By Aviva Simon, UC Davis NLG Many of us at the UC Davis NLG Chapter were fortunate enough to attend the annual NLG conference held in Oakland last fall. We returned to Davis inspired by the speakers and fellow Guild members, and have put together a series of events to build on this momentum. This spring we […]
Category Archives: Guild Notes
Strengthened Court Surveillance Rules for NYPD Muslim Surveillance Program
Responding to public outrage at the disclosure of a “Muslim Surveillance Program” by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the NYPD agreed in court filings in early January to strengthen oversight of terrorism investigations thorough a series of amendments to the longstanding “Handschu” political surveillance guidelines. The court-ordered guidelines are rules to protect exercise […]
Q&A with Kris Hermes: RNCs, DNCs, and NSSEs—Oh My!
Drawing on first-hand experience and in-depth research, Former Mass Defense Coordinator and longtime Guild member Kris Hermes authored Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000 (PM Press, September 2015), which shows how the escalation of the National Security State was already being set in motion during the Republican National Convention protests (RNC) […]
Mississippi DOC Revives “Group Punishment”
By Charles D. Owens, II | Lakesville, MS The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), under the leadership of the new Commissioner Marshall Fisher, has revived the practice of group punishment. Under this revived practice, entire prisons re punished for an individual’s misconduct. Recent examples include an incident where a single inmate fought with a single guard […]
Chicago Community Bond Fund: Harm Reduction in a Prison Nation
By Sharlyn Grace and Max Suchan, NLG-Chicago On any given day, around 500,000 people in the United States are behind bars for one simple yet horrifying reason: they cannot afford bond. In Chicago, a determined group of mothers of pretrial detainees, community activists, and NLG lawyers and legal workers have worked since December 2014 to […]
Flint Inmates Forced to Drink Lead-Contaminated Water
By Shanna Merola, NLG Detroit and Michigan Chapter Legal Observer Coordinator On January 8th, Detroit activists called for a “solidarity road trip” from Detroit to Flint, Michigan to “Arrest Governor Snyder.” That evening, local residents and social justice groups from around the state converged on the front lawn of Flint’s City Hall to demand the […]
Prisoner Paralegals: Our Struggle to Find Justice
By Hunter Lee Weeks | Sterling, CO In prison, there are those of us who spend time, effort, and funds to acquire a formal education in law. Most of us have no education, while a few of us have Certificates of Paralegal Studies, and even fewer have degrees with legal emphasis. Our designated term of “Jailhouse […]
Inmate Advisory Counsel: A Cruel Hoax
By Rodney B. Barno | Corcoran, CA I was the Inmate Advisory Counsel (IAC) Chairman at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (CSATF) in Corcoran, California. My responsibility was to advocate for the population of my facility and for the IAC to be a vehicle of communication between the administration and population. When issues arise […]
The Flint River Lead Poisoning Catastrophe in Historical Perspective
By Tom Stephens, NLG Detroit and Michigan Chapter The facts of the Flint River lead poisoning are essentially undisputed. Enabled by Michigan’s unprecedented “emergency management” policies affecting primarily African-American cities, it’s a case of spectacular regulatory failure at all levels of government. The big remaining question is why has this disaster happened? Investigators have focused […]
Kentucky’s “Corruptional” System
By Christopher L. Young | La Grange, KY I am grateful to be a member of the NLG and a Guild Notes subscriber and looking forward to receiving the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook—I appreciate the chance to get my voice heard while beng a political prisoner incarcerated in Kentucky. This is why I’m committed to challenging and […]
