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Patrol dogs are terrorizing and mauling prisoners inside the United States
By Hannah Beckler On July 23, 2023 In a photo taken in December 2003, two US military dog handlers, Sgts. Santos Cardona and Michael Smith, corner a detainee at Abu Ghraib, the prison in Iraq used by the US-led coalition and the Iraqi government. Smith holds back his unmuzzled dog Marco, a large black shepherd…
These States Are Using Fetal Personhood to Put Women Behind Bars
By Cary Aspinwall On July 25, 2023 Hundreds of women who used drugs while pregnant have faced criminal charges — even when they deliver healthy babies. When Quitney Armstead learned she was pregnant while locked up in a rural Alabama jail, she made a promise — to God and herself — to stay clean. She…
133 Degrees and No AC: Kids at Angola Prison Kept in Potentially Deadly Heat
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg On July 18, 2023 With heat indexes in the area regularly hitting triple digits, children incarcerated at Louisiana’s Angola prison have been locked in windowless cells for nearly 24 hours a day. One medical expert says the conditions put lives at risk. Children incarcerated on the former death row unit of Louisiana’s Angola…
Illinois is first state to eliminate cash bail, a penalty affecting low-income communities most
By John O’Conner On July 18, 2023 SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail as a condition of pretrial release from jail on Tuesday when the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionally of the law abolishing it. The 5-2 ruling overturns a Kankakee County judge’s opinion…
A play written and performed by men in prison hopes to change state’s parole laws
By Francia Garcia Hernandez On July 18, 2023 Theatre Y worked with 12 men at Stateville Correctional Center to create the play Editor’s note: The article has been updated to include the correct name of the Prison + Neighborhood Art Project Think Tank. On July 18, 12 men shared their stories and danced their lives…
California’s prison-to-homelessness pipeline
By Simone Weichselbaum, Andrew Blankstein and Alexandra Chaidez On July 18, 2023 Thousands of former inmates are adding to a growing homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, an NBC News investigation found. LONG BEACH, Calif. — On a warm spring morning, a lone Los Angeles County probation officer stood across from a parking lot lined with…
After decades of struggle in Israel, dozens of African Hebrew Israelites face deportation
By Ilan Ben Zion On July 21, 2023 DIMONA, Israel (AP) — For two years, Toveet Israel and dozens of other residents of the Village of Peace have lived in fear. Dimona, a city on the edge of the nation of Israel’s Negev Desert, has been her home for 24 years. Her eight children were…
Iran’s ‘morality police’ resume patrols 10 months after nationwide protests
By Patrick Wintour On July 17, 2023 Authorities announce new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf, after period of scaled-back policing Almost 10 months after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, triggering weeks of protest across Iran, police vans are again patrolling the country’s streets looking for women who are not wearing the…
Countries summon Sweden’s envoys to protest against Quran burning
On July 21, 2023 Sweden’s ambassadors have been summoned in various countries following a second event held to desecrate the Quran, Islam’s holy book, was held in Sweden. The condemnations and moves came following a demonstration held on Thursday in Stockholm where protesters kicked and partially damaged a book they said was the Quran. Protesters in…