(2020-03-17). Iran has now temporarily sent home 85,000 inmates over coronavirus fears. rt.com 
Iran's effort to free up overcrowded prisons from non-critical inmates has seen 85,000 people going home for leave. The measure is meant to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in the penitentiary system. | "Some 50% of those released are security-related prisoners… Also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said, as cited by Reuters. | The number of people granted furlough has increased by 15,000 compared to last week. The Middle Eastern country reported 14,991 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 infection as of Monday, with the deat…
(2020-03-17). 'Reciprocal measures': Beijing tells NYT, WSJ, WaPo journalists to hand in credentials as US-China media war rolls on. rt.com 
China is pulling the press credentials of US journalists from outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post whose passes expire in 2020, in the latest move of an ongoing tit-for-tat with America over media access. | In a statement about China's "countermeasures against US suppression of Chinese media organizations in the United States," Beijing announced that American reporters working for the NYT, Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, Time and the Washington Post whose credentials are due to expire by the end of this year must hand them over within 10 days. | These reporters will also not be a…
(2020-03-17). California senior citizens are on lock-down due to coronavirus. indybay.org One can only wonder how long it will be before California becomes like the film called Wild In The Streets, where everyone 30 and older were locked up in prison camps, or like the film called Logan's Run, where people 30 and older are hunted down and executed to make room for younger people!
(2020-03-17). You Can be Free to Vote, Even Behind Bars. counterpunch.org Birmingham, Alabama is a landmark city for the American civil rights movement. Even today, it's ground zero for a vital fight over voting rights. I visited Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham recently to deliver inmates a simple message: you are free to vote, even if you don't know it. And now is the time for
(2020-03-17). Incarcerated Journalist Says Millions Behind Bars Are at Risk Amid Pandemic. truthout.org As San Francisco takes the most severe measures in the country in response to COVID-19, telling 7 million people to shelter in place, we go inside the Bay Area's San Quentin State Prison, where two prison blocks are under partial quarantine, to speak with incarcerated journalist Juan Moreno Haines. We look at how the coronavirus pandemic is a growing threat to the 2.3 million people locked up in U.S. prisons and jails, as prisons across the country have been shut down in response to the spreading…
(2020-03-17). Australian governments invoke emergency powers amid COVID-19 disaster. wsws.org These laws contain powers only previously used in wartime, such as arbitrarily detaining, imprisoning or imposing massive fines on people, to be imposed now in the name of protecting public health.
(2020-03-17). Brazil: Massive Prisoner Escape Increases Risk of COVID-19. telesurenglish.net About 1,350 inmates escaped on Monday in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo and others are still in mutiny, due to various restrictions on the system of visits and departures as a preventive measure against Covid-19. Most were under a semi-open regime. | RELATED: | The massive escape occurred in three penitentiary centers after several riots and violent confrontations between the convicts and guards. According to the military police i…
(2020-03-17). SPLC's Three Strikes Project helps nonviolent offenders move from prison to parole. splcenter.org Drugs were a way of life in the economically struggling "Brickyard" neighborhood of Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Nicky Patterson grew up.
(2020-03-17). The Coronavirus Outbreak is Revealing the Appalling Conditions Faced by Palestinians in Israeli Prisons. mintpressnews.com "Ailing prisoners traveled three days in a metal van tied to metal chairs with feet and hands cuffed. They don't have access to food or a toilet as they spend hours picking up other sick prisoners. Most sick inmates won't even go to Ramleh [Hospial] because they know how excruciating the journey can be."
(2020-03-16). I Reject Using My Unjust Conviction Against Julian Assange. counterpunch.org 
In 2015 I was wrongfully convicted of, and imprisoned for, violating the U.S. Espionage Act. Now, while there is no question that I stand in solidarity with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in a British court as he fights extradition, little did I know that my presence is also there as fodder to support extradition. If
(2020-03-16). Four Palestinian Detainees Placed In Solitary Confinement. imemc.org The Israeli Prison Authority placed four Palestinian detainees in solitary confinement, under harsh detention conditions. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Detainees Committee explained in a statement, issued Monday, that over the past ten days, the Israeli administration at the Ramon detention center, has been confining Hatem Alqawasma, Osama Es'ied, Ibrahim Abdul-Hai, and …
(2020-03-16). Iranian Hails New UK Stance on Arrested Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe & Repayment Of Debt. iranian.com Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who possesses both British and Iranian passports, has been under arrest in Iran since April 2016 over allegations that she plotted against the government, claims that she has consistently denied. She was sentenced to five years in an Iranian jail. The Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hamid Baeidinejad, welcomed a new approach …
(2020-03-16). Selected Articles: The Release of Chelsea Manning. globalresearch.ca Online independent analysis of US-led wars, rampant corruption, corporate greed, civil rights and fraudulent monetary transactions is invariably relegated to the bottom rung of search engine results. | As a result we presently do not cover our monthly running costs which …
(2020-03-16). Applauding Release of Prisoners in Ohio Due to Coronavirus Threat, ACLU Calls on Officials Nationwide to Do the Same. commondreams.org "In normal circumstances, ICE has proven time and again that it is unable to protect the health and safety of detained people. These are not normal circumstances." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/immigrants_prisons_0_0.jpg …
(2020-03-15). Detainee Bilal Ekmail Enters 15 Years of Imprisonment. imemc.org Palestinian detainee, Bilal Ekmail, has entered 15 years of imprisonment, under very strict detention conditions, imposed by Israeli authorities. Montaser Sammour, director of the Jenin office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) in northern West Bank, said that Ekmail is serving a 20-year prison sentence, and has been frequently held …
(2020-03-15). Immediate steps are required to avert mass casualties in prisons and jails. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following March 14 statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. | The Illinois Department of Corrections has declared that all civilian visits to Illinois prison will be suspended indefinitely starting Saturday, March 14, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which a national emergency has been declared. New prison inmates arriving from any of the four "Reception and Classification Centers" are reportedly being held in quarantine. | These are minimal steps not based on science. Depriving prisoners of contact with their families only aggravates…
(2020-03-14). CIVIL RIGHTS MEMORIAL CENTER, SPLC OFFICES CLOSE. splcenter.org Our work continues…
(2020-03-13). Headlines for March 13, 2020. democracynow.org Coronavirus Infections Around the Globe Reach 135,000 People, Nearly 5,000 Dead, U.S. Coronavirus Infections Rise to 1,650 as Actual Number Believed to Be Higher | , Dow Jones Plummets 10% in Biggest Drop Since 1987 | , Trump Administration Faces Backlash for Handling of Coronavirus Outbreak, Testing | , Brazilian President Bolsonaro's Aide Tests Positive for COVID-19 Days After Meeting with Trump, Philippines President Duterte Orders Lockdown in Manila Amid Coronavirus Pandemic | , Advocates Afraid of Deadly Coronavirus Outbreak in Immigration Jails Plagued by Medical Neglect, Democratic Presidential Debate Relo…
(2020-03-12). Elite Media Dismiss Voter Suppression on Grounds That It's 'Complicated'. fair.org 
Some voters—disproportionately black and brown ones—waited in line for several hours on Super Tuesday to cast their ballots in the Democratic primary, and media paid attention. But their love for a good visual doesn't always correspond with a love for connecting the dots, and so most of the coverage downplayed any suggestion that there might be voter suppression going on in 2020. The New York Times ( "Why Did It…
(2020-03-12). The Government Has a Secret Plan to Track Everyone's Faces at Airports. We're Suing. aclu.org U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration are putting us on an extraordinarily dangerous path toward the normalization of face surveillance. But because key facts about this surveillance are still secret, the public lacks the information it needs to hold these agencies to account. We're
(2020-03-12). This Law Makes Voting Nearly Impossible for Native Americans in Montana. aclu.org Voting has never been easy for In a state where the majority of individuals vote | by mail, rural tribal communities often work with get-out-the-vote organizer…
(2020-03-11). Keep Calm and Carry on Voting: How to Vote By Mail During the Coronavirus Outbreak. aclu.org Coronavirus should not be a political issue, but with presidential primaries and the general election coming up, it could soon directly impact our politics. We should protect not only our health, but our civil liberties at this time — and one of those civil liberties is our fundamental right to vote. , , For many, the best way to vote while safeguarding your health during this time may be to vote by mail. It's easy to request an absentee ballot and there's still enough time to do so for most states with upcoming primaries. While some states limit who can vote absentee — for example, to people with…
(2020-03-10). Prisons Worldwide Face Coronavirus Crisis: Overcrowding, Lack of Sanitation & Labor at Slave Wages. democracynow.org 
As Italy went on lockdown, nearly 30 prisons across the country broke into riots Sunday and Monday after visitation rights were suspended in response to the outbreak. In a prison in southern Italy, a riot left at least six incarcerated people dead and caused 50 people to escape. Prisoners have reportedly lit fires, charged guards and even escaped at multiple facilities. This comes as the United Nations confirmed that coronavirus had reached Iran's prisons, as the number of cases there continues to soar. Iran has temporarily freed some 70,000 prisoners in response to the coronavirus. And concerns are growing about…
(2020-03-10). Immigrants in WA Detention Center Demand Protection from Coronavirus, Not Posters in English. democracynow.org 
As the world responds to the COVID-19 outbreak, we look at how the Trump administration's immigration policies may put everyone at risk. We go to Seattle, Washington, not far from the Life Care Center in the suburb of Kirkland, which was the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. In nearby Tacoma, Washington, our guest says she saw posters in English only when she went to visit immigrants held in the Northwest Detention Center, which is run by private prison company GEO Group. We speak with Maru Mora-Villalpando, an activist and undocumented immigrant with the groups La Resistencia and Mijente, who issued a…
(2020-03-10). Civil Rights Memorial Center closed through March. splcenter.org The Civil Rights Memorial Center (CRMC) in Montgomery, Alabama, is closed and will remain closed through the end of March 2020.
(2020-03-10). San Diego Police Stop Black People at a Rate 219 Percent Higher Than White People. aclu.org "They did what human beings looking for | freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left." | These | are the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson in her book, "The | Warmth of Other Suns." The book | follows the story of three Black Southerners and their journey escaping racial | violence — a sharecropper's wife who | left Mississippi in the 1930s for Chicago, an agricultural | worker who left Florida for New York City in the 1940s, and a doctor who left Louisiana in the early 1950s. | Their | journey was part of the Great Migration that occurred between 1916 and 1970,…
(2020-03-06). Are Our Prisons and Jails Ready for COVID-19? aclu.org The | country and the world face a public health emergency in the new coronavirus | causing COVID-19. The media is filled with concerns about how we will respond. | Will we close schools? Cancel sporting events and other large gatherings? Work | from home? Avoid public transportation? | But | little has been said about one of the most vulnerable sectors of our | population: the people in our prisons and jails. Although people often think of | prisons and jails as closed environments, they are not. Medical staff, correctional | staff, and visitors come from the community into the facilities every day and | then…
(2020-03-05). Trump is Sending Special Forces-style Agents into Pro-Immigrant Cities. aclu.org As part of its governments that choose not to collaborate with Immigration and Customs | Enforcement (ICE), Trump administration officials have confirmed plans for two new tactics in their anti-immigrant | agenda. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will deploy Border Patrol's | special forces-style unit, known as BORTAC, and other Customs and Border | Protection (CBP) agents — dressed in plainclothes [m…
(2020-03-03). TRAP Laws are the Threat to Abortion Rights You Don't Know About. aclu.org This week, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case | that will have wide-reaching consequences for reproductive freedom and abortion | rights in America. It's the first time the Court has weighed those rights since | gaining a new conservative majority with the appointments of Justices Neil | Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. And the stakes are high. | The case that the court will | hear, June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, | is being argued by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CCR), and it involves a | law in Louisiana known as a "TRAP" — Targeted Restriction on Abortion | Providers. The detai…
(2020-03-02). Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent. zcomm.org The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison…
(2020-02-28). Carol Anderson on Voter Suppression. fair.org Media…
(2020-02-26). As Alabama primary nears, voter suppression is alive and well. splcenter.org All across this country, the right to vote is under attack. But with your support, we're fighting back in Southern courts and state legislatures with a newly formed team of legal, policy, and grassroots advocates.
(2020-02-21). Weekend Read: SPLC files civil rights complaints as asylum seekers wage hunger strikes. splcenter.org …
(2020-02-04). Biden Threatens Lawsuit to Halt Release of Real Iowa Caucus Results. theantimedia.com American democracy—ain't it grand?>