San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Aging cons fear parole after incarceration

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Aging cons who survived the causes and consequences of long-term incarceration are being released from prison cross the country. They are paroled into a society full of high-speed diverse technology while still carrying the stigma of an ex-felon, and the transition is not easy.

That was the focal point of a recent report from the Urban Institute. The 2017 report, “A Matter of Time: The Causes and Consequences of Rising Time Served in America’s Prisons,” highlights a current legal environment that places people in prison for long periods and shares the stories of several who made it through.

“I’m a human being,” said Ramona Brant, a formerly incarcerated woman whose story was shared in the Institute report. “Each one of us has a story to tell, and if you would just take the time to listen, you would be amazed at how similar I am to you.”

“Tennessee is 17.1 percent Black, but Blacks make up 69 percent of all drug-free school zone offenders…” REASON Magazine, January 2018

These inmates have been waiting for their freedom for a long time, but some are fearful because they don’t know what their future holds and taking that first step out can be daunting.

One stated purpose of imprisonment is to rehabilitate people so they can re-enter society, but the reality is it punishes the convicted person for their conduct. The Urban Institute reported extremely long prison stays can exact devastating costs from the persons incarcerated.

Case in point: in 1995 Brant was sentenced to life without parole for her first conviction for drug conspiracy—a mandatory penalty that even the sentencing judge thought was too severe, the article reported.

For 21 years she said, she missed out on being a mother to her babies. Now her babies have babies.

Brant was the best mother that she could be. At the start of every year, she wrote her kids’ teachers, asking them to understand the children’s situation.

When President Obama granted Brant clemency in 2016, she paroled to Charlotte, N.C., at the age of 51.

“Everything surprised me,” Brant said. “Everything was new. Everything was different.”

For the first time, Brant saw flat-screen TVs, filled out paperless applications and saw backup cameras in vehicles. She had to learn many common social skills all over again.

“Everything surprised me, everything was new. Everything was different”

Cell phones are now in everyone’s pocket. Parking meters accept credit cards. And subway tokens are long gone.

But adapting to those changes pales in comparison to the challenge of returning home after decades in prison and starting over at an age when most people are already established in life.

Stanley Mitchell experienced turmoil upon his release at the age of 63, said the article.

After his release from serving a 35-year term, he could never obtain tranquility. Nightmares kept him up at night, and knocks on the front door spooked him.

Not everyone who’s been inside for a long time loses the life they had before.

Nelson Rivera served 17 years in prison before his release at the age of 45. Even though he and his wife ended their marriage while Rivera was incarcerated, his children stood by him.

“I have four children,” Rivera told the Institute. “There were times where I felt like I was going to lose my family—my children mainly—and thank God, we stood strong.”

The Urban Institute’s report talked about the need for a serious change to the criminal justice system in this country. It presented possible alternatives to long-term sentences and proposed approaching criminal justice from a new angle.

But while drastic reform may be possible, it hasn’t come yet, and there are people still serving long sentences and being released into a new and challenging world. More robust and accessible reentry programs, rehabilitative services, and government support are needed for the aging former, and current, inmates to succeed after incarceration.

http://www.urban.org

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

Importance of good character and integrity in prison

Law enforcement and prisoners come together in Barbershop Dialogue

Florida hosts prison reform conference – FICPFM

Tennessee schedules three executions

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Electric chair

Tennessee has scheduled three executions this year, after nearly a decade without them, according to USA Today.

Dozens of Death Row prisoners lost challenges to the use of the death penalty and lethal injection. The Tennessee Supreme Court has consistently ruled in favor of the process.

“The intended result of an execution is to render the inmate dead,” wrote Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins in his official opinion, upholding the state’s practice of executing the condemned by lethal injection.

The execution dates of James Hawkins, Billy Ray Irick and Sedrick Clayton have been confirmed by the Tennessee Department of Correction, according to the article. They will be executed on May 9, Aug. 9 and Nov. 28, respectively. The last execution was in 2009. 

“Both Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Clayton had their convictions confirmed by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2017,” said Barbara Peck, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Supreme Court. “They have one year to file a petition for post-conviction relief. They may also have federal appeal options.”

Irick could be the first execution, scheduled for Aug. 9. His attorneys asked the Supreme Court not to set a new execution date, the article stated. Hawkins is scheduled for May 9 but has the one-year option to appeal.

More than a third of millennial say that if a man compliments a woman’s looks it is harassment, according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18.

Irick, who has exhausted all his state and federal appeals, was set to die in 2014. He has been on death row since 1986 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

Today, there are 60 inmates on Tennessee’s death row waiting to be executed. The electric chair is still legal in Tennessee. It was last used in 2007 but could resume in 2018, according to the article.

“The governor will defer to the Tennessee Supreme Court as the court sets execution dates,” Jennifer Donnals, a spokeswoman for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, said in an email to USA Today. “The governor will follow the law and the court’s orders on this matter.”

Death Row inmate freed after serving more than 25 years

First U.S. Woman Executed in 5 Years

2017’s low executions only 23

UC Davis combats prison stigmas with Beyond the Stats

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A Beyond the Stats event at UC Davis

A Beyond the Stats event at UC Davis

To combat the stigmas facing formerly incarcerated people at the University of California Davis, two students established the Beyond the Stats program to help the newly returning citizens adjust to college life.

The founders of the program, Tina Curiel-Allen and Daniel Mendoza, were also formerly incarcerated. The two established the support group and a magazine on the campus to challenge the preconceptions of school administration and peers about who these incoming students are as people.

“We did a project, and asked students—without telling them our background— ‘how do you feel about being on campus with formerly incarcerated students?’” said Curiel-Allen to San Quentin News. “We were really surprised by some of the things that we heard.”

A Beyond the Stats event at UC Davis

A Beyond the Stats event at UC Davis

Beyond the Stats was created in 2017 and has grown to 12 members. The magazine is currently on its third issue. Curiel-Allen is a fourth-year Chicano studies major and Mendoza is a fourth-year sociology major.

Both discovered that they shared the experience of being incarcerated after the two were paired in a class project.

“Once you’ve been incarcerated you can’t experience the world the same way,” said Curiel-Allen. “The sociology department on the UC Davis campus is pretty conservative. I saw what was happening, that the learning wasn’t going both ways.

“It’s very troubling, that the research is done through this lens of objectivity. It’s frankly kind of hurtful”

“It was always like, ‘I’m the professor, I have the knowledge that I’m imparting to you.’ That underscored the urgency for us,” added Curiel-Allen.

The institution did not leave much room for different kinds of knowledge, which prompted the two students to put together the magazine and program, said Curiel-Allen. The professors would talk about the Black and Chicano community with a sense of detachment from the experience, she said.

“It’s very troubling, that the research is done through this lens of objectivity. It’s frankly kind of hurtful,” added Curiel-Allen. “Because they were lecturing about our streets but it was obvious they had never been there.”

“African American families comprise 42 percent of welfare recipients…but are 59 percent of poor people shown on television are African American.” “Sustaining Stereotypes” by Lanien Frush Holt in QUILL Summer 2018 www.spj.org/quill

“The most realistic way to change that narrative was through the zines, short for magazine,” said Curiel-Allen, “because it was cheap and accessible.” She is the editor of Beyond the Stats’ zine, a writer, poet and essayist.

She uses a template for the magazine on a computer and prints in black and white to save money. The two founders have an advisor who is a prison abolitionist. They didn’t ask the college for support because they didn’t want to get co-opted by the University or to need approval by a publisher. The magazine is filled with poems, personal statements and interviews from members and friends of the movement.

Mendoza spoke about his experience in an article in The Aggie, a UC Davis publication.

“I went from one institution that was meant to keep me in to one that’s meant to keep me out,” said Mendoza. “Transferring was very hard, trying to navigate this big system.

“I found myself in tough situations my first year, at risk of dropping out and doing dumb stuff,” added Mendoza.

When Mendoza began his academic career, he said he tried many times to confide in different people, seeking help to navigate around the bureaucratic policies.

“There are good people out there with good intentions,” Mendoza said. “But every time I tried to talk to someone, I felt like I had to lie about who I was and change my story so they would feel comfortable.”

Beyond the Stats also holds events where 50 to 60 people attend, said Curiel-Allen. The next class is titled: “Education as a freedom: aka AmeriKa, this is how you made me.”

The syllabus was written to be a counterpoint to the classes Beyond the Stats members are in.

“Our goal is to use an almost completely narrative-based approach,” said Curiel-Allen. “We want people to think: ‘How are identities are shaped by institutions? What is to be gained by complete objectivity in research of these communities?

“What is lost when you are not part of the community you write about” she added.

While Beyond the Stats members work to change the narrative of returning citizens in college institutions, they understand about growing consciously and carefully.

“Absolutely, formerly-incarcerated students feel a lot of stigma,” said Curiel-Allen. “There’s always the question of whether or not it’s internalized stigma or if it’s external; but it really doesn’t matter, because it’s still there.

“We need to find other students like us. We need to make ourselves visible,” she concluded.

—Arielle Swedback,  UC Berkeley student, contributed to this story

Prestigious colleges learn about life from prisoners

Black incarceration on the decline


http://sanquentinnews.com/game-theory/

Youth offenders graduate Pre-Apprentice Program

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N.A. Chaderjian youth graduates

N.A. Chaderjian youth graduates

STOCKTON — Ten youth offenders graduated with a marketable job skill after completing the first Pre-Apprentice Construction Labor Program at the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility.

After completing six months of preparation, the young men were certified for construction work and possible union membership, according to the Stockton Record.

The youth-offenders were trained in welding, carpentry and ironwork. They were taught how to drive forklifts, dig holes, form and pour cement.

“In California, you can work and get an abortion without parental consent at 12, but you must be 21 to buy a vaping device.”  Reason Magazine December 2017 REASON.COM

Program graduates are eligible to sign up at a union hall in California once they parole. They can also apply to have their union dues paid for a year by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

“I was looking forward to going to the penitentiary,” said Luis Huerta, 18, a program graduate.

“64% of California’s jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016.” Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail.  Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/

Huerta told the Stockton Record that he saw life as getting out of prison, selling drugs and possibly ending up back in prison or dead. He requested that he be sent to the penitentiary, but instead the program staff encouraged him to give the pre-apprenticeship a try.

“Now that I think about it, I have something positive to look forward to,” Huerta said. “If I stay positive, positive things will come my way so why go negative? I’m going to try my best to be successful.”

Charles Pattillo, general manager of California Prison Industry Authority, partnered with the facility and California trade unions to bring the program to the Stockton facility.

CDCR, California State Prisons,

California Correctional Health Care Facility in Stockton

“The public needs to understand that everyone, whether juvenile or adult, just about everybody is going to get out of prison eventually, and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure these folks don’t come back to prison in any way shape or form,” Pattillo said. “Investing in programs like this is probably the surest way to guarantee they don’t return.”

The program costs about $160,000 a year to operate and DJJ makes an additional $1,500 investment once an offender is released, Pattillo said. In comparison, it costs between $100,000 and $200,000 per juvenile offender to keep them incarcerated, reported the Stockton Record.

The program is rigorous. Roy Borgersen, an ex-offender who now instructs inmates, has the men toil in the rain. “I tried to kill them,” he said.

“There are over 4,800 legal restrictions facing people with convictions  after sentence completion…73% of these legal barriers are permanent.” “SAFE AND SOUND: …” by Californians For Safety and Justice Nov. 2017 

The young students would get upset and talk back to him but they never quit. The unions don’t want lazy employees, Borgersen told the Stockton Record, so it is especially important for him to teach them to work hard.

Graduate Jonathan Hernandez-Sanchez, 20, who sees a future in the concrete demolition business, said he made his mother proud as he received his certificate.

“He only has me, and I only have him,” said his mother, Yvette Sanchez, who moved to Sacramento from Los Angeles to be closer to her son. “I need to make sure to be there for him for all his important moments. I’m very proud to be able to be here with him.”

Project Fresh Start helps parolees achieve their dreams

CALPIA’s Pattillo explains the options of prison job training

San Quentin News World Travels

Prisoners seek hepatitis C treatment

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California prisoners filed a federal court class action lawsuit in Sacramento to receive a curative treatment for hepatitis C, after doctors refused patients treatment citing that they were not sick enough, the disease is too far advanced, or that the drugs cost too much, reported the Sacramento Bee.

California’s prison health care staff refused to provide 18 incarcerated hepatitis C patients with a new and expensive curable drug. Attorneys Mark E. Merin and Fred J. Hiestand filed the lawsuit in Sacramento on behalf of the infected inmates.

“When prisoners with Hep C are released, their viral infections can easily be spread to others”

“Hep C spreads through the society by contact with infected blood. When prisoners with Hep C are released, their viral infections can easily be spread to others,” said attorneys in a news release.

Nationally, some 64,000 Americans died from overdose last year, up 86 percent from 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  “Friends of Overdose Victims Become Prosecutor’s Targets”  Dec. 18, 2017

The disease causes inflammation of the liver, which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and other health problem. The new drug treatment cost up to $40,000 per inmate, said the article. Merin believes California Department of Rehabilitation (CDCR) could negotiate a lower fee just based on the volume of inmates with hepatitis C.

Patients with a life expectancy of less than 12 months whose condition would not be improved by the treatment and patients who would be released from prison before completing their treatment are not eligible candidates for treatment, reported the article. Pregnant women and patients in reception centers are also entitled to the treatment.

“Drug overdoses have now surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 55.”  THE NEW YORK TIMES Dec. 22, 2017

As of Jan. 12, there have been 18,389 inmates diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the CDCR, reported the article.

Among those named as defendants in the lawsuit is receiver J. Clark Kelso. In 2006 the federal court appointed a receiver to manage the delivery of medical care in California’s prisons, after it ruled CDCR failed to provide proper medical care to its inmates, reported the Bee.

There were 19,000 fatalities in the United States last year from hepatitis C, said the attorneys of the inmates.

According to a spokeswoman for the California Correctional Health Care Services, the hepatitis C treatment for inmates is based on guidelines provided by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease.

https://sanquentinnews.com/cchcs-billing-inmates-medical-services-600-service-came-state-medical-provider/

California’s early release programs ACP

Alabama fails mentally ill inmates in solitary

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Mentally ill prisoner being chained to a bed

Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has failed to fix its practice of housing prisoners with “serious mental illness” in solitary confinement, a practice deemed unconstitutional and in violation of a 2017 court order.

Twenty-one patients with “serious mental illness” have yet to be released from solitary, and  United States District Judge Myron Thompson, as part of a trial to address solitary confinement, demanded ADOC move them out of confinement  or provide an explanation as to why they have not been moved, reported the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

“There is overwhelming evidence that long-term solitary confinement has a profound impact on prisoners’ mental health due to the harmful effects of isolation, and that it is worse for those who already suffer from a ‘serious mental illness,’ ” according to the SPLC report.

Nationally, some 64,000 Americans died from overdose last year, up 86 percent from 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  “Friends of Overdose Victims Become Prosecutor’s Targets”  Dec. 18, 2017

ADOC failed to consider the impact of solitary confinement on the prisoners’ mental health, and does not pay adequate attention to and appropriately treat those in its care, said Maria Morris, senior supervising attorney for the SPLC.

“We know segregation can be deadly, especially to those already struggling,” Morris said. “The revelation that there are more than 100 prisoners in segregation who have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses shows that the state has not changed its practices.”

“…evidence has linked loneliness…to a host of psychological and physiological ills (including) depression, cognitive decline, hearing problems and stroke.”  Scientific American “The Toxic Well of Loneliness” January 2018

The court has scheduled eight evidentiary hearings to determine the correct course of action the state will take to address unconstitutional prison conditions found by the court.

In June 2017, Alabama’s prison system was found in violation of the U.S. Constitution Eighth Amendment by the U.S. District Court. In a 302-page ruling, the court declared the state corrections system failed to provide mental health care to its prison population, amounting to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

That lawsuit was the latest phase in litigation filed in 2014 by Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and SPLC against ADOC to spur changes in prison conditions.

Visit www.stopsolitaryforkids.org or #stopsolitaryforkids for more information.

New 50-bed mental health facility in Southern California

Police continue to shoot about 1,000 people a year

Women complete culinary program

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The women of the first Culinary Arts Management program with their instructor

The women of the first Culinary Arts Management program with
their instructor

Eleven inmates graduated from the first Culinary Arts Management program at Folsom Women’s Facility.

Vincent Moralez, supervisor of the program, and Jason Doolittle, adjunct professor and executive chef, started the program in 2017 and taught their students everything from serving to cooking, as well as restaurant management, reported The Folsom Telegraph.

“It feels amazing and gratifying to finish the program because it makes me feel like I can accomplish anything,” said Cherish Velez, class participant. 

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

The women are taught by instructors from Cosumnes River College. They learn cooking, using the kitchen equipment correctly and basic management principles. The women will receive a culinary college certificate and college credit from this 10-month program.

Velez, who has always liked cooking, said it is now her passion. When she paroles, she hopes to travel to France, Italy and Spain to expand her culinary skills and experience as a chef, reported the Telegraph.

“It’s a really awesome program,” said Mireya Flores, another class participant. “I’m also really looking forward to continuing my education because there is so much to learn in cooking.”

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

Flores said her favorite thing about the culinary program was working with others. She enjoyed cooking Mexican dishes and, with her certification, plans to open a taco truck. 

Speaking of the cooking demonstrations the students have to perform, Doolittle said, “They were all so excited when they were able to pull off the recipes by themselves. I remember when I was a young chef and how I felt, so it’s exciting to see.”

With these skills of basic cooking technique, teamwork, and proper sanitation the women will be prepared to find work and benefit the community when they parole.

The program doesn’t teach everything, Doolittle said. He hopes the women keep on learning and trying to better themselves after they are released.

A look inside the bustling San Quentin prison library

Tablets benefit the incarcerated

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Amid public controversy, the inmates of St. Lawrence County Jail in Canton, Ohio, were issued tablets in 2016 and have since reaped the benefits of the digital technology, according to a recent report from North Country Now News (NCNow News).

“Some 70 million Americans have a criminal record – a number equal to Americans with a college degree,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. NEW YORK TIMES July 27, 2018 “Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance”

The tablets allow the county to provide many services to inmates that were previously only available on paper. Inmates with tablets can use them to place commissary orders, file Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) reports, file paperless grievances and many other services.“Prior to tablets, inmates would have to submit requests and staff would then track down the necessary materials, because inmates couldn’t easily browse for the materials, said Jail Administrator Peggy Harper. The tablets have improved access to such material.

NCNow News reported that “according to the manufacturer the tablets are linked to Telmate Verified, an automated identity verification system that authenticates every system user and action including deposits, photos and messages; and Telmate Investigator, an advanced suite of crime solving tools that gives investigators valuable insights into the personal networks of inmates.”

Inmates can also use the tablets to access entertainment, which is controlled by the jail. This has been criticized by some, but Harper told NCNow News that both inmates and staff have benefitted from the tablets, which have “really improved [the] efficiency of many services at the jail.”

The tablets, which are paid for through the commissary system, provide the inmates with better access to legal help. These tablets were first offered to inmates four years ago and are now available in nearly 70 correctional facilities nationwide.

 

INMATES BILLED FOR SERVICES

More inmates taking meds for mental health issues

Actor Danny Trejo escaped the death penalty

California’s skyrocketing prison budget

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https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/

https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/

California leads the rest of the nation in prison spending with a skyrocketing prison budget, according to a report by PolitiFact.

During Gov. Jerry Brown’s 16th and final State of the State Address, he lectured legislators on California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s  budget. CDCR’s spending budget has ballooned from around $40 million in 1970-71 to $12 billion this year. Prison spending will make up almost 9 percent of this year’s state budget.

“Corruption within the California state prison system cannot be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman to NBC San Diego regarding the indictment of a 23-year CDCR veteran caught smuggling heroin and meth into prison.

Brown has been following a 2009 order from the U.S. Supreme Court to work to end prison overcrowding. But despite a decrease in the inmate population, there has been no corresponding decrease in CDCR’s staff numbers, and prison staffing costs have climbed.

PolitiFact found that California now leads the nation in per capita inmate cost, but because of the court order to eliminate overcrowding, the state cannot close prisons to alleviate some of the excess spending.

“So long as the order is in effect we cannot close prisons because to do so would reduce our capacity, thereby pushing us back above 137.5 percent” level of prison crowding, state prisons spokesman Jeffrey Callison told PolitiFact.

“Some 70 million Americans have a criminal record – a number equal to Americans with a college degree,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. NEW YORK TIMES July 27, 2018 “Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance”

In his address, Brown cautioned legislators to consider legislation that supports the criminal justice system as a whole by taking a holistic approach rather than passing more and more crime laws that continue to fill prisons.

“California’s prison population exploded from 1980 through the late 1990s, and prison building metastasized in the state,” said Franklin Zimring, a U.C. Berkeley criminal justice professor. “We went from a little over 24,000 prisoners in California prisons to over 170,000 prisoners in 2010 and 2011.”

Zimring told PolitiFact that California’s tough sentencing schemes, like the Three Strikes Law, had increased the prison population during the 1980s and ’90s. Since the 2009 federal order, California’s prison population has sharply fallen. This year the estimated inmate population is about 119,000, compared to the population peak of 163,000 in 2006.

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ

Detailed report about prison healthcare


http://sanquentinnews.com/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-czi-aids-programs/

Immigration assistance

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Vera Institute of Justice program offers free legal advice to immigrants facing deportation in 11 cities and counties, Mother Jones reports.

The program provides funding and resources to help train legal service providers.

Great Seal of the United States

“It’s inhumane for people to go to court with no lawyer,” said Omar Siagha, a green card holder who was able to win his case through the program. “Everyone deserves a chance to explain their case to a judge.”

“Unlike in criminal court cases, immigrants generally do not have the right to a free court-appointed attorney during removal proceedings and often have to bear the cost on their own,” the Mother Jones story reported. It added that studies have shown that access to legal representation can drastically improve an immigrant’s chances of winning relief from deportation or release from detention.

Though deportations have slowed, immigration agents have made 43 percent more arrests since Donald Trump became president, compared to the same time last year, the magazine reported, referring to a Washington Post story.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also attempted to speed up deportation and reduce immigration court backlogs, reported Mother Jones.

Vera has started soliciting competitive applications for the network from Oakland and Alameda counties, Sacramento and Santa Ana in California, as well as Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Baltimore and Prince George’s County in Maryland; Chicago, Ill.; Columbus, Ohio, and Dane County, Wisconsin.

With 343 homicides in 2017, Baltimore “had the highest murder rate in its history, and by far the highest among the nation’s 30 largest cities,” according to The New York Times 1-17-18

Other cities have taken on their own efforts to provide funds for legal defense, the magazine reported. Seattle’s city council unanimously passed a resolution to allocate $1 million to a defense fund for immigrants and refugees, and increased that fund to $1.5 million in August with the inclusion of King County.   

Earlier this summer, city and county officials in Los Angeles also approved an L.A. Justice Fund that, with help from outside donors, would provide up to $10 million for legal defense to immigrants.

“Immigrants are our friends, neighbors and co-workers, but new enforcement tactics are breaking up families and weakening our neighborhoods and our city,” wrote Elizabeth Brown, Columbus City Council member, in a press release.

Deportation Crimes Explained

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