brian nam-sonenstein
@bson.bsky.social
senior editor & researcher @prisonpolicy.org; 1/2 of @beyondprisons.bsky.social; fmr editor and founder shadowproof.com
Nobody is free until everybody is free
Nobody is free until everybody is free
90% of political discourse in 2025 involves navigating words like "identity" to engage material issues. bc they're burying in that term the understanding that theyd rather not defend/represent classes of ppl systematically made vulnerable, marginalized, & disposable in political/social/economic life
Speaking at a Texas Tribune Festival on Friday, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg criticized the Democratic Party for failing to reach everyday Americans, arguing that it “got sucked in” to a conversation about identity. #TribFest25
Pete Buttigieg critiques Democrats for focus on identity
The former U.S. transportation secretary said the Democratic Party should focus more on issues gripping the country, such as health care and housing affordability.
www.texastribune.org
November 14, 2025 at 6:12 PM
90% of political discourse in 2025 involves navigating words like "identity" to engage material issues. bc they're burying in that term the understanding that theyd rather not defend/represent classes of ppl systematically made vulnerable, marginalized, & disposable in political/social/economic life
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Yeah like, someone as evil as Maxwell shouldn’t get any preferential treatment in prison, but its incredibly bleak that “preferential treatment” includes “you are allowed to wipe your ass”
November 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Yeah like, someone as evil as Maxwell shouldn’t get any preferential treatment in prison, but its incredibly bleak that “preferential treatment” includes “you are allowed to wipe your ass”
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
This week, DHS claimed they were responsible for a "historic drop in crime" in Chicago, citing numbers but no sources.
@araceligomezaldana.bsky.social and I fact-checked that claim.
Our analysis shows the blitz had little impact on an ongoing decline in violent crime.
www.wbez.org/data/2025/11...
@araceligomezaldana.bsky.social and I fact-checked that claim.
Our analysis shows the blitz had little impact on an ongoing decline in violent crime.
www.wbez.org/data/2025/11...
November 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
This week, DHS claimed they were responsible for a "historic drop in crime" in Chicago, citing numbers but no sources.
@araceligomezaldana.bsky.social and I fact-checked that claim.
Our analysis shows the blitz had little impact on an ongoing decline in violent crime.
www.wbez.org/data/2025/11...
@araceligomezaldana.bsky.social and I fact-checked that claim.
Our analysis shows the blitz had little impact on an ongoing decline in violent crime.
www.wbez.org/data/2025/11...
i know we won't, but we have got to understand that a keystone of the republican project is to both categorize whole classes of people as criminal to justify locking them up, or to make them so broken and desperate that lawbreaking is all but certain to happen.
Justice Sam Alito was v disturbed yesterday by the mere possibility that judges might be using the federal compassionate release statute to *checks notes* grant incarcerated people's requests for compassionate release
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
Sam Alito Very Concerned About the Possibility of People Not Being In Prison For As Long As Possible
Interesting to which issues prompt judges to get worked up about other judges deciding cases in line with their personal ideological agendas.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
i know we won't, but we have got to understand that a keystone of the republican project is to both categorize whole classes of people as criminal to justify locking them up, or to make them so broken and desperate that lawbreaking is all but certain to happen.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Justice Sam Alito was v disturbed yesterday by the mere possibility that judges might be using the federal compassionate release statute to *checks notes* grant incarcerated people's requests for compassionate release
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
Sam Alito Very Concerned About the Possibility of People Not Being In Prison For As Long As Possible
Interesting to which issues prompt judges to get worked up about other judges deciding cases in line with their personal ideological agendas.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Justice Sam Alito was v disturbed yesterday by the mere possibility that judges might be using the federal compassionate release statute to *checks notes* grant incarcerated people's requests for compassionate release
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
The fastest growing group of incarcerated people are women -- while still numerically less than men, this country incarcerates more women (as a percent of pop) than anywhere else in the world. The focus on "country club" prisons is at least honest in admitting prison is forced suffering.
Apparently, Ghislaine Maxwell is living it up in prison with unlimited toilet paper. Here’s what we know about her alleged special privileges at her new federal prison camp in Texas.
Ghislaine Maxwell Is Living It Up With Unlimited Toilet Paper
What we know about the special privileges Epstein’s accomplice is reportedly receiving at her new federal prison camp in Texas.
nymag.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The fastest growing group of incarcerated people are women -- while still numerically less than men, this country incarcerates more women (as a percent of pop) than anywhere else in the world. The focus on "country club" prisons is at least honest in admitting prison is forced suffering.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
One difficulty with conversations about whether a person is experiencing prison as bad enough is rooted in subconscious emotional responses in which our brains find some satisfaction in a person getting punished "enough" for a thing they've done, but many people know there are disparities in this.
November 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM
One difficulty with conversations about whether a person is experiencing prison as bad enough is rooted in subconscious emotional responses in which our brains find some satisfaction in a person getting punished "enough" for a thing they've done, but many people know there are disparities in this.
do COs and wardens use their unfettered discretion and complete lack of oversight to bestow favors on some incarcerated people (and in some ways deputize them against other incarcerated people)? yes. is there such a thing as a "cushy prison" in the United States? absolutely not
November 14, 2025 at 2:48 PM
do COs and wardens use their unfettered discretion and complete lack of oversight to bestow favors on some incarcerated people (and in some ways deputize them against other incarcerated people)? yes. is there such a thing as a "cushy prison" in the United States? absolutely not
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
If this database is at all similar to California's, Pritzker is helping the regime prioritize kidnapping victims based on who their cousin is or what color shirt they happened to be wearing when they got pulled over for speeding.
Despite an Illinois law prohibiting data sharing agreements between state law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities, Illinois State Police is providing access to gang database info to DHS and has been doing so since 2024
✏️ @blairpaddock.bsky.social
✏️ @blairpaddock.bsky.social
Illinois State Police Keeps Data on Suspected Gang Members. ICE Has Access
According to agreements obtained by WTTW News, the Illinois State Police has shared data with ICE through its statewide computer system since 2008, including criminal history data and its gang member ...
news.wttw.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:17 AM
If this database is at all similar to California's, Pritzker is helping the regime prioritize kidnapping victims based on who their cousin is or what color shirt they happened to be wearing when they got pulled over for speeding.
Medicaid cuts imperil rural hospitals. Over 60% of ppl in prison are in rural areas. Their access to basic medical care is already borderline nonexistent. Putting nearest hospital further out of reach is a recipe for disaster for millions of incarcerated ppl.
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/10...
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/10...
Almost half of all incarcerated people are in rural jails and prisons and at risk of losing access to hospitals
The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the closure of many rural hospitals, leaving people in the surrounding communities — including ...
www.prisonpolicy.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Medicaid cuts imperil rural hospitals. Over 60% of ppl in prison are in rural areas. Their access to basic medical care is already borderline nonexistent. Putting nearest hospital further out of reach is a recipe for disaster for millions of incarcerated ppl.
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/10...
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/10...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Louisiana’s Medicaid program stopped covering trans care. So Trans Income Project stepped in to become the defacto “payer” for that care at one key clinic in the state. Today we hear how and why the project came to be:
In our latest, we speak with the director of Trans Income Project about their work providing material support to trans people in Louisiana and how they’re trying to fill the gaps created by the federal government’s attacks on trans coverage under Medicaid
soundcloud.com/deathpanel/a...
soundcloud.com/deathpanel/a...
An Oral History of Trans Income Project w/ Natalie Rupp (11/13/25)
To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Beatrice speaks with Natalie Rupp of Trans Income Project about their work providin
soundcloud.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Louisiana’s Medicaid program stopped covering trans care. So Trans Income Project stepped in to become the defacto “payer” for that care at one key clinic in the state. Today we hear how and why the project came to be:
Vika’s cake from today.
November 13, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Vika’s cake from today.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"He fears now not only being deported, but losing a foot."
Prisons, now matter what name they carry, public or private are death zones whether it be quick or slow.
Prisons, now matter what name they carry, public or private are death zones whether it be quick or slow.
"The diabetic father of two, who has lived in the Los Angeles area for 22 years, was detained and then quickly transferred to California’s biggest detention facility, where he’s been unable to get insulin regularly and now nurses a worsening hole in his foot."
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Why California's newest detention facility faces federal lawsuit over medical neglect and 'punitive' unsanitary conditions
At California City Detention Facility, immigrants file lawsuit over alleged 'shockingly deficient' medical care, frigid temperatures, bugs crawling on walls, sewage backups, inadequate food and water ...
www.latimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 PM
"He fears now not only being deported, but losing a foot."
Prisons, now matter what name they carry, public or private are death zones whether it be quick or slow.
Prisons, now matter what name they carry, public or private are death zones whether it be quick or slow.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
It's been 10 year since Jamar Clark was shot and killed in North Minneapolis. The uprising in 2020 is hard to imagine without the work of activists and people who showed up in 2015 to demand better and we're going to spend years grappling to understand the impacts of summer 2020's reckoning.
Nearly 10 years ago Jamar Clark, a Black man, was killed by two white Minneapolis police officers. In the years since, activism in Minneapolis and the nation has changed.
Outrage around Jamar Clark’s killing by police has rippled through the last decade
It’s been 10 years since a Minneapolis police officer shot Jamar Clark, an unarmed 24-year-old Black man, during a confrontation. The frustration, anger and highly visible demonstrations led to change...
www.mprnews.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:54 PM
It's been 10 year since Jamar Clark was shot and killed in North Minneapolis. The uprising in 2020 is hard to imagine without the work of activists and people who showed up in 2015 to demand better and we're going to spend years grappling to understand the impacts of summer 2020's reckoning.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Every time you type something bad about MSM, you should donate to independent news!
We have some absolutely w i l d stories in the works at @autonomynews.co. But investigative reporting is time-intensive, and time is money.
Subscribe, tip, buy merch, or make a tax-deductible donation today to keep our work paywall-free for all:
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Support Autonomy News
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Support our journalism and help comb...
www.autonomynews.co
November 13, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Every time you type something bad about MSM, you should donate to independent news!
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
US executions in 2025 may hit the highest rate since 2010, with Florida leading the nation; Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed 15 death warrants so far, in the state holding America’s second-largest death row population.
US Executions May Reach Their Highest Rate Since 2010. Florida Has Had the Most.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed 15 death warrants this year in the state with the second-largest death row population.
buff.ly
November 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
US executions in 2025 may hit the highest rate since 2010, with Florida leading the nation; Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed 15 death warrants so far, in the state holding America’s second-largest death row population.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
And people who go 'I'm for safe borders and orderly deportations, not violence and racism!' are kidding themselves, that's kind of like going 'I support the war but not the use of military force'
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 PM
And people who go 'I'm for safe borders and orderly deportations, not violence and racism!' are kidding themselves, that's kind of like going 'I support the war but not the use of military force'
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
The Trump Admin's shameful attacks on kids with disabilities are happening on every front: legislation (OBBB), regs, and RIFs. The Social Security Administration's new proposed rule to limit SSI eligibility is yet another example. 1/ firstfocus.org/update/recen...
Recent Actions by the Trump Administration Target Children with Disabilities
Proposed rules, reductions in force, threaten roughly 100,000 children who rely on Supplemental Security Income, plus others in need of support and
firstfocus.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The Trump Admin's shameful attacks on kids with disabilities are happening on every front: legislation (OBBB), regs, and RIFs. The Social Security Administration's new proposed rule to limit SSI eligibility is yet another example. 1/ firstfocus.org/update/recen...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"Three times a day, I see dozens of men race across the compound to the chow hall because not everyone in their unit will get to eat."
Not All Prisoners Get Fed Daily. Here, It Depends on How Fast You Can Run.
Three times a day, I see dozens of men race across the compound to the chow hall because not everyone in their unit will get to eat.
filtermag.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
"Three times a day, I see dozens of men race across the compound to the chow hall because not everyone in their unit will get to eat."
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
people have lived and died trying to create law enforcement that will protect them from violence instead of create violence, so i don't want to denigrate the hard work of many people. there is simply no data to suggest that electing Democrat sheriffs substantially changes policing.
November 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
people have lived and died trying to create law enforcement that will protect them from violence instead of create violence, so i don't want to denigrate the hard work of many people. there is simply no data to suggest that electing Democrat sheriffs substantially changes policing.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
one of my pet peeves is people who post about "the MSM stinks" etc but then don't want to be bothered to think about the fact that journalists also need to eat, have health insurance, and even wear shoes.
November 13, 2025 at 3:31 PM
one of my pet peeves is people who post about "the MSM stinks" etc but then don't want to be bothered to think about the fact that journalists also need to eat, have health insurance, and even wear shoes.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
here at the Paper of Record, when an open white supremacist leaks someone's college application in an attempt to imply he got unfair race-based special treatment, even though he was rejected, we know what to do: publish it immediately prospect.org/2025/07/09/2...
November 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
here at the Paper of Record, when an open white supremacist leaks someone's college application in an attempt to imply he got unfair race-based special treatment, even though he was rejected, we know what to do: publish it immediately prospect.org/2025/07/09/2...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Punished for... having a period?
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods
Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal ...
www.prisonpolicy.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Punished for... having a period?
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
In JeffCo/2021 they brought in this woman in distress over having been assaulted by officers. She kept screaming she needed a shower bc she was bleeding everywhere—& they not only denied her access, but they cut off the water to her cage/refused to give her menstrual products, in violation of CO law
Punished for... having a period?
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵
Menstruation as misconduct: How prisons punish people for having their periods
Our analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system — as well as accounts of incarcerated people — reveal ...
www.prisonpolicy.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:09 PM
In JeffCo/2021 they brought in this woman in distress over having been assaulted by officers. She kept screaming she needed a shower bc she was bleeding everywhere—& they not only denied her access, but they cut off the water to her cage/refused to give her menstrual products, in violation of CO law
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"Ping-ponging", "Diesel therapy",
PPI on the realities and brutalities of of prison transfer.
“You want to be in the hell you already know”
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/06...
PPI on the realities and brutalities of of prison transfer.
“You want to be in the hell you already know”
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/06...
“You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives
Moving people between prisons can improve their access to treatment, programs, and visitation — but transfers can also be deeply traumatizing, disruptive, and destabilizing. In ...
www.prisonpolicy.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:40 PM
"Ping-ponging", "Diesel therapy",
PPI on the realities and brutalities of of prison transfer.
“You want to be in the hell you already know”
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/06...
PPI on the realities and brutalities of of prison transfer.
“You want to be in the hell you already know”
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/06...