Earlier: The sound of electricity sizzling and crackling broke the silence. To me, it looked like the electric chair was officially back in the prisons.
https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

You won't be surprised at what Gaie Delap found in prison when she was recalled as the contractor couldn't fit a tag to her ankle (they eventually did allowing her out n license again).

But perhaps you will be shocked (as I was) by the callous disregard for female disabled prisoners health needs:

'one day a woman who had a colostomy asked for a new bag... [She] was given one of those little black plastic dog poo bags instead'

This inhumanity needs to stop.

#prison
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/23/just-stop-oil-protester-gaie-delap-78-returned-to-jail-as-no-tag-fitted-her-on-the-absurdities-of-her-treatment

A team of troops in black with combative shields and helmets blitzed into the shower area looking like servicemen in an army on the battlefield. The sound of electricity sizzling and crackling broke the silence. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

The #forprofit #prison company #GEOGroup has surged in value under #Trump. Investors are betting big on #immigration #detention. Its stock price doubled after Election Day.

But despite its soaring fortunes, the $4B company continues to resist having to pay detainees >$1 a day for cleaning facilities where the government has forced them to live.

#law #Slavery
https://www.propublica.org/article/geo-group-ice-detainees-wage

An ICE Contractor Is Worth Billions. It’s Still Fighting to Pay Detainees as Little as $1 a Day to Work
—

GEO Group, whose stock is valued at $4 billion, says that state minimum wage laws don’t apply to the cleaning services that it’s asked detained migrants to perform at facilities where they’re kept.
https://www.propublica.org/article/geo-group-ice-detainees-wage?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#ICYMI: A transgender prisoner held in solitary confinement reports on the growing usage of Tasers against the most vulnerable of the incarcerated in #Texas. https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

Dispatch from the inside: A prisoner in solitary watches as guards use Tasers on a naked, mentally-ill woman in a shower, and reflects on their increasingly brutal use in the #Texas correctional system. https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

“In solitary confinement, many prisoners suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and psychosis that are exacerbated by prolonged isolation. Those suffering from schizophrenia and other mental diseases are target practice for the Tasers on a daily basis.” https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

Death penalty update: On March 11, the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed David Wood’s execution. The court has not yet announced whether it will send the case back to the trial court to review the evidence of Wood’s innocence.
https://www.texasobserver.org/david-wood-execution-desert-killer/

[Vidéo] Répression : la stratégie de l'État pour produire toujours plus de délinquance

Philosophe, sociologue, théoricien, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie est un d’abord un empêcheur de penser en rond.
Son dernier ouvrage « Par delà le principe de répression » sous titré « dix leçons sur l’abolitionnisme pénal » en est une…
https://www.blast-info.fr/emissions/2025/repression-la-strategie-de-letat-pour-produire-toujours-plus-de-delinquance-Qhf7pfaDTe6b25ySKlGyXg #Justice #Police #Prison #Repression

“They were accusing me of every unsolved crime on the planet.”

Despite numerous oversights and concerns with his case highlighted by his attorneys, David Wood is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. https://www.texasobserver.org/david-wood-execution-desert-killer/

#DeathPenalty #CriminalJustice #politics #USpol #news #Texas #prison #HumanRights

This is Mahmoud Khalil. He graduated from a leadership program at Columbia University in December, and is still in university housing. He's married, and his wife is eight months pregnant. Mahmoud is passionate about education, and has had a variety of jobs involving education and disadvantaged youth. He's particularly interested in creating programs that help educate out-of-school youth in developing countries.

Mahmoud has a green card. He is a lawful, permanent resident of the United States. Remember that, it's going to be important in what's about to happen.
Last night (Saturday) as Mahmoud and his wife walked into their university-owned apartment building, two men in plain clothes slipped in the door behind them.

The men claimed they were ICE agents. They also claimed that they had a warrant for Mahmoud's arrest on their phone, and that his student visa was being revoked.
Reminder: Mahmoud has a green card. He's no longer on a student visa.
Mahmoud told them he had a green card, and his wife went up to their apartment to get it. When she returned, the agents, confused, made a phone call where the agents were told "we're revoking that too."
The agents refused to give Mahmoud's wife a reason why he was being detained. When Mahmoud's lawyer called, ICE refused to say why Mahmoud was being detained and that his "student visa was revoked." When the lawyer (again) pointed out that he had a green card, ICE representatives said that also would be revoked.

You may be wondering, "Hey, isn't it illegal for ICE to come onto private property -- the university -- without showing a warrant to the university for the arrest? Wouldn't the warrant necessarily say something about why he was being arrested?"

Great question. Columbia University has publicly said that ICE requires a warrant to enter non-public areas of campus (like housing), but also as of the moment has refused to answer whether ICE contacted them before slipping into the apartment building behind Mahmoud and his wife.
Meanwhile: Mahmoud has been sent to a for-profit prison in New Jersey with no official charges.

Nevertheless, we know why Mahmoud was arrested.

Mahmoud has been involved in peaceful protests at the university, asking that the school stop investing in weapons manufacturing and, in particular, that the school stop investing in companies that are helping to fund the killing of people in Gaza.

So, just to make this very clear and simple: A lawful, permanent resident of the United States has been arrested for exercising his freedom of speech.
The US government doesn't like some of his OPINIONS and so they have arrested him and are making plans to deport him.
Maybe you don't like Mahmoud's opinions. Maybe you don't agree with him. Fine. But the point is: the US government is arresting LEGAL IMMIGRANTS -- PEOPLE WITH GREEN CARDS -- for *exercising their freedom of speech*.

This is not the behavior of a nation that is the "land of the free and the home of the brave." It's an act of profound cowardice and an arbitrary and cruel exercise of power.

ETA: Mahmoud's wife, an American citizen, attempted to see him at the New Jersey facility today and has been told that he's not there. His lawyer says he may be as far away as Louisiana, but the point is this: he's now not only been "detained" without charges, but neither his wife nor his lawyer know where the US government is holding him.

Here is the petition:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-the-immediate-release-of-columbia-student-pro-palestine-advocate-mahmoud-khalil-from-dhs-detention?source=direct_link

Jailhouse snitch testimony is considered a red flag by many legal experts. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 256 people who have been exonerated of felonies in the United States since 1989 were convicted in a case using jailhouse informant testimony. Sixteen were from #Texas. https://www.texasobserver.org/david-wood-execution-desert-killer/