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Criminal Justice and Prisons

West Virginia Rally Condemns Jail Deaths

July 19, 2023 Otis Grotewohl, Workers World. , , ,
Beckley, West Virginia - Nearly 100 prison abolitionists and family members of jailhouse murder victims rallied in Beckley on July 15 to raise awareness of the growing number of deaths in jails throughout West Virginia. In the last couple of years, the deaths have become epidemic, with dozens of incarcerated workers murdered at the hands of guards throughout the state. Appropriately dubbed “Handcuffs Shouldn’t Kill You,” the event was organized by the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign and co-sponsored by the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union and the Beckley chapter of the NAACP. Community and union activists from the area attended.

Gitmo’s Permanent Chains

July 7, 2023 Seymour Hersh, Scheer Post. , , , , , ,
Now comes yet another little-noted report on the continuing excesses and inhumanity at Guantánamo Bay, the post-9/11 American military prison that only two decades ago set the standard for war crimes—a standard that is now being eclipsed by the war in Ukraine. The report’s author is Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and the Queens University in Belfast, and an experienced human rights investigator. She based her report on a four-day visit to the island prison last February.

Assange Appeal — The US-UK Deception

July 7, 2023 Consortium News. , , ,
The ‘Perfected Grounds of Appeal’ submitted by Julian Assange’s lawyers to the High Court of England and Wales reveals new evidence of deception by both Britain and the United States. Emmy Butlin from the Julian Assange Defence Committee discusses the revelations with Cathy Vogan, executive producer of CN Live!. Recorded July 3, 2023 on Julian Assange‘s 52nd birthday, his 5th spent on remand in Belmarsh Prison in London. "So there were things that leapt out at me, things I knew about already, but more detail, some transcripts, very important points. And well, one of the things was that we thought that there was a political exception in the extradition treaty, but not in the act."

Limited Funds Stunts Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit

July 7, 2023 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. , ,
Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) has received nearly 1,000 applications of wrongful incarceration to review but with only a couple paid staff and four grants in two years, impacted families complain about lengthy waits while the CRU say they lack capacity and funding. Created to prevent, identify, and remedy wrongful convictions, the state’s first-ever CRU began accepting applications in August 2021 — after the first quarter of 2023, it had completed only one official investigation. Seeking transparency on the unit as time continues to pass, advocates and families of many wrongfully incarcerated people languishing in Minnesota prisons have publicly confronted the CRU, complaining of inaction.

CODEPINK’S Co-Founder And Ben & Jerry’S Co-Founder Protest Prosecution Of Julian Assange

July 7, 2023 Melissa Garriga, CODEPINK. , , , ,
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, and Jodie Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK, have been arrested for blocking the entrance to the Department of Justice. Cohen and Evans arrived in Washington, D.C. to protest the US government’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange, who has been indicted on 18 charges for the publication of the Afghan War Diary and the Iraq War Logs, which uncovered war crimes, torture, and civilian deaths perpetrated by the US government. “It’s outrageous. Julian Assange is nonviolent. He is presumed innocent. And yet somehow or other, he has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for four years. That is torture.

Chicago Rally Demands Drop The Charges On The Tampa 5

July 2, 2023 Liz Rathburn, Fight Back News!. , , ,
On Saturday, July 1, more than 70 students and activists gathered in downtown Chicago. They joined the nationwide campaign by Students for a Democratic Society and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression demanding that the charges on the Tampa 5 be dropped. The Tampa 5 are Gia Davila, Laura Rodriguez, Chrisley Carpio, Lauren Pineiro and Jeanie Kida. They are students and workers in Florida who were beaten and arrested, and now facing ten years in prison, for protesting DeSantis’ far-right attacks on diversity in education. The Chicago rally was called by Students for a Democratic Society and endorsed by a dozen other organizations.

UN Expert Demands Immediate Shutting Down Of Guantanamo Prison

June 27, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
UN special rapporteur Fionnuala Ní Aoláin on Monday, June 26, asked the US authorities to shut down the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison and apologize for the torture of inmates. She asked that all persons responsible for such abuses in the last 20 years be held accountable. Ní Aoláin was addressing a press conference in New York on the occasion of UN’s International Day in Solidarity with the Victims of Torture. She also released her report on Guantanamo Bay prepared after visiting the prison earlier this year. “The US government must urgently provide judicial resolution, apology and guarantees of non-repetition,” Ní Aoláin said, claiming that the establishment was in violation of international human rights laws.

Taking The School-To-Prison Pipeline Fight To State Legislatures

June 27, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. , , ,
The system of mass incarceration extends into the public education system. Known as the school-to-prison pipeline, policies that criminalize youth and their families, from the presence of police in schools to discriminatory and punitive practices that push youth to drop out, disproportionately affect communities of color. Kentucky State Rep. Keturah Herron joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the school-to-prison pipeline and how it can be tackled through state legislatures. Keturah Herron (D) represents District 42 in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Day In Court For Julian Assange

June 24, 2023 Craig Murray, Consortium News. , , ,
The massive obituaries to Daniel Ellsberg last weekend in both The New York Times and Washington Post were proof of the status he held in the United States. Only presidents get an obituary that size. His name was not nearly so widely known in the U.K. I first met Dan on 3 May 2006 when we were giving a joint presentation at Berkeley. The large hall was full to overflowing and to my surprise there were young students queuing outside and striving to listen on stairways through open doors. The large majority of the audience were not born when Dan leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Report From Venezuela On The Case Of Political Prisoner Alex Saab

June 24, 2023 Jalil Muntaqim, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
I was invited by Camilla Saab, the spouse of the kidnapped Venezuelan Diplomat, Alex Saab, to attend the international conference titled: "Lawfare Against Venezuela: Three Years After the Kidnapping of Diplomat Alex Saab."  This conference, sponsored by the Free Alex Saab Movement, brought activists and revolutionaries from as far as Canada, Slovenia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Nigeria, England and the United States, to name a few. On June 14th, 2023, a public forum was held at the Jose Felix Ribas Hall, Teatro Teresa Carreno, where invited speakers presented their support for the immediate release of Alex Saab, denouncing the U.S. government for its violation of international law regarding the treatment of diplomatic representatives of foreign nations.

Biden Would Need His Pound Of Flesh From Assange

June 23, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , , ,
Following the decision by High Court Judge Sir Jonathan Swift this month to reject Assange’s application to appeal his ordered extradition to the United States to stand trial on espionage charges, Assange’s legal team filed a new application to the High Court last week.  The decision on this application could come any day. If it is refused, Assange will have run out of legal options in Britain, and could only be saved by the intervention of the European court. There is also still a chance of a plea deal in which President Joe Biden would need to exact punishment of Assange to cover his political posterior.

Chinese-American Worker And Activist Arrested For Advocating For Peace

June 23, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
Labor leaders and organizers are banding together to demand justice for Chinese-American unionized worker and activist Li Tang “Henry” Liang. Liang was indicted and then arrested in early May in Boston in retaliation for exercising his free speech rights. “The federal government has targeted Liang for advocating peaceful relations between the US and China,” say labor activists in the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance of the AFL-CIO, the largest trade union in the US. As a hotel worker, Liang was an active member in his union, UNITE HERE Local 26. He is also an activist in the Chinese-American community, rallying against the US’s propaganda war against China.

Forest Defender Speaks From Bartow County Jail

June 22, 2023 Ryan Fatica, Unicorn Riot. , , , ,
Bartow County, GA — Over 7 weeks after they were arrested while distributing fliers in a small suburb of Atlanta, Charley Tennenbaum continues to be held in the Bartow County Jail for actions they say are protected by the First Amendment. On April 28, Charley and two other individuals were arrested in the city of White, Georgia and slapped with felony charges for distributing fliers containing information about Jonathan Salcedo, a Georgia State Patrol trooper who has been linked to the killing of Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Esteban Paez Terán. Tortuguita was killed by police during a raid on the Weelaunee Forest on January 18.

The Imminent Extradition Of Julian Assange And The Death Of Journalism

June 20, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
High Court Judge Jonathan Swift — who previously worked for a variety of British government agencies as a barrister and said his favorite clients are “security and intelligence agencies” — rejected two applications by Julian Assange’s lawyers to appeal his extradition last week. The extradition order was signed last June by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Julian’s legal team have filed a final application for appeal, the last option available in the British courts. If accepted, the case could proceed to a public hearing in front of two new High Court judges. If rejected, Julian could be immediately extradited to the United States where he will stand trial for 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act, charges that could see him receive a 175-year sentence, as early as this week.

A Juneteenth Call To Close Prisons

June 20, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. , , ,
Juneteenth has become a federal holiday—yet prison slavery under the 13th Amendment continues. Uprooting the prison industrial complex is vital to completing the abolition of slavery. In California, the Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) coalition aims to close 10 state prisons in the next 5 years as part of the People’s Plan for Prison Closure. CURB Executive Director Amber-Rose Howard joins Rattling the Bars to discuss this bold plan. Amber-Rose Howard is a poet, public speaker and organizer from Pomona, California. She currently serves as Executive Director of CURB.
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