This is far worse than anyone expected. Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps. All as mass internment camps are being built.

"Mark my words, one wrong step in this town’ll land you in a whole heap of social services."

So cool! Prince *loved* libraries. For example, this is one donation he made from his charity a few days after 9/11 to save the Louisville Free Public Library, the first library in the community to serve African Americans.

The Flex Loan, a new type of payday loan pioneered by Advance Financial in Tennessee, allows residents to borrow up to $4,000 at a 279.5% interest rate. It has burdened low-income borrowers while generating huge profits for lenders. (Published May with @tennesseelookout.com)

This has not gotten much attention, but it should. Virginia under Youngkin returned to an insanely harsh system where people convicted of any felony lose their voting rights FOR LIFE. Dems' win this week mean they'll get to advance a constitutional amendment to end lifetime disenfranchisement.

I wrote for @slate.com about a legendary (and violent) Tennessee sheriff who more likely than not murdered his wife and the people who want to keep him on a pedestal. slate.com/news-and-pol...

How and why did police in liberal democracies become militarized? Drawing on colonial history, our video of the week shows how methods honed during empire were imported into domestic policing through an “imperial boomerang.” Feat. @juliango.bsky.social at @aissr.bsky.social buff.ly/pFAv0pr

"The notices state that “Payment in full is due now” & list an array of potential consequences for failure to pay, including collection litigation & negative impacts on their immigration cases. Fines that aren’t paid in full will accrue interest." Children in detention can't work. And are CHILDREN.

I think Houston might actually have outdone NYC in terms of creativity in its puppy Halloween costume contest.

It’s worth noting that in the few months when the 2024 rules were active, most facilities & providers successfully implemented the rates without issue, saving incarcerated people and their families millions of dollars.

🚨NEW: The FCC has voted to raise calling rates for incarcerated people – a move that bends to the will of telecomm companies, jails and prisons, while saddling poor families with higher costs. Now, prices could hike as much as 83% 🧵

Just incredibly, unnecessarily cruel. And I’d be shocked if there wasn’t wanton corruption going on here, too.

Does spending thousands on gun range memberships or fitness trackers for jail staff really sound like it benefits the “general welfare” of incarcerated people? Prisons & jails across the US are abusing “inmate welfare funds” – and getting away with it:

stellan skarsgård seems like a good dude

Not only does Iowa impose some of the highest fees in the nation — affecting tens of thousands of people each year — it also charges poor people for legal aid even if they are acquitted or the cases against them are dropped.

Great post from @worthrises.bsky.social on how the "big beautiful bill" is showering public funds on the prison industry, supercharging profits and transforming detention and incarceration in America. #LegalPlunder worthrises.org/blogpost/202... @biancatylek.bsky.social @joshpage.bsky.social

Excellent report on asset seizures in Minnesota and Minneapolis #LegalPlunder minnesotareformer.com/2025/10/09/m...

From the companies profiting off the administration's dragnet to the hell of Alligator Alcatraz, our reporters trace the brutal rollout of President Donald Trump's police state. That includes the tiny, inexperienced firm that somehow landed a $1.3 billion detention deal to hold 5,000 human beings.

something i learned this week! mailchi.mp/boltsmag/new...

I've been writing about the war on drugs for more than 20 years. There are some cases that have stuck with me -- names that have never left my head. For the last couple years, I've been working with The Intercept on a podcast to tell their stories. It launches in a week.

Excited to read this! Thanks @joesoss.bsky.social & @joshuapage.bsky.social

So exhausting..

In prisons across the U.S., basics such as deodorant, shampoo, sneakers, thermal clothes for winter are often only available to people who can afford them. But earning enough in jobs behind bars is nearly impossible.

If they had a right-wing, “tough-on-crime” coded mayor there would be endless national profiles about him and how he finally brought sanity back to Chicago.

This is what is happening when the cameras are running

Thanks to Walter Pavlo & @forbes.com for highlighting my new report with @nacdl.org on the failures of criminal restitution. Rather than satisfactorily compensating crime victims, it enmeshes people owing restitution debt in the criminal legal system long past…1/2 www.forbes.com/sites/walter...

The California Sheriffs Association does not believe the incarcerated firefighters who helped save Los Angeles should be paid for their life saving labor. Despite our bill receiving bipartisan unanimous support in the legislature

"The state is just capitalizing on people who can’t really do anything about it." Time and time again, prisons & telecom companies have shown that they can get away with exploiting incarcerated people and their loved ones. oklahomawatch.org/2025/09/12/w...

Today, Andrew Bilodeau argues that traditional labor unions can and should bring incarcerated workers into the fold by including them in their organizing drives at fast food restaurants, factories, and other workplaces.

Thousands of people detained by ICE are actually held in local, publicly operated jails These facilities–run by elected sheriffs–are making money off of the incarceration of people who are mostly accused of no more serious offense than crossing the border without permission

Huge congrats to the workers of @teamsters.bsky.social Local 320 on their big win. Proof again that workers win when they stand together. Thanks too to @farmaid.org, Willie Nelson, farmers & community for supporting labor and holding firm. Proof again that standing in solidarity with workers works.

Please pay for your news and understand why paywalls exist, and also, maybe question why some news sources and comment operations are able to be free.

Enormous feature via @laurengill.bsky.social. Sharing to read later!

DHS announced that it will financially reward local law enforcement agencies that carry out its anti-immigrant agenda, effectively creating an incentive system in which the more people wanted by ICE that an agency abducts, the more money it stands to make. truthout.org/articles/tru...

👇 Indeed. Prison labor is FORCED labor. #LegalPlunder

Nearly 40% of incarcerated workers are paid *nothing* for their work. And the rest are paid at abysmally low wages. This is not a system built on "justice" for all.

NEW: Trump this week issued an order to withhold federal funds from cities & states that restrict the use of cash bail. Illinois has fully ended cash bail, & Chicago's public defender responds to Trump: 'this is tyranny 101." He explains why cash bail was a disaster. Well worth reading:

Excellent summary of this administration's moral vacuousness when it comes to crime. We must imprison every shoplifter and homeless person, but if you can flatter, donate to, socialize with, or do a favor for Trump -- or if you remind Trump of himself -- you can crime with impunity.

Just finished the intro to this book (Legal Plunder) and I can already tell it’s gonna be a good one. @joshpage.bsky.social & @joesoss.bsky.social are diving deep into how the government and businesses use policing, punishment, and immigrant detention to extract revenues from communities.

According to federal data, 13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rates have Republican governors. None of those cities are Chicago. 8 of the top 10 states in homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states are Illinois. And yet Trump is sending troops here.

What? This is super cool and super timely: on Monday, Trump signed EOs targeting jurisdictions curbing cash bail, a predatory CJ practice that makes billions for private industry but does nothing to increase safety or ensure court appearance. tinyurl.com/BailEO Glad you're running for office, Chris!

Thank you, @chriswarcraft.bsky.social!

Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show. Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force The journalist @radleybalko.bsky.social‬ explains the mechanisms Trump is using to create a personal army. open.spotify.com/episode/3OTs... youtu.be/UcTZ_en5FTM?...

Not that consistency or hypocrisy have any meaning any more, but . . . www.cnn.com/videos/polit...

This EO is a blatant effort to use "cash bail" to detain poor people. DC allows for pretrial detention. This EO would lead to detention of ppl that judges decide to release (often w/ non-financial conditions). If the Admin cared about crime, it would advocate for REDUCING pretrial detention.

In postponing this rule, the agency is delaying economic justice for millions of working families. The fight isn't over. The Martha Wright-Reed Act is the law, and complaints from prison profiteers & a small group of sheriffs won't change that. More 👇 www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/07...

Take a moment to read these words by death penalty attorney Kelley Henry, about the killing of her longtime client, 69-year-old Byron Black.

In the last six months, a gargantuan network of American prisons and jails has been redeployed to accomplish Trump’s immigration goals. Here's how the administration enlisted this criminal justice infrastructure to detain immigrants.

It's remarkable how much national crime and violence and murder debates go on with no grasp of the history of crime/violence in the USA. Deep South/Gulf coast states have always had highest murder/gun violence in the country. Always. In general the South has higher rates of crime/violence ....