Stuck Behind Bars, Inmates & Immigrants Are Sitting Ducks for COVID-19
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-18
$1.7T giveaway to millionaires tucked in CARES Act; Virus poses serious risk to detained immigrants; Activists call to empty jails amid crisis…
sputniknews.com/radio_by_any_means/202004181079005716-stuck-behind-bars-inmates–immigrants-are-sitting-ducks-for-covid-19/

COVID-19 May Exacerbate Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Concern about the deepening of Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis is enhancing due to the number of COVID-19 cases, lack of tests to detect the disease, and political instability. | RELATED: | Taliban Delegation in Kabul for Prisoner Exchange Process | On Saturday, Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz reported on 27 new confirmed patients and 933 people infected in the country so far. | According to local outlet Tolo News, fear is increasing because of the lack of tests and other health…
telesurenglish.net/news/COVID-19-May-Exacerbate-Humanitarian-Crisis-in-Afghanistan-20200418-0003.html

Evo Morales: Police Put Cochabamba Population's Health at Risk
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Bolivia's former President Evo Morales Saturday denounced that the police entered the Cochabamba Department without taking due sanitary precautions and challenging the local population, which expelled several officers from the Shinahota Municipality on Thursday. | RELATED: | Bolivia Indigenous Denounce Añez for Discrimination | "The Police have…
telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Police-Put-Cochabamba-Populations-Health-at-Risk-20200418-0005.html

Ride on Santa Rita Jail
#FreeThemAll | indybay.org | 2020-04-18
Lake Merritt BART | 800 Oak Street…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/15/18832400.php

Philadelphia failure to empty jails causes COVID-19 death
Joe Piette | workers.org | 2020-04-18
The first COVID-19 death in Philadelphia jails occurred on April 14. She was Yvonne Harris, a 48-year-old woman incarcerated at Riverside Correctional Facility. In the meantime, city judges have mocked the danger our incarcerated neighbors face and have only reduced the jail population by 13 percent in the past . . . | Continue reading Philadelphia failure to empty jails causes COVID-19 death at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/04/47797/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=philadelphia-failure-to-empty-jails-causes-covid-19-death

Intl. Conf. on Intifada urges freedom of Palestinian prisoners
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-18
TEHRAN, Apr. 18 (MNA)

As Coronavirus Spreads Through Prisons, States Are Failing Incarcerated People
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-18
On April 6, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order allowing "medically vulnerable" incarcerated people to be temporarily released on medical furlough for the duration of the state's disaster proclamation. Furloughs are typically temporary releases from prison, usually for no more than 14 days. Pritzker's executive order extends the order indefinitely during the pandemic; it is unclear whe…
truthout.org/articles/as-coronavirus-spreads-through-prisons-states-are-failing-incarcerated-people/

COVID-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normalcy
Brian Terrell | zcomm.org | 2020-04-18
From his prison cell in a year of mass movements to end the war in Vietnam and mobilizations for nuclear disarmament, Daniel Berrigan diagnosed normalcy as a disease and labeled it an obstacle to peace…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/covid-19-and-the-wasting-disease-of-normalcy/

"All gas no mask!": In life and death situation, inmates rebel amid pandemic
Steven Powers | liberationnews.org | 2020-04-18
Spontaneous prison actions of resistance have become increasingly regular in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
liberationnews.org/all-gas-no-mask-in-life-and-death-situation-inmates-rebel-amid-pandemic/

Colombia: Not Even the Pandemic Halts Killing of Social Leaders
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Colombia's National Agrarian Coordinator (CNA) denounced that social leader Teodomiro Sotelo was assassinated on Friday while working on his farm in the El Tambo municipality. | RELATED: | Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk | "Armed individuals entered his property to murder him in front of his family and workers," local outlet El Colombiano reported and recalled that several farmers are migrating out of the area to avoid being new victims of violen…
telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Not-Even-the-Pandemic-Halts-Killing-of-Social-Leaders-20200418-0006.html

Intl. NGOs urge Bahrain to release prisoners amid pandemic
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-18
TEHRAN, Apr. 18 (MNA)

Arab Parliaments Call for Immediate Release of Palestinian Prisoners
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-04-17
On the eve of Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Cairo-based Arab States' Parliaments Forum, on Thursday, called for the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners from various Israeli prisons and detention centers, as well as halt of all Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. In a statement, issued by the forum …
imemc.org/article/arab-parliaments-call-for-immediate-release-of-palestinian-prisoners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arab-parliaments-call-for-immediate-release-of-palestinian-prisoners

Thousands Join Virtual Rally to Demand World Without Prisons as Coronavirus Spreads in Detention Centers
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-04-17
"In the midst of a global pandemic, prisons are Petri dishes and all sentences are death sentences." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1209373472_1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/04/17/thousands-join-virtual-rally-demand-world-without-prisons-coronavirus-spreads?cd-origin=rss

ICE is Deporting COVID-19 Positive Detainees from Private Immigration Prisons
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-17
By continuing deportations of quarantined detainees during a pandemic, ICE is greatly increasing the risk of spreading the deadly virus to other countries officials and activists warn,…
mintpressnews.com/ice-deporting-covid-19-positive-detainees-private-immigration-prisons/266739/

What it's Like in ICE Detention During a Pandemic
aclu.org | 2020-04-17
As millions of people in the U.S. shelter in their homes, and millions more who aren't able to stay indoors practice social distancing or other measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a crisis is brewing in the facilities where immigrants are detained. Cramped conditions and inadequate access to hygiene or medical care have created what one medical expert called a "tinderbox" for the disease in a letter to Congress., , Many of those in detention are asylum seekers, who came to the U.S. to ask for protection after fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. Many others were long-time U.S. resi…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/what-its-like-in-ice-detention-during-a-pandemic

A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform
aclu.org | 2020-04-17

| For decades…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/a-tale-of-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-in-the-era-of-marijuana-reform

Concerns of COVID-19 loom large on International Day of Palestinian Prisoners
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-04-17
The International Day of Palestinian Prisoners on April 17 is marked annually to remember and express solidarity with the thousands of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails and detention and interrogation centers…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/04/17/concerns-of-covid-19-loom-large-on-international-day-of-palestinian-prisoners/

Hegemonic Policing: The COVID-19 Law Enforcement Strategy
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-17
The Police Accountability Report talks with two victims of mass incarceration and police brutality, and reveals a distinct theory of how American policing has evolved to dangerous ends.
therealnews.com/stories/police-accountability-report-covid-19-hegemonic-policing

Why we need a WW Prisoners Page
Mirinda Crissman | workers.org | 2020-04-17
Houston This article is based on remarks given by Crissman during a Workers World Party webinar on April 9: "Free Them All! COVID-19 and Racist Mass Incarceration." Workers World Party provides nearly 1,000 free newspaper subscriptions to incarcerated people. Readers interested in supporting this can donate at patreon.com/wwp. We're particularly . . . | Continue reading Why we need a WW Prisoners Page at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/04/47777/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-we-need-a-ww-prisoners-page

Marc Lamont Hill, Ahed Tamimi, Mariame Kaba and Others Lead Virtual Rally to Free All Prisoners from Rikers Island to Palestine
commondreams.org | 2020-04-17
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2020/04/17/marc-lamont-hill-ahed-tamimi-mariame-kaba-and-others-lead-virtual-rally-free-all?cd-origin=rss

Women's sports a likely coronavirus casualty
Anne M. Peterson | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-17
(AP)–Linked to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women's sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women's soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of "Equal Pay!"

Women's sports a likely coronavirus casualty
Anne M. Peterson | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-17
(AP)–Linked to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women's sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women's soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of "Equal Pay!"

NYC death rates from COVID-19 reveal class division and national oppression
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-17
New York, NY – As of April 6, the rates of death from COVID-19 are twice as high for Latinos and Black residents of New York City as they are for white residents. According to the Bureau of Communicable Disease Surveillance System, the rate of death from COVID-19 is 22.8 people per 100,000 among the Latino community, 19.8 per 100,000 people among the Black community, and only 10.2 per 100,000 white people. These numbers are based on 63% of confirmed cases in New York City. | This stark divide in death rates is outrageous yet unsurprising. Many factors underlie these numbers, including differences in access to hea…
fightbacknews.org/2020/4/16/nyc-death-rates-covid-19-reveal-class-division-and-national-oppression

UK could have the highest death rate in Europe because government was 'too slow', doctor warns
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-17
Britain will face "further waves" of coronavirus and will probably have the highest death rate in Europe because the government was "too slow" to act, a leading physician has warned.Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London's Institute for Global Health, told a committee of MPs that the "harsh reality" is that "we were too slow with a number of things"."If we're going to suppress the chain of transmission of this virus in the next stage we all hope that the national lockdown and social distancing will bring about a large suppression of the epidemic so far

Myanmar Releases 25,000 Prisoners Amid COVID-19 Fears
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
Myanmar will free almost 25,000 prisoners in an amnesty to mark the traditional New Year

With some prisoners released, Atlanta activists protest to 'Free Them All!'
Arielle Robinson | workers.org | 2020-04-17
Georgia activist groups Women on the Rise and Southerners on New Ground (SONG) hosted a car caravan protest outside the Fulton County Jail on April 7, calling on District Attorney Paul Howard to release all incarcerated people in the jail because of the risk posed by COVID-19. An April 7 . . . | Continue reading With some prisoners released, Atlanta activists protest to 'Free Them All!' at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/04/47760/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=with-some-prisoners-released-atlanta-activists-protest-to-free-them-all

fred mark sunset.jpg
Hallie Lieberman | progressive.org | 2020-04-17
How a prison comedy program featuring Fred Armisen has helped transform inmates' lives.
progressive.org/magazine/inside-jokes-lieberman/

Palestinian President: "No Peace Deal with Israel, unless Prisoners Released"
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-04-17
On the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners' Day, on Friday, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, asserted that Palestinians will not sign a final peace deal with Israel, unless Israel clears all it's prisons of Palestinian prisoners, which he called heroes and fighters for freedom. In a statement he …
imemc.org/article/palestinian-president-no-peace-deal-with-israel-unless-prisoners-released/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=palestinian-president-no-peace-deal-with-israel-unless-prisoners-released

Palestinian prisoners are on the frontlines of the struggle for liberation
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-04-17
Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network discusses the challenges facing Palestinian prisoners on the occasion of the Palestinian prisoners' Day.
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/04/17/palestinian-prisoners-are-on-the-frontlines-of-the-struggle-for-liberation/

Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
The Spanish NGO Alliance for Solidarity reported that hundreds of Latin American environmental defenders who remain incarcerated are at high risk due to the pandemic. | RELATED: | Chile's Mapuche People Mourn the Death of Camillo Catrillanca | On the occasion of the International Day of the Farmer's Struggle on April 17, human rights defenders recalled that, in countries such as El Salvador, Colombia, and Guatemala, there are hundreds of social leaders imprisoned for defending th…
telesurenglish.net/news/Latam-COVID-19-Puts-Imprisoned-Environmental-Defenders-at-Risk-20200417-0006.html

Chile Registers 9,252 COVID-19 Cases, With 116 Deaths
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
The Chilean Ministry of Health reported on Friday that the country has registered 9,252 cases of COVID-19, with 116 deaths. | Chilean Vice Minister of Health Paula Daza said that 3,621 people have recovered from the virus. | RELATED: Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk | The ministry's undersecretary of assistance networks, Arturo Zuniga, told a press conference that 385 patients are currently in intensive care units, 316 of whom are on ventilators, w…
telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-Registers-9252-COVID-19-Cases-With-116-Deaths-20200417-0011.html

COVID-19: Rights experts highlight LGBTI discrimination, antisemitism
news.un.org | 2020-04-17
New guidance from the UN human rights office, issued on Friday, sets out key actions to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people against discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1062042

PCHR Fears Coronavirus Spread in Israeli Prisons and Detention Centers
PCHR | imemc.org | 2020-04-16
The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR): Palestinian Prisoners' Day is celebrated every year on the 17th of April, which was endorsed by the Palestinian National Council in 1974 as a national day to pay tribute to Palestinian prisoners and their sacrifices, and to support, advocate and promote their right to …
imemc.org/article/pchr-fears-coronavirus-spread-in-israeli-prisons-and-detention-centers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pchr-fears-coronavirus-spread-in-israeli-prisons-and-detention-centers

Apple and Google Announced a Coronavirus Tracking System. How Worried Should We Be?
Jennifer Stisa Granick | aclu.org | 2020-04-16
Apple and Google last week announced a joint contact tracing effort that would use Bluetooth technology to help alert people who have been in close proximity to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Similar proposals have been put forward by an MIT-associated effort called PACT as well as by multiple European groups., , These proposals differ from…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/apple-and-google-announced-a-coronavirus-tracking-system-how-worried-should-we-be

Cuba Calls for International Cooperation to Combat COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-16
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…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Calls-for-International-Cooperation-to-Combat-COVID-19-20200416-0011.html

'Lock your doors': Manhunt underway in Wisconsin for two violent escaped inmates who fled MAX-SECURITY prison
rt.com | 2020-04-16
A major manhunt is underway in Portage, Wisconsin after two inmates

CROWN Act movement seeks to protect Black people from racial discrimination based on hairstyles
splcenter.org | 2020-04-15
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.
splcenter.org/news/2020/04/15/crown-act-movement-seeks-protect-black-people-racial-discrimination-based-hairstyles

International Twitter/Media Storm & Phone Zap for Mumia!
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-15
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…
fightbacknews.org/2020/4/15/international-twittermedia-storm-phone-zap-mumia

Unconstitutional Power Grab? Baltimore Police Sued Over Spy Plane
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-14
The police department may be using the COVID-19 shutdown as cover to launch what an ACLU attorney says would be "the most wide-reaching surveillance dragnet ever employed in an American city."
therealnews.com/stories/unconstitutional-power-grab-baltimore-police-spy-plane-surveillance

Isolation, Before and During a Pandemic
aclu.org | 2020-04-14
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

Let's Stop the Scapegoating During a Global Pandemic
Cecillia Wang | aclu.org | 2020-04-14
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…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/lets-stop-the-scapegoating-during-a-global-pandemic

Mainstream Media Blind Spots In The Coronavirus Crisis
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-14
The mainstream media let Trump's blunders dominate the COVID-19 narrative, neglecting their chance for a nuanced look at public health, incarceration, farmers, and homelessness.
therealnews.com/stories/mainstream-media-blind-spot-coronavirus-trump-health-farm-workers

Iranian American Organizations Urge ICE to Immediately Release Dr. Sirous Asgari
The Iranian | iranian.com | 2020-04-13
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 …
iranian.com/2020/04/13/iranian-american-organizations-urge-ice-to-immediately-release-dr-sirous-asgari/

Federal Wardens Must Immediately Flatten the Curve in our Nation's Prisons
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2020-04-13
With 10 deaths and more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the nation's federal prisons, wardens must " move with dispatch" to " move vulnerable inmates out of these institutions." These are the words that Attorney General William Barr used on April 3rd when he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reduce the federal prison population in the wake of COVID-19…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/federal-wardens-must-immediately-flatten-the-curve-in-our-nations-prisons

During COVID-19, Massachusetts prisons are a 'death trap'
Suhail Purkar and Joe Tache | liberationnews.org | 2020-04-11
Liberation News interview with Leslie Credle, a Boston-based anti-prison organizer with Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls…
liberationnews.org/during-covid-19-massachusetts-prisons-are-a-death-trap/

Civil Liberties Never Sleep: The ACLU in the Pandemic
David Cole | aclu.org | 2020-04-10
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…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/civil-liberties-never-sleep-the-aclu-in-the-pandemic

Black, Indigenous Americans Hit Hard by COVID-19
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-10
Civil rights leader Ben Chavis joins us to talk about why this is happening, how we have to address this epidemic, and what it means for our future.
therealnews.com/stories/black-indigenous-americans-hit-hard-by-covid-19

Voter Suppression in Wisconsin Could Go Nationwide in 2020
Ruth Conniff | progressive.org | 2020-04-10
We need immediate action to protect the vote in November.
progressive.org/dispatches/voter-suppression-wisconsin-go-nationwide-conniff-200410/

ACLU Lawsuit Over Baltimore Spy Planes Sets Up Historic Surveillance Battle
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
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

I'm Queer and I've Been in Solitary. Ellen Isn't Experiencing What I Did
Dominique Morgan | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
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