The LA County Sheriff’s Department has over a decade of reported “gangs” that physically abuse inmates. In 2011, ACLU Southern California released a report alleging “deputy gangs that thrive inside the jails.” In 2023, the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission released a report making the same allegations, saying: “The Department currently contains several active groups that […]
Tag: prison
Echoes of Silence: How Aynaghor Exposes South Asia’s Hidden Repression
For the first time in half a decade, Michael Chakma saw the sun. He had escaped, but he could barely remember where to go or who to call. Five years prior, Chakma was abducted by Bangladeshi intelligence, and from that day on, he was subjected to torture, stuck in the darkness, and only able to […]
A Stain on California’s Progressivism
In a country plagued by a hurricane of partisan politics, California is often seen as the United States’ leader on progressive policy and action, the calm amidst the storm. California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has held office since 2019, is often hailed as the masthead of this movement. His stances on climate change, gun control, […]
The Precarious Balance of Closing California Prisons
California: the golden land of opportunity and new beginnings. But for whom? Those idyllic visions of gold and success are out of reach for the around 115,000 inmates currently incarcerated in the California prison system, filling 137.5% of the design capacity for 35 state-operated prisons. This number might seem low, given how many people live […]
What Can We Learn From the Norwegian Prison System
In class roughly two months ago, an ex-felon came to talk about how he managed to turn his life around while in prison and how that allowed him to reduce his sentence and create a meaningful civilian life. To this, I wondered, why do prison systems not inherently focus on rehabilitation and focus so much […]
Voting Behind Bars: Why Incarceration Should Not Limit the Right to Vote
On March 2, as congressmembers considered the For the People Act, a bill that would enact the most comprehensive expansion of voting sights in the United States since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Democratic representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Mondaire Jones of New York introduced an unprecedented and groundbreaking amendment to the bill […]
The Real Winner of the 2020 Election: Local Criminal Justice Reform
As our nation was fixated on the results of the Nov. 2020 presidential election, many Americans may not have paid much attention to local down-ballot elections concerning criminal justice and mass incarceration. Yet, voters delivered resounding and consequential verdicts on the criminal justice system, from electing progressive prosecutors and decriminalizing drugs, to addressing felony […]
A Death Sentence for a DUI — The Devastating Impact of the Pandemic in Prison
In March of 2020, as it became increasingly clear that COVID-19 would be a catastrophic threat to the United States, numerous criminal justice experts warned that the impending pandemic would have a devastating impact on correctional facilities and their surrounding communities. These early warnings proved to be prescient, as seven months later, amidst an unprecedented […]
Bail Reform: The Antidote America Has Been Looking for, or an Instrument of Discrimination?
“Crime wave” is the phrase that surrounds the newest set of criminal justice policies passed by New York and California. If you look up “bail reform” on Google, the first page of results reveals a host of articles in which it is a keyword, authoritatively bolded. There are publicly available transcripts of police chiefs in […]
Our Unbridled ‘Protector’: The U.S. Intelligence Community
This November, the Central Intelligence Agency was forced to release a 90 page document. They did so begrudgingly, because in this document were the detailed reports of decades of experimentation on prisoners with the purpose of creating a “truth serum.” In the report, they discussed trapping prisoners in coffin-like boxes, repeatedly waterboarding prisoners, and kindly, […]