Lauren Gill

He Almost Died From A Burst Appendix. A For-Profit Jail Medical Provider Dismissed It As Heartburn. A new lawsuit in York County, Pennsylvania, highlights a pattern of allegations of medical neglect by for-profit correctional healthcare company PrimeCare.

Willie Cunningham was detained at York County Prison when he began to experience excruciating abdominal pain. A nurse told him he had heartburn. It was appendicitis. “I believed in these people,” he told me. “I didn’t know I was dying.”
theappeal.org/york-county-...

this local election i posted about here is happening in 48 hours.

this one is less interesting for what the outcome will be (it's a Trump +50 district) than the fascinating rhetoric of the campaign (see below), but i'm still very interested in seeing how it ends up.

Opposition to Mega Prison Project Shapes a Local Election in Rural Arkansas - Bolts Incarceration has become a central issue in Western Arkansas, where the governor wants to build a new prison that has angered and mobilized residents.

Before Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders announced a megaprison a mile from his house, Colt Shelby hadn’t voted in 15 years.

Now he says he won't miss another election.

Ahead of Tuesday's special election, I took a look at how incarceration has become the race's biggest issue in a deeply red district.

In Iowa, Prosecutors Want to Bring Back Court Fees as Bargaining Chips - Bolts Iowa's high court recently ended the practice of making defendants pay fees for charges that get dismissed. Prosecutors are backing legislation to undo the court’s ruling so they can keep using fees a...

In Jan, the Iowa Supreme Court said prosecutors could no longer make defendants pay court costs in exchange for dismissals.

Now prosecutors are backing legislation to bring back that practice & it could leave poor Iowans with debt that could haunt them for decades.

boltsmag.org/iowa-court-f...

@ethanscorey.bsky.social and I have published a database of congressmembers who received donations from ICE profiteers GEO Group, CoreCivic, and Management and Training Corporation. Look up your reps at @inthesetimes.com + @theappeal.org. inthesetimes.com/article/ice-....

He will be doing whatever he can to be in his boys' lives!

That's wild! Crazy how we can find these things out

The sweet little rescue dog in question :

Just got a notification via doggie DNA testing that my sweet little rescue dog Sandy — adopted last year after he was displaced by the LA wildfires — is a FATHER to two boys: DaVinci and Hank. I may never recover.

Massachusetts Could Be the Next State to Give Abuse Survivors a Pathway Out of Prison - Bolts The Massachusetts Survivors Act emulates recent resentencing reforms across the country that allow for reduced sentences for people with convictions related to their abuse.

My latest for @boltsmag.org examines efforts to pass the MA Survivors Act, allowing abuse survivors to petition for resentencing (& release) or avoid lengthy/life prison sentences: boltsmag.org/massachusett...

On His Way Out, New Jersey Governor Vetoes Legislation to Bar Local Assistance to ICE - Bolts Phil Murphy killed a bill that'd have codified in law restrictions on how sheriffs and police can partner with ICE. Some restrictions remain in place, for now, via an attorney general directive.

In one of his final moves before leaving office today, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed bills aimed at protecting immigrants out of fear it would invite legal challenges from the Trump admin.

Immigrant advocates decried the decision: "ICE is already here, kidnapping people."
boltsmag.org/new-jersey-g...

The ruling allows Florida to continue with the lowest standard for the death penalty in the nation, requiring just 8 out of 12 jurors to agree on death.

A Police Killing Drew National Protests. At Home, a Commission Struggles with How to Make a Difference.  - Bolts Part I: “I’m going to still try” On July 6, 2024, the morning after Sonya Massey was murdered by a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, a local citizen journalist named Calvin... Read More

The Massey Commission was established after Sonya Massey was killed by a sheriff's deputy in her own home. I followed along for 9 months as its members tried to enact real policing & mental health reforms – & grappled w/ the limits of these commissions to effect change: boltsmag.org/sonya-massey...

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Why does my dog look like he’s about to deliver a lecture on 17th century literature lol

North Carolina Prison Officials Raise Prices for Those Who Can Least Afford It - Bolts It’s 4:30 pm on a Monday as Colell Steele stands in front of the closed canteen window at Neuse Correctional, a medium-custody prison in North Carolina. He’s lined up to... Read More

NC prison officials say “shifting economic conditions” forced them to raise their markup on basic goods like food, drinks, batteries to run radios, etc

Phill Smith, who’s incarcerated there, reports on the impact of the price hike and how prisons squeeze revenue from those who can least afford it

Death Row Prisoners Granted Clemency by Biden Brace for "Living Hell" Under Trump - Bolts Trump officials are retaliating by imposing the harshest conditions in the entire federal prison system, including near total isolation.

After Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row last year, the Trump administration is retaliating by sending them to the supermax. Prisoners are locked in cells smaller than a parking space 22-24 hours a day.

One prisoner told me he fears he won't make it out alive.

My latest:

Texas Almost Executed a Man Based on “Junk Science.” His Ordeal Isn’t Over. Robert Roberson, who was nearly killed due to the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” theory, is still at risk.

Over 20 years ago, Robert Roberson was convicted based on the debunked Shaken Baby Syndrome hypothesis and sentenced to death. Now, the lead detective on his case, Brian Wharton, is fighting to save his life. New for @thenation.com. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Tremane Wood Spared From Execution In Shocking Decision His case marks only the second time Gov. Kevin Stitt has commuted a death sentence since entering office in 2019.

BREAKING: Tremane Wood, who was moments away from being executed for a killing his brother admitted to committing, received a last minute clemency grant from Gov. Kevin Stitt www.huffpost.com/entry/treman...

Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship - Bolts Advocates want to promptly codify the limits on immigration enforcement put in place by the outgoing governor. Mikie Sherill, Tuesday’s winner, has declined to say if she'd continue them.

Incoming NJ governor Mikie Sherrill hasn't said whether she'll uphold a state policy limiting law enforcement cooperation w/ ICE. Advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation to preserve & expand protections for NJ's 2.2 million immigrants before she takes office.

boltsmag.org/immigration-...

After justices warned of prolonged suffocation, Alabama subjected Anthony Boyd to the longest nitrogen execution in U.S. history. Boyd was the chairman of Project Hope, a death row-led nonprofit. Its members are left reeling in the wake of their leader's suffocation execution.

"At 5:50, correctional officers opened the curtains of the death chamber to begin the state’s grim orchestration. Before those curtains would close about 37 minutes later, Boyd would gasp for air inside the gas mask more than 225 times."

www.treadbylee.com/p/after-just...

Justice Sotomayor with a graphic dissent as the Supreme Court allows Alabama to move forward with the execution of Anthony Boyd by lethal gas:

Hope in the House of Death Alabama is scheduled to attempt the gas execution of Anthony Boyd. Those living on the state's death row find it hard to anticipate the loss of one of their longtime leaders.

This evening, I will serve as a witness to the nitrogen gas execution of Anthony Boyd, should it move forward. Take a moment to read this story about his legacy on death row. If the state executes Boyd, an eyewitness account will be added to this piece. www.treadbylee.com/p/hope-in-th...

He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.

Alabama plans to execute Boyd with nitrogen gas tomorrow, an experimental method that involves suffocating prisoners to death. “There’s nothing you can do to prepare for something like that,” Boyd told me. “You can’t prepare a person for drowning.”

For more:
boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...

In the years since, Boyd has challenged his conviction in the courts but no court has granted him a hearing to present evidence his post conviction lawyers have uncovered they say proves Boyd's innocence.

At the end of the three day trial, Boyd was sentenced to death by a vote of 10–2. Alabama and Florida are the only two states in the country that can send someone to death row even when all jurors don’t agree.

Unable to afford a lawyer, Boyd was represented by a court appointed attorney who was paid $1,000 for the case, and had worked for the prosecutor for 4 years. He was ill-prepared and forgot to call witnesses who were supposed to testify to Boyd’s alibi. He also failed to call a forensic expert.

The state’s medical examiner testified that Huguley had been burned alive. Asked whether there was anything in his findings linking Boyd to Huguley’s murder, the ME answered, “No, sir.”

The only witness to testify about Huguley’s death was Boyd’s co-defendant, Quintay Cox. Cox had tried to back out of the plea deal but changed his mind under threat of the electric chair. On the stand, Cox admitted to changing his story once he got the deal.