Wendy Sawyer
@wendyppi.bsky.social
Research Director at the Prison Policy Initiative, New Englander, dog person.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
The right to read is extremely circumscribed in America's prisons & even just getting books into them can be difficult. So, in honor of #BannedBooksWeek all orders from our Prison Book Program wish list will trigger a matching donation. Order here: portersquarebooks.com/wishlist/bri...
October 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM
The right to read is extremely circumscribed in America's prisons & even just getting books into them can be difficult. So, in honor of #BannedBooksWeek all orders from our Prison Book Program wish list will trigger a matching donation. Order here: portersquarebooks.com/wishlist/bri...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
It is a beautiful fall day in Camberville today! Which means it's a great day to walk around adding banned books to Little Free Libraries for #BannedBooksWeek (It's probably nice enough where are you too!) Find ones near you here: littlefreelibrary.org/map/
Little Free Library World Map - Little Free Library
Find Little Free Libraries near you on the world map. Share your location to see little libraries in your area, or search by city, state/province, zip code, or country.
littlefreelibrary.org
October 9, 2025 at 1:27 PM
It is a beautiful fall day in Camberville today! Which means it's a great day to walk around adding banned books to Little Free Libraries for #BannedBooksWeek (It's probably nice enough where are you too!) Find ones near you here: littlefreelibrary.org/map/
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Shit is so bad that the best American news of the week is that Dolly Parton didn't die.
October 10, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Shit is so bad that the best American news of the week is that Dolly Parton didn't die.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Vermont to allow more ICE detentions in-state
vtdigger.org/2025/09/16/v...
vtdigger.org/2025/09/16/v...
Vermont inks new detention agreement with federal immigration authorities - VTDigger
The agreement largely mirrors the state's previous memorandum of understanding, but the feds will pay Vermont more for the use of state prisons and the arrangement has no set expiration date.
vtdigger.org
September 17, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Vermont to allow more ICE detentions in-state
vtdigger.org/2025/09/16/v...
vtdigger.org/2025/09/16/v...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
News organizations need to stop calling “immigration judges” — executive branch employees — judges in headlines.
Doing so does virtually the only thing a headline should never do: It confuses the reader.
Doing so does virtually the only thing a headline should never do: It confuses the reader.
September 18, 2025 at 2:00 AM
News organizations need to stop calling “immigration judges” — executive branch employees — judges in headlines.
Doing so does virtually the only thing a headline should never do: It confuses the reader.
Doing so does virtually the only thing a headline should never do: It confuses the reader.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
"If you act like a jerk, you can face consequences by your employer. But if the government is compelling that company to take action against you for speech the government doesn’t like, then we’re fucking fucked. And friends, we’re fucking fucked." michaelianblack.substack.com/p/the-man-show
The Man Show
Welp, they took ol’ Jimmy down tonight.
michaelianblack.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:22 AM
"If you act like a jerk, you can face consequences by your employer. But if the government is compelling that company to take action against you for speech the government doesn’t like, then we’re fucking fucked. And friends, we’re fucking fucked." michaelianblack.substack.com/p/the-man-show
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
🚨TODAY: We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social on a webinar to help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system.
Sign up now 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Sign up now 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM
🚨TODAY: We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social on a webinar to help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system.
Sign up now 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Sign up now 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
I appreciate all the local reporters focusing on just how awful the prisons holding immigrants throughout their state are and have always been
www.inquirer.com/news/ice-imm...
www.inquirer.com/news/ice-imm...
Inside Pa.’s largest immigrant detention center: Violence, desperation, little oversight
While complaints about conditions at Moshannon Valley Processing Center predate Trump, his administration has effectively eliminated outside oversight as the population has reached all-time highs.
www.inquirer.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I appreciate all the local reporters focusing on just how awful the prisons holding immigrants throughout their state are and have always been
www.inquirer.com/news/ice-imm...
www.inquirer.com/news/ice-imm...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
People with mental illness, even severe, or who are poor, do in fact experience a full range of human emotions, including the capacity to love and be loved.
Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless people: "Involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill them."
September 13, 2025 at 4:34 PM
People with mental illness, even severe, or who are poor, do in fact experience a full range of human emotions, including the capacity to love and be loved.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
“ICE can’t do what they need to do under the current circumstances without sheriffs and our jails.” 🎯
Your locally elected sheriffs play an essential role in ICE’s mass incarceration & deportation agenda – and probably make money off of it.
Your locally elected sheriffs play an essential role in ICE’s mass incarceration & deportation agenda – and probably make money off of it.
Local Sheriffs Are Turning Their Jails Into ICE Detention Centers (Gift Article)
Jails play a growing role in immigrant detention, housing thousands of people who have never been convicted of a crime.
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM
“ICE can’t do what they need to do under the current circumstances without sheriffs and our jails.” 🎯
Your locally elected sheriffs play an essential role in ICE’s mass incarceration & deportation agenda – and probably make money off of it.
Your locally elected sheriffs play an essential role in ICE’s mass incarceration & deportation agenda – and probably make money off of it.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
"We don’t want this mega prison in this state. We don’t need this mega prison in this state.”
New must-read from @boltsmag.org:
boltsmag.org/arkansas-pri...
New must-read from @boltsmag.org:
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
September 12, 2025 at 7:12 PM
"We don’t want this mega prison in this state. We don’t need this mega prison in this state.”
New must-read from @boltsmag.org:
boltsmag.org/arkansas-pri...
New must-read from @boltsmag.org:
boltsmag.org/arkansas-pri...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Reminder: Crime in the U.S. is at its lowest since 1961.
September 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reminder: Crime in the U.S. is at its lowest since 1961.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Our national journalism has failed us.
September 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Our national journalism has failed us.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Trump issued two outrageous Executive Orders yesterday targeting "cashless bail." As the multi-billion dollar bail insurance industry spreads lies about the bail system, this classic video tells you a lot about what you need to know about how that system works. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKGV...
Aggressive Bail Policies Lead to Lawsuit Against Texas County | NowThis
YouTube video by NowThis Impact
www.youtube.com
August 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Trump issued two outrageous Executive Orders yesterday targeting "cashless bail." As the multi-billion dollar bail insurance industry spreads lies about the bail system, this classic video tells you a lot about what you need to know about how that system works. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKGV...
Chicago’s Public Defender on Why Illinois Should Fight Trump’s Threats on Cashless Bail boltsmag.org/chicago-publ...
Chicago’s Public Defender on Why Illinois Should Fight Trump's Threats on Cashless Bail - Bolts
President Trump on Monday issued an executive order that purports to block federal funds from state and local governments that have moved away from cash bail in an effort to... Read More
boltsmag.org
September 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Chicago’s Public Defender on Why Illinois Should Fight Trump’s Threats on Cashless Bail boltsmag.org/chicago-publ...
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
✊USA Today with some fact-based reporting.
Illinois ended cash bail & the data is in: crime is down, court appearances are steady, & poor families no longer have to buy freedom for kin.
usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/26/trump-wants-to-end-cashless-bail-how-this-affects-you/85822325007/
Illinois ended cash bail & the data is in: crime is down, court appearances are steady, & poor families no longer have to buy freedom for kin.
usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/26/trump-wants-to-end-cashless-bail-how-this-affects-you/85822325007/
September 3, 2025 at 11:32 PM
✊USA Today with some fact-based reporting.
Illinois ended cash bail & the data is in: crime is down, court appearances are steady, & poor families no longer have to buy freedom for kin.
usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/26/trump-wants-to-end-cashless-bail-how-this-affects-you/85822325007/
Illinois ended cash bail & the data is in: crime is down, court appearances are steady, & poor families no longer have to buy freedom for kin.
usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/26/trump-wants-to-end-cashless-bail-how-this-affects-you/85822325007/
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Thread 🧵 Bail Reform
Trump went on another rant about "cashless bail" yesterday....so let me remind you why he is WRONG about this topic
1/
Trump went on another rant about "cashless bail" yesterday....so let me remind you why he is WRONG about this topic
1/
September 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Thread 🧵 Bail Reform
Trump went on another rant about "cashless bail" yesterday....so let me remind you why he is WRONG about this topic
1/
Trump went on another rant about "cashless bail" yesterday....so let me remind you why he is WRONG about this topic
1/
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
This point from Sotomayor: what Kavanaugh is proposing to shift administrative burdens from the state to the individual, with the widely-agreed upon expectation that the burdens will fall heavier on some groups more than others.
September 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This point from Sotomayor: what Kavanaugh is proposing to shift administrative burdens from the state to the individual, with the widely-agreed upon expectation that the burdens will fall heavier on some groups more than others.
Research friends: Our research team usually heads to #asc41 in November, but the prospect of going to D.C. to discuss the criminal legal system currently sits somewhere between uninspiring and depressing. Are there other research-focused conferences we should consider instead?
August 27, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Research friends: Our research team usually heads to #asc41 in November, but the prospect of going to D.C. to discuss the criminal legal system currently sits somewhere between uninspiring and depressing. Are there other research-focused conferences we should consider instead?
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
Black & brown kids do not have a greater propensity toward lawbreaking. Instead, they are targeted for surveillance, arrest, and punishment in ways that white kids are not.
The racially disproportionate confinement of children starts with policing, not criminality.
The racially disproportionate confinement of children starts with policing, not criminality.
August 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Black & brown kids do not have a greater propensity toward lawbreaking. Instead, they are targeted for surveillance, arrest, and punishment in ways that white kids are not.
The racially disproportionate confinement of children starts with policing, not criminality.
The racially disproportionate confinement of children starts with policing, not criminality.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
When children are confined in adult facilities, they face greater safety risks, and fewer age-appropriate services are available to them.
The carceral system is no place for children.
The carceral system is no place for children.
August 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
When children are confined in adult facilities, they face greater safety risks, and fewer age-appropriate services are available to them.
The carceral system is no place for children.
The carceral system is no place for children.
Reposted by Wendy Sawyer
The system is armed with media teams – for small orgs fighting for change, that can make it hard to get coverage
We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social to change that. This webinar will help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social to change that. This webinar will help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
August 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The system is armed with media teams – for small orgs fighting for change, that can make it hard to get coverage
We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social to change that. This webinar will help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
We're partnering with @justjournalism.bsky.social to change that. This webinar will help advocates looking to take the "lede" in the criminal legal system
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
New (largely local/regional) funds opening up, heads up for nonprofits facing cuts: www.philanthropy.com/article/new-...
New Emergency Funds Open as Federal Funding Tightens
More community and regional foundations are stepping up to offer assistance to nonprofits dealing with the loss of federal money.
www.philanthropy.com
August 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
New (largely local/regional) funds opening up, heads up for nonprofits facing cuts: www.philanthropy.com/article/new-...