Worth Rises

Excellent new report from Beyond the Bars exposes how temp agencies have become the default and often only employers for millions of folks with criminal records, and lays out a roadmap for organizing workers with records to win dignified work. Read it: Bit.ly/TheTempTrap

Worth Rises — Stop Corporations from Profiting Off of the Death Penalty Worth Rises campaign to stop corporations from enabling Alabama's nitrogen gas execution protocol.

Corporate resistance works: manufacturers have refused to sell drugs for lethal injection, suppliers have prohibited the use of their gas executions, and architects have refused to build death chambers. It's your turn to take action to stop this atrocity. worthrises.org/firingsquad

Recently, we sent Elevatus and Okland a formal letter demanding that the firms withdraw from all execution-related design work in Idaho and commit not to participate in such projects in the future. They have not responded.

Now we need your help.

For Elevatus, its participation directly violates the Code of Ethics of the American Institute of Architects, to which the firm belongs, which clearly states:
“Members shall not knowingly design spaces intended for execution.”

TRIGGER WARNING: Here's how Elevatus architects and Okland contractors — everyday Americans — talk about building a firing squad execution chamber.

"They would like a floor drain... It's OK if they have to mop/squeegee [bodily] liquids into the drain."

These executions cannot happen without private-sector involvement. Architects and contractors must design, build, or retrofit the chambers where human beings will be strapped down and shot to death. In Idaho, Elevatus Architecture and Okland Construction have taken the job.

Firing squad executions inflict extreme physical destruction, cause immense psychological trauma, and violate evolving standards of decency. International human rights experts warn the method violates human rights law and constitutes cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.

Idaho lawmakers have passed a law making firing squad — a method widely condemned as barbaric and inhumane — the primary execution method in the state. t.co/IYFwgwy2LI

For more than a decade, states have struggled to obtain lethal-injection drugs. Public outrage over botched, torturous executions has only grown. Many states have backed away from the death penalty. But others are doubling down — and searching for new ways to kill.

TAKE ACTION! Elevatus Architecture and Okland Construction have been contracted by Idaho to design a new firing squad execution chamber. Help us demand they withdraw from this contract to stop this before it’s built. THREAD

BREAKING! Predatory prison telecom giant Securus has bought out @broadbandbreakfast.bsky.social. They are now hosting a panel for the industry and have refused to include anyone advocating for incarcerated people. It's shameful paid propaganda parading as neutral media.

It’s time to unsubscribe.

F.C.C. Changes Course on the Price of Prisoners’ Phone Calls

Today was a hard day. Regulations that we passed unanimously last year, after 7 years of advocacy, were largely gutted. The FCC capitulated to the correctional telecom industry in roughly doubling rate caps for prison and jail calls. I'm truly sorry.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Your Call Could Not Be Completed - Bianca Tylek - Inquest Under Biden, the FCC made unprecedented progress toward ending price gouging for prison phone calls. Tomorrow, Trump’s FCC is expected to undo it all.

"Families will have to pay $215 million more to stay connected than anticipated last year, and there’s expected to be two-thirds fewer call minutes between families and their incarcerated loved ones due to the higher rates." @biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social

Your Call Could Not Be Completed - Bianca Tylek - Inquest Under Biden, the FCC made unprecedented progress toward ending price gouging for prison phone calls. Tomorrow, Trump’s FCC is expected to undo it all.

"Families impacted by incarceration have spent years advocating to reduce the extortionary cost of prison phone calls. Tomorrow Trump’s FCC is expected to vote on revised regulations that would unravel" all recent progress. @biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social

Your Call Could Not Be Completed - Bianca Tylek - Inquest Under Biden, the FCC made unprecedented progress toward ending price gouging for prison phone calls. Tomorrow, Trump’s FCC is expected to undo it all.

Tomorrow, the FCC is set to rollback a large portion of the regulations it passed unanimously with bipartisan support last year. Families will pay $215M more annually than anticipated.

Worth Rises ED @biancatylek.bsky.social explains it all in @inquest.bsky.social

inquest.org/your-call-co...

Worth Rises — Wellpath Bankruptcy Prison Healthcare Analysis Worth Rises analysis of Wellpath bankruptcy reveals how prison healthcare profiteering model failed incarcerated people.

Learn more about how private healthcare corporations avoid consequences: worthrises.org/blogpost/202...

A Healthcare Crisis Behind Bars - Harvard Political Review Prisoners don’t get to choose their healthcare provider. With no alternatives, it is quite perverse that the only avenue of treatment available to them is one that makes them sicker.

To prevent thousands more avoidable deaths, Centurion, Wexford, and Corizon’s deadly, profit-driven “healthcare” practices cannot continue as usual. theharvardpoliticalreview.com/health-care-...

Spokane County settles with jail contractor over reimbursement related to wrongful death ruling Spokane County will receive more than $731,000 as part of a settlement with the contractor that formerly provided medical services within county detention facilities.

NaphCare is part of a cycle of private healthcare contractors cutting corners, settling preventable deaths, and then declaring bankruptcy. Publicly run carceral healthcare isn't perfect, but it doesn't put profits over people. www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

GEO Group wins two-year ICE contract for immigration monitoring services The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE: GEO) announced that its subsidiary BI Incorporated received a contract from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for continued services under the Intensive Supervision Ap...

GEO Group’s chairman celebrates new ICE partnership that expands surveillance, putting detained immigrants at greater risk. For them it’s business, while lives are on the line. bit.ly/3IVSyWb

Prison labour: the last stronghold of slavery in the US Black Americans are disproportionately incarcerated and exploited with prison labour. It’s time to finish abolition

“The 13th Amendment did not abolish slavery – it revised it and shrouded it in secrecy.” @biancatylek.bsky.social's new op-ed on forced prison labor exploiting $18.8B from incarcerated workers.
tinyurl.com/3py7n7yj

Advocates Urge FCC to Reverse Decision on Prison Phone Call Rates - Davis Vanguard Nearly 15,000 individuals and over 100 organizations are urging the FCC to reinstate caps on prison phone rates after the agency suspended protections earlier this summer.

We stand alongside 15,000 people, 100 orgs, and Congress, urging the FCC to protect prison calls. Every delay means money stolen from families. connectfamiliesnow.com/stopthedelay
tinyurl.com/57su8w64

FCC Plans October Vote to Revisit Prison Phone Rate Caps Move sets up clash with nearly 100 advocacy groups, state AGs, and lawmakers backing protections.

Demand the FCC keep the rate caps they passed. Congress and over 14,000 families have called for fair prison phone rates — yet delays continue. It’s time to #StopTheDelay and lower the cost of staying connected. TAKE ACTION: connectfamiliesnow.com/stopthedelay

bit.ly/4pvy8Ut

Worth Rises - Dismantling Prison Industry Working to dismantle the prison industry and end the exploitation of those it touches.

Join us in ending the prison industry at worthrises.org

The house that ICE built Geo Group, America's largest for-profit jailer of immigrants, is preparing for a windfall under Trump. Its chairman is an immigrant himself.

It should be considered outrageous that GeoGroup’s George Zoley pitches immigration detention and family separations to investors as a profit “opportunity” to boost the company’s stock. Yet this is seen as business as usual by far too many.
bit.ly/3KbHzIz

Prisiones: último bastión de la esclavitud en EEUU Los afroestadounidenses son encarcelados de manera desproporcionada y explotados con trabajo penitenciario. Es hora de completar la abolición

¿Y dónde hay trabajo forzoso? En las prisiones.
'La esclavitud no es solo la historia del sistema carcelario estadounidense. Es su presente', dice @biancatylek.bsky.social
Acá el artículo completo en @opendemocracy.net
@worthrises.bsky.social s.bsky.social
www.opendemocracy.net/es/democraci...

¿Esclavitud en EEUU en el siglo XXI?
La 13 Enmienda que abolió la esclavitud incluyó una cláusula de excepción que permitía la esclavitud 'como castigo por un delito'
Así se conservó el fundamento jurídico para el trabajo forzoso, cuenta @biancatylek.bsky.social en @opendemocracy.net 1/2

The house that ICE built Geo Group, America's largest for-profit jailer of immigrants, is preparing for a windfall under Trump. Its chairman is an immigrant himself.

George Zoley, the eye-wateringly rich founder of America's biggest for-profit prison company, Geo Group, is an immigrant himself. So how has he become ICE's largest private jailer of other immigrants?

My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91396722/the...

Stop the FCC Delay — Connecting Families Urge the FCC to implement new prison & jail telecom rules without delay—support families waiting for relief today.

TAKE ACTION. Tell the FCC to #StopTheDelay: connectfamiliesnow.com/stopthedelay

Writing from my cell in the age of prison Wi-Fi The expansion of tablets and prison Wi-Fi shows both the promise of connectivity and the cost of relying on billion-dollar contractors.

Despite being a billion-dollar corporation, Securus pressured the FCC to delay price caps so they can keep gouging families for their inflated ‘tech’ fees, exploiting primarily Black and brown families.
bit.ly/462EcMB

https://connectfamiliesnow.com/stopthedelay

URGENT! With the FCC poised to further delay or reverse caps on phone call rates for prisons and jails we need you to speak out! Tell the FCC to #stopthedelay connectfamiliesnow.com/stopthedelay

@famm.org @colorofchange.bsky.social @antirecidivism.bsky.social