New documents provided to Unicorn Riot have revealed that the state of Florida gave at least $558 million to private contractors last year to work on two immigrant detention centers — including the notorious ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Some of these contractors have been directly linked to…
A week after arresting three activists over protesting an ICE director who pastors in a church, federal agents made five additional arrests, this time targeting two journalists who covered the protest -- Georgia Fort and Don Lemon -- and three other participants.
Three activists in the Twin Cities were arrested by federal agents for protesting a church where the leader of the local ICE office is also a pastor.
Minneapolis, MN – Prisoners in Minnesota are earning less than a dollar an hour making products for Disney. That’s according to organizers and former inmates who gathered at a press conference in December to share what they’ve learned — or experienced firsthand — about the…
Alvarado, TX — On February 17, 2026, the trial of nine people connected to a July 4, 2025 protest outside Alvarado, Texas’s Prairieland immigration detention center begins. Daniel “Des” Rolando Sanchez Estrada wasn’t even at the protest — his wife was — but prosecutors have…
A decade after shooting five unarmed Black protesters in Minneapolis, white supremacist Allen "Lance" Scarsella is set to be released from his prison sentence on January 5, 2026.
Racketeering charges against 61 people indicted as co-conspirators in the Stop Cop City movement were dismissed yesterday, marking a significant victory for those facing prosecution in the years after the movement’s peak.
Over the past several months, an "aviation geek" in Minnesota who goes by ottergoose on reddit has been tracking, photographing, and posting his documentation of deportation flights online.
Bryan Hooper Sr. walked out of a Minnesota prison on Sept. 4 after 9,999 days of captivity for a murder he was wrongfully convicted of.
FCI McKean, PA — Anson Chi says he’s a political prisoner dealing with mail censorship, book bans, and misconduct by federal corrections officers. In a letter to Unicorn Riot, Chi provided prison bulletins, prison communications, and letters from his mother as proof of “how the…
Minneapolis, MN — Bryan Hooper, another wrongfully convicted Black man in Minnesota, is hoping to be freed from his life sentence after the state’s key trial witness recently admitted to the murder Hooper was convicted for. In late July, the perpetrator of the vicious 1998…
Minneapolis, MN — After fifteen and a half years in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, a fresh burst of hope has worked its way into the cell of Mahdi Ali. His legal team has filed an application with Hennepin County’s new…
Minneapolis, MN — Despite his pleas of innocence, Mahdi Ali was 15 when he was arrested and subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a 2010 triple murder in Minneapolis. Fifteen years later, a new grassroots campaign called The Coalition to Free Mahdi…
Chicago, IL — “I didn’t write this to become a hero. I wrote it because I got tired of watching officers break down and disappear.” Those are the words of Jabril Gushiniere, a sworn Cook County Sheriff Deputy working as a correctional officer at Chicago’s…
Minneapolis, MN — On February 25, 2025, the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee hosted a panel discussion on Ending Slavery in Minnesota led by Marcia Howard, President of the Federation of Teachers Local 59 and ex-prison labor workers.
According to panelists, an incarcerated worker makes…
Beltrami County, MN — Despite being recently charged with three felonies for her role in the 2018 in-custody death of Hardel Sherrell, Michelle Skroch remains free until her next court appearance with no bail needed unless she violates her terms of release. Skroch is the…
Two decades ago, Philip Vance’s life was set on the scales of justice. And found wanting. Convicted of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. A jury found him guilty on all three counts: second-degree intentional, first-degree intentional, and first-degree premeditated. In just eight…
Philip Vance is serving a life sentence for a 2002 murder in South St. Paul during a robbery of Sabreen’s Supermarket, but his supporters have long believed this was a false charge after hearing Vance’s pleas of innocence. After waiting more than three years since…
Aurora, CO — On Monday, longtime immigrant rights leader Jeanette Vizguerra was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers (ICE) and has been incarcerated at the for-profit GEO ICE Detention Center in Aurora since. Supporters of Vizguerra, including her children, have been rallying outside…
Bemidji, MN — Six and a half years after the torturous jail death of Hardel Sherrell, charges have been filed against Michelle Skroch, the director of nursing who was in charge of Sherrell’s care at Beltrami County Jail. Skroch was charged with second degree manslaughter…
Turtle Mountain Reservation — Leonard Peltier, 80, was released from federal custody on Feb. 18, 2025 after spending 49 years in prison for the murder of two federal agents in 1975. Peltier was found guilty by a jury for two counts of first-degree murder for…
MCF-Rush City, MN — Serving a life sentence for a deadly robbery in South St. Paul in 2002, Philip Vance has always insisted he is innocent. Since his conviction, he’s been exhausting all legal options to get another chance in court to prove he’s been…
