Brian Sonenstein

Brian Sonenstein is the publishing editor at Shadowproof and a columnist at Prison Protest.

Pundits Rewrite History to Defend Biden’s Record of Dog-Whistle Politics

Today’s centrist liberals wish to exclude the voices of those impacted by these policies just like they did in the 1990s. Maybe the times are not so different after all.

Kevin Gosztola
Brian Sonenstein
By Kevin Gosztola
And Brian Sonenstein
Pundits Defend Joe Biden Record of Dog-Whistle Politics Feature photo

An emerging defense of Joe Biden’s Democratic presidential campaign is that many of his questionable political acts occurred during a “different time.” When it comes to the 1994 “crime bill,” it is excused as a product of a time when the United States was more tolerant of racial injustice than it is today. Biden wrote the legislation that became

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Prisoners Are Facing Crackdowns for Speaking Publicly About National Strike

The severe disciplinary action is illustrative of the absurd lengths to which prison officials will go to prevent prisoners from speaking about the upcoming strike.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
National Prison Strike

Ohio prison officials revoked phone access for one year and suspended other privileges for an incarcerated activist, who spoke publicly in support of a nationwide prison protest scheduled to begin August 21. Siddique Abdullah Hasan has advocated prisoner resistance for decades from death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary, where he has lived

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Nationwide Prison Strike Begins in at Least Seventeen States

Ten demands were chosen for their broad appeal to incarcerated people being held in different contexts across the nation.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
prison strike

Incarcerated people in at least seventeen states are expected to protest from August 21 to September 9 for “humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, sentencing reform, and the end of modern day slavery.” Organizers told Shadowproof their demands don’t represent a full solution to the problems of incarceration. However, they are a

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The U.S. Has Been in the Business of Breaking Up Families For Years

ICE under Obama averaged 309,887 arrests per year from 2009-2012, while ICE under Trump averaged 139,553 in 2017.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
deportations

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein about a bill she introduced, which would prohibit the federal government from separating immigrant children from their families during arrests at ports of entry or within 100 miles of the border of the United States. As he asked his question, Tapper brought up a photo taken in 2014 of

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US Department of Agriculture Provided Over $277 Million for Local Jail Construction Since 1996

Counties in the state that received the most money from the program over the last 20 years collected $66.7 million in loans since 2005.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
The Harris County Jail houses more than 8,000 inmates at any given time. For three months last year, 17-year-old Lena was one of them. (Photo: Callie Richmond/The Texas Tribune)

The United States government provided over $277 million in funding for county jail construction since 1996, according to documents obtained by Shadowproof. The funding came in the form of grants and long-term low-interest loans through the Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program run by the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development

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Oklahoma Moves Forward with Execution by Nitrogen Gas Chamber

Oklahoma’s turn towards nitrogen hypoxia is a response to multiple horrific botched executions involving lethal injection in recent years.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
The gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla. (AP/Sue Ogrocki)

Oklahoma will execute prisoners using an experimental method never before attempted anywhere in the world: nitrogen hypoxia. Mike Hunter, the state’s attorney general, and Joe M. Allbaugh, the director of the department of corrections, announced Oklahoma will asphyxiate prisoners by locking them in a chamber that will fill with a physiologically

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Justice Department Has No Idea If Their Incarceration Alternatives Work

The Justice Department’s ignorance gives contractors an opening for more business without having to prove that their lucrative services actually provide the support needed to reduce recidivism.

Brian Sonenstein
By Brian Sonenstein
Razor wire at the maximum-security Mount Olive Correctional Center in Mount Olive, W.Va. (AP/Steve Helber)

The Justice Department is not evaluating the performance of pretrial diversion programs, residential re-entry centers, and home confinement, according to congressional testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Under President Barack Obama administration, the Justice Department sought to reduce booming federal prison populations

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