• A lawsuit filed on behalf of Nicolas Reyes, a man from El Salvador serving a 47-year sentence at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, claims that he has been held in solitary confinement solely based on his inability to complete a journal writing requirement for the step-down program because he does not speak or […]
prison whistleblowers
"Witness to Human Torture": On Both Sides of the Prison Walls, Social Workers Confront Solitary Confinement
Esther Lim, a social worker employed by the ACLU to monitor LA County jails, was meeting with an incarcerated man in an attorney meeting room in 2011 when she heard what sounded like a fight. She looked through a window to see two deputies repeatedly beating an incarcerated man, James Parker, and shocking him with […]
Portrait of a Prison Whistleblower—and His Punishment
Guest Post by Lance Tapley I often tell people—perhaps shocking some—that a prison inmate I know, Deane Brown, is one of the most moral individuals I’ve ever met. This despite the fact that he had gotten in deep trouble since early childhood because, he once told me, he felt no moral compunction about taking things […]
Maine Prison Whistleblower Exiled and Isolated
For more than four years, Maine prisoner Deane Brown has faced isolation and exile for his role as a prison journalist and whistleblower. Brown was serving a lengthy sentence for burglary and robbery in the lockdown unit of Maine State Prison when he began filing reports, by letter, which were aired on WRFR community radio in 2005. The […]