Tag: bail
‘We want Rikers closed and no new jails in its place!’
COVID-19 turned what were already inhumane conditions at Rikers Island, New York’s most notorious jail, into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Prisoners, activists, and legal advocates are demanding it be closed for good. For years, prisoners,…
The federal govt wants to steal from prisoners’ families | Rattling the Bars
Incarcerated people across the US could find their commissary funds depleted by a new proposed policy from the Bureau of Prisons to automatically deduct three quarters of all funds prisoners receive from loved ones on…
US Sentencing Commission could act to reduce prison time for thousands | RTB
On April 27, 2023, the United States Sentencing Commission submitted to Congress amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines that would recommend lower sentences for certain defendants. If these changes are applied retroactively, some 18,775 people…
48-year political prisoner reviews John Oliver’s report on solitary confinement | Rattling the Bars
The topic of solitary confinement was the focus of a recent episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on HBO. Thanks to the hard work of activists organizing against solitary confinement for decades, awareness of…
Cash bail is an abomination of justice | Rattling the Bars
While the underlying logic of the cash bail system in the US may sound convincing on paper, in practice it has become a means of denying justice to, and destroying the lives of, people who…
Addiction and prison in Alaska | Rattling the Bars
Mass incarceration as we know it today owes much of its existence to the political rationale created by the War on Drugs. Although proffered as a solution to the public health crisis of drug addiction,…