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Piper French

@psfrench.bsky.social

10K followers 620 following 250 posts

reporting on prisons, jails, DAs for Bolts. freelance magazine work: NYRB, NYmag, Aperture, Lux, Drift, Nation [email protected] -> psfrench.com en/es/fr

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Mar 20

In January 2024 I got a one-line email from a woman I didn't know: "Jimmie Duncan an innocent man on death row is looking to get into contact with you."

I've been working on the story ever since. Here it is, finally - a @motherjones.com / @bolts.bsky.social feature: boltsmag.org/the-human-co...

The Human Cost of Jeff Landry’s Drive to Resume Executions - Bolts

Chris Duncan’s death sentence—built on the testimony of two discredited doctors—illustrates just how faulty the system can be.

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 23h

"The risks in the Callais case for minority voters are dire, with the case potentially leading to the bleaching of legislative bodies throughout the United States. But the risks are raised even higher by the timing" – that is, before the 2026 midterms.

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

How the Supreme Court could aid the GOP's redistricting games

If the court rules quickly enough in a key voting rights case, it could allow yet another round of partisan redistricting before the 2026 midterms.

www.msnbc.com

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 23h

Chief Justice Roberts' long game on voting rights: In '82 when Congress amended the VRA to switch to an *effect* rather than intent-based test, the Reagan admin's opposition was led by Roberts. "Now, in Callais, Roberts has engineered the chance to take down Section 2."
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

How the Supreme Court could aid the GOP's redistricting games

If the court rules quickly enough in a key voting rights case, it could allow yet another round of partisan redistricting before the 2026 midterms.

www.msnbc.com

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 2d

Great new investigative piece showing how the new Cook County prosecutor has weakened the conviction integrity unit - even as concerns mount over the pressure tactics of a former Chicago detective, with the reporter finding evidence of 24 cases with coercion allegations:
boltsmag.org/chicago-cook...

Exonerations Grind to a Halt Under Chicago’s New Prosecutor - Bolts

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has weakened her office’s already broken system for freeing the innocent, even as allegations of coercion mount against a former Chicago detective.

boltsmag.org

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Reposted by Piper French

Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 8d

"The documents also show that ICE is planning to once again use location data remotely harvested from peoples’ smartphones after previously saying it had stopped the practice." -- @josephcox.bsky.social for @404media.co:

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 8d

Next installment in my informal “local Democrats talking a big game but then actively or passively collaborating with ICE” series. Previously: NOLA city council wants to legalize live facial recognition tech - just as a new law debuts requiring local LE cooperation w ICE boltsmag.org/new-orleans-...

New Orleans May Hand Its Police Live Facial Recognition Tech. Critics Warn It'll Help ICE. - Bolts

The cameras are mounted across downtown New Orleans: hanging from balconies on Bourbon Street, bolted to the exterior walls of bars and four-star hotels throughout the French Quarter. For two... Read ...

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 8d

Since its inception, BRIC has presided over precisely the sort of monitoring & data collection that Trump admin is trying to exploit in its quest to round up immigrants & target politically active non-citizens.

Now, DHS's money comes with even more strings attached.
boltsmag.org/boston-polic...

Bid to Renew Federal Grant Sparks Concern Boston May Help Trump’s DHS on Immigration - Bolts

The grant helps fund a law enforcement center that’s drawn criticism over privacy and over data-sharing with ICE. It would also come with new strings to spend money on border control.

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 8d

During her mayoral campaign, Wu pledged to abolish the fusion center. After her election, she changed course, even pushing for more $ (story from 2023 linked). Her about-face has maintained the city's dependence on BRIC ... & thus on DHS, which majorly funds the center.

boltsmag.org/boston-polic...

Boston Mayor Backtracks on Ending Controversial Police Surveillance Center - Bolts

On the campaign trail, Michelle Wu called for eliminating an intelligence center notorious for racial profiling. As mayor, she pushed for more funding.

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 8d

Boston's Michelle Wu has attracted notice for standing up to Trump on ICE raids. But her stance is undermined by the city's fusion center, which civil liberties advocates have warned abt for yrs: "The whole purpose of it is federal & local law enforcement collaboration."
boltsmag.org/boston-polic...

Bid to Renew Federal Grant Sparks Concern Boston May Help Trump’s DHS on Immigration - Bolts

The grant helps fund a law enforcement center that’s drawn criticism over privacy and over data-sharing with ICE. It would also come with new strings to spend money on border control.

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 13d

disgusting

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13d

JERUSALEM (AP) — In 'unprecedented operation,' Israeli army takes over mobile phones of Gaza residents to carry Netanyahu UN speech live.

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 23d

"...Weiss and the Free Press were there to help reactionaries at elite institutions advance their internal turf wars – & unlike a year ago, those reactionaries can now count on the full weight of Trump’s authoritarian administration to back them up."

www.theguardian.com/media/ng-int...

Disgruntled NYT journalist to ‘anti-woke’ power grab: how far can Bari Weiss go?

After leaving the New York Times, she turned her Substack into an unshakable pro-Israel voice. Now as Paramount eyes acquisition of her company, Weiss is poised to become Trump’s ally among media elit...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Piper French

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23d

A couple of months ago, I started digging into the Justice Department’s decision to seek a death sentence for Luigi Mangione.

One thing I found: Never since Congress reinstated the federal death penalty had an attorney general bent so many rules to get her way.

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/l...

How Luigi Mangione Is Fighting the Trump Justice Department’s “Unprecedented” Rush to Execute Him

Lawyers for the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson argue that their client’s constitutional rights are being violated by the government, while legal experts question Attorney Genera...

www.vanityfair.com

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Reposted by Piper French

ICE Flight Monitor @iceflightmonitor.bsky.social · 24d

ICE Air ran an excruciatingly long 50-hour deportation flight on Sept. 11-12, stopping at Guantanamo Bay before deporting people to Mauritania, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, DRC, & Guinea. The plane also stopped in Senegal on the way there and back—likely for fuel—and in Ghana again on the return.

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 24d

"“They thought we were just white trash rednecks & that we would just roll over & take it & not say anything." Remarkable new feature by @laurengill.bsky.social about the doubts & resistance that Sarah Huckabee Sanders' mega prison project has spurred in rural Arkansas: boltsmag.org/arkansas-pri...

The Prison Next Door - Bolts

How Arkansas’ secretive plan for a new state lockup angered residents in a deep red corner of rural America—and changed how some see incarceration.

boltsmag.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 27d

givebutter.com/gazajournali...

Gaza Journalist Fund

Supporting Journalists Evacuating Gaza City and Surviving Displacement in the South

givebutter.com

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 28d

nysfocus.com/2025/09/10/w... stories like this - only 5 claims investigated in 12 yrs! - underscore just how remarkable the New Orleans DA's conviction integrity unit was. It was able to exonerate or resentence 100s of people in just a few years. Then state Republicans essentially shut it down.

New York's AG Wanted to Review Innocence Claims. Politics Got in the…

The attorney general's conviction review bureau has investigated just a handful of innocence claims of the hundreds it's received since 2012.

nysfocus.com

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Reposted by Piper French

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 29d

IDF sniper from Chicago who says he killed Gazan teenager just for trying to retrieve his brother's corpse: “They’re thinking, ‘Oh I don’t think [I’ll get shot] because I’m wearing civilian clothes and I am not carrying a weapon' and all that, but they were wrong. That’s what you have snipers for.”

The Gaza family torn apart by IDF snipers from Chicago and Munich

Five-month investigation reveals how four members of one family were shot and killed in a single day and highlights a pattern in which Israeli troops target unarmed civilians

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Piper French

Kelly Davis @kellylynndavis.bsky.social · Sep 9

San Diego County may become first in the U.S. to give civilian board oversight of jail healthcare providers
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/09/07/s...

San Diego County may become first in the U.S. to give civilian board oversight of jail healthcare providers

But Tuesday’s vote by the Board of Supervisors could face significant resistance from the Sheriff’s Office.

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

I didn't say anything about the quality or independence of al Jazeera's reporting. I posted a link to Mediapart, a French investigative site. What I said is that journalists should not be targeted and killed. Do you agree?

Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

Sorry but I'm simply not going to accept "evidence" from the same outlet that framed a big gotcha around starving children having "preexisting conditions" - including starvation-induced diseases like rickets and, literally, a kid who had a brain injury from israeli shelling. totally disqualifying

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

And to be clear, I care about this not bc I think journalists should have special privileges per se - any Gazan civilian killed constitutes a crime - but bc the IDF has deliberately hunted down journalists as part of a concerted strategy to keep the world from seeing the horror unleashed on Gaza!

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

The leftwing French investigative site Mediapart is doing a whole series devoted to the journalists killed in Gaza. Would really love to see more of this sort of professional solidarity from US media outlets and journalists: www.mediapart.fr/studio/panor...

Journalistes à Gaza : les visages du carnage

Dans le cimetière à ciel ouvert qu’est devenue la bande de Gaza, reposent les âmes de plusieurs dizaines de journalistes, tués en bravant le blocus médiatique imposé par Israël. Mediapart a reconstit…

www.mediapart.fr

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

I wrote in July about the types of workplaces these raids have targeted - those car washes and day laborer sites singled out here - how low wage immigrant worker centers were responding, and what type of solidarity might arise (or not) with organized labor: www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

Opening the House of Labor | Piper French

On Wednesday, June 11, just a few days before Father’s Day, two sisters named Jaslyn and Kimberly found themselves in the parking lot of a car wash in

www.nybooks.com

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

The categories the lower court said people couldn't be stopped based on: gathering at day laborer sites, car washes, etc; type of labor someone performs; speaking Spanish, or accented English; apparent racial identity.

IE, all the pretexts and strategies ICE has been using for these roundups

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 8

Shadow docket strikes again. The country's highest court has endorsed naked racial & national origin discrimination.

calmatters.org/justice/2025...

Supreme Court allows immigration agents to resume indiscriminate sweeps in LA, siding with Trump

The Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, overturning a ruling that forbade agents from stopping people based on their appearance.

calmatters.org

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Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · Sep 4

A new escalation in the broader push by the Louisiana governor and attorney general to Make Executions Great Again lailluminator.com/2025/09/04/l...

Louisiana AG to challenge Supreme Court ruling against under-18 executions • Louisiana Illuminator

Liz Murrill said she intends to challenge a precedent from 2005 that declared capital punishment for minors unconstitutional.

lailluminator.com

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