Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post“President Obama on Monday announced a ban on solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in the federal prison system, saying the practice is overused and has the potential for devastating psychological consequences.”
“The president’s reforms apply broadly to the roughly 10,000 federal inmates serving time in solitary confinement, though there are only a handful of juvenile offenders placed in restrictive housing each year. ”
“The reforms come six months after Obama, as part of a broader criminal-justice reform push, ordered the Justice Department to study how solitary confinement was being used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”
“Supreme Court briefs tend to be the driest of documents, stuffed with citations to precedent and recitations of lower- court proceedings. Not one filed this month in an abortion case now before the justices. This friend-of-the-court brief mentions precisely three cases, one statute (the Texas abortion law being challenged) and zero law review articles.”
“Instead, it tells stories — not about law but about lawyers. Specifically, about lawyers who have had abortions. Their point is to explain to the justices how exercising this constitutional right allowed them to proceed with the practice of law and with their lives. Their point is to let the justices know that, even if they do not realize it, they almost certainly know women who have had abortions, women whose biographies are not so different from theirs.”
“The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has quietly made it easier for transgender prisoners to access hormone therapy and other medically necessary health care.”
“TDCJ’s previous policy strongly implied that hormone therapy was available only to prisoners already undergoing it before being incarcerated. Under an updated TDCJ policy that became effective in August, prisoners diagnosed with gender dysphoria while in custody are also eligible to receive hormone therapy, which consists of estrogen for trans women and testosterone for trans men.”
“’It’s no different than if someone comes into prison and is diabetic,’ [Lambda Legal staff attorney, Demoya Gordon] said. ‘These courts have found it is cruel and unusual to withhold from someone who is in state custody the medically necessary treatment they need. But unfortunately, we’re still having to make the case state by state.’”
“State Rep. Keisha Waites (D-Atlanta) wants Georgia lawmakers to ban conversion therapy. She’s filed a bill that would prevent psychiatric professionals and other therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation of a minor.”
“‘The American Psychological Association has ruled that this therapy is ineffective and doesn’t work, Waites said […] earlier this month. ‘Over the years, you may have noticed that many teenagers have committed suicide under this particular type of therapy,'”
“A similar bill failed to gain support in 2013. Speaking on Tuesday, Waites says she has concerns that election-year politics could make for another uphill battle.”
“In the immediate wake of the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Florida lawmakers are advancing a bill that would severely undermine the historic legislation. A House criminal justice panel voted Monday to advance HB 865, which would make operating abortion clinics as well as performing abortions first-degree felonies in the state.”
“The bill, which was advanced by an 8-3 vote, states that “all human life comes from the creator, has an inherent value that cannot be quantified by man and begins at the earliest biological development of a fertilized human egg,” and that “personal liberty is not a license to kill or otherwise destroy any form of human life,” according to the Miami Herald.”
“The bill would not just ban clinic operation and the procedure itself, but also implement restrictions related to informed consent, ultrasound requirements, fetal research and insurance coverage.”
“Lawyers and advocates were back in a courtroom in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Monday, for a second challenge to the state’s strict new voting laws. A group of plaintiffs, led by the NAACP and the Department of Justice, is seeking to overturn a new rule, which is set to take effect in March’s primaries, requiring voters to present a photo ID before voting.”
“The voter-ID law was one of several major changes made by Republicans who control the Old North State’s government, in a 2013 law passed shortly after the Supreme Court struck down a clause in the Voting Rights Act that required some states to seek approval of changes to voting laws from the Justice Department. In addition to requiring a photo ID to vote, the new rules reduced early voting; ended same-day voter registration; banned the practice of casting ballots out of precinct; and ended pre-registration for teens. Proponents said the laws were essential to guarantee the integrity of the state’s elections.”
“A group of plaintiffs sued the state, alleging that the changes would suppress minority votes and that they represented the return of Jim Crow to the South.”
“North Carolina’s largest school system may ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation, but it isn’t going as far as some activists want to also protect the rights of transgender employees.”
“The Wake County school board’s policy committee on Tuesday reviewed changes to the employment policy that would expand job protections to include barring discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation, genetic information or military affiliation.”
“But the new policy doesn’t say it will extend equal employment opportunities and benefits regardless of a person’s gender identity or gender expression.”
“Charlotte City Council is due to debate a package of LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances next month. The move comes nearly a year after city council defeated the same proposal in a 6-5 vote last March.”
“The defeat last year came in part because councilmembers LaWana Mayfield and John Autry voted against what advocates called a weakened version of the ordinance which stripped out protections for transgender residents in restrooms and other facilities.”
“Protections for transgender residents quickly became the hot topic in debate last year. The focus has similarly returned to transgender people and their use of restrooms this year, with opponents using the slogan, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms,” and proponents pushing back against what they say are scare tactics based in myth and fear.”
“Do you remember what it was like before? Before the thrill of marriage equality, the explosion of media visibility, the intoxicating — if sometimes still faint — taste of acceptance? When school and home — teachers and parents — were dangerous? When talking about your life at work meant losing a job? When it was risky if your landlord or neighbors found out? When the police and hospitals were more threat than sanctuary? Do you remember what it was like before, when it wasn’t safe to be you?”
“For many low-income LGBT people, that isn’t before. It isn’t 1968 or 1986 or 2004. It’s today. LGBT people who are living in poverty still bear the brunt of savage homophobia and transphobia, without the resources to challenge them or even escape them. The results of this discrimination are devastating: homelessness, unemployment, hunger, and violence. Yet low-income LGBT people remain largely invisible and silent — in the public imagination, and perhaps also in our own. That blind spot has led to a yawning gap in action and service that leaves hundreds of thousands of LGBT people in desperation, with nowhere to turn. We can do better.”
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