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Punishing Families Part 3: It Starts With a Phone Call
This is the third in a multi-part series about racial and economic disparities in LA County’s child welfare system, and the impact family surveillance and separation has on kids and their parents. Mandated reporting laws have led to a flood of calls to report suspected child abuse and neglect,...
LASD whistleblower takes her case to trial, while Villanueva testifies that deputy gangs don’t exist, & Sheriff Luna says there’s a new deputy gang
Wednesday, civil rights attorney, Alan Romero presented closing arguments in the whistleblower lawsuit brought by LASD Captain Angela Walton, against the County of Los Angeles, and former LA County sheriff Alex Villanueva. In May of 2022, WitnessLA reported in detail about how Walton was retaliated against for her unwillingness to...
Saturday Forum Featuring DA Candidates & a Reconstruction of the Conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas
This past Saturday, January 13, 2024, the 32-year-old organization known as the Empowerment Congress convened its annual summit attended by elected officials, community members, and other “interested constituents,” in order to discuss a selected set of issues that affect the communities that the Empowerment Congress serves, which is generally South Los Angeles, and its neighboring cities.
8 LA probation staff removed from duty for overseeing “fight clubs,” as probation chief outsources internal affairs investigations
On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, LA County Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa issued a statement praising the members of the Board of Supervisors who, at his request, passed a motion introduced by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, examining the “feasibility” of outsourcing probation’s internal affairs investigations of staff members.
A good California Supreme Court decision curbs the family police
A decision by the California Supreme Court sheds rare light on how family police agencies (a more accurate term than “child welfare” agencies) like the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services behave, and how that behavior hurts children. What makes this case stand out is...
CA Attorney General Issues Guidelines for Prosecutors to Implement Race-blind Charging
In 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill, AB 2778, meant to reduce racial bias in the criminal legal system by requiring prosecutors’ offices to implement “race-blind” charging practices starting January 1, 2025. This means that a prosecuting agency will need to redact from a case...
Californian who joined hunger strike in ICE detention seeks $1 million in complaint
After 16 months in immigration detention facilities in California and Texas, Jose Ruben Hernandez Gomez returned to his family home in Lodi in April, walking with a cane and saying he suffers from neurological problems and persistent nightmares. The 33-year-old Mexican-born man — who from toddler age has been a...
Colorado releases 5 gray wolves, fulfilling voter-approved reintroduction measure.
Gray wolves captured in Oregon, released at undisclosed location. Five gray wolves captured by Colorado wildlife agents in Oregon were released into the wild on the Western Slope on Monday, fulfilling a voter-approved 2020 ballot initiative to reintroduce the animals in Colorado in the name of restoring ecological balance. Video...
A tale of dangerous jails & why WitnessLA needs your help before midnight tonight!
Almost every day we get calls from people locked up in the nation’s largest jail system. One of our most frequent callers is a man named Jason Underwood, who is incarcerated on a low level offense, which it isn’t entirely clear he committed. His present guilt or innocence...
Ending solitary confinement requires cultural shifts – Part 3 of a 3-part series
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of Michael Johnson, a man confined to a solitary cell twenty-four hours per day, who was held in solitary confinement at Pontiac Correctional Center, a prison two hours from Chicago. Johnson, who is considered seriously mentally ill, based on...
The Real Culprit in the Overuse of Solitary Confinement: Prison Disciplinary Systems – Part 2 of a 3-Part Series
On Wednesday, December 20, the City Council of New York voted to ban solitary confinement in the city’s jails. The movement to abolish solitary is also showing up on a national level. The United States Senate’s counterpart to New York City’s ban is the “End Solitary Confinement Act,” introduced by Senator Ed Markey (D) on December 5. If passed, the bill will prohibit placing any federal prisoner in isolated housing, except for in a few circumstances.
LA County Supervisors Call for More Data Collection, Staff Searches, and Treatment Programs to Stop Jail Overdose Deaths
On Tuesday, December 19, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion aimed at reducing overdose deaths in LA County jails. In their motion, Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn note that each year between 2018 and 2022, an average of 37.8 people died in the jails. Approximately 20 percent of those people died due to an overdose, according to the coroner’s office.
How I Motivate My Incarcerated Brother, Even When It Feels Pointless
As the sister of an incarcerated younger brother, I am at a loss when it comes to motivating him to feel inspired and live his best life. I can tell from previous visits and phone calls that Isaac feels lost and struggles to get in touch with his emotions. He believes his life is at a standstill because he’s locked up — and it’s hard to blame him. Prison wears on you. It’s a slow, grinding corrosion that can devour your energy and leave you lethargic and hopeless.
New Laws Part 5 – Crime and Courts
On January 1, 2024, many of the hundreds of bills that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed this fall will go into effect. As the new year draws closer, we move to the next part in our series rounding up some of the noteworthy justice-related bills. Earlier stories in this series...
Supreme Court Justices Weigh Constitutionality Of Disarming Domestic Abusers
The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to uphold a federal law which bans domestic abusers from owning guns In one of the most high-profile cases of this year. Last month on November 7, Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in United States v. Rahimi. The Biden administration, represented by Solicitor...
New Laws Part 4: Help for Victims
In October, California Governor Gavin Newsom made the final call on what remained of hundreds of bills that legislators sent to his desk for approval. Many of these bills pertained to the criminal legal system, so we decided to break the list up into multiple stories. Earlier parts in this series looked at bills addressing conditions of incarceration in California, policing issues, and youth justice. In this latest story, we’ll look at the 2023 bills meant to directly aid crime survivors.
Head strikes in LA County Jail & the power of independent journalism
On August 14, 2023, WitnessLA filed a motion to unseal six sealed exhibits containing six jail surveillance videos, several of which showed LA County Sheriff’s deputies using “‘head shots,” the term used for closed-fist punches to a detainee’s head. Concurrent with WitnessLA’s motion, the Los...
Most states ban shackling pregnant women in custody, yet many report being restrained
Ashley Denney was about seven months pregnant in 2022 when police handcuffed her during an arrest in Carroll County, Georgia. Officers shackled her even though the state bans the use of restraints on pregnant women in custody beginning at the second trimester. In early July, she said, it happened again.
3 classic novels that have made prison life more bearable
From Dostoevsky to Camus, my reading life has given me something to live for. For the past 18 years, I’ve spent my life in a cell, wondering how I can leave this wretched place. Many years ago, I began a journey of escape, one that has taken me on...
New 2023 Youth Justice Laws
In October, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed and vetoed the last of hundreds of bills that state legislators sent to his desk. Because so many of these bills were justice-related, WitnessLA has broken the list up into multiple stories highlighting individual categories. Earlier stories in this series looked at bills addressing conditions of incarceration in California and policing issues. In this week’s story, we wanted to update readers on the fate of the 2023 bills that impact justice system-involved kids and make changes to school discipline laws.
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