People who go to prison keep one important right — to file a grievance over their treatment: from abuse to denied medical care. But in the vast majority of cases, those efforts go nowhere, according to an analysis of federal data by The Marshall Project and NPR. n.pr/4vgpFab

"About two-thirds of upcoming datacenters, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in places that have been among the driest in the country over the past year," writes @olliemilman.bsky.social

Really lovely piece by my colleague @bryanagraham.bsky.social, who watched Game 1 of the NBA finals with some of the men incarcerated on Riker’s island

Public health officials and jail experts said the unprecedented number of suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.

NYPD unions have insisted they have final say in disciplinary cases brought by the city’s civilian review board. In April, the city’s largest police union sued the civilian board twice over disputes involving public access to disciplinary records.

@lilianasegura.bsky.social and I had an exclusive sit-down with Richard Glossip just days after he was released. Check out our latest @theintercept.com

New this week: I wrote about how we have enough data for 2026 to say with pretty good confidence that 2026 will have the lowest murder rate ever recorded in the US, eclipsing the previous record low set way back in 2025. jasher.substack.com/p/2026-will-...

New York's legislature has passed a bill banning 287(g) agreements with ICE, @nysfocus.com reports: nysfocus.com/2026/05/22/h... If the bill is adopted, New York would be the 11th state with a 287(g) ban, and the 5th (NJ, MD, NM, ME) to enact a ban this year alone. @boltsmag.org map for reference:

Amin Abdullah, Nadir Awad and Mansour Kaziha distracted and delayed two gunmen at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Their actions saved the many children and staff inside the mosque and cost them their lives. n.pr/4uRJkwk

Dozens of court-appointed PA lawyers, assigned to help potentially wrongfully convicted people argue for their freedom, barely spoke to their clients and actively argued against their claims

In a piece for our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @dorfonlaw.bsky.social writes about the importance of thoughtful public funding for local journalism and expanding liability for fraud to improve the health of our information ecosystem.

“During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals.”

Close to half of Americans are strongly against artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in their area, according to a new poll.

As appeals courts split on the constitutionality of mandatory detention for millions of immigrants, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide the matter, Stateline reports. iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/05/13/r...

This essay is extraordinary; drop everything and read it. What a writer, what a person.

After months of organizing by advocates and incarcerated people, a high-level security staffer at NY’s maximum security women’s prison has been transferred to Sing Sing. I looked into it for @nysfocus.com

Biden-era funds to prop up public transit that floundered during Covid is running out and some cities have cut back on bus service. For people without cars, that puts them at even greater risk for food insecurity. My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Such a cool project!

“This would mean the world to me, because they took the world from me,” he said. “You are not free until you get that paper.”

The Trump administration reverses course and pulls funding for fentanyl test strips, baffling public health groups.

Such a well-deserved award for journalist Phillip Smith, who is reporting while incarcerated in North Carolina. He wrote 4 stories for @boltsmag.org in 2025, you may recall. One was how NC is rising the price of commissary items, pricing people out of basic goods: boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

At the Sacramento Bee, unionized journalists are withholding our bylines from McClatchy’s AI-generated “articles” in protest. According to a McClatchy corporate exec, non-unionized reporters will be forced to use their bylines. We stand against this initiative. gizmodo.com/newspaper-co...

Twenty-nine people have died in ICE custody since October, the start of the federal government's fiscal year, already surpassing 2004's toll of 28, the previous record, according to government data.

Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

Many incarcerated people approaching menopause are left to navigate these seismic physical shifts on their own, self-diagnosing and advising each other. For some, the lack of information and knowledge about menopause makes it difficult to even name what they’re experiencing.

Last summer, an incarcerated woman in Missouri had a hot flash while we were on the phone. Since then, I've been talking to people around the country about what it's like to go through perimenopause and menopause in prison. Here's the result, co-published by @themarshallproject.org and @19thnews.org

I tend to agree w people who say innocence cases are the low-hanging fruit of carceral reform, but it's remarkable - & deeply symptomatic - how far Louisiana officials will go to deny that these clear miscarriages of justice occur & even retaliate against their victims apnews.com/article/new-...

“There are many transgender people in Kansas … who won’t vote at all. They will just abstain from voting,” said Matthew Neumann, who directs the LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas boltsmag.org/kansas-trans...

One of our main goals at The 51st is to make D.C. an easier place to live. One way to do that is by explaining stuff that is otherwise confusing, mystifying, or intentionally opaque! What do you want to know more about? What can we help you understand? Let us know:

The intermittent work, productivity monitoring, and surplus of AI-vetted contractors means that workers are effectively always on call, often work overtime, and are paid for only the minutes they are typing. www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

Cops in Laredo were tired of Priscilla Villarreal reporting stories they did not like. In 2017, they arrested her for texting two questions to a source in the police department. She sued, but a lower court gave the cops qualified immunity. The Supreme Court rejected her appeal this week.

The Supreme Court refuses to review the 5th Circuit's extremely dubious ruling against Rodney Reed's request for a DNA test, which could prove the death row inmate's innocence. (There is a very good chance he is innocent!) All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

"In the first seven months of his second term, authorities arrested and detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children — a number that, if the pace held up, will have roughly doubled by now."

An upcoming ballot measure in Virginia would make it the 26th state to allow anyone who is not presently in prison to vote. Currently, people with any felony convictions lose their right to vote for life. boltsmag.org/virginia-con...

Ruth Asawa, "Spring," 1965 www.moma.org/collection/w...

Mamdani's promised $65m for gender affirming care doesn't appear to be in his preliminary budget. In my first for @prismreports.org, I explored why that might be, and what trans advocates and activists have to say about it. prismreports.org/2026/03/18/m...

“Social Circle has cut off water and sewer services at the warehouse-turned-detention center and put a lock on the water meter.”

Read this fine article about Texas prison bands then sign up for @mauricechammah.bsky.social's limited run newsletter on the topic. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/10/p...

Amid a crisis in the state’s prison system, the governor’s and legislature’s budget proposals differ, but largely lack major reforms. nysfocus.com/2026/03/10/c...

"The case was seen as a major test of the first amendment and whether the government could use a broad anti-terrorism statute to prosecute leftwing protesters. It marked the first time the government alleged individuals were part of an antifa terrorist cell in a criminal prosecution."

The data drops as Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on datacenter construction. 'We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.'

Significance: "It is a landmark case that tests both the limits of immunity for military contractors, as well as the ability of foreign citizens to pursue accountability in American courts for offenses that happened thousands of miles away."

The first state in the US to remove statutory protections for an entire class, gender identity, has just enacted a bill preventing local municipalities from having their own protections for trans people. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/p...

New Yorkers in six prisons shared their thoughts with me on how the CO’s strike continues to affect life inside, one year later, for @hellgatenyc.com

One year after the New York prison guard strike, it's incarcerated New Yorkers who are suffering from its lingering impacts. Read the stories of six New Yorkers locked up in state prisons: hellgatenyc.com/ny-prison-st...

I talked to @ncprnews.bsky.social about how the NY state correction officers' strike is still felt throughout the state's prisons, one year after it ended

My daughter reported that the ICE presence outside her school during recess last week involved ICE officers sitting IN AN ICE CREAM TRUCK. And this wasn't kids misinterpreting. We had an email from the school the day it happened; we just didn't get the ice cream detail in the email.

State legislators are calling for an investigation into conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, following my reporting on recent suicides at the maximum security women's prison

From Madyson Fitzgerald: As concerns grow over rising electricity prices and the environmental effects of data centers, some local and state officials want to halt new developments. https://stateline.org/2026/03/06/temporarily-banning-data-centers-draws-more-interest-from-state-local-officials/