News – Page 12

March 1, 2017 by Admin

Water Protector Legal Collective Files Suit for Excessive Force against Peaceful Protesters

November 28, 2016

Contact:
Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director: communications@nlg.org | 212-679-5100, ext. 15

Above: Law enforcement uses water canon, teargas, and other munitions against peaceful Water Protectors, November 20, 2016. (Photo: Shanna Merola)

CANNON BALL, ND —Today, the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC-formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), filed suit in US District Court against Morton County, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier, and other law enforcement agencies for using excessive force against peaceful Water Protectors on the night of November 20, 2016.

The class action suit, filed on behalf of persons who were injured on the night of November 20 and early morning of November 21, seeks an immediate injunction preventing the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement from using impact munitions such as rubber bullets and lead-filled “beanbags,” water cannons and hoses, explosive teargas grenades and other chemical agents against protesters.

Beginning on the evening of November 20, officers from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and assisting agencies confronted peaceful Water Protectors at a bridge near the Standing Rock protest camp and within the boundaries of Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires, or Great Sioux Nation) treaty lands. Without giving any warnings or opportunity to disperse, officers fired on them with highly dangerous munitions, chemical agents, a water cannon and hoses in freezing weather. More than 200 Water Protectors were injured.

“The Morton County Sheriff’s office not only violates the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters, but their actions highlight the long history of abuse against Indigenous peoples,” said Brandy Toelupe, WPLC lawyer. “From the beginning, governments have used their latest technologies to take land and resources from Native nations and oppress Indigenous peoples. Sheriff Kirchmeier’s actions make it clear that nothing has changed,” she added.

The complaint describes the excessive force with which the nine class representatives were met while peacefully protesting. Five are Native, including two members of the Lakota Nation. Vanessa Dundon of the Navajo Nation was hit in the eye with a tear gas canister that was shot by police directly at the crowd of Water Protectors. Jade Kalikolehuaokakalani Wool had two grenades blow up near her head, knocking her down, burning her face and sending shrapnel into it, and causing her to be hospitalized. Crystal Wilson was shot with a water cannon, tear gassed and shot with a munition. David Demo was filming police when, without warning, they shot him with a water cannon and then in the hand with a munition. He was hospitalized with broken bones and was told he would need reconstructive surgery. Gary Dullknife III saw a Water Protector knocked to the ground by a water cannon. As police sprayed her on the ground, he tried to move her away. He was shot in the chest, stomach and leg by impact munitions. Mariah Marie Bruce was peacefully protesting when police sprayed her with water cannons. She was then hit in the genitals with a grenade, and was hospitalized. Frank Finan was taking pictures when he was shot in the abdomen and knocked to the ground by a rubber bullet. Israel Hoagland–Lynn tried to help two people who had been shot with water cannons and rubber bullets and was shot in the back of his head by an impact munition. He lost consciousness, was hospitalized, and needed 17 staples for a head wound. Noah Michael Treanor, while praying, was shot by the water hoses or cannon. Once on the ground, he was shot in the head by an impact munition. Bleeding badly, he was hospitalized.

“The civil rights violations that night were deliberate and punitive,” said Rachel Lederman, WPLC lawyer. “The Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s illegal use of force against the Water Protectors has been escalating. It is only a matter of luck that no one has been killed. This must stop.”

Those concerned are urged to call local and federal agencies below to demand (1) immediate end to construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, (2) the immediate cessation and a full investigation into law enforcement abuses, (3) dropping felony charges against water protectors from the October 27 police raid, and (4) permitting the Water Protectors to stay at their current encampment until the DAPL’s application to drill under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River is permanently denied.

• White House: 202-456-1414 or sign the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s White House petition standwithstandingrock.net/take-action
• White House Situation Room, 202-456-9431
• North Dakota Governor’s Office: 701-328-2200
• Morton County Sheriff’s Office: 701-667-3330
• Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office: 701-667-3330
• Army Corps of Engineers-Bismarck 701-255-0015

The Water Protector Legal Collective is the National Lawyers Guild legal support team for those engaged in resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. It maintains a 24/7 presence on-site at the Oceti Sakowin camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Police Attack Unarmed Standing Rock Water Protectors in Freezing Temperatures with Water Cannons and Other Weapons in 5-Hour Standoff

Contact: Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director
communications@nlg.org | 212-679-5100, ext. 15

CANNON BALL, ND—The Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC; formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), strongly condemns the flagrant civil and human rights violations committed by Morton County law enforcement last night against unarmed Standing Rock Water Protectors. The standoff lasted more than five hours in freezing temperatures (26-degrees Fahrenheit), during which police deployed water cannons, rubber bullets, Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), teargas, and flash-bang grenades against Water Protectors and members of the press. The attack resulted in 167 injuries—including at least one cardiac arrest, one seizure, and mass hypothermia. One 13-year-old girl was shot in the face with a rubber bullet, and at least 20 people were sent to the emergency room with serious injuries. WPLC/NLG Legal Observers on the scene reported many people temporarily lost consciousness from being shot with such “less lethal” munitions. The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes provided Emergency Medical Services, which Water Protector Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network called “ridiculous,” noting that such EMS “should be the responsibility of Morton County.”

Last night, WPLC attorney Angela Bibens described the horrifying scene: “[Law enforcement] deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics.”

The attack began around 6 PM yesterday, while Water Protectors attempted to peacefully remove two military vehicles that had been blocking Highway 1806 since October 27, ironically, in an effort to clear the path providing the most direct route from the Oceti Sakowin camp to Bismarck, ND, for emergency services vehicles. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department made unfounded claims of “very aggressive” behavior and an “ongoing riot” by Water Protectors, and falsely claimed that the water cannons were deployed in response to fires set by Water Protectors on Highway 1806.

The police attack comes shortly after a local judge dismissed trumped-up felony charges against 15 Water Protectors last Thursday, citing failure by the District Attorney’s office to provide sufficient evidence of “Conspiracy to Endanger by Fire.” Additional hearings are set for December 5. The WPLC continues its months-long work on the ground in North Dakota, providing Water Protectors with legal representation, jail support, legal observers, and other direct legal assistance.

Concerned members of the public are strongly encouraged to call local and federal agencies to demand (1) immediate end to the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, (2) a full investigation into abuses by law enforcement, and (3) dropping the felony charges against Water Protectors arising from the October 27 police raid on the camp.

White House: 202-456-1414
White House Situation Room, 202-456-9431
North Dakota Governor’s Office: 701-328-2200
Morton County Sheriff’s Office: 701-667-3330
Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office: 701-667-3350
Army Corps of Engineers Bismarck Office 701-255-0015

Donations to support the Water Protector Legal Collective may be made at fundrazr.com/campaigns/11B5z8 or nlg.org/donate/waterprotectorlegal for tax-deductible contributions. For updates, visit their website at waterprotectorlegal.org, and follow them at Facebook.com/WaterProtectorLegal, Twitter @WaterProtectUs.

PHOTO: Police teargas Water Protectors on Highway 1806, November 20, 2016. (Photo: Elizabeth Hoover via Instagram @lizhoover.)

March 1, 2017 by Admin

Judge Dismisses Trumped-Up Felony Charges Against 15 Water Protectors at Standing Rock

Contact: Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director
communications@nlg.org | 212-679-5100 ext. 15

BISMARCK, ND—On Thursday, Burleigh County Judge Cynthia Feland dismissed felony charges against 15 Water Protectors arrested on October 27 who were praying or protesting near the route of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Even by police accounts, all but a couple people who may have been provocateurs, were not involved with setting hay bales on fire some distance from the main protest site. Despite this, all 147 Water Protectors arrested that day were charged with the felony, “Conspiracy to Endanger by Fire.” The court found that the prosecutor had presented no evidence that any of the individuals charged had conspired to set any fires.

“The Water Protectors were held for 48 hours or more, forced to removed outer layers of clothing, crowded into freezing chain link cages, and denied food, water and bathrooms for long periods,” said Brandy Toelupe, attorney with the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC; formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild. “They were strip searched, and taken to jails all over North Dakota,” she added.

Because of the felony charges, the Water Protectors’ bond was set at $1500 cash and they faced prison terms of up to five years. Had there not been a crowd-funded bail fund, many would have remained in jail for weeks. By alleging a “conspiracy,” State’s Attorney Gabrielle Goter attempted to impose harsh consequences on the Water Protectors absent any evidence of their involvement in the fire. No individual defendant was identified doing anything specific.

Judge Feland ruled on her own motion that the prosecution failed to present sufficient facts in its affidavit showing probable cause that any of the defendants before the court, or any of the 147 arrested and charged on October 27, had committed the “Conspiracy to Endanger by Fire” felony.

“The Affidavit supporting the information however provides no specifically named defendants who committed this crime and how and when they each committed it…. In addition, the affidavit does not explain how the defendants agreed to commit the crime. The case law is well-established that in order to provide sufficient probable cause, the State must show that a crime has been committed and the accused is probably guilty of committing it,” read the court order.

“While the Water Protectors and their families are relieved by Judge Feland’s decision, State’s Attorney Gabrielle Goter should not recharge these cases and be reprimanded for deliberately overcharging 147 people with felonies that she knew she could not prove,” added Toelupe. “Overcharging is a dangerous and misleading strategy. It subjects people to preemptive punishment through detention and high bail, and intimidates people from engaging in First Amendment activity. It also misleads the public about what’s being prosecuted.”

The WPLC has been on the ground for months providing Water Protectors with legal representation, jail support, legal observers, and other direct legal assistance. WPLC members were in court monitoring the proceeding and were representing some of the Water Protector defendants.

The next court date is set for December 5, when more than 100 additional felony cases from the October 27 action will be heard. All are expected to be dismissed. Felony cases from actions on other dates will also be heard at that time.

Donations to support the Water Protector Legal Collective may be made at fundrazr.com/campaigns/11B5z8 or nlg.org/donate/waterprotectorlegal for tax-deductible contributions.

For updates, follow them at Facebook.com/WaterProtectorLegal and Twitter @WaterProtectUs.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

DePaul: Stalling Civil Rights: “Bathroom Bills” and Transgender Inclusion

The DePaul Law School chapter of the NLG hosted a lunchtime panel on November 14, 2016 about the recent “bathroom bills”. In the past year, a wave of states have followed North Carolina in proposing or passing legislation that restricts transgender people’s access to public bathrooms, spurring a national debate about privacy, gender norms, and trans inclusion. Transgender activists have been fighting back against these “bathroom bills” as an issue of fundamental dignity, safety, and Constitutional rights. Join us for a lunchtime conversation about the legal landscape surrounding bathrooms both locally and nationally, and action steps for making bathrooms more inclusive.

The panelists were: Crispin Torres (Community Educator, Lambda Legal), Tanvi Sheth, (Staff Attorney and Board Member, Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois), and Katy Weseman (Director, Center for Identity and Inclusion, DePaul University).

The event was supported by: DePaul University College of Law NLG, CPIL, OUTlaws, PILA.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

“(Un)Documented” Immigration Symposium @ Loyola

On Friday November 11, 2016, the Loyola Law School Chapter of the NLG hosted a symposium titled “(Un)Documented”: Human Impact of Our Immigration Policies and Advocacy Strategies. The symposium was presented by the Loyola Public Interest Law Reporter and addressed one of the most controversial issues in the 2016 presidential election: immigration. The featured speaker, Irakere Picon, shared how the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) gave him the opportunity to lobby the Illinois state government to enact a law allowing undocumented immigrants to take the bar exam. The speakers discussed the future of DACA in light of the recent Supreme Court split decision in Texas v. United States and the current presidential election. Speakers also discussed the humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and criminal law issues, and the role of activist lawyering in the current political climate.

More info here.

Below is a list of the speakers with biographies:

FEATURED SPEAKER

Irakere Picon is an attorney and activist. As an undocumented immigrant, he successfully lobbied the Illinois state government to enact a law allowing undocumented immigrants to take the bar exam and became the first undocumented immigrant licensed to practice law in the state of Illinois this October. Mr. Picon has worked at Community Activism Law Alliance as a staff attorney. He graduated from Northern Illinois University College of Law. Prior to law school, he was the executive assistant at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Chicago.

SESSION 1

Nebula Li is a staff attorney with Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA) and committed to engaging with communities to advance social change. Before starting at CALA, Nebula Li practiced immigration, criminal defense, public benefits and civil rights law at Legal Council for Health Justice (formerly known as AIDS Legal Council of Chicago), Shiller*Preyar Law Offices, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago and Justice for Our Neighbors. Nebula Li graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2011. Nebula Li also interned at Immigration Equality and Harvard Immigrant & Refugee Clinic/Greater Boston Legal Services.

Kalman Resnick is a shareholder with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym., Ltd. Mr. Resnick’s almost 40 years of experience as an immigration law practitioner and his vast knowledge of a multiplicity of immigration practice areas contributes to his ability to advocate for and counsel his clients in the field of immigration law. He has litigated immigration cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Mr. Resnick graduated from University of Michigan Law School.

Luis Huerta-Silva is an administrative relief regional trainer with Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Also, he is a coordinator at Sueños Sin Fronteras: Making College Dreams a Reality, an organization encouraging Latino high school students in South Bend to pursue a higher education while embracing their culture and giving back to their community. Mr. HuertaSilva graduated from University of Notre Dame with a BA in Political Science and Latino Studies.

Michael Santomauro is founder and principal attorney for Santomauro Law. Mr. Santomauro’s practice focuses on helping people navigate the complex immigration system to develop affordable legal solutions best tailored to meet their needs. Michael has worked in the area of immigration law since 2008, and recently completed a grant-funded position with the DePaul Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic focused on Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Michael is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and attends local Chicago Chapter meetings. He graduated from DePaul University College of Law.

SESSION 2

Katherine Kaufka Walts is the Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago focused on promoting the rights and dignity of children by addressing local and global issues facing children via multidisciplinary scholarship and research, outreach and education, and advocacy. Prior to joining Loyola, she served as the Executive Director of the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA). At IOFA, she developed several projects in the U.S. and abroad advancing the rights of children and youth, including a program to develop the capacity of child welfare system to better respond to child trafficking and exploitation cases. She also managed the Counter-Human Trafficking project at the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she successfully represented victims of human trafficking in the U.S. within immigration and criminal justice proceedings under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Hillary Richardson is a staff attorney with National Immigrant Justice Center’s (NIJC) Asylum Project, where she focuses her work on obtaining relief for unaccompanied immigrant children, often in the form of asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Ms. Richardson also provides technical support to family law attorneys on cases involving SIJS predicate orders from Illinois state courts. Prior to joining NIJC, she worked at LAF’s Children and Families Practice Group, and served as a staff attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Tacoma, Washington, where she provided legal orientation and removal defense for detained adults. Before attending law school, she worked as a paralegal and BIA accredited representative with NIJC’s Adult Detention project. She graduated from DePaul University College of Law.

Kendra H.M. Scheuerlein is an associate with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. She concentrates her practice in the areas of immigration and nationality matters. These include family-based immigration issues, naturalization, asylum, U visa, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival applications. Her practice also encompasses a wide breadth of businessrelated immigration topics, including nonimmigrant work visas, and employment based permanent residence applications. She also represents clients in removal proceedings before the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Scheuerlein graduated from the DePaul University College of Law.

SESSION 3

Maria Baldini-Potermin founded Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C. in Chicago. She has more than 26 years of experience working in the immigration law field, beginning in 1990 with assisting detained asylum seekers on the Texas-Mexico border. Ms. Baldini-Potermin focuses on removal defense, federal litigation, waivers, family-based immigration, and criminal immigration. She is the author of Immigration Trial Handbook, the update editor for Immigration Law & Crimes, and an expert author-consultant for Interpreter Releases and Immigration Briefings. She has written four manuals on the interstate of state law and immigration law covering Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. She has presented at continuing legal education seminars and trainings around the U.S. She received the 2013 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Presidential Commendation and is the chair of AILA’s Federal Court Litigation Section. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

SESSION 4

Priscilla Orta is a staff attorney with Community Activism Law Alliance. She has been practicing immigration law almost exclusively for the past five years, beginning with her time as a law clerk with the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Harlingen, TX. She has also worked as a staff attorney for Sunflower Community Action in Wichita, Kansas. Ms. Orta is certified to appear before the Department of Veteran Affairs and has a long history of organizing communities to seek alternative solutions to their problems. She graduated from Columbia Law School.

Nubia Willman is a staff attorney in the Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group at LAF. She represents low-income clients who are victims of domestic violence and other serious violent crimes seeking immigration relief. Additionally, she trains private attorneys, social service providers, and law enforcement officers on immigration remedies for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. She is the editor of Latinas Uprising, an online community focused on empowering current and aspiring Latina lawyers. Ms. Willman earned her JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2010.

Darlene Gramigna is program director for the Immigrant Youth program of the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago. She has been active in organizing high school aged undocumented students and their allies to become the next generation of immigration activists. She has a MSW from the University of Denver. Ms. Gramigna has been active in Central America solidarity work and lived in Nicaragua.

Rebecca Shi is executive director of Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC), and works directly with a steering committee of 68 Illinois-based CEOs, University presidents, chambers of commerce and immigrant advocates to develop and implement strategy that support the passage of federal immigration reform. IBIC has been extraordinarily effective in moving the politics of the state, winning public bipartisan support from the majority of Illinois’s Congressional delegation for commonsense immigration reform. Ms. Shi was the campaign manager for Illinois’s SB 957 driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants that resulted in licensing and insuring 450,000 undocumented immigrant drivers in Illinois. She graduated from the University of Chicago.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

John Marshall Law School Panel: How Lawyers Can Support BLM

On October 26, 2016, The John Marshall Law School chapters of the National Lawyers Guild, the Black Law Students Association and the American Constitutional Society presented a panel discussion and Q&A on the intersection of activism and legal advocacy in the growing Movement for Black Lives.

The event featured speakers from Black Lives Matter Chicago, Black Youth Project 100, Cook County Bar Association and National Lawyers Guild Chicago.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

NLG and ACLU Submit FOIA and Open Records Requests to Investigate Unconstitutional Surveillance of Water Protectors at Standing Rock

Contact: Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director
212-679-5100, ext. 15# | communications@nlg.org

BISMARCK, ND—Today, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), in conjunction with the ACLU of North Dakota, sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and North Dakota Open Records Act requests to multiple state and federal agencies in response to the surveillance and arrests of the Native-led Water Protectors attempting to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). In an affront to First Amendment rights, Water Protectors and allies have been continuously surveilled by low-flying planes, helicopters, and drones, and have had local cell phone communications jammed and possibly recorded. Dozens of local and out-of-state law enforcement have been called in, maintaining a heavily militarized presence at the site in an effort to intimidate activists and chill dissent.

Water Protectors have come to expect surveillance and interference from law enforcement. Kandi Mossett, of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, and the Extreme Energy & Just Transition Campaign Coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network says: “My three-year-old daughter and I are beginning to get used to being awakened by the helicopter and airplane as they fly over camp in the morning. She says, ‘Momma look!’ all excited, as she is too innocent to understand they were sent to spy on us for protecting the water for her and generations to come.”

Despite remaining peaceful in their resistance, more than 140 people have been arrested at the protest site since beginning in August, with the Morton County Sherriff’s Department leveling trespassing and riot charges against Water Protectors and journalists. Earlier this week, finding no probable cause, a judge dropped the riot charge that had been brought against award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! for her September 3 coverage of the protests and the violent response by a private security firm hired by the DAPL company.

As civil liberties violations have continued to escalate over the last six weeks, the Indigenous-led resistance against the DAPL continues. More than 1,000 Water Protectors, allies, and supporters have descended on Standing Rock, constituting the largest gathering of Native American Nations in modern US history. The Red Owl Legal Collective of the NLG has been providing bond, Legal Observers, and legal support for arrestees.

The NLG and ACLU of North Dakota are requesting all surveillance information and communications regarding the DAPL protests from April 1 to the present from the following federal and local agencies:

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Homeland Security
US Army Corps of Engineers
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Department of Justice
ND National Guard
ND Highway Patrol
Morton County Sheriff
Burleigh County Sheriff
Emmons County Sheriff
Cass County Sheriff
Fargo Police
Bismarck Police
Mandan Police
Fort Yates Police

With these open records requests, the NLG and the ACLU of North Dakota seek to promote transparency and challenge any violations of constitutional rights.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

Loyola NLG “The Attica Prison Rebellion, its Legacy and the Prison Struggle Today”

On Friday, October 14th, 2016, Loyola NLG, the Uptown People’s Law Center, and People’s Law Office hosted a panel/discussion about Attica and the current prison struggle.

The panel members were: Heather Thompson (author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Rebellion of 1971 and its Legacy), Benny Lee (Pontiac Brother and community organizer), Alan Mills of the Uptown People’s Law Center and
Brian Nelson (Solitary Survivor and community organizer). The event was moderated by Michael Deutsch, Attica Brothers Lawyer.

Executive Director of the UPLC, Alan Mills says “It’s worse now than when I started.” after more than 35 years of work in prison reform.

The Attica brothers wanted to get the media in right away. Police came from all over New York state, weapons were passed out indiscriminately over 4 days at Attica before they went in. Prisoners’ demands were shockingly basic in the end, covering things like food & healthcare. You can read their manifesto here.

You can watch the entire panel/discussion here.

For more info check out:

American Prison Inmates, On Strike on WBUR

Obituary for Elizabeth Fink, attorney who represented the Attica Brothers

The Largest Prison Strike in U.S. History Enters Its Second Week

March 1, 2017 by Admin

NLG Chi Attys Fight Indefinite Detention

Bianca Young was incarcerated while awaiting trial for 2 years because she couldn’t afford to post her high bond. This newstory about her plight features interviews with two NLG Chicago attorneys: Sharlyn Grace of Chicago Appleseed and Max Suchan of Chicago Community Bond Fund. We are proud of our members who are fighting mass incarceration, including pushing for an end to monetary bond and reducing pretrial detention.

Read the rest of the story here.

March 1, 2017 by Admin

A Conversation with Alfred Woodfox

The UIC Social Justice Initiative hosted an event in which Albert Woodfox spoke on his journey for justice in conversation with scholar-activist Beth Richie.

After being held in solitary confinement for 43 years, Albert Woodfox walked out of Louisiana State prison on February 19, 2016. Woodfox was the last incarcerated member of the Angola Three.

The name “Angola Three” was given to Albert Woodfox, Robert King and Herman Wallace because of their extensive incarceration in Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison. The three were put in solitary confinement in April 1972, after the alleged killing of a corrections officer.

Robert King spent 29 years in solitary confinement before his conviction was overturned and Herman Wallace was released after 41 years in prison.

The 4 decades Woodfox spent in solitary makes him one of America’s longest serving solitary confinement prisoners. His unconditional release was decided on June 10, 2015, although he was not released until almost a year later.

The event was also co-sponsored by: Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project , Illinois Coalition Against Torture , Chicago Committee to Free Black Political Prisoners , African American Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago , Northwestern Department of African American Studies , Gallery 400