In MA, politicians & groups normally supportive of immigrants make exceptions for prisoners. "People are more willing to talk about banning a hypothetical 287(g) with a hypothetical police department than they are a real 287(g) with the MA Department of Correction." boltsmag.org/massachusett...

Update: the judge in the Stanford case has declared a mistrial, with jurors "hopelessly deadlocked" on both felony counts – a big embarrassment for the Santa Clara DA, who has already said he'll retry the case.

The most serious charges against pro-Palestine student protestors in the country have come from a Democratic DA in a blue state. In San Francisco & San Jose, prosecutors are using *felony conspiracy* charges to go after activists who aren't accused of any violence boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

Rarely used felony vandalism charges against Palestinian protestors.... filed by Calif. Dem prosecutors: boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

As we witness the punishment of protest across the US, a timely lesson from the Palestine US campus movement: at Stanford, student protesters were not only arrested and suspended from school, some were charged with *felonies* by the Santa Clara DA—a chilling escalation. boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

Bay Area prosecutors are continuing to pursue felony charges against pro-Palestine activists who staged sit-ins in 2024 @psfrench.bsky.social reports how the cases represent a notable escalation in punishment against nonviolent demonstrators boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

In the Bay Area, local prosecutors have charged student protesters who participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations with felony-level charges that critics are warning are setting a dangerous template for law enforcement responses. @psfrench.bsky.social reports on what's going on in this new piece:

New: Antifa unmasked a new generation of fascists in the Trump era. Now it's exposing ICE. "Predators don’t get anonymity." My latest for @us.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Citing fear of ICE, pregnant immigrants in Minnesota are -skipping prenatal care -requesting home births, even when not medically advised -going w/o adequate food Many are experiencing complications providers say can be stress-onset: diabetes, high blood pressure, and even water breaking early

The deputy who murdered Sonya Massey, Sean Grayson, was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday.

The federal judge overseeing Rikers has finally chosen someone to run NYC's jails, wresting control from the city - a former CIA officer and former head of Vermont Department of Corrections: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/n...

An officer said the dying woman said a black man attacked her - a claim disputed by several witnesses. Walker had an alibi: he was with his girlfriend, who was in labor. The PD homicide captain was a former KKK member; the DA "had overseen 20 wrongful convictions." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

Alaska's AG is pursuing felony cases w serious prison time vs. American Samoans who accidentally voted - elderly women with cancer, pregnant moms - despite widespread official confusion about the rules. Please read this beautiful & enraging @burness.bsky.social feature: boltsmag.org/prosecuted-f...

good point here: "By electing prosecutors less willing to confront police misconduct, two cities hit hard by ICE also found themselves with prosecutors less willing to stand up against ICE" slate.com/news-and-pol...

Horrifying story on many levels. Amazing reporting.

A week before Renee Good was killed, an off-duty ICE agent fatally shot Keith Porter in L.A. DHS called Porter an "active shooter," yet no one else was hurt. Porter's family says he was no threat. What really happened? Latest w/ @liborjany & @cbuch03 www.latimes.com/california/s...

extraordinary reporting from @burness.bsky.social please open it, and take some time when you can to read it

Eleven American Samoans in Alaska face serious prison time for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. Theirs is a wild story of colonialism, cops, “voter fraud” panic, small-town beef, and family. I spent months on this + am so glad to now be able to share it: boltsmag.org/prosecuted-f...

"Lia’s father and friends say she was a casualty, in part, of the argument over transgender women competing in women’s sports, and a broader national climate that has been unwelcoming, and often vicious, to all trans people." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...

. helped Bolts with @psfrench.bsky.social on the case of Chris Duncan www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Always read Victoria Law on prisons: truthout.org/articles/ice...

Chris is over halfway there! Sharing again in case anyone is trying to get rid of some $ before the end of the year...

The Massey Commission was established after Sonya Massey was killed by a sheriff's deputy in her own home. I followed along for 9 months as its members tried to enact real policing & mental health reforms – & grappled w/ the limits of these commissions to effect change: boltsmag.org/sonya-massey...

Just in: Florida's supreme court today has UPHELD a recent state law that enables juries to sentence someone to death nonunanimously. Bolts reported on FL's law a few years ago, amid huge concern that nonunanimous convictions have a high error rate, & are likelier to sideline Black jurors.

just what we need: fewer nurses

The Massey Commission was established after Sonya Massey was killed by a sheriff's deputy in her own home. I followed along for 9 months as its members tried to enact real policing & mental health reforms – & grappled w/ the limits of these commissions to effect change: boltsmag.org/sonya-massey...

We have never seen anything like this year. @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social attempts to list the many, many, many ways the Trump administration punished immigrants in 2025—and delighted in their cruelty. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Chris is over halfway there! Sharing again in case anyone is trying to get rid of some $ before the end of the year...

The police killing of Sonya Massey ignited protests throughout the country. In Illinois, a civilian commission met over the last year to debate changes—holding tense, difficult meetings. This story follows the commission for months—and captures just how agonizing these processes can be. NEW:

The Rikers crisis continues — a Brennan Center researcher on what he's hoping to see from Mamdani:

Sharing a verified gofundme to help Chris get back on his feet after over 30 years of wrongful incarceration: gofundme.com/f/help-chris... Chris has helped the people around him - on death row and off - in a lot of ways, and it would be very cool if he reached his goal in time for Christmas!

You can help Bolts continue to provide crucial coverage of local elections. Here's how: - Repost this = I donate $1. - Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1. - Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation. (Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)

People tend to associate law enforcement repression of black activism w/ the naked violence of Birmingham or the Panthers vs the FBI. That's not the whole story. I reviewed a new book abt local police surveillance of the civil rights movement for @newrepublic.com: newrepublic.com/article/2028...

After 30 years in prison and 25 years on Louisiana's death row, Chris Duncan walked out of Angola today a free man. "I'm cruising down a highway," he texted me. "Most glaring emotion is shock."

This is exactly why this piece is so important. The national conversation has largely flattened the effects of the VRA -- and it's potential demise -- to which party controls Congress. There's so much more to the VRA than that, and so much more on the line

Thrilled to share that Chris Duncan, whose conviction was vacated in April, was just granted bail today, after spending over 25 years on Louisiana's death row. It's so rare to get good news when you're covering capital punishment, but this is one very real light in the darkness

I'll say

A vote to sharply lower rent hikes for 1.5 million Los Angeles tenants caps years of wins for local activists and comes amid a national focus on affordability punctuated by Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

"ProPublica’s reporting debunks the idea of a ’Tren de Aragua complex' taken over by a horde of terrorists. We found no criminal convictions for 18 of the 21 Venezuelans we identified. Three of the men had been charged with offenses ... but in each case the charges were dropped."

This is so cool. I interviewed Calvin Duncan - exoneree, and now Orleans Parish Clerk of Court - back in 2023 about his work as a jailhouse lawyer for the folks on death row in Louisiana. I remember being really struck by his words:

I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte. ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018. We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:

a big runoff last night, in New Orleans: Calvin Duncan was exonerated after spending *28 years* in prison; he tried to get his own case records from the New Orleans city clerk—but the office dragged its feet. So Duncan ran to become city clerk himself, and yesterday ousted the incumbent.

In July, an ICE agent told Orgullosa Pitillo: self-deport or risk losing your children. She knew it wasn’t an empty threat: in 2018 she was one of 1000s of parents separated from their kids at the border. Now, Trump is coming for these families again. For @nymag.com : www.thecut.com/article/fami...

New data shows that the CCRB retroactively doctored public data for more than 10,000 misconduct allegations against NYPD officers. hellgatenyc.com/ccrb-whitewa...

This about knocked me flat: "However, I know the feeling of being at school and not being offered the same food as your friends, or being warned, “you don’t have any money left." Now, faces of all ages ask me: What will happen next? How will we afford to feed and clothe our families?"

New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

As the face of the “progressive prosecutor” movement steamrolls to a 3rd term, let me be the millionth person to note that when that movement loses elections it’s billed in national media as a crisis for the left, while the movement’s high points, of which there have been many, are largely ignored.

Former interim NYPD commissioner Tom Donlon described the NYPD as a criminal enterprise. How would it even be possible to reform an organization that’s rotten from the inside out? @awinston.bsky.social describes the mess Adams leaves in his wake.