Los Angeles - Free Legal Clinic: Tomorrow 5/10, 10a to 12 noon

Heidi • May 9, 2025

Tomorrow, Saturday May 10th, free community defender resources will be offered at the Ross Snyder Recreation Center in Los Angeles (1501 E 41st St, Los Angeles, CA 90011) from 10a-12 noon. One-on-one consultations are available for covering participatory defense strategies for juvenile and criminal court, post-conviction options including re-sentencing and parole board hearings, commutations, expungements.


The community defenders are also a valuable resource for families fearing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and deportation, and can get support for U-Visas and other immigration applications.


If you have questions and/or need more information, you can text (323)327-1259 or (424)744-1156. You can also send an email to fuelwop@gmail.com.

Incarcerated workers sandbagging a flooded prison yard (Eugene Garcia/Getty Images)

California Prisons Aren't Ready for the Climate Crisis

By Heidi • May 12, 2025
A new audit from California’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) confirms what incarcerated people and advocates have warned for years: California’s prison system is dangerously unprepared for climate disasters that will happen - and have already occurred.
Graphic: CA BoPH report - less than .5% of persons who served life and were paroled reoffended.

CA Board of Parole Hearings Report - Paroled Lifers Pose Minimal Threat to Public Safety

By Heidi • May 8, 2025
Data gathered from CA Board of Parole Hearings indicate a 0.5% violent crime recidivism rate three years after release for persons serving life who received parole. Despite that extremely low recidivism rate, why are California's parole grant rates decreasing?
Alcatraz Island (Photo: Don Ramey Logan/Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Alcatraz Is a PR Stunt—but the Danger Is Real

By Heidi • May 7, 2025
Reopening Alcatraz is a non-serious proposal, dead in the water largely due to logistics. Yet the most extreme ideas often obscure real policy threats; in this case, an expansion of federal detention facilities in California that divert more resources away from communities.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein speaks at a lectern (photo: JoshStein.org)

Pathways to Clemency in North Carolina

By Heidi • May 6, 2025
Before leaving office, NC Gov. Roy Cooper commuted 4 LWOP sentences for people who committed their crimes under age 18 . Others in NC are hoping new NC Governor Josh Stein provides the same second chances.
Graphic: US Department of Justice seal on a phone, american flag in background (Dado Ruvic)

USA Today Opinion - DOJ Cuts Will Make You Less Safe

By Heidi • May 2, 2025
The following opinion piece appeared in USA Today Friday, May 2nd. "I worked for this office under the DOJ. Trump's cuts will make you less safe" is written by Amy L. Solomon, senior fellow with the Council on Criminal Justice, and former Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs.
Incarcerated Firefighters during the January 2025 Southern California wildfires (Photo: Getty Images

Prison Labor for Private Profit at the Expense of the Climate

By Heidi • May 1, 2025
Almost 600 US federal and state prisons are located within three miles of EPA Superfund Sites. As such, incarcerated people are often assigned to work for the industries that fuel climate change, performing hazardous work with little to no training while earning slave wages.
Graphic: Stop killing veterans! Save Jeffrey Hutchinson - take action bit.ly/Jeffrey Hutchinson

Help Stop the Execution of Jeffrey Hutchinson in Florida

By Heidi • April 30, 2025
Tomorrow, Florida is set to carry out the state-sanctioned murder of mentally ill Gulf War veteran Jeffrey Hutchinson. We call on our supporters to voice their opposition and take action to stop this cruel and unjust punishment.
Participants in Minnesota’s first prison chess tournament at MCF-Stillwater (Kerem Yücel /MPR News)

Minnesota Prison Holds First in the State Chess Tournament

By Heidi • April 29, 2025
Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater hosted an official chess tournament in mid-April, taking a pastime - and a way to pass time - for many incarcerated persons, and allowing them to play the game in a formal competition.
two persons holding a banner protesting solitary confinement (Photo: Solitary Watch)

Solitary Watch - When Freedom Still Feels Like Prison

By Heidi • April 25, 2025
Prolonged solitary confinement isolation destroys a person’s personality and their mental health and effects may last long after the end of the period of segregation. Solitary Watch spoke to formerly incarcerated people who spent extended time in solitary confinement about life after release.
New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord, NH (AP file photo)

New Hampshire Considers Legislation to Expand Wrongful Conviction Parameters

By Heidi • April 23, 2025
In New Hampshire, there is a strict three-year deadline to file a motion for a new trial, regardless when new exonerating evidence is discovered. Senate Bill 141 would create room for exceptions and allow the wrongfully convicted to file a motion after three years if there is newly discovered evidence.
Show More