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Progressives press Chicago mayor over pledge to end controversial policing tool

Brandon Johnson vowed to drop controversial gunshot detection system but approved a $10m payment for contractor ShotSpotter.

The Guardian

DA Jason Williams alleges commissioners routinely set low bails in cases of violence

“The ultimate decision of what conditions, if any, may be needed to release a person is not the district attorney’s but the court’s," MJC's Eric Foley said of the Orleans Parish DA's calls for higher bail amounts.

NOLA.com

Missouri prison officials restrict inmate access to books from friends or family

“We want to treat them humanely. We don’t want them to be worse off coming out by being socially isolated, which is really devastating to one’s mental health, by being denied educational opportunities. This is a pretty shocking new policy,” MJC's Amy Breihan said.

Missouri Independent

Report Into 2021 Riots at St. Louis City Justice Center Was Seemingly Buried

"I'm shocked at what is going on in the jail, but I'm not at all surprised," says MJC's Amy Breihan, whose lawsuit helped bring the long-buried report to light. "This has been happening for years."

Riverfront Times

REPORT: Mississippi Public Defender Structure Underfunded, Causes Those Who Can’t Afford Attorney to Languish in Jail

“You don’t have a lawyer. You don’t have money to get out on bail. You don’t have anybody fighting for you," MJC's Cliff Johnson said.

The Davis Vanguard

Mississippi’s public defender system in crisis as some wait years for court-appointed lawyer

Legal experts say the Mississippi public defender system is underfunded and fails to provide counsel to people who cannot afford their own. This has left people waiting behind bars for legal representation.

NBC News

Corrections Officer Charged in Beating Previously Led Training on Mace

"People in leadership are aware of this happening, but they're not doing anything about it," said MJC's Shubra Ohri.

Riverfront Times

Federal court rules Mississippi law banning felons from voting is unconstitutional

In an at times scathing ruling, senior 5th Circuit Court said Mississippi “stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear and consistent trend in our Nation against permanent disenfranchisement,” and that keeping the law on the books “ensures they will never be fully rehabilitated… and serves no protective function to society.”

Mississippi Public Broadcast

Inability to pay a $100,000 bail kept a Mississippi man in jail for three years

“If district attorneys aren’t vigilant moving cases to trial and circuit judges don’t take seriously the presumption of innocence, the system doesn’t work and people wind up serving lengthy sentences without ever being found guilty by a jury,” MJC's Cliff Johnson said.

Mississippi Today

Video Footage and Reports Released in Lawsuit Expose Inhumane Treatment of People Detained at St. Louis City Jail

Plaintiffs in a putative class action lawsuit, Jones v. City of St. Louis, filed a motion containing a staggering volume of evidence against the St. Louis City Justice Center (CJC), including over 360 use-of-force reports, more than 50 declarations and grievances and video footage of correctional officers macing detainees at point-blank range with “riot-sized” cannisters—often while people are restrained in handcuffs or locked in small cells.