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Inquest

@inquest.bsky.social

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National Magazine Award 2025 finalist focused on ending mass incarceration. Sign up for our newsletter: https://inquest.org/subscribe-follow/

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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 21h

"Hospitals and health-care providers are duty-bound to care for all people who come through their doors, and care for them well. Our current policies policing free movement and drug use are not working." Dr. Divya Manoharan on how hospitals fail their patients who use drugs.

Patients Need Care, Not Policing - Divya Manoharan - Inquest

Providing hospital inpatients who use drugs with safe ways to do so is a critical part of what it means to “do no harm.”

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 1d

"Many hospitals have policies forbidding patients who use drugs from leaving hospital floors" to prevent them from using. "This [is] a form of pseudo-incarceration." Medical Dr. Divya Manoharan on how hospitals turn themselves into jailers—& harm patients

Patients Need Care, Not Policing - Divya Manoharan - Inquest

Providing hospital inpatients who use drugs with safe ways to do so is a critical part of what it means to “do no harm.”

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 4d

This week, Inquest covered how drug diversion programs are often extremely carceral in practice, and reviewed a new memoir by one of the greatest jailhouse lawyers of our time, Calvin Duncan. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...

Quote card. Background is a tumble of abstract geometric shapes. Quote is from Bidish Sarma's Inquest article "Fighting for Relief": "In this world, it is an incarcerated person’s ability to meet statutory deadlines and navigate doctrines such as ‘exhaustion’ and ‘default’ that dictates whether they have any chance at enjoying their constitutional rights. In the procedural morass, many individuals have been lost."

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 5d

"Treatment providers are asked to exercise . . . coercive control over their court-mandated clients, warping the therapeutic relationship." Mary Ellen Stitt w/
@uchicagopress.bsky.social on how treatment ends up feeling a lot like punishment when courts get involved:

Punishment in All but Name - Mary Ellen Stitt - Inquest

Drug diversion programs are hyped by reformists as alternatives to prison—but they function just like punishment and people often end up incarcerated anyway.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 6d

"Treatment-based alternatives to traditional punishment help to maintain the criminalization of illness and even intensify punitive interventions into the lives of the most vulnerable." Mary Ellen Stitt w/ @uchicagopress.bsky.social on the failed promise of diversion programs

Punishment in All but Name - Mary Ellen Stitt - Inquest

Drug diversion programs are hyped by reformists as alternatives to prison—but they function just like punishment and people often end up incarcerated anyway.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 7d

"With Louisiana positioned to continue its ruthless reign as the nation’s mass incarceration capital," Calvin Duncan's new book 'The Jailhouse Lawyer' "arrives at a time and in a place it is needed more than ever." Read the full review now:

Fighting for Relief - Bidish Sarma - Inquest

A new memoir details how Calvin Duncan became one of the nation’s foremost experts in post-conviction relief, helping hundreds incarcerated in Louisiana to fight for their rights, even as he sought his own freedom.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 8d

"We as a society don’t get to hear stories of Black men helping each other." The inspiration we need in this moment—from Calvin Duncan, one of the country's foremost jailhouse lawyers. Read about his new memoir in Inquest's latest:

Fighting for Relief - Bidish Sarma - Inquest

A new memoir details how Calvin Duncan became one of the nation’s foremost experts in post-conviction relief, helping hundreds incarcerated in Louisiana to fight for their rights, even as he sought his own freedom.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 11d

This week Inquest covered how a long history of racist policing in LA set the stage for ICE's violent crackdown, and the false promise that facial-identification tech will "fix" eyewitness identification. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...

Quote card with a watermarked image of a canary in a birdcage. Quote is from Los Angeles councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez: "What you see happening in [LA] is coming to you; $140 billion new budget for ICE—what do you think that’s going to do? That’s gonna transport what’s happening here in our neighborhoods to your front doorsteps, so wake up." Quoted in Leah Perez's Inquest article "The Canary in the Coal Mine."

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 12d

"The use of facial recognition to ID witnesses is rife with the exact same problems as eyewitness ID—with the worsening factor of being presented as scientific, objective...." Will Collins on the crisis of police use of facial-recognition tech

Tech Won’t Fix Eyewitness Identification - Will Collins - Inquest

Eyewitness identification is a deeply flawed practice. Adding facial recognition technology, with its veneer of objectivity, only worsens the crisis of mass incarceration.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 13d

We're looking forward to listening to this podcast based on the second article in our recent series "Abolitionist Lessons from the Prison Belts." Thanks @interdependentstudy.com ! You can read the whole series here: inquest.org/abolitionist...

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 13d

"Faulty facial recognition matches are already contributing to arrests and convictions." Veteran public defender Will Collins on our broken eyewitness ID system—and how surveillance cameras and AI will only make it worse.

Tech Won’t Fix Eyewitness Identification - Will Collins - Inquest

Eyewitness identification is a deeply flawed practice. Adding facial recognition technology, with its veneer of objectivity, only worsens the crisis of mass incarceration.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 14d

"To no one’s surprise, both LAPD and LASD forces were present at the protests that followed the raids and assisted ICE by blockading and brutalizing protesters." Leah Perez on the thinness of so-called "sanctuary" policies, in LA and beyond

The Canary in the Coal Mine - Leah Perez - Inquest

A number of factors—including a willingness of law enforcement to collude with federal authorities—make Los Angeles a distressing bellwether of a country succumbing to authoritarianism.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 15d

We're back from our summer break with an incisive analysis from La Defensa's Leah Perez on how a history of racist policing in Los Angeles has amplified the violence of ICE and the National Guard to create the authoritarian spectacle of a city "under federal occupation."

The Canary in the Coal Mine - Leah Perez - Inquest

A number of factors—including a willingness of law enforcement to collude with federal authorities—make Los Angeles a distressing bellwether of a country succumbing to authoritarianism.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 29d

Today is the anniversary of the start of the Attica uprising. "Those who led the Attica uprising wanted humane treatment. Their bravery resulted in meaningful improvements to prison regulations. . . . Those gains have . . . eroded. We want them back. We must remember Attica."

Never Forget Attica Day - Joseph Wilson - Inquest

Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 6

This week, Inquest remembers Attica—Tuesday will be the 54th anniversary of the uprising's start—and reports on the hope- and health-crushing burden of carceral medical debt. Get the full recap here: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...

Quote card. Background image is a detail of Mikuláš Galanda's woodblock print "Crying Women." Quote is from Joseph Wilson's article "Never Forget Attica Day": "Those who led the Attica uprising wanted humane treatment. Their bravery resulted in meaningful improvements to prison regulations. Those gains have largely been eroded. We want them back. We must remember Attica again."

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 5

"Most prisons are so short-staffed that the National Guard continues to be necessary to maintain basic operations. And we continue to live with the indefinite suspension of recreation, programs, commissary. . ." Joseph Wilson on the current state of NY's prisons.

Never Forget Attica Day - Joseph Wilson - Inquest

Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 4

"Those who led the Attica uprising wanted humane treatment. Their bravery resulted in meaningful improvements. Those gains have largely been eroded. We want them back." Incarcerated artist Joseph Wilson on the perpetual near-lockdown conditions of NY prisons post–guard strike

Never Forget Attica Day - Joseph Wilson - Inquest

Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 3

". . . leaving them with potentially tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills. Once the person released on 'medical bond' has recovered, the carceral facility will then take steps to rearrest them immediately." [3/3]

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 3

". . . the facility may choose to release the person on 'medical bond' or 'furlough' before transporting them to a hospital for treatment. Because the person has technically been 'released,' the facility is not required to pay for their medical care . . . [2/3]

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 3

A tale of carceral medical neglect *and* rapacious capitalism from @nclc4consumers.bsky.social told in three posts. Read the whole story here: inquest.org/medical-...

"In some jails and prisons, when someone experiences a serious medical issue . . . [1/3—cont. below]

Medical Debt Behind Bars - Anna Anderson - Inquest

Incarcerated people accrue debt for nearly all of their medical care. This makes a mockery of their right to health care—and saddles them with devastating debt upon release.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 2

"Many jails & prisons have looked for ways to actively disincentivize [medical] care & shift the financial burden to incarcerated people & their families." Anna Anderson of @nclc4consumers.bsky.social on the staggering medical debt foisted onto incarcerated people

Medical Debt Behind Bars - Anna Anderson - Inquest

Incarcerated people accrue debt for nearly all of their medical care. This makes a mockery of their right to health care—and saddles them with devastating debt upon release.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Sep 2

Thanks @workshops4gaza.bsky.social — we'd love to hear more about you and what you'd be interested in saying. Please reach out to our managing editor: adam [at] inquest [dot] org

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Aug 30

This week Inquest shared an argument for the decarceral potential of a prison general strike, and a conversation about what present-day activists can learn from the example of political prisoner and anarchist Martin Sostre. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...

Quote card. Dark gray background with watermarked image of machinery gears. Quote is from Garrett Felber (from the Inquest article "The Work Continues"): "Martin Sostre would say, ‘If we do it right, it’ll end up right.’ We [have to] take care of each other so we don’t just wind up reproducing the oppressive structures that we’re trying to tear down."

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Aug 29

"I always really felt Martin Sostre’s revolutionary optimism. The odds are against us, the power is against us, but that doesn’t make revolution impossible. And if you don’t believe it’s possible, you’re not going to win." —Garrett Felber on new Sostre bio from @akpress.org

The Work Continues - Garrett Felber & Orisanmi Burton - Inquest

Revolutionary Black anarchist Martin Sostre spent much of his life as a political prisoner. A vivid new biography reintroduces him to a new generation of decarceral activists.

Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · Aug 28

Felber's book, 'A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre,' is out now from @akpress.org