News

By
Todd Ashker, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Luis Esquivel, George Franc, Richard Johnson, Paul Redd, Gabriel Reyes, George Ruiz, Danny Troxell
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November 2, 2015

Statement of Plaintiffs on Settlement of Ashker v. Governor of California

This settlement represents a monu­mental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of end­ing solitary confinement in California, and across the country. California’s agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affili­ation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action. This victory was achieved by the efforts of people in prison, their families and loved ones, lawyers, and outside supporters. Our...
By
Migrant Justice
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November 2, 2015

Ben & Jerry's Commits to Work with Vermont Dairy Workers to Adopt Milk with Dignity Program in Supply Chain

"Congratulations to everyone! We are a strong team. We have seen that we have a lot of power! By organizing and defining what we want we achieved this big step forward as workers. ¡Si Se Puede!" - Jessica Ramirez, Migrant Justice Farmworker Coordinating Committee If you haven’t heard already we reached an important agreement with Ben & Jerry’s on the evening before 17 Milk with...
By
Esther Yu-Hsi Lee
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November 2, 2015

Why Immigrant Detainees In California Just Launched A Hunger Strike

At least 20 male immigrants, mainly from Central America, began a hunger strike at an adult immigration detention facility in California on Friday night, according to the advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC). The hunger strike at the Adelanto Detention Facility is the fourth one launched by immigrant detainees across the nation in the past two weeks. The Adelanto Detention Facility...
By
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition
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November 2, 2015

Agreement Reached in Ashker v. Brown Ends Indeterminate Long-term Solitary Confinement in California, Among Other Gains for Prisoners

California prisoners locked in iso­lation achieved a groundbreaking legal victory in their ongoing struggle against the use of solitary confinement. A settlement was reached in the fed­eral class action suit Ashker v. Brown, originally filed in 2012, effectively ending indefinite long-term solitary confinement, and greatly limiting the prison administration’s ability to use the practice, widely seen as a form of torture. The lawsuit was brought...
By
T. Keung Hui
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October 29, 2015

Wake County Activists Draw Link to South Carolina Student-flipping Incident

UPDATE: A revised version of the press release was sent Thursday night titled “How Many WCPSS Students Have Been Victims of Abuse By SROs?” Local youth activists are trying to draw parallels between Wake County school resource officers and the case of a South Carolina sheriff’s deputy who flipped a disruptive black student out of her desk and tossed her across her math class floor...
By
Laura Gottesdiener
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October 19, 2015

When Energy Bills Skyrocketed, These Neighbors Banded Together to Keep the Lights On—And Won

On her street of clapboard houses in Poughkeepsie, New York, Donna West was the lady with no lights. “That’s how people on the block know me,” said West. “But I’m not hanging my head in shame—no, Lord.” Broad-shouldered and with a soft expression, West and her three children have been living in the dark for months. They charge their cell phones at the laundromat. West...
By
Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
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October 16, 2015

Editorial: Santa Fe’s Tale of Two Cities

The Chainbreaker Collective, the Santa Fe organization that has morphed from bicycle advocacy into a social justice group, and other members of Human Impact Partners have performed an important community service with their recent report that contrasts four Santa Fe neighborhoods based on income, demographics, public investment and history of, or potential for, gentrification. In one way, the report states what every Santa Fean already...
By
Cory Walsh
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October 13, 2015

Missoula Protesters: Abolish Columbus Day in Favor of Indigenous Peoples Day

To Kathleen Little Leaf, Columbus Day "as a whole encompasses racism." "The historical perspective of Columbus Day is horrible," said Little Leaf, an organizer with Indian People's Action. The grassroots statewide group led a protest of the federal holiday in Missoula on Monday, objecting to the celebration of the explorer and everything the day represents: the myth that a continent populated with millions of native...
By
Gila Lyons
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October 13, 2015

Mom Fights to Reform Our Prisons’ “Cruel” Treatment of Pregnant Women

“ Every person should be able to give birth with love in the room,” says Marisa Pizii, 38, co-director of programs at Massachusetts-based The Prison Birth Project (PBP) , and mother of three. “Birth is one of the most transformative experiences of any person’s life. We want to give women a chance to own that experience in a fully loving way,” she says. By this...
By
Beverly Bell
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October 11, 2015

Black Farmers’ Lives Matter: Defending African-American land and agriculture in the Deep South

The 2015 U.S. Food Sovereignty Prize goes to two organizations that are demonstrating just how much Black lives matter, as they defend their ancestral lands for community-controlled food production. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives , primarily African-American farmers across the deep South, shares the prize with the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras , Afro-indigenous farmers and fisher-people. The prize is being presented in Des Moines...

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