#Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Increasingly Using Consumer Protection Laws to Pursue #Political Targets
Paxton has repeatedly used #laws that are supposed to protect people from fraudulent or deceptive practices to pursue entities he disagrees with politically, including #hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and #LGBTQ+ groups.
I live near Bathurst jail. I used to live across the corner from it, but now we've moved about 10 minutes away.
While we lived across the corner I'd often see people released from the jail and start the 50 minute walk down to the station as they were just dumped back into society with less and less assistance or support in place. I'd often pop out the front door and ask of they wanted a lift, a number of times they'd say yes and I'd drive them down to the station (and once to Lithgow because he missed the train). People who do their time at Bathurst have been shipped in from all over the state, and are expected to just be able to get home again.
They also all carry their belongings in a clear plastic baggie the jail has given them, and everyone here knows if someone is carrying that bag they've just been released.. and a lot of people treat them like shit.
I started keeping a reusable shopping bag in my car to give them instead of using the clear baggie. Then I started stocking the bag with some essentials (masks, soap, socks, deodorant, snacks, drink, water, crossword book, pen, etc), so they might have a bit of comfort on their journey home.
Today I drove past the jail after dropping my housemate to work, and there was a guy standing at the bus stop with a clear baggie, so I asked if he wanted a lift to the station and gave him my jail bag.
He's excited to get home and see his dog after 16 months.
AN EXPERT ON CARCERAL VIOLENCE and the system’s cruel injustices to poor and minority youth tells the story of a tragedy that happened in his own extended family—the loss of a bright, caring teen to imprisonment and then a gang-related murder. A MINUS
A man serving 55 years has filed a motion to overturn his conviction, arguing that the state prosecuted him for giving a #gun to a drive-by shooter even though another man had already pleaded guilty to giving the same gun to the shooter.
As next week’s solar eclipse approaches, inmates at a New York state prison have filed a lawsuit over a lockdown that would keep them from witnessing the rare astronomical event. The six plaintiffs say the eclipse is a religious experience, and barring them from seeing it violates their constitutional right to practice their faith. Read more about the case from ABC News.
How little sleep is too little? A court has just sided with prisoners who claim they got less than four hours per night, ruling, “[N]ighttime prison conditions—namely the hallway lighting, heavy doors slamming, and prisoners yelling—further imperil inmates’ sleep prospects during this three-and-a-half-hour window.” Staff Writer Michelle Pitcher reports: https://www.texasobserver.org/criminal-justice-prison-sleep-tdcj-sleep-deprivation-lawsuit/
Proposed Wage Theft Legislation Would Strip Violators of Their Ability to Do Business in #NewYork
“We did not have the data to understand the scale of the issue in New York State until the ProPublica and Documented series came out last year,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos said.
Many have seen the scrolling wealth visual to try to capture just how absurd inequality and billionaires are. This graphic from the same folks depicts the absurdity that is the #MassIncarceration system in the US.
Want to see how the incarceration of black men today compares to China's Uygher population or the worst year's of Soviet Russia? Then take a quick scroll down statistics lane that ends with some just, low-cost solutions.