(2020-04-16). Australian police use COVID-19 emergency powers to ban refugee detention protest. wsws.org The police action, which state Premier Daniel Andrews' Labor government must have authorised, constitutes a direct attack on the right to protest.
(2020-04-16). 'Lock your doors': Manhunt underway in Wisconsin for two violent escaped inmates who fled MAX-SECURITY prison. rt.com 
A major manhunt is underway in Portage, Wisconsin after two inmates — each convicted of violent felonies — escaped from the maximum-security Columbia Correctional Institution. Nearby residents have been urged to lock their doors. | Portage Police Department has warned the public to stay alert following a jailbreak by convicts James Newman, 37, and Thomas Deering, 46, on Thursday morning. It's not clear exactly how the pair made their escape. | www.facebook.com/PortagePD/posts/4021919677848630 | With the majority of the American population already on lockdown due to Covid-19, police are reit…
(2020-04-16). Donetsk, Kiev complete 1st E. Ukraine prisoner swap this year. rt.com 
The first prisoner exchange in 2020 between the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Ukraine has been completed, according to an envoy to the Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup and DPR Human Rights Commissioner Darya Morozova. "The exchange is over," she was quoted as saying on Thursday. | The prisoner swap took place in the area close to the Gorlovka-Mayorsk checkpoint on the contact line and no incidents were reported. Due to risks relating to coronavirus, law enforcement officers and prisoners wore protective masks and tried to maintain the necessary social distance. | During the swap, Donetsk handed over…
(2020-04-16). Cuba Calls for International Cooperation to Combat COVID-19. telesurenglish.net The impact of COVID19 can already be measured and will be assessed in the future by the striking numbers of people infected, the unacceptable numbers of deaths, the unquestionable damages to the world economy, production, trade, employment and personal income of millions of people. | It is a crisis that goes well beyond the scope of health. The pandemic has emerged and spread amidst a scenario previously marked by overwhelming economic and social inequalities within and among nations. With unprecedented migratory and refugee flows, xenophobia and racial discrimination have reemerged. The remarkable advances of…
(2020-04-16). Fox News Defends Its COVID Lies, Saying First Amendment Protects "False" Speech. truthout.org Fox News has moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Washington state group accusing the network of "deceptive" coronavirus coverage by arguing that the First Amendment protects "false" and "outrageous" speech. | The network's lawyers
(2020-04-16). Where I'm Incarcerated, People With COVID-19 Are Warehoused in a Gym. truthout.org Joe, a Michigan prisoner housed at the Macomb Correctional Facility where I am also incarcerated, considered contacting prison nurses a month ago. He had a cough that lasted more than a week, a fever and shortness of breath. Joe (whom I'm describing using a pseudonym here) thought he might have contracted "that virus talked about nonstop on the TV." | However, Joe had plenty of previous encounters with prison health care, and few — if any — had ended with adequate medical attention, thanks…
(2020-04-15). CROWN Act movement seeks to protect Black people from racial discrimination based on hairstyles. splcenter.org Jordan Winder did not apply to the high school of his choice because the dreadlocks he's been growing nearly half his life are not allowed there.
(2020-04-15). 2nd Appeal in COVID-19 Crisis: PCHR Calls for Immediate Release of Minors, Women, Patients and Elderlies among Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails. imemc.org At a time where the whole world is combating the coronavirus pandemic and States have adopted precautionary and preventive measures to defy the virus, Israeli authorities maintain the imprisonment of more than 5,000 Palestinians, including 180 children, 43 women and more than 700 patients in harsh and unsanitary conditions that …
(2020-04-15). Louisiana Issued a COVID Memo to Release Prisoners — Then Quickly Rescinded It. truthout.org Last week, the Louisiana Department of Health issued — and then quickly rescinded — a
(2020-04-15). International Twitter/Media Storm & Phone Zap for Mumia! fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service urges all our readers to support this event | Mumia Abu-Jamal—father, husband and grandfather—is an internationally renowned US political prisoner, widely honored for his piercing indictments of the racial inequities and brutal imperialist powers of the US. Abu-Jamal was originally targeted for surveillance and "neutralization" when he was a 15 year-old spokesman for the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia, by the FBI. | By the age of 26, Mumia Abu-Jamal was an award-winning radio journalist with a wide following, known as the "voice of the voiceless" and outspoken in his defen…
(2020-04-14). Week of action demands that all immigrants detained in Minnesota be released. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – In a press conference held by video on April 14, several immigrant rights organizations announced a week of action happening this week to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and elected officials at the state and county level take action now to free all immigrants held in ICE detention in the state. | Immigration detainees are detained on civil charges and ICE has broad leeway to release people. In the current situation with the rapid spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus, the conditions in Minnesota jails are ripe for the infection and death to spread quickly. Speakers at the p…
(2020-04-14). Let's Stop the Scapegoating During a Global Pandemic. aclu.org Just like tens of millions of people sheltering in place in the U.S., I'm adjusting to the new realities and worries of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But on top of worrying about my elderly family members, U.S. hospitals' shortage of basic medical equipment, or where I can find toilet paper and eggs, I have another fear. Like other Americans of East Asian descent (including citizens and non-citizens), I worry that I might be attacked on the street or in a store because of my race., , There are so many news reports that spur my concerns. For example, on March 14, a man in Midland, Texas, attacke…
(2020-04-14). Isolation, Before and During a Pandemic. aclu.org As many Americans round out the end of their first month of social distancing, it's clear that the toll of "stay at home" orders during the COVID-19 pandemic is much more than economic. The anxiety and fear that wash over us each day that we spend alone, away from friends, coworkers, and family, inflict their own kind of emotional damage. , , The cost of social isolation is a worthy cost in this case — staying home can quite literally save lives. But for some people, the advent of social isolation came long before the coronavirus. At the ACLU, we work with many communities who deal with the long-term im…
(2020-04-14). Palestine's Organic Intellectuals. dissidentvoice.org 
"For my opinions," wrote Italian intellectual Antonio Gramsci, "I am willing to lose my life, not only to stay in prison. And this is why I am calm and at peace with myself." Gramsci spent 11 years in prison during the fascist reign over Italy, a brutal regime that crushed every form of political dissent …
(2020-04-14). Survivor tells of friendship with British soldier after Bergen-Belsen liberation. thecanary.co 
A Holocaust survivor has paid tribute to the "remarkable" British soldier who came to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 75 years ago.Mady Gerrard, 90, has a picture of Lieutenant John Randall — with whom she became friends decades later — on display at her home in Cardiff today.Lt Randall and his driver, Cpl Brown, were the first men to enter the camp after stumbling upon it during a reconnaissance mission.They found more than 50,000 prisoners suffering from disease, starvation, neglect and torture, as well as the bodies of thousands of those who had already died. | Gerrard was 14 when she w…
(2020-04-14). Israeli Troops Abduct Three Palestinians in Jenin and Al-Bireh. imemc.org Israeli troops reportedly abducted, on Tuesday, three Palestinians, including 2 minors, in both Al-Bireh and Jenin towns, in the West Bank. Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, announced that both Loui Alsho'la and Omar Abu Alrob from Al-Bireh town, in the central occupied West Bank, …
(2020-04-13). Iranian American Organizations Urge ICE to Immediately Release Dr. Sirous Asgari. iranian.com Iranian American organizations PAAIA, NIAC, IABA have come together to campaign for the release of Dr. Sirous Asgari from Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Dr. Asgari is currently unjustly detained in a civil immigration detention center in Louisiana, which has put his health at serious risk amidst the likelihood of COVID-19 exposure. We, the undersigned …
(2020-04-13). Federal Wardens Must Immediately Flatten the Curve in our Nation's Prisons. aclu.org With 10 deaths and more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the nation's federal prisons, wardens must "
(2020-04-13). Detained children at 'grave risk' of contracting COVID-19 — UNICEF chief. news.un.org Hundreds of thousands of children in detention around the world are at "grave risk" of contracting COVID-19, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday, calling for their urgent release.
(2020-04-13). Headlines for April 13, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Leads in Coronavirus Death Toll, as Trump Eyes Easing Restrictions in Weeks, Trump Moves to Slash Pay for Essential Migrant Farmworkers | , USPS Says It Will Become Insolvent Without Gov't Help, But Trump Refuses to Bail It Out | , 200+ Prisoners Released in Philadelphia After Weeks of Protest Calling for Decarceration, Protests Call Out Mounting COVID-19 Cases at Immigrant Prisons in Arizona, California | , Mounting COVID-19 Clusters Reported at Meat Processing Plants | , Almost 600 Sailors On Board USS Theodore Roosevelt Test Positive for COVID-19 | , Judge Blocks Alabama Coronavirus Abortion Ban; Texas Pr…
(2020-04-13). Including An Elected legislator, Israeli Soldiers Abduct Seven Palestinians In West Bank. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Monday at dawn, seven Palestinians, including an elected legislator and former political prisoner, from their homes in several parts of the occupied West Bank, including the occupied capital, Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that the soldiers invaded and ransacked the home of legislator …
(2020-04-10). Civil Liberties Never Sleep: The ACLU in the Pandemic. aclu.org The COVID-19 pandemic has closed down many businesses, but the work of preserving civil liberties and civil rights continues, as essential as ever. Reports of courts closing down can be misleading. While public trials that require jurors and in-person testimony have been suspended, most courts and lawyers can do their work remotely. The filing of legal briefs continues, and oral arguments and hearings are being held remotely. The work of securing justice continues., , At the ACLU, our most immediate focus has been on civil liberties and civil rights issues arising from the government's response (or lack thereo…
(2020-04-10). Headlines for April 10, 2020. democracynow.org COVID-19 Patients Dying Every Minute in the United States, Epicenter of the Pandemic, 17 Million U.S. Workers File Unemployment Claims in Just Three Weeks, New York City Workers Dig Mass Graves Amid Surge of COVID-19 Deaths, President Trump Pushes to Reopen U.S. Economy Despite Severe Shortage of Tests, California Nursing Home with COVID-19 Cases Evacuated After Workers' No-Show, Kansas Governor Sues to Halt Church Congregations Ahead of Easter, Chicago Prisoners Post Signs in Jail Windows: "Help, No Supply" and "We're Dying", NYC Cathedral Won't Partner with Christian Fundamentalist Field Hospital Group over LGB…
(2020-04-09). ACLU Lawsuit Over Baltimore Spy Planes Sets Up Historic Surveillance Battle. aclu.org Imagine a day in the future when everyone, from the moment they step outside their home, has to live with the knowledge that their every movement is being recorded by powerful cameras circling in the skies above. Not just where they work, shop, eat and drink, and whose homes they visit, but details about their political, religious, sexual, and medical lives — all captured and stored in databases without a warrant and available to law enforcement upon request., , That day is here., , The city of Baltimore is about to deploy a new program that, if allowed to move forward, would do just that. It would be…
(2020-04-09). I'm Queer and I've Been in Solitary. Ellen Isn't Experiencing What I Did. aclu.org On Monday, I ended a 12-hour day returning emails to incarcerated queer folks, providing direct aid for housing to folks living with HIV & AIDS who have been incarcerated and challenging the state of Nebraska to provide humane conditions for incarcerated individuals and decided to mindlessly scroll on Twitter. , , I found the quote from the show Ellen DeGeneres filmed from her multimillion-dollar, multi-room mansion: "One thing that I've learned from being in quarantine is that people — this is like being in jail, is what it is," she said. "It's mostly because I've be…
(2020-04-08). "They Don't Care if You Die": Immigrants in ICE Detention Fear the Spread of COVID-19. aclu.org 
Mario Rodas, Sr. first found out there was a deadly virus spreading through the country while he was watching television at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. In early March, Rodas had been pulled over and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while driving to the supermarket with his wife, a legal resident and the mother of his three U.S. citizen children. Since then, he'd been in the custody of ICE, mostly at Plymouth. | The more Rodas heard about the disease, the more fearful the 59-year-old became. | "I was scared for my health," he told the ACLU. "I was worr…
(2020-04-08). Nativist Hate Groups Want to Keep People in ICE Detention Despite COVID-19 Threat. splcenter.org Anti-immigrant think tanks are pushing for the U.S. to detain immigrants and asylum seekers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even as prisoners stage hunger strikes and other protests in response to what they describe as deteriorating health conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.
(2020-04-08). If COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate, Then Why Are Black People Dying at Higher Rates? aclu.org COVID-19 is ravaging many parts of the United States, but nowhere more than in Black communities. Early data from the
(2020-04-08). "A Systematic Issue of Disparity": Black People in Louisiana Account for 70% of COVID-19 Deaths. democracynow.org 
Louisiana faces one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the United States. New data shows black people account for 70% of all the state's coronavirus deaths, though they comprise just 32% of the state's population. Louisiana also has the highest incarceration rate in the country, and more than 65% of the people in its jails and prisons are black. At least 28 people are infected, and 22 corrections staff have tested positive. State corrections officials are sending infected prisoners to the Louisiana State Penitentiary — known as Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States [mdas…
(2020-04-08). Albert Woodfox: COVID-19 Offers Public a "Small Window" into What Prisoners Face in Solitary Confinement. democracynow.org 
As millions shelter in place around the world, we speak with Albert Woodfox, who served the longest time in solitary confinement of any prisoner in the United States. Known as one of the Angola Three, along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, Woodfox was held in isolation for nearly 44 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. He was convicted of killing a guard in jail, but always maintained his innocence. He says he was targeted for co-founding the first Black Panther chapter in Angola. He was released in 2016 and is now 73 years old. His memoir is "Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solit…
(2020-04-08). Headlines for April 8, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Daily Death Toll Nears 2,000 as Hundreds of COVID-19 Deaths Go Uncounted, Trump Threatens to Withhold U.S. Funding for World Health Organization, New WH Press Secretary Said Recently, "We Will Not See Diseases Like the Coronavirus Come Here", Trump Fires Inspector General Tasked with Overseeing $2 Trillion Stimulus, China Lifts Lockdown in Wuhan, Where Coronavirus Pandemic Began, EU Coronavirus Stimulus Talks Fail as Deaths Surge in Spain and France, Libyan Rebels Attack Hospital for COVID-19 Patients; Chadian Ex-Dictator Released from Prison, International Labour Organization: Pandemic Could Wipe Out 195 Mi…
(2020-04-07). Police are Enforcing Public Health Orders, but that Doesn't Make them Public Health Experts. aclu.org , In a desperate effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, state and local officials are following the advice of public health experts to impose severe restrictions on American life, such as social distancing and shelter-at-home orders. Unfortunately, the institutions that have the most resources available to carry out this task are not public health, medical, or housing authorities. They are our law enforcement and criminal legal systems, which typically operate by criminalization and punishment. , , There's a bitter irony to this: The tactics that law enforcement officials frequently use to protect people [mda…
(2020-04-07). Louisiana's Suspension of Due Process Could Be a COVID-19 Catastrophe in Jails and Prisons. aclu.org , Louisiana has emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot, with
(2020-04-02). Fighting for immigrant rights during a pandemic. splcenter.org As people across the country are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to a group of people whose health is in danger because they are locked away from the outside world — people in immigrant detention centers.
(2020-04-02). Alabama prisons hold more than 1,100 older people at greater COVID-19 risk. splcenter.org More than 1,100 people age 65 or older are locked away in Alabama prisons, putting a group already highly susceptible to the deadly COVID-19 virus at an even greater risk, according to an SPLC analysis of the state's prison system.
(2020-04-01). Evaluation of Association Between Gastric Acid Suppression and Risk of Intestinal Colonization With MDROs. jamanetwork.com This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the association of use of gastric acid suppressants with the risk of colonization with multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDROs).
(2020-03-30). The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery played key role in launching SPLC's legal battle against Ku Klux Klan. splcenter.org The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who died on Friday at 98 years old, was a longtime friend of the Southern Poverty Law Center and played a leading role in the SPLC's first lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan in 1980.
(2020-03-27). Weekend Read: SPLC demands ICE act amid pandemic to save the lives of countless immigrants trapped in its crowded detention centers. splcenter.org …
(2020-02-28). Carol Anderson on Voter Suppression. fair.org 
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(2020-02-04). Biden Threatens Lawsuit to Halt Release of Real Iowa Caucus Results. theantimedia.com American democracy—ain't it grand?>