Staff(2020-04-21). Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside.truthout.orgImage Credit: AFSC — San Diego | We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are o…
Staff(2020-04-21). Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside.democracynow.org We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.
Betsey Piette(2020-04-21). Mumia Abu-Jamal supporters respond quickly to prison hoax.workers.org When a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokesperson callously claimed that Mumia Abu-Jamal was being hospitalized with COVID-19 at 5 p.m. on April 15, the news was shared worldwide in minutes. Supporters, who have been misled by DOC statements in the past, immediately flooded the institution with calls demanding confirmation from . . . |
Mark Gruenberg(2020-04-21). AFGE: Feds fail to protect 290,000 workers from coronavirus.peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—The top federal workers union, the Government Employees (AFGE), formally charged the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons, with endangering the health and safety of 290,000 workers by exposing them, without protection, to patients — and prisoners — suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Some 260,000 workers are in danger at the VA and …
Staff(2020-04-21). Trump Wants to Shield Companies Against COVID-19 Lawsuits From Sick Workers.truthout.orgPresident Donald Trump said during a press briefing Monday evening that his administration is aiming to shield corporations from legal responsibility for workers who contract the novel coronavirus on the job, a move that the Chamber of Commerce and right-wing advocacy groups are
The Canary(2020-04-21). Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's prison release extended.thecanary.coNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release from an Iranian jail has been extended by a month, according to her MP. | The British-Iranian mother has been freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. | Tulip Siddiq tweeted on Tuesday morning: "Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin's furlough has been extended for a month — in line with other prisoners in Iran." | The Labour MP added: "Now is the time for our government to do all it can to make it permanent." | Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin's furlough has been extended for a month — i…
Davide Mastracci(2020-04-21). Blame the Covid-19 failure on your governments, not on China.indybay.orgThe anti-Chinese narrative is based on false statements and serves to distract people from the failure of neoliberalism. Build hospitals and make health care universal! Cut military spending in half! Testing, not imprisonment, abuse and neglect!
Staff(2020-04-20). Headlines for April 20, 2020.democracynow.orgU.S. Fatalities Top 40,000; Nursing Homes Hit Hard as Death Tolls Soar | , Trump and Governors at Odds over Coronavirus Testing as Uneven Reopening of States Commences, Right-Wing Groups Organize Anti-Lockdown Protests Around the Country | , New Deal on Relief for Small Businesses Could Be Imminent But May Lack Key Democratic Provisions, Immigrant Prisoners at Otay Mesa Launch Hunger Strike, Denounce Inhumane Treatment | , Michael Cohen to Be Released from Federal Detention as Prisoners Nationwide Face Mounting Coronavirus Risk, Italy Records Lowest Daily Death Toll in a Week; Spain & France Also Show Signs of Pr…
Fight Back(2020-04-20). LA May Day car caravan protest set.fightbacknews.orgLos Angeles, CA – Luis Sifuentes, of the community group Cento CSO states, "Due to the pandemic and Stay At Home order in Los Angeles, Centro CSO is organizing this year's May Day as a car caravan through Boyle Heights with our demands: Jail killer cops, defend public education, and legalization for all – along with demands for hazard pay, better protections for workers in the front lines during this pandemic and expand COVID-19 testing in Black and brown communities." | The car protest will take place May 1, assembling before 4 p.m. on Chavez/Lorena at 5 Puntos, in Boyle Heights. | Event information here:…
The Canary(2020-04-19). Decision on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release delayed again.thecanary.co Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces another "deeply unsettling" couple of days as the wait continues to find out if her temporary release from a prison in Iran has been extended.The British-Iranian mother was temporarily freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.Zaghari-Ratcliffe's furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday 18 April.When her family had not received a decision by Saturday on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, they were told to return to the prosecutors office in Iran on 19 April — but have now bee…
Brian Terrell(2020-04-19). COVID-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normalcy.dissidentvoice.org "But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so …
Fight Back(2020-04-19). Interview with Charlotte Kates on COVID-19 threat in Israeli jails, fight to free Palestinian political prisoners.fightbacknews.orgFight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that all of our readers to support this important effort. | Fight Back!: How has the pandemic impacted Palestinian political prisoners? | Charlotte Kates: One of the major concerns has been the fact that Palestinian prisoners are essentially cut off from the outside world. Israel claims that its ban on family visits and legal visits are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they are…
Joe Piette(2020-04-18). Philadelphia failure to empty jails causes COVID-19 death.workers.orgThe 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 month . . . |
IMEMC & Agencies(2020-04-18). Hamas Offers Israel a Mediated Prisoner Swap Deal.imemc.orgPolitical Leader of the ruling Islamist Hamas party in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya, told the Alaraby Arabic TV channel, on Friday, that his party has four Israeli soldiers in captivity, and that the party is ready to indirectly negotiate over a possible prisoner swap deal with Israel. The leader of Hamas …
ACLU(2020-04-17). What it's Like in ICE Detention During a Pandemic.aclu.orgAs 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…
We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.
When a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokesperson callously claimed that Mumia Abu-Jamal was being hospitalized with COVID-19 at 5 p.m. on April 15, the news was shared worldwide in minutes. Supporters, who have been misled by DOC statements in the past, immediately flooded the institution with calls demanding confirmation from . . . | 
WASHINGTON—The top federal workers union, the Government Employees (AFGE), formally charged the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons, with endangering the health and safety of 290,000 workers by exposing them, without protection, to patients — and prisoners — suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Some 260,000 workers are in danger at the VA and …
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces another "deeply unsettling" couple of days as the wait continues to find out if her temporary release from a prison in Iran has been extended.The British-Iranian mother was temporarily freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.Zaghari-Ratcliffe's furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday 18 April.When her family had not received a decision by Saturday on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, they were told to return to the prosecutors office in Iran on 19 April — but have now bee…
"But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so …