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
- This rapid expansion of ICE detention into US prisons comes as the Trump administration is partnering with 300+ local law enforcement agencies across the country to assist in mass deportations agenda, as revealed by my colleagues @wcraft.bsky.social + @oliverlaughland.bsky.social this week:
- And it comes as Trump is reviving family detention and looking to increase the amount of time that children can spend locked up. My colleague @maanvisingh.bsky.social's harrowing account from one family, including a 13-year-old, who were detained for three weeks. “Each day like this was torture.”
- 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.
- CA Dept of Corrections records show that officials believe as many as 6,000 people may have gotten false positive test results for illicit substances. The parole board has since cited the tests to deny people freedom or deny parole hearings – decisions that could add years to people's time in prison
- Scandal exposed by UnCommon Law, org that reps ppl in parole cases + has affected clients. They obtained test data showing when Quest Diagnostics used a new chemical for tests, positives jumped 300% across prisons Quest admitted its chemical switch caused a spike but downplayed the scale of impact.
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- 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
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View full threadOne judge noted harms extend far beyond the real threats of physical + sexual violence into distress from being "subject to searches by male correctional officers, made to shower in the company of men, referred to as men, forced to dress as men" and "uncomfortable dissonance" of all men's facility
- “It’s cruel and unusual punishment, because you’re punishing this group for no reason other than you don’t think they should exist.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Judges' rulings so far have successfully shielded 17 trans women from being moved from women's prisons to men's prisons, lawyers say. But trans women not included in the litigation as plaintiffs have been moved to men's prisons this week. Trans women newly entering BOP have also been placed with men
- Lawyers are most immediately focused on preserving trans folks' housing and healthcare, but Trump's order has caused chaos, abuse, harassment and removal of basic accommodations for trans ppl across prison system. Many have long been housed in wrong facilities + faced severe violence/discrimination.
- The chaos of the last month: trans women have repeatedly been placed in isolation, threatened with transfer, told their medical care would be stopped, then told the court cases would protect their housing + treatments, only to be told again they're being transferred any way "Am I safe or am I not?"
- Judges' rulings have been clear: the trans women plaintiffs have shown that in men's prisons, they suffered "unspeakable harms including multiple rapes, suicide attempts and severe psychological distress" and transfers likely constitute cruel + unusual punishment that'll lead to "irreparable harm."
- Some prisons have ordered trans people to hand in gender-appropriate underwear as if it was contraband, threatening discipline if they don't. Internal memo says staff can't use correct pronouns or names. Male guards now doing pat-down searches of trans women, who say they're being groped + assaulted
- 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
- South Carolina is pursuing a rapid spate of executions, but has refused to share basic details of its lethal injection protocols. The men killed with pentobarbital appear to be suffering painful, protracted deaths, lawyers say. One autopsy showed lungs filled with fluid - "an excruciating condition"
- “He has a right to this choice, but it’s not an informed choice. My frustration is we're in a world where he has to choose btwn being electrocuted, poisoned or shot, + we can’t even get the most basic facts you'd want to make that decision. You have three executions that have seemingly gone awry."
- 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"
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View full threadTrans healthcare providers face daily harassment + threats of lawsuits, job loss + revoked licenses for providing treatment that is standard of care endorsed by all major US medical associations "This isn't how medicine is supposed to work. You’re not supposed to be criminalized for doing your job"
- Some families had left their home state due to GOP ban on their healthcare + were finally able to get an appointment in a blue state that promised to preserve care, only to have that care taken away again due to Trump: "Parents are in absolute despair + extreme distress, asking where to go next"
- "It's an unbearable weight seeing a young person in distress, knowing exactly what treatment would ease their suffering + being absolutely powerless to provide it. We're watching patients’ pain deepen, knowing the pain is unnecessary. The care is safe + effective, supported by decades of research."
- 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:
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View full threadMarion's letter to another on death row: "The day our paths crossed, I felt renewed comfort, a sort of peace in not what’s said, but just your presence. God has given me a gift in your friendship…Tomorrow holds no promises, but today, I take comfort in your friendship. Thank you for being my friend"
- "We are not what the state portrayed us to be. We are kind, caring, loving people, and it’s a shame the world can’t see that.” Some of Marion's final words in our feature on the brutal conditions he's endured in last 140 days stuck in near total isolation on "execution watch" waiting to be killed:
- His final letter to Boyd Young, lawyer + close friend of 15 years: “I never wanted to be writing this. It crushes my heart to do so. Man I LOVE YOU Brother! From the moment I met you, you was in my corner. Thank you for bringing so many people in to meet me + eventually grow to love me too.”
- 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
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View full threadThere are estimated 2,000+ trans people in federal prisons. (Trump's order doesn't apply to state prison systems, which house majority of incarcerated ppl in US). It's unclear how many in federal have been impacted so far. Bureau of Prisons + White House has provided no info on implementation.
- One trans man in prison, already losing care: “I’m happy to be the person I am. They want to tell me I’m something different, but I know who I am inside + that’s something they'll never be able to take away from me. We’re not just going to sit back + let this happen. We’re going to keep fighting."
- Efforts are underway to challenge Trump's order, incl lawsuit by @gladlaw.bsky.social @nclrights.bsky.social. The order blatantly violates constitutional protections (equal protection, sex discrimination, cruel + unusual punishment) + federal laws, including Prison Rape Elimination Act, lawyers say
- Prison Rape Elimination Act, longstanding federal law, says incarcerated people must be screened for their sexual assault risk when officials decide their housing + that assessment must consider LGBTQ+ status. A blanket policy moving all trans women to men's prisons appears to be a clear violation.
- Before Trump, trans ppl in prison faced disproportionate levels of discrimination, harassment, violence, sexual abuse + denials of care, whether housed in correct facilities or not. The crises will dramatically worsen as Trump tries to eliminate their most basic rights + emboldens staff transphobia.
- Trans ppl in prison have long suffered prolonged denials of vital care like hormones, but a sudden, blanket end to treatment for all trans ppl in US custody will have profound, devastating impacts: “The admin is saying: ‘We don’t care about you. You are nothing. We don’t give a shit if you die.’”
- Trans men (who have long been housed in women's facilities) were also told they're losing access to gender-affirming care. One guard allegedly told a group of trans men they'd also soon be placed in solitary “because we don’t know how you’re going to act once you’re taken off of your hormone shots."
- Some trans women have received gender-affirming care since youth + never been in men's facilities. Others have fought for yrs for basic healthcare + safe housing in prison and are now having it all stripped away. "This is crucial to their health and daily living. Many are feeling hopelessness."
- Inside a federal women's prison days after Trump's order: “The officers yelled at trans women: ‘Come right now, leave your things. You don’t have time to pack.' They said disgusting, degrading things, like: ‘We don’t have to call you women anymore. Where you’re going, you’re going to be a man.’”
- Trans women were taken to isolation, told they couldn't take bras + other belongings. A guard allegedly laughed at a woman trying to take her bra: “You won’t need that where you’re going." “The women were screaming and crying, saying: ‘Where are you taking us?’ It was so humiliating" -one witness
- 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.
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View full threadMarion reflected on death row friends he's been cut off from in final weeks of his life: “These ppl have helped me survive – ppl who never would’ve gotten together on the outside, who are so different, but still have so much humanity in common. Some say they never had a friend until they came here."
- South Carolina bans all media interviews with incarcerated people. @aclusc.bsky.social has been fighting this. Marion spoke out for this story in convos with his lawyer + longtime friend, Boyd Young, that were conveyed to me @us.theguardian.com. Read Marion's words, as he faces execution on Friday:
- In Marion's "execution watch" cage, he's locked behind 2 doors, lost most belongings, has no chair + gets all meals delivered on a tray, where guards also pass him toilet brush + other items. He can touch both walls at same time. At times, lights on 24/7. He's been stuck there for more than 135 days
- Marion can no longer have contact visits w/ lawyer + friend of 15 years, Boyd Young. When they meet, Marion's in leg shackles, belly chain + handcuffs, attached to guard by dog leash. They can't directly exchange paperwork. Even tho he has no physical contact, he faces full strip search each visit.
- As South Carolina aggressively revives capital punishment after a 13-year pause, men in line to be executed are being placed in "barbaric" "tortuous" conditions, deprived of the most basic privileges + isolated from those who have become family. Marion, facing execution on Friday, is speaking out:
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- He did not take any executive actions on behalf of the Dublin survivors.
