NEW: We filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff of #Etowah Co.
Last fall, following a peaceful protest outside the jail, the Sheriff retaliated & blocked volunteers from visiting men detained there.
This violates the free speech rights of community members:
freedomforimmigrants.org/news/2020/9/1/…
“Once again, the Etowah Co. Sheriff’s Office is trying to make visitor volunteers choose between their First Amendment rights & supporting people in immigration detention [...] This is not a choice the government can legally ask them to make,"
@ChristinaFialho
In terminating the Etowah Visitation Project, the Sheriff is not just trying to punish visitor volunteers and people detention, they are trying to send a message to all activists to stay silent.
This is contrary to the county’s and ICE’s stated commitment to transparency.
Visitor volunteers not only provide a connection to the outside world, they also play a vital role in documenting human rights abuses in ICE prisons
ICE can't block the First Amendment rights of activists in & out of detention just because they don't like what is made public
There have been at least 22 reported cases of #COVID19 at EDC.
We've heard from people detained there who say those w/symptoms have been sent to solitary confinement. Men sent to solitary report that the unit is filthy.
These are the types of abuses the Sheriff wants to hide
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