"Its a good time to be an American born criminal." 28,000 federal law enforcement agents have been detailed to ICE for immigration efforts (including almost 1/2 of DEA agents and 1/3 of ATF agents). I spoke to @themarshallproject.org @journo-beth.bsky.social about the impact. t.co/xZieyefxc8

OK I often get weird press releases that are entirely unrelated to the journalism I do but this...is an entirely new level of WTAF.

Annals of "who wrote this press release and why did they send it to me": what is a "cozy mystery heroine"?

This is the second time a federal prison warden has denied my request to interview an incarcerated person because “the interview would probably cause serious unrest or disturb the good order of the institution.” How exactly a PHONE INTERVIEW would do this is bewildering to me.

So proud of my colleague @sho-walter.bsky.social on the publication today of her book, REHAB: AN AMERICAN SCANDAL, which the NY Times called "a remarkable journalistic feat." www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

a thing i simply cannot get over, as The Media collapses for i think the 5th time in my adult life, is what the fuck business the people who own these publications think they are in. shouldn’t the point be to just make enough money making the articles to make more articles

"We identified 100s of people who died in custody but weren’t listed..entire states that failed to report almost any deaths..The overwhelming majority of the records did not meet the Justice Department’s own minimum standards for accuracy and completeness." www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/07/d...

So proud to be friends with Dee Farmer and to see her life story documented so thoughtfully by @journo-beth.bsky.social !

Every lawyer (esp every jailhouse lawyer) knows Farmer v. Brennan, the case that set the standard by which officials can be held liable when they put prisoners in danger. Few know the woman who filed the case by hand from her prison cell. Meet Dee Farmer. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/17/f...

🔥 www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/26/s...

The wall of imprisoned journalists at the offices of @pressfreedom.bsky.social

Are you someone you love incarcerated (or formerly incarcerated) in BOP and feel some kind of way about this announcement? Are you a BOP employee with feelings about Josh Smith’s appointment? Reach out! Call/text 212-803-5273 or signal beth.93.

So sad to hear of the passing of Tom Robbins, a fierce investigative watchdog and a gracious, generous mentor to so many. He wrote and reported one of @themarshallproject.org's first major investigations, which led to system-wide changes at Attica prison. www.themarshallproject.org/staff/tom-ro...

This is Phaedra McLaughlin. In response to a Trump executive order, the Bureau of Prisons housed her in a men's prison. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/21/t...

After more than a year of hormone therapy, refills of Rebecca-James Meskill's medication suddenly stopped. When she asked a prison doctor about it, “he said to take it up with the White House.” www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/22/t...

On this day in 1961, a white mob of over 300 attacked Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in Montgomery, Alabama. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/20/o...

Earlier this week, a federal judge in New York ruled that she would appoint a “remediation manager” to run the Rikers Island jail, which despite 10 years of court oversight, “remains mired in dysfunction.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/nyregion/rikers-island-receiver-nyc.html

BREAKING: Federal judge in Vermont orders that Rumeysa Ozturk be released from detention "immediately" and on her own recognizance with no travel restrictions. More to come at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com

Slightly more seriously. It's crazy how the entire supposed constitutional theory of Trump 2.0 is that all power is vested in this single individual, down to every last tiny detail and whenever you ask him he's like "I have no idea; ask the lawyers"

Two years *before* Trump (and Musk) took office, journalism had already become one of the world’s most dangerous professions… And that’s why *every* day is #WorldPressFreedomDay

Happy World Press Freedom Day. The only people who deride a free press are people with something to hide.

TIL

What an image! Venezuelan men who narrowly avoided being imprisoned by Trump in El Salvador without trial (saved by the Supreme Court) spelled out an SOS to a @reuters.com camera drone observing the Bluebonnet ICE facility. 11 days ago, buses to the airport were turned around at the last second.

Anyone who wants a free press should read this. Reporters can now be jailed for protecting anonymous sources.

I feel like the takeaway here is that a single human being at a single moment in time was wearing jewelry that alone was worth multiple times more than what the average American earns in their entire lifetime. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

The sandwich from the Portuguese deli in Waltham MA that had a giant pile of diced vegetables marinated in some sort of herbed vinaigrette on a crusty baguette that was..omg. I grabbed that sandwich once while running an errand and have searched high and low for that deli again to no avail.

National Resource Center aimed at preventing sexual assault in prison loses all of its funding. The center's mission is "no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities," apparently. "Protecting American institutions from toxic DEI," the Trump administration says, is..more important.

That's the sound of prison officials in Texas running screaming into an emergency meeting.

SO TRUE. So moved by this beautiful essay. www.themarshallproject.org/2024/11/13/t...

"John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it." —President Andrew Jackson (supposedly)

“our fight was never just about us; it was about preserving the public’s sacred, constitutional right to critical information that journalists provide, just as our nation’s Founding Fathers intended.” mississippitoday.org/2025/04/04/a...

The American Federation of Government Employees late last night filed suit against the Trump administration over last week's executive order gutting union protections for a vast swath of government employees, including workers at federal prisons. www.courtlistener.com/docket/69842...

Many federal prison workers voted for Trump three times. Now he wants to gut their union. “We were voting on the fact that he was going to back law enforcement” @journo-beth.bsky.social & Christie Thompson @themarshallproject.org www.themarshallproject.org/2025/03/31/t...

Trump just abolished the Council of Prison Locals, the union that represents Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officers. CPL didn't endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 election but there is—or was—a TON of vocal support for Trump among BOP COs. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

it's spring and the goat-footed balloonMan whistles far and wee

The world is on fire and federal officials are going to court to make sure people wear a certain kind of underwear. www.courtlistener.com/docket/69717...

"When a sheriff..takes a man..in a prison van and transports him to confinement..this is our act. We have tolled the bell for him. & whether we like it or not, we have made him our collective responsibility. We are free to do something about him; he is not." —H. Blackmun www.oyez.org/cases/1979/7...

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Feeding incarcerated people has become big business as states & counties outsource food service operations. According to one market analysis, the industry was worth almost $3.2 billion in 2022 in the United States alone, and forecasted to keep growing. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/03/08/f...

"94% of incarcerated people surveyed said they did not receive enough food to feel full. More than 60% said they rarely or never had access to fresh vegetables." "They're just asking for food that's edible and that can keep them alive — it's a very basic request." @journo-beth.bsky.social

$20 at CVS. Pay in cash and make calls (to a reporter, say) that are totally untraceable. You can also take photos of documents or emails and text them. Just make sure to buy your minutes in cash too.

Another Texas bill that has no chance of passing, but its wild what the fringe is putting out there. Literally makes it "fraud" to be trans.

There's nothing on this table that anyone reading this probably doesn't already know, but let's just call it a reminder.

Enormous loss, wow

Confirmed—internal BOP memo we obtained said 6 trans women and 1 trans man who had not been named as plaintiffs were still slated for transfer. My source described Trump admin officials at DOJ as "relentlessly on this mission." www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/21/t...

BREAKING—A federal judge has ordered the federal prison system to STOP the transfers of 12 transgender women to men's prisons. The remaining 10 trans women housed in women's facilities but not named as plaintiffs in the suit are still at risk of transfer. www.courtlistener.com/docket/69593...