Category: Prison
🦄 Prison
Be Their Voices Presser: ‘No More Jail Deaths!’
St. Paul, MN — Five years after losing her son Hardel Sherrell to medical malpractice and improper care while in a Minnesota jail, Del Shea Perry leads another protest against in-custody deaths. At least 15 people have died this year while inside Minnesota jails and…
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Family Seeks Answers Months After Cristian Rivera-Coba’s Death in Anoka County Jail
Anoka, MN — When Cristian Rivera-Coba died in the Anoka County Jail in July, no one provided answers as to how a beloved 22-year-old son, brother and uncle lost his life while in custody. Months later, his family and advocates are still seeking information about…
Report: Prisoners Strike at Oak Park Heights Canteen
Oak Park Heights, MN — Just days after prisoners at the Stillwater prison staged civil disobedience actions by refusing a staff lockdown, incarcerated workers at the nearby ‘level 5’ MCF-Oak Park Heights prison canteen have staged a work strike, according to activists who regularly stay…
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Prisoners Face Retaliation for Protest at MCF-Stillwater
Bayport, MN — Those incarcerated in the B East living unit at MCF-Stillwater are suffering retribution a week after over 100 prisoners practiced an act of civil disobedience by refusing to go to their cells for a staff-induced lockdown. An email sent to the media…
Civil Disobedience Inside Minnesota’s Stillwater Prison
In the midst of a near-record heat-streak, around 100 people incarcerated in Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater staged an act of civil disobedience by refusing to go back to their cells for a staff-induced lockdown on Sunday, Sept. 3. Men housed in B East expressed grievances over…
🦄 Prison
Hundreds Set to Launch Hunger Strike Inside Stewart Detention Center
Lumpkin, GA — Last weekend, hundreds of people detained at the Stewart Detention Center announced plans for a hunger strike in response to inedible food and inhumane conditions inside the notorious Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in rural southwest Georgia. Though detainees have continued…
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‘I Can’t Take This Shit No More’: Alabama Prisoner Takes a Stand
Content Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions of violence and photographs showing blood.
Bessemer, Alabama — At around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, August 13, Derrol Shaw took an opportunity to get free. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for murders he…
Indigenous Climate Activist Victor Puertas Remains in Custody Despite No Indictment
Lumpkin, GA — It has been almost five months since Victor Puertas was arrested at the South River Music Festival in DeKalb County, GA on March 5, and even though no evidence has been levied against him, he has been behind bars ever since. Throughout…
🦄 Prison
Limited Funds Stunt Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit — Families Want Expediency
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…
🦄 Prison
Minnesota Inmate Calls on DOC to ‘Value Us as Human’
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,…
‘Their Overreach is Sowing the Seeds of Their Undoing’: Forest Defender Speaks from Bartow County Jail
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…
Court Sentences Cambodian Union Leaders to Prison Amid Wave of Repression
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…
Atlanta Solidarity Fund Organizers Granted Bond
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…
Three Atlanta Activists Arrested, Home Raided Over Bail Fund
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…
‘Don’t Forget Us’: Forest Defenders Confront Horrors of Life in DeKalb County Jail
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…
Palestinian Khader Adnan Dies on Hunger Strike in Israeli Prison
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…
Judge Rejects White Vigilante’s Defense Motions Against Black Foreman, Sets Sentencing Date
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…
🦄 Prison
Rally Demands Marvin Haynes’ Release from 19 Years Wrongful Imprisonment
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…
Defense Attorney Earl Gray Says Black Foreman is ‘Racist’ After Guilty Verdict, Judge Grants New Hearing
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…
Three Face Felonies for Allegedly Flyering Near Home of One Georgia Trooper Tied to Killing of Forest Defender
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…
One Granted Bond, Two Denied Pretrial Release: Forest Defenders Appear for Preliminary Hearings
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…
Fourth Killer of George Floyd Found Guilty
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…
Guilty Verdict in Saint Paul Murder Trial of White Vigilante Not Enough, Says Victim’s Family
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,…
The Case of Marvin Haynes – Part Four: The Trials of Marvin Haynes
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…