The Wren Collective's Jay Jenkins writes for TX on Fire about how school police in TX impair student learning and safety. Read and subscribe to TX on Fire: substack.com/home/post/p-... #letkidsbekids #justiceforall #schooltoprisonpipeline #texasonfire

The federal and state attacks on trans rights attack so many critical legal guardrails-- on privacy, liberty and jurisdiction, to name a few. The latest Wren Collective newsletter does a round up of what is happening. Link in comments. #transrights #wrencollective #justiceforall

A plea bargain from the TX AG's office is a reminder of how the TX politician outrage machine and scapegoating on crime only targets some TX prosecutors. Read more in Texas on Fire: wrenactiongroup.substack.com/p/what-we-ca... #texasonfire #communitysafety #criminaljustice

These attacks on the judiciary also undermine core democratic values like judicial independence and the separation of powers. Read the whole essay by Wren Collective executive Jessica Brand on our website from ABA Magazine: wrencollective.org/the-judiciar...

Read about how CA policymakers are grappling with the state's public defender workload crisis. This terrific piece by @calmatters.org cites the Wren Collective's research and staff.

The most recent Wren Collective newsletter puts the #scotus #Callais decision in context: part of a broader undoing of 20th century civil rights legislation and policy. read and subscribe here: defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/jim-and-ja...

Great piece in the LAT on last week's important victory in the CA Sup Ct for pretrial reform. The Wren Collective esp appreciates the connection between pretrial reform and needed public defense reform in CA. #publicdefense #justiceforallCA #pretrialreform

Wren Collective executive director Jessica Brand writes about the "new norm" of state and federal legislative and rhetorical attacks on the judiciary. In ABA's Criminal Justice magazine: www.americanbar.org/groups/crimi...

Join our Wren Collective briefing on FRIDAY, 5/8 @ 1CT/2CT to hear from the Minneapolis DA and City Council President on the FIGHT FOR MINNEAPOLIS: what happened and what is still happening; how they responded and what they've learned. REGISTER HERE: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Terrific reporting; and in the same week as the Chatrie argument. We at the Wren Collective covered mass surveillance and the evisceration of the 4th Amendment earlier this year. Read on: defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/the-assaul... #flockcameras #ALPRs #masssurveillance

Positive news alert! CA AB 2605 advances to Appropriations. The bill would require counties to report public defender caseload numbers, a significant step in tackling the state's caseload crisis. The Wren Collective full statement here: medium.com/@wrencollect...

Read today's Wren Collective newsletter about the expansion of criminal penalties for voting as part of federal and state efforts to suppress the franchise. Subscribe here: defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/coordinate...

Candace Mitchell of The Wren Collective writes a post-script to the Afroman case.

In this week’s Wren Collective newsletter we discuss the raft of Islamophobic action coming from the states— it’s dangerous rhetoric and goes well beyond rhetoric. open.substack.com/pub/defendin...

In this week’s Wren Collective newsletter we discuss the raft of Islamophobic action coming from the states— it’s dangerous rhetoric and goes well beyond rhetoric. open.substack.com/pub/defendin...

In this week’s Wren Collective newsletter we discuss the raft of Islamophobic action coming from the states— it’s dangerous rhetoric and goes well beyond rhetoric. open.substack.com/pub/defendin...

Writing for On The Sixth, the Wren Collective’s @ntbaszynski.bsky.social writes about Ohio’s “HB 741—another legislative attempt to reinforce a two-tiered system of justice, where your pretrial freedom is tied to the money in your pocket”

Parole, clemency, second look laws are safety valves to provide mercy and second chances. Today’s Wren Collective newsletter explores how they are underutilized and narrowing. #parole #secondlook #justiceforall

Today the Wren Collective launched wearesafety.info: a new website that documents the various ways that this administration is attacking public safety in order to obtain unearned power.

Rewatching Frederick Wiseman’s film Domestic Violence is an exercise in epistemic humility, writes Rebecca Silber of The Wren Collective #frederickwiseman #domesticviolence #wrencollective

April 1 @ 6pm: Community Over Cages and PAD Atlanta host Tale of the Jail-- centering the lived expertise of advocates fighting for human rights in Fulton County, GA. The Wren Collective is a proud participant in the Community Over Cages Coalition. #diversion #pretrialreform #FultonCounty

In this week's Democracy Under Attack, The Wren Collective looks at the Prairieland trial, FL's new domestic terrorism bill, and the many ways governments are trying to prosecute, investigate, and surveil its way out of opposition. defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/guilt-by-a...

The Trump Administration’s attacks on cities are part of a pattern of assault on local governance. The Wren Collective’s Jay Jenkins writes about recent preemption fights for Defending What Matters open.substack.com/pub/defendin...

Trump's SOTU last night contained a multitude of lies about the economy, crime, and immigrants. But he never once mentioned ICE or CBP. That silence is telling. 🧵 defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/what-trump...

In this week's newsletter, we look at the right's war on journalists and their willingness to use the criminal and civil rights system to suppress the truth. Read in this week's democracy under attack. defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/straight-o...

In Attacking Dallas and Its Budget Process, AG Paxton is no HERO open.substack.com/pub/wrenacti...

ICYMI: In Texas on Fire, Nikki Baszynski of The Wren Collective highlights how a new TX law is trying to end telehealth and medication abortion in the state. Subscribe here: wrenactiongroup.substack.com #wrencollective #reproductivehealth #texas

The Wren Collective is proud to be part of the Community Over Cages coalition fighting against the expansion and overcrowding at the Fulton County jail. This ACLU-GA report digs into the problems there and with proposed solutions for county leaders. #criminaljustice #jails #wrencollective

The Wren Collective's Jay Jenkins writes in Texas on Fire that Taylor Rehmet's victory in the SD-9 race last week is "the latest battle in Tarrant County’s war on the basic democratic rights of its citizens."

The scale of incarcerated people who are pregnant in local jails in Texas is shocking: more than 400 people per month across the state between Sept. and Nov. 2025. Amazing advocacy from the Texas Jail Project to keep our state focused on health, safety and transparency in our jails.

We at The Wren Collective are looking for a digital and design consultant. Please circulate widely. www.scribd.com/document/991...

The TX SD-9 Result Isn’t Shocking If You’ve Been Paying Attention open.substack.com/pub/wrenacti...

The Assault on Fourth Amendment Protections open.substack.com/pub/defendin...

There are too many heartbreaking stories to count as we watch DHS yank fathers, mothers, caretakers, and children off the street to meet quotas. But it's important we not look away, because every impacted person is worthy of our attention and outrage. wrenactiongroup.substack.com/p/trump-admi...

@angelajdavis.bsky.social writes about the attacks on progressive prosecutors and the implications for our democracy. Read more below ⬇️

Another exoneration in Texas, this time, in Travis County. Elections matter. www.kvue.com/article/news...

Willie's case is a perfect example of how absurd Ohio sentencing is. As it stands right now, he will serve more time for robbery than other people serve for murder. He will be 81 years old when he gets out of prison.

A family here legally tries to get medical care for their seven-year-old, and ICE wrests them away in front of the ER and sends them to Texas. Media must. stop. reporting. any claims that this is about safety. www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

What politicians mean when they support DHS's goal to deport 100 million people. Read and subscribe to Texas On Fire. wrenactiongroup.substack.com

The DA and County Commissioners' work won't undo this wrongful execution, but it mattered to the family and is critical to helping us understand how fallible our criminal justice system is. Hat's off to Dallas and the lawyers at @innocenceproject.bsky.social innocenceproject.org/news/tommy-l...

UPDATE from @stevenzetti.bsky.social: Last week, the Texas Observer revealed that James Rodden, the ICE lawyer with a white supremacist X account, was back trying cases in a Dallas courtroom. Now, a member of Congress wants Rodden to finally face consequences.

My latest investigation: Far from the border, a father and son met Border Patrol tactics. They haven’t seen each other since. www.ms.now/news/border-... Our full @ms.now documentary comes out tonight

In Minneapolis, attorneys report they have been denied access to clients detained at the Whipple Federal Building. The right to counsel is enshrined in the United States Constitution, but we now regularly see elected officials treat constitutional rights as gravel. abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-a...

This is a transparent attempt to create a pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act. One provision applies when a group of people "opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws." And when it's (allegedly) the state itself...

Last night, Wren's founder @jrbrand07.bsky.social spoke to @jesspish.bsky.social about Minneapolis, the Insurrection Act, and why using it now would be totally unprecedented (and why this was always the plan). defendingwhatmattersmost.substack.com/p/a-wren-con...

We are told Texas is a "freedom state," but every day we see officials trying to regulate what we read, what we believe, who we love, and how we use our bodies. Today, the Wren Action Group is launching a new Substack to fight back: Texas is on Fire. 🔥 🧵 wrenactiongroup.substack.com

CA spends 19x more on incarceration than public defense. It’s a bad investment: if a fraction of those resources were devoted to public defense on the front end, CA could save money and improve public safety on the back end. Tune in as Wren’s Josh Schwartz & Leon Parker chat w/ David Greenwald:

This weekend, NYTimes columnist Ross Douthat claimed that homicides started spiking in 2020 because of the George Floyd protests. John Roman thoroughly debunks this myth in his substack and it's an important read. open.substack.com/pub/johnkrom...

Violence prevention groups have helped dramatically reduce serious crime, especially in places like Philadelphia. The @PhillyInquirer documents how the DOJ is doing everything it can to make Philly less safe. www.inquirer.com/crime/philad...