Archive

The lawsuit filed in 2022 challenged the legality of civil assessments imposed on low-income Californians. The courts used the unlawful late fees to raise revenue to fund operations. Read More

Sixty years after a landmark Supreme Court case guaranteed the right to a free attorney for criminal defendants who can't afford a private lawyer, millions of low-income people are still being denied this basic constitutional right. Read More

People detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield and the Golden State Annex in McFarland have put a pause on a month-long hunger strike protesting inhumane conditions at the two immigration detention facilities, as a result of being subjected to weeks of retaliation from ICE and GEO Group, the for-profit prison company that owns and operates the facilities. Read More

Shortly after 6 a.m. on March 7, 2023, GEO Group officers, dressed in full protective riot gear with hard plastic face coverings and carrying batons and pepper spray, entered Dorm C of Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility, and attempted to force certain hunger strikers to leave the dorm. Nearly two hours later, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), accompanied by other officers we... Read More

Nine people detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Golden State Annex in McFarland, Calif., filed a class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and GEO Group, the for-profit prison company that owns and operates the detention centers. They alleged that they and other detained people faced retaliation, including threats of solitar... Read More

Five people detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Golden State Annex in McFarland, Calif., have filed a class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and GEO Group, the private, for-profit prison company that owns and operates the detention centers. They allege that they and other detained people have faced retaliation, including ... Read More

Seventy-seven individuals detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield and the Golden State Annex in McFarland launched a joint hunger strike demanding the immediate release of all individuals detained at the facilities and the shutdown of both detention centers, owned and operated by the private prison contractor GEO Group. Read More

On March 16, 2022, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (“ACLU”) filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fresno, urging the court to strike down a city ordinance that targets unhoused people, and puts unconstitutional restrictions on advocates, organizers, and reporters who try to draw attention to how the unhoused are treated during encampment sweeps. In February 2022, city officials am... Read More

The Sikh Coalition and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter urging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to revise its discriminatory policy prohibiting full beards to accommodate staff who are either unable to shave due to a medical condition or who must maintain facial hair for religious reasons. Read More

The contract between the Department of Homeland Security and the Yuba County Sheriff's Department, which was set to expire in the year 2099 and generated over $8.6 million a year for the county, officially ended Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Read More