Blog
Remembering Ben Hall
Joshua Edward Wright
December 31, 2020
After the heartbreaking passing of one of our founders, Joshua Wright pays tribute to his friend.
Except As Punishment For Crime
Paul Dawson
December 1, 2020
Paul Dawson is currently serving a 14-year sentence at Oregon State Penitentiary. Here he takes us on brief journey through history from slavery to prison labor, and the role of the 13th Amendment, as well as shining a light upon the many industries propped up by the involuntary servitude of America’s prisoners.
COVID-19: MY EXPERIENCE IN PRISON
Jimmie Cohron
October 2, 2020
Jimmie is currently incarcerated at Oregon State Penitentiary, one of the COVID-19 hotspots for the entire state since the start of the pandemic. Here he writes for All Rise magazine about his experience at the prison; navigating ambiguous information, not self-reporting symptoms for fear of the outcome, and longing for the “safety” of his cell after a period in isolation.
WHY DO WE HAVE POLICE?
Anoop Mirpuri
June 15, 2020
Mirpuri asserts that racial discrimination is not the root cause of police violence that disproportionately affects people of color. Rather, drawing on the Black radical tradition, he argues that police violence is a necessary feature of a society that produces and tolerates massive economic inequalities and forms of economic and political dispossession. As a result, addressing the problem of police violence requires radical shifts not only in how we organize society, but also in how we think about the relationship between racism and capitalism.
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK 5.08.2020
“We cannot police our way out of a pandemic.” Social distancing is become the latest justification for police brutality against Black and Brown people in America.
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK 4.26.2020
In Chicago, former gang members are fighting the spread of the coronavirus. Philadelphia looks to Portugal for inspiration in their battle against a heroin crisis. Miami goes seven weeks without a homicide for first time since 1957. And more…
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK 4.10.2020
Two Oregon prisons were in the news this week after prisoners at Columbia River Correctional Institution and Coffee Creek Correctional Facility reached near breaking point, because of a lack of accurate information over COVID-19 and no protection from the spread of infection.
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK 4.04.2020
In the news this week…The Marshall Project takes at look at crime rates in major cities under stay-at-home orders…here in Oregon, the Portland Mercury interviews two prisoners inside Columbia River Correctional Institution on facing COVID-19 behind bars…Slate draws parallels between HIV criminalization and punishing those who spread coronavirus…and The Atlantic asks, simply, “can’t we at least give prisoners soap?"…
COVID CORRELATION
Joshua Edward Wright
March 21, 2020
This virus we are dealing with, the symptoms are nearly identical to the genetic defect I was born with: Cystic Fibrosis
COVID-19 AND THE PRISON SYSTEM
March 14, 2020
As COVID-19 continues to whip the world into a frenzy, we’ve heard about some basics needed in order to ensure that the contagion is kept from overwhelming our health-care system and our most vulnerable populations have the resources they need to cope.
A population that we haven’t heard much about are the more than 2 million incarcerated persons throughout our carceral system.