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melanie newport

@melanienewport.bsky.social

5K followers 2.8K following 2.6K posts

US carceral and urban history, jail and policing, historiography. AAUP, abolition, working mom in CT, personal account. newsletter publisher, plz subscribe: https://carceral-history.ghost.io/

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 5d

new on @carceralhistory.bsky.social: an author's pitch from @pennpress.bsky.social author @caitlinrwiesner.bsky.social! carceral-history.ghost.io/authors-pitc...

author's pitch: Black Women’s Anti-Rape Activism during the War on Crime

"...community-based care was a necessary alternative to law enforcement’s coercive attempts to control rape"

carceral-history.ghost.io

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 13h

gonna write a whole second book on Notes app lol

melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 15h

after attending a conference, I have decided I need more time to write

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jj skolnik @modernistwitch.myatproto.social · 15h

look at this absolute robber baron

Tammi, yeah, that one. 2.1 @tammi.bsky.social · 19h

I found a 19th century Cat Villain!

A huge chonk of a fluffy cat sitting on a table near an open fire. The cat is cream and grey and appears to be shaped like a barrel in a fur coat. They are scowling fiercely with their moustache and bewhiskered ears apparently flowing back into the cold wind. There's a definite vibe that this villainous cat twirls their moustache as they evict orphans into the aforementioned blizzard and think Scrooge was an easy-going lightweight. They are magnificent.

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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 20h

another day of border patrol and ice terrorizing chicago—and of spontaneous community resistance.

they tear-gassed community members on a residential street in albany park. they pulled a gun on a rapid responder in rogers park.

they abducted people from alleys and parking lots and train stations.

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 3d

week 7, in a city under siege for 32 days and counting, and the students who are able to come to class despite the blitz are showing up like their lives depend on those 50 minutes of togetherness, poetry, and big questions

Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 3d

IDK, man. School started 2 weeks ago for us, and once again students remind me that they’re so curious and interested in the world and anxious to ask big questions. We hear that these questions are no longer useful or relevant, but wherever that’s coming from, it’s not what students believe.

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Sheryl Weikal and the colorful Parrotlegals @leftistlawyer.com · 21h

At least Henry Kissinger is still dead

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 22h

should have included a content warning

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 22h

responsibility centered management budgeting

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 23h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 23h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 1d

while that is true I the distinction between COs and cops is rather sacrosanct. LA county deputized the CO position in the 60s but that was a major exception to the rule

melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 1d

Are they giving them plenary powers or what

shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 1d

every time we’re out here we see new types of cops.

looks like the illinois department of correction’s tactical team is also here on site.

background: www.chicagoreporter.com/new-uniforms...

two cops in dark blue uniforms stand next to another cop wearing a blue polo

a close-up of one officer’s patch. it reads “tactical dept corrections. illinois sort.”

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 1d

it’s so funny trying to convey to people that a bunch of the people most important to me go to this conference and like, giving a paper is only part of the deal

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 1d

I have a cv like this. kind of amazing to move from chance getter to chance giver.

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Joshua Eaton @joshuaeaton.bsky.social · 1d

Ah, more info! Looks like this was the culmination of a full Eucharistic procession. bsky.app/profile/rich...

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 1d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

an experience I think about a lot: I was visiting a class in DC Jail shortly after Kim Kardashian visited and had brought in her camera team. I relayed critiques of her "performative", "virtue signalling" acts I had heard on the outside. the response was somewhere between a shrug and an eye roll

utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 2d

anyone else notice that the west took a turn for the worse once the concept of signaling one’s own social virtue became derogatory, almost as if cynically deriding all displays of charity and good will is indicative of a deeply cynical and nihilistic society capable of collaborating in genocide

larry @larrrrrry.bsky.social · 2d

her advocacy for Palestinians doesn't bother me nearly as much as she is so desperately doing all this as an actual act of transparent virtue signaling, to fill the absence she has in depth of character

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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 2d

The NYC Department of Correction is extremely serious about projecting an image of reform, lawfulness, and considered, sober judgment these days, so it has decided to rename its Lower Manhattan jail complex after... multiply disgraced criminal Bernie Kerik.

hellgatenyc.com/city-jail-na...

Adams Administration Quietly Renames the Tombs for Disgraced Criminal Bernard Kerik

The Lower Manhattan jail facility briefly bore Kerik's name once before, until he was convicted of corruption.

hellgatenyc.com

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Stephanie Kollmann @slkollmann.bsky.social · 2d

Federal judge: you will not stop reporters from being close enough to report

Sheriff Dart: Those rules are only for the feds. The only reporters WE recognize are the ones who sell our dog/pizza/chess stories

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Stephanie Kollmann @slkollmann.bsky.social · 2d

Not sure why Tom Dart is enforcing Broadview's arguably unconstitutional executive order but he and the State's Attorney are making some interesting choices these days regarding both immigration and protest of federal abuse

shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 3d

earlier this morning, cook county sheriff’s deputies kicked me and a couple other reporters who were standing by ourselves off a public sidewalk because it wasn’t “free speech” hours yet or something idk.

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 2d

listening to a paper from @nicjohnramos.bsky.social and y’all really need to pre-order his book!!! www.ucpress.edu/books/health...

Health as Property by Nic John Ramos - Paper

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

www.ucpress.edu

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 3d

lol in this environment nobody needs to explain why Portland is desirable. the number of people trying to leave the south right now!!

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Justin Randolph @randolphjustin.bsky.social · 4d

TOMORROW! hear how urban and rural histories of policing are DEEPLY connected. Friday, 3pm, Athenian

#UHA2025LA

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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 3d

Shout out to the journalists and historians of Chicago's policing practices and jails! At least one federal judge has read your stuff!

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 3d

Perry: "Chicago's history of strained policing community relations is extremely well documented, but also fairly nuanced. It's something I think state and local authorities understand extremely well, and it can be hard for federal authorities, and certainly those from Texas, to appreciate."

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 3d

simple, beautiful bystander intervention and genius way to make community values legible

Shannon Heffernan @shannonheffernan.bsky.social · 3d

Context for the whistles (though the above is about Rogers Park/Edgewater, not Little Village): blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/17/i...

In Little Village, Residents Are Blowing Actual Whistles To Warn Neighbors About ICE

Residents have equipped themselves with bright orange whistles amid ramped-up ICE arrests. "People could hear that noise, and if they don’t have legal status, go the other way," one immigrant advocate...

blockclubchicago.org

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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 3d

can’t wait to print this out for my office door

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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 3d

feds have been all over chicagoland today.

reports of people abducted from back of the yards, cicero, rogers park, hermosa, barrington, batavia, and bridgeview.

feds are out in force in aurora. not sharing video, but residents have likewise turned out in force—and they aren't happy.

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Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 3d

I’m not autistic, just a parent to an autistic kid w/ fairly significant support needs, but I personally find it very frustrating to see so many people fixated on preventing, reducing, or “curing” autism and neurodiversity instead of talking about inclusion + getting folks whatever support they need

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