We need your help!

The Appeal is working urgently to raise $75,000 to ensure we can make it to 2024. Due to a generous donor, every dollar will be matched, doubling your impact.

Please donate and help us spread the word! theappeal.org/donate/ We recently got news about an unexpected change in our funding schedule and our next grants land in March. Once we get there, we’ll be primed for growth and greater impact. But we need your help to make it! Can you help us build the bridge to 2024? theappeal.org/donate/

NEW from @SiljaJATalvi: A yearlong investigation into FCI Tallahassee, the federal women's prison where Ghislaine Maxwell is held, reveals a pervasive culture of sexual abuse, cover-up, and retaliation by staffers against prisoners. theappeal.org/fci-tallahasse… The accounts of incarcerated women stand in stark contrast to the recent tabloid coverage around Maxwell, which has portrayed the prison as a sort of “Club Fed”—a cushy facility where the most privileged can serve out shorter sentences in relative safety and comfort.

Hundreds of women have come forward to file cases alleging past sexual abuse by prison staff following the passage of New York's Adult Survivors Act. But the process carries much steeper risks for those who are still incarcerated, @mollyhagan_ reports. theappeal.org/new-york-adult… The Adult Survivors Act temporarily lifts the statute of limitations for filing sexual abuse lawsuits, meaning people can sue over older incidents. But imprisoned women must contend with threats of retaliation from prison staff, who have near-total control over their lives.

In 2019, a Phoenix cop shot Jacob Harris in the back as he ran away. His friends are the only ones who've been held responsible for his death, sentenced to decades in prison under Arizona's felony murder law. Read @megoconnor13's investigation. theappeal.org/phoenix-police… To uncover what really happened on the night of Harris's death, The Appeal reviewed more than 6,000 pages of records from official investigations into the shooting, the prosecution of Harris’s friends, and the civil suit his father, Roland Harris, filed against the city.

At San Quentin Prison, 94% of the population got the COVID-19 vaccine, believing it would get them back to normal. Instead, they've continued to face rolling pandemic lockdowns that have disrupted all aspects of life, writes Rashaan Thomas. theappeal.org/san-quentin-co… While incarcerated people like Thomas suffer amid this destabilization, officials are still repeating mistakes of the past: Buses have continued to deliver new arrivals from other prisons, and they are not isolated upon arrival unless they show symptoms.

With the release of new FBI crime data today, here are some important things @EthanSCorey thinks you should know:

1.) Crime data is often manipulated for political purposes, which has helped feed a profound disconnect in public perceptions of crime. theappeal.org/fbi-crime-data… The majority of Americans reported that they believe crime has increased nearly every year between 1990 and 2020, according to Gallup opinion polling. In reality, violent crime fell during all but seven of those years, and property crime fell during all but two.

The ACLU is calling for federal intervention at an LA jail after attorneys reported overcrowding, filthy conditions, and inhumane treatment of people with mental illness. Observers say some detainees have been chained to chairs for days on end. theappeal.org/los-angeles-ja… In response to the ACLU's court filing on Monday, Los Angeles County officials agreed that conditions inside the jail “have deteriorated dramatically in past months.” But as @elizabethweill reports, they are resisting calls for substantive change.

Facing extreme pandemic restrictions, incarcerated writers Nick Hacheney and Tomas Keen make a frustrated argument for a return to "prison warehousing."

"At least in a warehouse there is some attempt to preserve the value of the products on the shelf."

theappeal.org/covid-prisons-… Many people in prison "have now gone two years with little to no positive programming, separation from our families, and limitations on the simple things that make prison bearable," the authors write. "Mental health has deteriorated and tensions are reaching a breaking point."

State and local officials across the U.S. are gearing up for a new spending spree on police and prisons, and they have as much as $350 billion in federal pandemic aid at their disposal. @bdolinar72 reports on the fight for—and against—the proposals. theappeal.org/covid-funds-po… This money is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package intended to help the economy to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. But jurisdictions are now moving to use the funds to recruit police, weaponize SWAT teams, and build jails.

When facing a crisis, many California law enforcement agencies are turning to a PR firm called Cole Pro Media. The firm, owned by a former TV journalist, helps police deflect scrutiny and attract positive press. theappeal.org/cole-pro-media… Cole’s spinoff company, Critical Incident Videos, produces videos that add police narrative to body cam footage. Together, the firm’s services help police downplay bad news and craft responses designed to mitigate damaging revelations and excuse police use of force.

Giving Tuesday is here! If you haven't chipped in to support The Appeal, now is the best time to give. With your help, we can make major headway toward funding more vital journalism in 2022. theappeal.org/newsmatch-2021 As we look back on 2021, there are so many stories that remind us why we’re fighting to continue this work. Like most of you, we watched in shock in January as a crowd of Trump supporters and right-wing conspiracy theorists ransacked the US Capitol building.

A 58-year-old homeless man has spent more than 800 days on Rikers after stealing cold medicine. Now he's on the verge of being sent to state prison to serve a maximum 4-year sentence. Read @elizabethweill’s special report, in collaboration with @nysfocus theappeal.org/rikers-nyquil-… Reginald Randolph's case exposes how NY's approach to its most vulnerable residents is still defined by incarceration, not public health. As a result, people like Randolph are left to cycle in and out of incarceration, while they get sicker and more unstable.

St. Louis is voting for its mayor today. Tishaura Jones and Carla Spencer are vying for the office in a runoff that will shape the city’s future from policing to housing. The Appeal has covered the election’s historic stakes for months. Here’s what you should know: Two progressive candidates, Jones and Spencer, grabbed the two runoff spots back in March. The result was spurred by years of grassroots organizing, as activists have coalesced around concrete demands from closing a local jail to protecting tenants. theappeal.org/the-st-louis-m…

BREAKING: The Federal Bureau of Prisons will quarantine incarcerated people in every institution in their cells for 14 days to decrease the spread of the coronavirus. “This modification...is based on health concerns, not disruptive inmate behavior.” bop.gov/resources/news… During the lockdown, the BOP says incarcerated people will have access to facilities like laundry, showers, and other services “to the extent practicable.” politico.com/states/new-yor…

BREAKING: In a letter to President Trump, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren outline a plan for urgent executive action to reduce the federal prison population in light of COVID-19. pressley.house.gov/sites/pressley… "We have grave concerns that without urgent action it is just a matter of time before our nation’s correctional facilities and detention centers, and the detainees and correction officers who live and work in them, are devastated by this pandemic,” they write.

BREAKING: In a 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court rules that the family of a 15-year-old boy from Mexico killed by a Border Patrol agent in a cross-border shooting cannot sue for damages. supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf… Citing concerns about how allowing the boy's family to sue might affect foreign relations and national security, Justice Alito, writing for a five-member conservative majority, says “it is not our task” to arbitrate between the United States and Mexico.

Nearly 70,000 people in North Carolina could not vote in 2017 because of a state law that prohibits people from voting while on felony probation or post-release supervision, according to a new report released today from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (@SCSJ). 1/6 @scsj In NC, @SCSJ conducted a 100 county survey to determine how probation officers inform people about their voter ineligibility. The results suggest that many probationers likely do not know that they are not permitted to vote. 2/6

Recently @theappeal published the story of Brittany Smith who says she was brutally raped twice the night she killed the man responsible. She's now charged with murder & facing life in prison.

There are many women like Brittany Smith. theappeal.org/alabama-woman-… She is one of many women to survive physical & sexual violence only to be punished by the criminal legal system. @theappeal has told some of their stories.

Cyntoia Brown was 16 when she killed a 43-year-old man who picked her up for sex in self defense. theappeal.org/not-a-cardboar…

Last week, @nytimes published a few photos from more than 2,000 sent to @splcenter by someone identifying as a guard at an Alabama prison, deciding the majority were too horrific to publish. These are some of the photos @nytimes chose not to print. splinternews.com/the-leaked-pho… "I can’t help but wonder if the public knows just how bad these men are treated."

Person identifying themselves as prison guard in letter accompanying more than 2,000 photos from inside an Alabama prison sent to @splcenter.

theappeal.org/i-cant-help-bu…

Roland Bourgeois, Jr. faces sentencing in federal court for shooting three black men in New Orleans in the chaotic wake of Hurricane Katrina. Witnesses said Bourgeois held a shotgun and pledged to shoot anybody with skin “darker than a brown paper bag." tribtown.com/2019/02/14/us-… "Post-Katrina, White Vigilantes Shot African-Americans With Impunity." by @ACInvestigates propublica.org/article/post-k…

An Alabama prosecutor locked up four Black teens for a murder they didn’t commit. Now he’s trying two more for capital murder and it’s not clear they pulled the trigger. This is possible under the felony murder doctrine. theappeal.org/alabama-prosec… by @georgejoseph94 Darius Jacob Taylor wasn't even in the state of Pennsylvania when a robbery he was allegedly involved with ended in murder. But thanks to the felony murder rule, he's charged with criminal homicide and faces life imprisonment. theappeal.org/pennsylvania-m… by @Sentinel_Vaughn