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Look how hard it is for a prisoner to win a grievance over prison rules. “I went to the Commonwealth Court on a petition for review, sending evidence that staff lied and that my typewriter was damaged. I also submitted copies of a lawful petition to the court, paperwork from the grievance and appeals, commissary receipts, and dated writings showing the machine was indeed operating properly prior to the date of departure.” Prison Journalism Project
Elizabeth Holmes, without tears. “If the world of transparent grifts swirling outside the film’s frame is any indication, her sentence accomplishes nothing to deter other would-be fraudsters from chasing their own first billion. Even those predisposed toward a purely retributive theory of justice must think carefully about whether a decade behind bars is adequate punishment for defrauding the Murdochs, Krafts, and Waltons of the world.” BK Mag
The fight to be Texas’ next attorney general. “The GOP thinks Texans are looking for an ethical conservative who will pursue the same causes as Paxton, and the Dems are betting on widespread fatigue not just with Paxton personally, but with conservative culture-war politics. These visions may be miles apart politically, but as far as the polls are concerned, for now, they’re neck and neck.” The Atlantic
Immigration enforcement and AI: What could go wrong? “The impulse to call for a kill switch is natural; however, it wouldn’t work for automated immigration enforcement even if we agreed to build one. There is no single database, company, or program to shut down. There are many systems held by agencies and vendors; some contracts can end and some data feeds can be stopped, but the machine’s gears would grind on.” Lawfare
What the political prison tour misses. “That is what prison reform narratives often miss. They focus on the parts of prison that can be made palatable to outsiders: a classroom, a certificate, a coding project, a work program, a polished presentation. Those things matter. But they do not show what it means to live in a place where access to water, toilets, air, movement, and safety is granted or withheld at the whim of the institution itself.” Inquest
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Closing the gates to the kingdom. Since February, some formerly incarcerated Americans have needed an Electronic Travel Authorization, in addition to a U.S. passport, for travel to the United Kingdom. The documents aren’t easy to get. Rahsaan “New York” Thomas spent decades behind bars in California before his sentence was commuted. He says the new restrictions, which precluded a recent trip to the U.K., are unfair. “The ETA process doesn’t allow room for proof of transformation. It simply treats a serious criminal conviction as proof of unworthiness, even when your lived experiences have turned you into an asset to society,” laments Thomas in the latest installment of our “Life Inside” series.