(2020-05-17). Santa Cruz Needs Community Control of Surveillance. indybay.org Santa Cruz has a community control of surveillance law in front of the City Council. We need transparency, advanced notice and joint decisionmaking about pervasive surveillance everywhere. Sign the petition (from ACLU) action.aclu.org/petition/cn-santa-cruz-surveillance-petition…
(2020-05-17). AquAlliance files lawsuit against water transfers from Sacramento River watershed. indybay.org The lawsuit states, "These water transfers would drain both surface and groundwater resources from the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds, imposing significant and irreversible threats to the people and sensitive species that rely on these water resources and associated aquatic and riparian habitats."
(2020-05-17). Jail Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk & Defend Health & Safety: Workers Speak Out At Tesla. indybay.org Workers spoke out against the bullying and intimidation of billionaire Elon Musk who has started his Tesla factory violating a shelter in place law. He challenged the Fremont police and Governor Newsom to arrest him but they are allowing him to open without any CA-OSHA inspections. Newsom has continued the destruction of CA-OSHA and there are less than 200 inspectors for the 18 million workers in California and only 1 doctor and 1 nurse at CA. OSHA.
(2020-05-17). Worldwide Webinar: Civil Society Response to COVID-19 in Prisons & Jails Globally. indybay.org Online via zoom…
(2020-05-17). Rally At Tesla: Jail Musk! Workers Health & Safety First & Lives Over Profit. indybay.org Tesla North Gate | Industrial Dr & Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538 | www.google.com/maps/place/Tesla+factory/@37.4845369,-121.9355029,4163m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fc7348cf1502f: 0x86cfbef39088e346!8m2!3d37.5039468!4d-121.9622337?hl=en…
(2020-05-17). Covid-19 Outbreak Reported in Bolivia's Largest Prison. telesurenglish.net Authorities from the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia confirmed an outbreak of coronavirus in the Palmasola prison on Saturday, reporting that 25 inmates tested positive for the disease. | RELATED: | "A total of 25 people deprived of liberty have tested positive for Covid-19. Having an epidemiological outbreak inside the Palmasola prison, we are going to establish two isolation centers: one for suspects and…
(2020-05-16). Fariba Adelkhah sentenced to 6 years in prison. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA) — Islamic Revolutionary Court of Iran sentenced Fariba Adelkhah to six years in prison on charges of breaching national security and spreading propaganda against the country.
(2020-05-16). With private prison outbreak, Tennessee county leads US in per capita COVID-19 cases. wsws.org More than half of the 2,400 inmates at the CoreCivic Trousdale Turner Correctional Center have tested positive for coronavirus.
(2020-05-16). Rashid Johnson: 'Prison has always served a particular political function'. workers.org Remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Kevin Rashid Johnson, currently incarcerated in the Pendleton Correctional Facility . . . |
(2020-05-16). Marc Lamont Hill: 'Outside the logic of the prison' on Mumia's birthday. workers.org By Marc Lamont Hill These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Marc Lamont Hill . . . |
(2020-05-16). Sekou Odinga: 'The right to struggle by any and all means'. workers.org These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Sekou Odinga I'm a representative of . . . |
(2020-05-15). 'It would be best if intra-Afghan talks began while US still has significant military presence' — envoy. rt.com 
The United States has heard positive reports about the formation of an inclusive Afghan government, US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad said on Friday, adding that a new date for intra-Afghan peace talks is under discussion. | Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Khalilzad said it would be best if intra-Afghan talks began while there is still a significant US military presence in Afghanistan, Reuters reported. | The pace of prisoner releases and disagreements over the Afghan government's composition have both helped delay intra-Afghan talks, which were to begin on March 10 under a February 29 US-…
(2020-05-15). How a teenager in the '60s South became a Communist. peoplesworld.org 
Once upon a time, and sadly, not so long ago in the grand scheme of history, a young high schooler in Virginia spent his summer, the summer of 1964, watching the Civil Rights Movement play out before his eyes. Little did this student, Scott Marshall, know how life-changing that first Freedom Summer would turn out …
(2020-05-15). The Secretive Police Commission The Justice Department Doesn't Want You To Notice. therealnews.com 
PAR learns about life under lockdown with COVID-19 from a guest just released from 10 months of incarceration, and examines the secretive police commission created by Attorney General Barr.
(2020-05-15). Ari Berman on Voter Suppression and Coronavirus. fair.org 
Media…
(2020-05-15). Andrea Circle Bear and six centuries of genocide. workers.org 
Andrea Circle Bear, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation near Eagle Butte, S.D., was the 29th federal inmate to die due to the coronavirus in Bureau of Prisons custody. She was sentenced to serve 26 months. Circle Bear was being held at Tripp County Jail in South Dakota up until . . . |
(2020-05-15). 'We were totally helpless': Russian woman jailed for SLAPPING 'abusive' Californian husband, mother tells RT. rt.com 
What looked like an intercontinental fairytale romance turned into a story of domestic violence, when a Russian woman was arrested for slapping the American husband her mother says abused her. | When she married a Californian man last year, 30-year-old Krasnodar native Alina Alipatova couldn't have imagined that the line between romance and fear could be crossed so fast. She met her future husband while holidaying in Miami and quickly fell in "big love" with him, the woman's mother, Elena Gertsog, told RT this week. | Once engaged, the happy couple spent two months at the Californian's house in San Luis Obispo…
(2020-05-15). Political Prisoners Teach-In: 'We got out because of the people'. workers.org 
These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the "U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners" webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Janet Africa On the Move! Happy . . . |
(2020-05-15). PDF download of May 14 issue. workers.org 
Download entire 12-page PDF here. Justice for Ahmaud Arbery. Kent State and Jackson State. Also: COVID‚Äë19: capitalism's end stage; workers resist. Editorial: Changing narrative in Michigan. World: China, Vietnam, Haiti, Ecuador. Tear down prisons: victory in PA; San Quentin caravan; No cages for migrants; Global prisons & white supremacy; Solidarity . . . |
(2020-05-15). Lancaster, Penn. mobilizes to save prisoners' lives amid COVID outbreak. liberationnews.org 
Members of Party for Socialism and Liberation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania recently initiated a campaign to demand action to protect the lives of incarcerated people.
(2020-05-15). Immigrant Rights Groups Call on Governors, Health Officials to Release People in Immigration Detention. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-05-15). In Spain, demands for ensuring safety of Basque political prisoners. peoplesdispatch.org Patxi Ruiz, a political prisoner belonging to the Basque ethnicity in Spain, started a hunger strike in the Murcia II prison where he is being held to protest harassment and threats by the jail authorities…
(2020-05-15). Prisons Are Using the Pandemic to Impose Lockdowns. commondreams.org New Jersey Department of Corrections. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-05-15_at_12.12.25_pm_1.png …
(2020-05-14). Israel Strips Financial Aid From Palestinian Prisoners, Leaving Them To Face COVID-19 Alone. therealnews.com 
Calls and visits are denied to many of Israel's Palestinian prisoners, leaving their fate in the pandemic unknown.
(2020-05-14). U.S. global prison model: white supremacy on display. workers.org 
The United States has institutionalized white supremacist violence at home and abroad through its use of police and prisons. This does not come as revelation, but as a call to action. Whether we examine photographs coming out of El Salvador's prisons, or surveillance software used by U.S. police and Immigration . . . |
(2020-05-14). Bay Area car caravan: Stop state executions by COVID-19! liberationnews.org 
More than 80 cars drove around San Quentin prison in Marin County, California on Sat. May .
(2020-05-14). Tense Calm in Montenegro After Day of Mass Protests. telesurenglish.net Montenegro was under a cloak of tense calm on Thursday, after mass protests in several cities, which were strongly repressed by the police and during which people were arrested and injured, including minors. | RELATED: | The origin of the situation was the detention of Orthodox Archbishop Joanikij and eight other clergymen who were saying mass in honor of Saint Vasilije Ostrovski on May 12, when thousands of people…
(2020-05-14). Myanmar army admits soldiers' interrogation of prisoners was not in accordance with law. peoplesdispatch.org In a rare admission of guilt, the Myanmar army admitted that its forces were involved in interrogation of detainees that was not in accordance with the law. A leaked video on Sunday showed detainees being assaulted…
(2020-05-14). There Is Only One Way to Prevent Mass Deaths in Prisons: Let Them Out. thenation.com There Is Only One Way to Prevent Mass Deaths in Prisons: Let Them Out…
(2020-05-15). Jailing people who use Covid-19 as bioweapon would be 'discrimination.' So better lock up everyone instead? rt.com 
Accidentally spreading Covid-19 is wanting grandma dead, say opponents of ending lockdowns. Yet activists now worry that proposed laws to punish those who threaten to spread it deliberately would discriminate against minorities. | A Florida man spat and coughed on a police officer responding to a domestic violence call, and faces up to five years in prison on a federal charge of biological weapons hoax (he was negative for Covid-19). Another man in Texas, who falsely claimed on Facebook that he paid someone to spread the virus at local grocery stores, was charged with the same thing. A Michigan man who wiped h…
(2020-05-13). Milwaukee: Cop involved in the death of Joel Acevedo has yet to be charged with a crime. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Three weeks ago, on the morning of April 19, an off-duty Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officer named Michael Mattioli was arrested for beating someone into an unresponsive state at a party hosted at his, the cop's, house on Milwaukee's South Side. Mattioli was booked at Milwaukee County Jail on tentative charges of first-degree reckless injury and strangulation. He was released on April 23 after posting the $50,000 cash bail. Mattioli was placed on administrative duties and formally suspended by MPD after his arrest. He has a court date set for June 10. | The victim, Joel Acevedo, died of the…
(2020-05-12). "Losing the Fabric of the City": COVID-19 Took Chicago Black Lives First & Exposed Structural Racism. democracynow.org 
We look at the coronavirus pandemic's disproportionate toll on African Americans through the story of Chicago's first 100 recorded deaths. A report by ProPublica found that 70 of the first 100 people to die were African American. Black people account for 30% of Chicago's population and 72% of COVID-19 deaths. We speak with ProPublica reporter Adriana Gallardo, who contributed to the report "COVID-19 Took Black Lives First. It Didn't Have To." She says the story paints a picture of "sophisticated structural racism" in Chicago.
(2020-05-12). Minneapolis vigil honors Carlos Ernesto Escobar-Mejia, first person to die of COVID-19 in ICE detention. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – After dark on Monday, May 11, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) held a candlelight vigil at the Minneapolis Federal Courthouse to remember Carlos Ernesto Escobar-Mejia. He is the first person reported to die of COVID-19 while in jail detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The speakers at the vigil called on people to remember Carlos and called on government officials to free all ICE detainees. | Because of COVID-19, all vigil participants wore a mask and maintained social distance. | During the vigil, Escobar-Mejia's name was also projected on a large wall o…
(2020-05-11). Headlines for May 11, 2020. democracynow.org COVID-19 Cases Mount as States Reopen Economies, NY Investigating Deaths of at Least 3 Children Linked to COVID-19, Bronx Hospital Investigating Nurse Who Shared Video of Medical Staff Speaking Out About Lack of PPE, Cheyenne River Sioux Defies South Dakota Order to Remove Coronavirus Checkpoints, Another COVID-19 Case Confirmed at White House as Barack Obama Blasts Trump's "Chaotic" Response, Hunger-Striking Immigrant Women Released from California Prison, U.S. Continues to Deport Haitian Immigrants, Including Those with COVID-19 Infections, WSJ: Trump Planning to Ban H-1B Visas, Three Prisoners Die at Chino Fac…
(2020-05-11). SPLC fights to keep children out of juvenile detention, other confined settings during pandemic. splcenter.org …
(2020-05-11). We Also Face a Pandemic of Racism. progressive.org COVID-19 sheds light on America's systemic oppression of people of color.
(2020-05-11). Doctors Speak Out About COVID 19 & The Violent Suppression Of Your Rights. thelastamericanvagabond.com The only question, is whether We The People have the courage to stand for what we know to be right, or if we will allow ourselves to be scared into passively accepting the "new normal," a locked down controlled society that was prepped for, planned out, and designed years ago. I for one, will never …
(2020-05-09). Women In Prisons Say They're Being Punished For Speaking Out About COVID-19 Risks. therealnews.com 
Women say they're being punished for contacting people outside about their living conditions. Activists are planning an action May 23 at Jessup Correctional Facility in response.
(2020-05-08). "A Lynch Mob": After Months of Inaction, 2 White Men Are Charged with Murder of Ahmaud Arbery in GA. democracynow.org 
The two white men caught on camera shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, were arrested and charged Thursday with murder. The arrests came two days after video of the attack in February was shared with the public, sparking widespread outrage. Today would have been Arbery's 26th birthday. We speak with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Arbery family and formerly represented Trayvon Martin.
(2020-05-08). Headlines for May 8, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Pass 75,000 as Trump Sidelines Top Medical Experts, Trump to Be Tested for Coronavirus Daily After Valet Tests Positive, Vigil at White House Honors 88 Who Died from "Trump's Abhorrent Failure to Protect Nurses", U.S. Unemployment Claims Soar to 33.3 Million Amid Pandemic | , Democrats Promise "Rooseveltian" Coronavirus Relief Bill | , Mitch McConnell Prioritizes Judicial Confirmations as Senate Returns Amid Pandemic | , Data Shows 35 of 40 People Arrested in NY for Social Distancing Violations Are Black | , Texas Stops Jailing Lockdown Violators; Nebraska Ends Reporting on Meat Plant COVI…
(2020-05-08). HIGH-FREQUENCY failure of combination antiretroviral therapy in paediatric HIV infection is associated with unmet maternal needs causing maternal NON-ADHERENCE. thelancet.com The success of early infant testing and cART initiation strategies is severely limited by subsequent cART non-adherence in HIV-infected children. Although there are practical challenges to administering paediatric cART formulations, these are overcome by mothers who themselves are cART-adherent. These findings point to the ongoing obligation to address the unmet needs of the mothers. Eliminating the particular barriers preventing adequate treatment for these vulnerable women and infants need to be prioritised in order to achieve durable suppression of viraemia on cART, let alone HIV cure/remission, in HIV-infecte…
(2020-05-07). Women In Prison Need More Than Cuomo's Order To Help Against COVID-19. therealnews.com 
Incarcerated women still face inadequate testing and an inability to self-isolate, and few will be helped by Cuomo's announcement releasing pregnant and elderly women.
(2020-05-07). How being a passenger almost put a man behind bars for life in Alabama. splcenter.org When Roberto Cruz dozed off in the passenger seat of a blue Jeep Cherokee on June 23, 2003, he had no idea that he'd end up in Alabama, let alone sentenced to life without parole in a prison there.
(2020-05-06). Ecuador's Moreno govt persecutes opponents as coronavirus catastrophe exposes its neoliberal war on public sector. thegrayzone.com Sentencing former President Rafael Correa and Jorge Glas to eight years in jail and barring them from public office for…
(2020-05-06). SPLC's Civil Rights Memorial Center publishes children's activity book online. splcenter.org …
(2020-05-05). Detainees put at high risk for COVID-19 at Madison, Wi., jail. liberationnews.org 
To protect them from COVID-19, incarcerated people must be freed.
(2020-05-04). Venezuela: 45 Killed in Guanare Prison Riot. venezuelanalysis.com The government pledged to investigate the May 1 riot, which it described as an attempted breakout.
(2020-04-29). [Correspondence] Preventing major outbreaks of COVID-19 in jails. thelancet.com Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections are now being found in jails throughout the USA. Conditions in jails are very conducive to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and social distancing is impossible. Therefore, there is widespread concern that there could be major outbreaks in jails and that jails could amplify transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in surrounding communities.