Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) has received nearly 1,000 applications of wrongful incarceration to review but with only a couple paid staff and four grants in two years, impacted families complain about lengthy waits while the CRU say they lack capacity and funding. Created to…
With at least 69,000 different people being booked into Minnesota jails each year and about 17,500 Minnesota residents locked up in facilities, the state incarcerates a higher percentage of its people than almost any other so-called democracy on earth. According to the Prison Policy Initiative,…
Bartow County, GA — Over seven weeks after they were arrested while distributing fliers in a small suburb of Atlanta, Charley Tennenbaum continues to be held in the Bartow County Jail for actions they say are protected by the First Amendment.
On April 28, Charley…
Phnom Penh, Cambodia — The Cambodian labor movement received a major blow from their government on May 25 when a judge sentenced the leadership of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees at NagaWorld (LRSU) to prison.
LRSU launched a strike at NagaWorld, the…
DeKalb County, GA — Three Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers arrested Wednesday were awarded bond in DeKalb County Magistrate Court Friday afternoon.
Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were arrested in Atlanta on May 31 after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta Police Department…
Atlanta, GA — Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, three members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund were arrested during a raid by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Atlanta Police Department and charged with money laundering and charity fraud.
Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and…
Monica had been locked up in Dekalb County Jail for five days when guards entered her pod and called out her name. She was being released.
Like always, the other women in the pod started clapping and cheering, happy to see anyone freed. Monica got…
Magen-Nitzan Prison, Ramla, Israel — On his 87th day of hunger strike protesting administrative detention, Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, 45, was found unresponsive in Israel’s Magen-Nitzan Prison.
Later the same day — May 2, 2023 — political leaders, released prisoners, family members and prisoner’s rights…
Saint Paul, MN — Chief Judge Leonardo Castro denied defense attorney Earl Gray’s motions for acquittal and a new trial for convicted murderer Brian Kjellberg in a short Schwartz hearing on May 17. After appeasing the defense with the hearing over Gray calling the Black…
Minneapolis, MN – Since May 19, 2004, Marvin Haynes has been imprisoned for a Minneapolis murder despite no physical evidence and his claims of innocence. Haynes was only 16 when he was locked up. Now a grown man of 35-years-old, Haynes, his family and advocates…
Saint Paul, MN — In a motion hearing seeking a new trial for convicted murderer Brian Kjellberg, defense attorney Earl Gray called the Black foreman of the jury “racist” and was granted a Schwartz hearing by Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro. In late March, Kjellberg…
Bartow County, GA — More than 3 ½ months after Georgia State Patrol agents killed forest defender Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Esteban Paez Terán during a raid on the Weelaunee Forest, officials still refuse to name the officers responsible for their death or take any steps toward…
DeKalb County, GA — Two defendants arrested in March during a music festival against ‘Cop City’ were again denied bond Wednesday in DeKalb County Magistrate Court, while a third was granted $25,000 bond with conditions. The defendants, all of whom are facing domestic terrorism charges…
Minneapolis, MN — Almost a full three years after Minneapolis Police killed George Floyd, the final court case of the four officers involved is nearing an end after Tou Thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao remains in custody and faces…
Saint Paul, MN — On March 30, 2023, Brian Kjellberg was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder without intent for killing Arnell ‘AJ’ Stewart over a parking space near Kjellberg’s residence. But even before evidence shown in the trial indicated a racial motive,…
Hennepin County District Court, Minneapolis, Minnesota. September 2, 2005. The trial of Marvin Haynes began 12 days ago, just 15 ½ months after the murder of Randy Sherer at Jerry’s Flower Shop on the Northside of Minneapolis. Haynes, now 17, sits at the defense table…
Shakopee, MN — After serving sixteen months in Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee for fatally shooting unarmed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, former Brooklyn Center veteran police officer Kim Potter was released at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning.
Potter was convicted of first and second degree…
Minneapolis, MN — “We are asking for his immediate release!” Cynthia Haynes demanded passionately, calling for her brother’s release from prison while holding two signs – one read “Free Marvin Haynes Now,” the other, “Justice 4 Marvin Haynes.” As the case of Marvin Haynes starts…
Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine — Around 4,700 Palestinians are jailed in dire conditions in Israeli prisons with at least 866 of those prisoners being held indefinitely on ‘administrative detention’ without charges, trial or release date. Deaths inside Israeli prisons since 1967 have risen to 235,…
Atlanta, GA — Fifteen of the twenty-three people arrested and charged with domestic terrorism on March 5 are now out of jail. The nearly two dozen people were arrested during the South River Music Festival for their alleged involvement in the ongoing effort to stop…
Minneapolis, MN – When Officers Rollins and Smelter pulled up in front of Jerry’s Flower Shop on Sunday morning, May 16, 2004, they saw a woman run out the front door. She was screaming.
She told the officers that her brother was inside and that…
The story of Marvin Haynes is also the story of Harry Sherer — a 55-year-old man who lived a few blocks from his family’s flower shop who everyone called by his nickname, Randy. Most days, Randy walked to the shop to sit and talk to…
Saint Paul, MN – The trial of Brian Kjellberg, who was charged with 2nd degree murder for killing Arnell ‘AJ’ Stewart over a parking spot, begins late March. Unicorn Riot recently sat down with the Poet Laureate of San Francisco and cousin of Stewart, Tongo…
Grand Marais, MN – For the grisly murder of Ricky Balsimo, Robert Thomas West was found guilty on Feb. 8, 2023, of Accomplice After the Fact to Felony Murder in the 2nd degree and aiding an offender in dismembering and disposing of Balsimo’s dead body…
The Harris County Jail is the third-largest jail in the U.S. and the largest jail in Texas. Located in Houston, it also confines the most people with mental illness in the state. Despite its complicated history, the public is largely unaware of the myriad issues at the jail. This report covers how the massive backlog of felony cases and pretrial detention contribute to the deaths of dozens of detainees amid overcrowding, medical crises, and a lack of mental health services.
