimes he committed in the last eleven years. Biden promised multiple times that he would not issue any such pardon. But as he enters the twilight of his presidency and his life, he apparently decided that protecting his family was more important than maintaining a certain kind of abstract legal system legitimacy. Regardless of what one thinks of the merits of the Hunter Biden pardon, the act vividly highlights that Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the US constitution gives the President broad authority to unilaterally alter the fates of individuals convicted of federal crimes.

Chicago Rally Demands State’s Attorney Free Torture Survivors

Chicago, IL – On the morning of Monday, December 2, about 30 demonstrators, led by survivors of wrongful convictions and their loved ones, gathered in below-freezing temperatures outside the downtown Chicago office of incoming Cook County State's Attorney Eileen Burke to demand she free torture survivors and the wrongfully convicted. Speakers gave testimony, chanted, and held signs that reinforced their demands. Burke has a lot of work to do to keep up with her predecessor Kim Foxx, who freed over 300 survivors of wrongful conviction and police torture during her eight years in office.

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