Georgia’s upcoming supreme court elections were already important to various democracy issues, but Callais has made them even more so. New in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/georgia-supr...

My story on Cook Co. prosecutor Eileen O'Neill Burke battling exonerated people who want declarations of their innocence. Tyrece Williams, freed after 20 years in prison, said he wants to give his certificate of innocence to his 4 kids, as an acknowledgment that what happened to them was wrong.

we're still looking for readers' questions to help our coverage around this week's catastrophic blow to the VRA also here's some helpful bg on how Black communities fighting for fair representation in the south have been bracing for this boltsmag.org/mississippi-... boltsmag.org/voting-right...

this is the latest in a powerful series by @danhinkel.bsky.social tracking how officials are weakening policies around innocence claims in the nation's wrongful conviction capital — just as yet another police abuse scandal builds around a former Chicago detective boltsmag.org/chicago-cook...

Cook Co prosecutors are trying to block nearly every exonerated person who is seeking a certificate of innocence, which can help w/ getting jobs, housing and modest state compensation More great digging by @injusticewatch.org on the changing approach to innocence claims by the new state's attny

Across the country, ICE is converting warehouses into immigrant detention centers. This story is a great look at how locals are using environmental regulations and land use restrictions to stop them. boltsmag.org/ice-warehous...

“Who would have the gall to file a lawsuit over someone’s decision like that and splash it all over the papers, except for someone who intends to further abuse?,” said Marc Hearron, senior counsel w/ @reprorights.org

I decided to write about at each & every one of the 32 states with supreme court elections this year. Why? On abortion, redistricting, death penalty, & more, these institutions & their elections remain so critical. So here's everything you need to know. NEW from me:

Virginia’s governor vetoed a bill that would’ve blocked prosecutors from forcing people to waive 4th Amend rights during plea deals @laurengill.bsky.social reports how some VA police depts turn these waivers into a sort of dragnet for warrantless searches boltsmag.org/virginia-fou...

Trans erasure is also voter suppression. New in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/kansas-trans...

I want to look back on this piece tonight as a hysterical overreaction. Because that will mean the peoples and the cultures of Iran will have survived.

My latest for @boltsmag.org PA Supreme Court Reins in Life Sentences for Felony Murder boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

Trump has surged large federal deployments to LA and Chicago, the 2nd and 3rd largest cities in the nation, but, while there have been arrests and operations here, not to its largest and most heavily immigrant, NYC. For @boltsmag.org, I took stock of local leaders' thinking around how to prepare

As the number of people in detention climb, so have the deaths: The 33 fatalities in 2025 were the most in a single year on record since the Department of Homeland Security started operating in March 2003. Reporting w/ Allison McCann and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/u...

Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a trio of bills protecting the state's immigrants. New Jersey is now the 10th state (and 4th in the past year) to pass legislation outlawing local law enforcement partnerships with ICE via the 287(g) program. boltsmag.org/new-jersey-i...

NEW: Virginia lawmakers just passed a bill that'd forbid sheriffs and local police from contracting with ICE, if ICE doesn't say it'll follow state laws and agree to let its agents be prosecuted. Everyone seems to agree that'd spell the end of ICE contracts in Virginia: boltsmag.org/virginia-bil...

Miliama Suli, matriarch of the American Samoan community of Whittier, Alaska, died this weekend. Through her last moments, even as she was sick and clearly soon to die, the state prosecuted Mili for alleged voting crimes. It’s a wild case and worth a few minutes of your time if you’re unfamiliar:

Houston’s mayor first said that city police don't cooperate with ICE. Then local reporting showed that they very much do. Now, he’s basically making it HPD policy to prolong detention and traffic stops when ICE requests it www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Remember, as Jared Polis argues that Tina Peters was punished too harshly, that this is how his Department of Corrections has treated everyday, non-famous prisoners: required labor for almost zero pay, and possible solitary confinement if you decline to work. Read this by @brycecovert.bsky.social:

A Texas woman spent 22 years of her life behind bars for a terrible crime she didn’t commit, finally was released & exonerated, but b/c the wrongful conviction destroyed her legal status, she’s now set to be deported. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social

I can’t stop thinking about Gustavo’s truck. He was pulled over on a road in Minneapolis, shackled by federal agents, and almost shipped more than 1,300 miles away — to El Paso. My hometown now echoes in every city seeing harsher immigration enforcement.

This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Another reporter arrested by ICE. Estefany Rodríguez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias and Univision 42 Nashville, faced death threats in Colombia, came to the U.S. legally and had applied for asylum. Now she is being sent back. Nashville Banner got the story nashvillebanner.com/2026/03/05/j...

our whole staff at Bolts worked together to tackle reader questions about local and state responses to the federal immigration dragnet. lots of info here: boltsmag.org/how-state-an...

one stunning down-ballot result in TX last night that folks might’ve missed was the ouster of Dallas’ two-term DA, John Creuzot, by Amber Givens, an embattled former judge who previously clashed w/ the DA in her court 

www.keranews.org/elections-20...

Chris's conviction was overturned & he's been out of Angola since November, but the state is *still* trying to reinstate his guilty verdict & death sentence. The family of the girl he was accused of killing now believes deeply in his innocence & has filed a remarkable amicus brief:

The Massachusetts Department of Correction has been fighting me for months, trying to withhold data about its collaboration with ICE. Yesterday, I won that fight, and obtained records showing that the state has transferred more than 2,000 people into ICE custody since 2009. A quick thread:

new: highlands reit, a small chicago-based real estate firm, is renting an empty prison it owns in colorado to ice and private prison giant geo group. highlands is part of a network of private contractors hoping to get a cut of the $45 billion allocated to warehouse immigrants through 2029.

Before Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders announced a megaprison a mile from his house, Colt Shelby hadn’t voted in 15 years. Now he says he won't miss another election. Ahead of Tuesday's special election, I took a look at how incarceration has become the race's biggest issue in a deeply red district.

NEW: Black voters in Mississippi are on the brink of a major victory — a federal judge ordered the state to redraw its state supreme court districts to ensure greater Black representation. But GOP lawmakers are dragging their feet for now, looking toward SCOTUS & its Callais order to "save" them:

survivors of domestic violence who are in prison for fighting back against an abuser have inspired and helped pass resentencing reforms in red and blue states in recent years. @pamelacolloff.bsky.social reports how opposition from prosecutors is still keeping them behind bars

Sarah Huckabee Sanders' plan to build a huge mega-prison in rural Arkansas has drawn major opposition, with some residents saying it's made them think differently about incarceration in the face of organizing. Now that's bleeding into a local election, as candidates vow to fight the governor. NEW:

Hidden in traffic cones & highway signs: CBP & DEA have built a covert license plate reader network across Arizona, some 130+ miles from the border, scanning every car on Tohono O'odham land. Read full story🔗🦂:

A majority of the 16 U.S. states under total Democratic control now ban 287(g) partnerships with ICE. Maryland and New Mexico just joined that list, following Maine in January. I wrote about this landscape and these new reforms in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/maryland-new...

After railing against narcoterrorists + deporting migrants w/no criminal record, President Trump pardoned the former Honduran president last year – then federal officials lifted his ICE hold & whisked him to the Waldorf Astoria My latest for @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/trum...

After @laurengill.bsky.social investigated how court fines and fees weigh heavily on indigent defendants in Iowa, even after their charges get dismissed, the state's supreme court ended the practice for dismissals. Now she reports on how prosecutors are trying to undo the decision

For @boltsmag.org, I wrote about the race to unseat Rep. Carla Cunningham in NC. After casting critical votes forcing cooperation with ICE, and backing other Republican legislation, the longtime Democratic lawmaker is facing a strong challenge in next month’s primary. boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

New in @dmagazine.bsky.social "In June 2025, DHS waived the original 12-hour limit on holding people at field offices, increasing it to 72 hours...between July and October 15, at least 336 people were held at the Dallas ICE field office for more than 72 hours." www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...

The email we sent out today celebrating our 4th birthday at @boltsmag.org ! 🎂🎂🎂🎂 mailchi.mp/boltsmag/fou... As I wrote later on: "Thank you for trusting us and reading us. It blows my mind every day that there are so many of you—and today your support feels very special indeed."

Massachusetts is the only state run by Democrats that still partners with ICE. I dug into this and found that it’s had profound and very troubling consequences: at least 164 people funneled straight from state prisons to ICE since 2023 alone. New in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/massachusett...

@ethanscorey.bsky.social and I have published a database of congressmembers who take money from GEO Group + CoreCivic. Find out if your reps have taken cash from the companies fueling ICE’s mass deportation efforts. Published in @theappeal.org + @inthesetimes.com. theappeal.org/ice-cold-cas...

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...

NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program. This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE. Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.

Experts have described Dilley as “a hellhole” and decried the lack of proper medical care. Court records claim food is filled with worms, and the water is undrinkable. As a result, reports have spread of children are hitting themselves in the face and wetting themselves long after potty-training.

In Minneapolis, for every story detailing the fallout of the federal crackdown, there are as many stories of people like Bri, a mom donating breastmilk for babies whose mothers are detained by ICE. Bri's story: 19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...

NEW: There are 2,400+ elections for DA & sheriff this year. These matter hugely to criminal justice & policing—including: *these are often officials who decide ICE collaboration.* So I took a dive into these 2,400+ races to identify early hotspots and battlegrounds. Read, & check out our maps:

NEW: I spoke with the Texas inmate who was put in solitary confinement after a GoFundMe for her sick prison cat went viral. While she's since been returned to regular housing, she and her longtime friend worry that more retaliation could be on the way. www.chron.com/culture/arti...

My latest for @boltsmag.org examines efforts to pass the MA Survivors Act, allowing abuse survivors to petition for resentencing (& release) or avoid lengthy/life prison sentences: boltsmag.org/massachusett...

New in @boltsmag.org: Virginia voters will decide this year whether to repeal the state's exceptionally harsh Jim Crow-era policy of banning anyone with any felony from voting for life. This will be the country's first statewide vote on felony disenfranchisement since 2020.

Here's an enraging story I wrote about today: A lady currently incarcerated in Texas has been taking care of a stray cat. It got sick. Her daughter started a fundraiser to pay for the vet. The prison now has put her in solitary confinement. thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/15/p...