πŸ¦„ Prison

‘Let Me Pay My Taxes’ Says Incarcerated Industry Worker

From inside a Minnesota prison cell, an incarcerated worker in the state’s Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) is demanding the Department of Corrections (DOC) allow him to pay his taxes. Kashaun Pierce Sr. said for the last seven years he’s been trying to pay…

πŸ¦„ 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,…

πŸ¦„ Police, Prison

Killer Cop Kim Potter Hurriedly Released After 16 Months in Prison

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…

πŸ¦„ Prison, Protest & Direct Action

Prison Abolitionists Target Architectural Firm

St. Louis Park, MN – Red paint and posters reading “No new jails” were plastered on the door of architectural firm Klein McCarthy at the beginning of the work day on September 9. Responding to a nationwide call-out for #ShutEmDown2021 actions on the anniversary of…

πŸ¦„ Community, Prison

Midwest Connections: A Regional Fight For Abolition

A wave of prison abolition actions and demands have swept the United States every August since 1979 from inside the walls to outside. New groups in the Midwest such as Abolition Is a Practice and Community Not Cages (CNC) are carrying on the Black August…

πŸ¦„ COVID-19, Prison
Barbed wire fence surrounds Faribault prison in MN

COVID-19 Deaths in Minnesota Prisons Continue to Rise

Faribault, MN – At least eleven people in Minnesota state prisons have died from COVID-19 as of February 17, 2021. Nearly 4,000 inmates, or two out of every five prisoners, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Families and advocates of prisoners have consistently staged protests,…

πŸ¦„ Prison
Hardel Sherrell Nurse Whistleblower Cover Image

Whistleblowing RN Complaint Revealed Two Years After Death of Inmate

Sartell, MN – Complaints from a nurse surfaced during a recent investigation into Hardel Sherrell’s 2018 death in the Beltrami County Jail. The whistleblowing complaints of medical neglect, further findings, and a new Kare 11 investigation has led to the director of the Minnesota’s Department…

πŸ¦„ Police, Prison

Two Years Later: Protest at MN-BCA Seeks Justice for Hardel Sherrell

ST. PAUL, MN – 27-year-old Hardel Sherrell died in a cell in Minnesota’s Beltrami County Jail on Sept. 2, 2018. He died a tortuous death of medical neglect, suffering from an undiagnosed case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare condition that attacks the nervous system.

Family…

πŸ¦„ Prison

Delaware Vaughn Prison Revolt Trial Ends In Mixed Verdict

Wilmington, DE – The trial of three prisoners accused of involvement in a February 1, 2017 prisoner uprising at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center finished testimony and closing arguments last week. After a trial lasting about a month, jurors began deliberations on Friday, November…

πŸ¦„ Prison

MCF-Stillwater: Prison Officials Create “Humanitarian Crisis”

Stillwater, MN – Inmates are said to have had clothes “molding on their bodies” as the lockdown at Minnesota’s Stillwater state prison continues past the one-month mark. Conditions which Stillwater inmates have called a “humanitarian crisis” are among the reasons organizers have called for the…

πŸ¦„ Labor

Prison Slave Labor: A Driving Force in 2018 Prison Strike

Prison, USA – One of the primary demands of the 2018 nationwide prison strike is the abolition of prison slavery. The legal framework of the current system of prison slavery in America is upheld by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which allows for…