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Southern Poverty Law Center @splcenter
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
Alabama’s marijuana laws ensnare thousands of people each year in the criminal justice system, often for having no more than a few dollars worth or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. @AlaAppleseed splcenter.org/alabama-mariju…
Five Alabamians — Mary Thomas, Wesley Shelton, Kiasha Hughes, Michael Brooks & Nick Gibson — told us their stories. All 5 are African American, members of a group 4 times more likely than white people to be arrested for a marijuana offense.
Mary Thomas was arrested when a houseguest—who was also a police informant—spied recreational marijuana in her home. Officers took her money under AL's abusive civil asset forfeiture laws. As collateral consequences, she lost her driver's license & her cherished right to vote.
Wesley Shelton was arrested for having $10 worth of marijuana. He couldn't afford to post the $250 bond so he was jailed for more than 13 months while prosecutors waited for the underfunded, backlogged Alabama Dept. of Forensic Sciences to test the evidence in his case.
Police confiscated $547 from Kiasha Hughes' recently cashed paycheck when they arrested her for marijuana possession, derailing her career as a medical assistant. Now she makes $12/hour working overnight in a poultry plant & works a 2nd job to pay for overnight childcare.
Police knocked down the house where Michael Brooks lived with his mother, laying him on the floor with a gun to his head. He was arrested for having a few grams of marijuana in his room. He lost his high-paying job on an offshore oil rig when his court date moved several times.
Nick Gibson was on track to graduate from the University of Alabama when police raided his dorm, arresting him & dozens of other students for marijuana offenses. The ordeal cost his family $40,000 in court fees and legal costs — and he didn’t graduate.
Alabama’s marijuana laws are unnecessarily harsh & discriminatory. Numerous scientific studies have concluded that it's safe. States that have legalized it have earned billions in tax revenue. It's time to rethink AL's marijuana laws. @AlaAppleseed bit.ly/2yhk4WH
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Last year, we won a temporary stay of deportation for journalist Manuel Duran, who was arrested in Memphis in April, then detained & threatened with deportation.

This year, we'll keep fighting for immigrants in the Deep South. #SPLCWinterReadingList bit.ly/2Bb112a
Like so many others who have been deported or are detained & awaiting deportation, Manuel Duran would be in grave danger if her were deported from the US. splcenter.org/news/2018/12/1…
Law students volunteered with us to help defend our clients. "Immigration prisons exact an enormous emotional toll, & they make it nearly impossible for prisoners to find legal representation for their asylum cases," one wrote. splcenter.org/attention-on-d…
Read 5 tweets
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"Let me be clear: walls work and we have them we are stopping illegals from getting into our country.” — DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Let’s be clear: walls don’t work and no human is illegal.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA): How many children 17 years old or younger have died in DHS, ICE or CBP custody since you took office?

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: I will get back you.

That number should be 0.
"I'm not a liar. We've never had a policy of family separation." — DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

We represent parents who have been separated from their children. Secretary Nielsen's claims do not reflect the facts that we are seeing on the ground. bit.ly/2Ltf7iV
Read 4 tweets
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Peter Brown is a US citizen who was mistakenly detained by ICE after local sheriffs arrested him. We're suing. npr.org/2018/12/18/677…
In January, 17 Florida counties signed Basic Ordering Agreements, which compensate local sheriffs for their collaboration with ICE. Our lawsuit is the first to challenge a Florida sheriff for unlawfully detaining people at ICE’s request as part of a BOA. splcenter.org/news/2018/12/0…
Peter Brown was released from detention but as a result of the ordeal he lost his job and was unemployed. He also lives with the fear that he’ll be sent away from his family and friends. splcenter.org/seeking-justic…
Read 4 tweets

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Wow, that last #thread really took off. Let’s try another. I want to think with folks about how we can talk about #SurvivingRKelly outside the logic of the prison industrial complex.
Many of the people who responded to my last thread engaged in carceral logics saying some variation on “his ass should rot in jail” if not calls for his death. Are there other ways we can imagine justice, accountability and healing?
Prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba has said, as ppl raised w/ carceral logics it’s hard for us to imagine or desire alternatives. The #prisonindustrialcomplex has limited how we think about justice—even though other nations do things differently.
Read 13 tweets
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1. This, by @elibhager and @AnnaFlagg, on parents losing their parental rights while in prison, is an absolute must-read.

And absolutely infuriating. It bears stark, unflinching witness to the dehumanization that defines our criminal justice system.

themarshallproject.org/2018/12/03/how…
2. The core shocking point is this: parents in prison w no history of abuse, even for relatively short terms like 15 months, are more likely to lose their children permanently than those accused of physical or sexual abuse.

Prison for property crime is worse than sexual abuse.
3. Now, of course, many people tangled up in our criminal justice system suffer from drug abuse, mental health problems, homelessness, etc. That’s WHY they’re in the system, especially women, and especially mothers.

Family court is hard. But our approach remains appalling.
Read 9 tweets
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I've had enough of reading basically the same story year after year exposing the 'truth' about private prisons in the US. That the stories are sooo repetitive is annoying. That they repeat misleading or unfounded claims deceives & weakens the movement against prisons. 1/9
What are those deceptive tales? A) That donations from private prison corporations drive penal policy. Do they donate? Yes. Do they donate as much as unions of public sector prison workers or police? NO. Or have as much power to shape legislation as sheriffs or DAs? NO. 2/9
B) That because they are private, they are not transparent or lack oversight/accountability. I know people who've brought stories out of public prisons for decades. The violence routinely inflicted on incarcerated people is massively well documented. 3/9
Read 9 tweets
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(THREAD) Donald Trump and Secretary Nielsen are LYING about how our justice system works to justify tearing impoverished kids from their parents at the border. In this thread, a longtime criminal attorney explains how the system REALLY works. I hope you'll read and retweet this.
1/ The overwhelming majority of criminal cases in America involve accusations of non-violent acts (including allegations of property, drug, testimonial, and so-called "status" offenses). One of the *least serious* criminal allegations in the justice system is "criminal trespass."
2/ In America, someone is not a "criminal" simply because the government has accused them of a criminal offense. Convictions require a trial or plea. This is true whether or not the offense is non-violent. A person is *only* a "criminal" if they have been convicted of an offense.
Read 27 tweets
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Unpopular opinion (maybe):

That "What It's Like To Go Through Life As A Really Beautiful Women" piece could have been really good. Maybe not as an as-told-to, though.

Beauty privilege is a topic we need to discuss more.

A lot more.
The problem is that when a beautiful woman herself tries to discuss it, she's automatically accused of being self-involved and oblivious. And you know, people want to see pictures.

When a "regular" women tries to discuss is, she's accused of being jealous.
(And people want to see pictures of her to "prove" it.)

These reactions are damaging, even if they're well-intentioned. We *KNOW* conventionally attractive people go through life differently -- not always more easily, but yes, often that.
Read 10 tweets
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Vote #DougJonesForSenate #Alabama like your lives depend on it because it does! #FlipAlabama and be the change you seek. 🇺🇸 is counting on Alabama to #FlipItBlue and upset the GOP balance of power in the Senate. Yes it is THAT important! #GOTV and #RollTide
Doug Jones is Alabama's Democratic nominee for US Senate.
Follow him at @GDouglasJones.
DougJonesForSenate.com
Vote Dec 12
#DigDoug #TW
Hey #Alabama, mark your calendars! You have an important special election coming up on Tues. Dec. 12. #DigDoug #TW bit.ly/2oxVeP2
Read 28 tweets

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