Sam Levin
Guardian senior reporter, based in Los Angeles. Sam.Levin@theguardian [dot] com. theguardian.com/profile/sam-levin
- Trump's call to revive Alcatraz may be a far-fetched publicity stunt, but his efforts to reopen shuttered prisons are well underway across the US. Five closed jails and prisons have reopened for ICE or will soon. More are being targeted. My breakdown of their scandals + the private firms profiting:
- Trump is now housing hundreds of immigrants in notorious federal prisons. I collected accounts from detainees who report: Moldy food; shortages of food and toilet paper; given used underwear + bloodstained clothes; no medical care; filthy cells; cut off from family; some missing their ICE hearings
- NEW: Thousands incarcerated in California were given faulty drug tests that produced false positives – some denied parole due to erroneous claims of opioid use, according to internal records + lawyer testimony. Officials have known about the issue for months, but have not cleared people's records.
- In Oregon, 4,000+ defendants facing criminal charges have no attorneys due to a public defender shortage, incl 400+ ppl who've waited 3+ months for a lawyer. The state's new "war on drugs" law is worsening the crisis, with cops now arresting + jailing thousands of drug users for minor possession:
- Oregon's new War on Drugs: thousands of people are being arrested and jailed for low-level possession, many unhoused, unable to access lawyers + faced with long waits for treatment. My dispatch on the end of decriminalization, reported from Medford, the city leading the way in jailing drug users:
- 30+ pro-Palestine protesters sue UCLA + LAPD for widespread civil rights violations, wrongful arrests + excessive force in 2024. Suit names alleged counterprotesters who attacked the Palestine Solidarity Encampment for hours while police + UC failed to intervene, some officers standing feet away:
- We've confirmed the US Bureau of Prisons has transferred trans women to men's prisons despite three court rulings blocking Trump's executive order “I’m continuing to be punished for existing. I'm a pawn in others' political games" -Whitney, 31-year-old woman taken to men's prison this week, told us
- Gov Newsom widely condemned by LGBT lawmakers + groups for "throwing trans people under the bus" in anti-trans podcast chat “Denying young ppl the opportunity to play sports is denying them the opportunity to be who they fully are. We'll keep fighting like hell"-Bamby Salcedo/Trans Latin@ Coalition
- "How have we arrived at a place where self-identified feminists ally themselves with a man who has so extravagantly dedicated his personal and political lives to the humiliation, domination + degradation of women and girls?" @joolia.bsky.social on anti-trans feminists boosting Trump + the far-right
- South Carolina is set to execute Brad Sigmon by firing squad, reviving a death penalty method that hasn't been used in 15 years in the US. The 67-yr-old chose firing squad due to concerns about lethal injection. The last 3 killings took 20+ mins, appearing to cause pain akin to suffocation/drowning
- Trans healthcare providers across the US are fighting to maintain care for youth patients as their institutions cancel vital treatment after Trump's order. They describe chaos, confusion + agonizing conversations with desperate families "It's like withholding CPR from someone struggling to breathe"
- Marion Bowman will be killed by lethal injection tonight in South Carolina, the first execution of 2025 in US. He maintains his innocence + has become outspoken about the brutal conditions on death row. He shared w/ us some of his goodbye messages + letters he's exchanged with friends on death row:
- I've collected accounts from trans folks inside US prisons facing Trump's brutal crackdown: trans women rounded up + placed in solitary before transfer to men's prisons; canceled medical appointments + loss of vital healthcare; vicious taunting "You're going to be a man," one guard told trans women
- NEW: On South Carolina death row, Marion Bowman has been stuck on "execution watch" for months on end, waiting to be killed. He's caged in a tiny cell, nearly 24/7 isolation, cut off from family + community inside. When briefly out of his cell, he's in full body shackles + led around on a dog leash.
