Michael Barajas
@michaelbarajas.bsky.social
managing editor boltsmag.org, mbarajas@boltsmag.org
the @chicagoreader.com's august print issue is out this week and it's all about surveillance 📹 i often write about ai and drones and alprs. but the stories in this issue focus on the quieter, more subversive ways people in power have built a society for fascism to thrive. more in my staff note:
The quiet infrastructure of control - Chicago Reader
Staff note: August 2026 Surveillance issue
chicagoreader.com
Bolts staff writer Alex Burness explains how Southern states ignored a Reconstruction-era law and manipulated the criminal legal system to prevent Black people from voting. This year, that has finally caught up with one state: Virginia.
Big result from last nite: Missourians overwhelmingly rejected new limits on ballot initiatives that, if enacted over the past decade, would’ve killed popular reforms in the state to legalize marijuana, raise minimum wage, guarantee paid sick leave, expand medicaid, and protect reproductive rights
Missourians Reject Measure That Threatened to Kill Citizen-Led Ballot Initiatives - Bolts
Missourians on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted against a measure to restrict direct democracy, while state officials are trying to block even more citizen-led reforms from the November ballot.
boltsmag.org
The GOP county exec in Tarrant Co (Fort Worth) often kicks people out for speaking up to protest county govt actions at public meetings. Today he shut it down amid outrage over the plan to cut nearly half of election day polling places this year (as he himself faces a heated race for county exec)
Jen Rice@jenrice.bsky.social · yesterdayIn TX: Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare just CLEARED the meeting room, kicking out public speakers who are opposed to the GOP plan to cut half of the battleground county's Election Day voting locations for November:
Cook County SA Eileen O'Neill Burke's office is moving forward with prosecuting a violence-prevention volunteer who was arrested by CPD after he tried to turn in a gun at a police station. The man spent 7 months in Cook County Jail for his effort; trial begins next week.
Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls gun case against Chicago anti-violence volunteer a 'travesty'
Duncan runs Chicago CRED, which works to prevent shootings. He says volunteer Nakia Smith, arrested in a Far South Side police station in 2023, has been "fighting for the good." Smith, a convicted fel...
chicago.suntimes.com
Here's @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social, a journalist incarcerated in North Carolina, talking about his recent story in @boltsmag.org about three-strikes laws—featuring the voices of a man serving life, and the victim he shot who’s been pushing for his release full story boltsmag.org/north-caroli...
And there’s still work to do. Thousands of people in Va been wrongfully disenfranchised, in violation of a Reconstruction-era federal law. Every last person covered by the court’s order has the right to be restored and registered in time to vote this year. boltsmag.org/readmission-...
A Voting Rights Promise, Betrayed for 156 Years - Bolts
After the Civil War, Congress readmitted Southern states on the condition they not expand felony disenfranchisement—but they quickly ignored the restriction. It has finally caught up with one state, w...
boltsmag.org
VA's governor just restored voting rights for more than 60k citizens, a reversal from the previous governor and a reminder of VA's harsh lifetime voting ban for any felony conviction The move comes ahead of a November referendum to end this system and start restoring rights when people exit prison
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - Bolts
This is the only state that, absent action by the governor, bans people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
boltsmag.org
new: officials are building a $7 million “trauma-informed” visitation center at the cook county jail, part of at least $400 million in projects planned at the jail over the next decade. it’s supposed to make for a more “humane” experience—but it’ll do little to address the dismal conditions at ccj.
The Cook County jail’s new $7 million visitation center
Cook County wants to create an oasis inside the infamous jail. But the renovation will do little to address the harm of incarceration itself
chicagoreader.com
TX’s largest jails continue to violate the key reform brought by the Sandra Bland Act, which was meant to prevent jailers from investigating themselves when someone dies in their custody. From Fort Worth to San Antonio, sheriffs continue to violate the mandate for independent investigations
Failures in 17 Bexar County jail death probes demand new investigations
Texas officials say investigations into 17 Bexar County jail deaths must be redone or reassigned after failures in the required independent probes. The cases demand stronger oversight.
expressnews.com
"If I can forgive him, why can't everyone else? I am the one who got shot." Bolts telling the stories others ignore, again boltsmag.org/north-caroli...
In North Carolina, a Shooting Victim Pleads for His Shooter’s Release After 30 Years - Bolts
Ramulus Mason was sentenced to life without parole due to North Carolina’s three-strikes law. The man he shot insists that he shouldn’t still be in prison.
boltsmag.org
just 11 days from now: Missourians will decide a referendum that could all but shut down direct democracy in their state. @pascalsabino.bsky.social reports on just how extreme the measure is: boltsmag.org/missouri-ame...
Under this August Measure, All of Missouri’s Recent Popular Initiatives Would Have Failed - Bolts
Republicans have dominated Missouri’s legislature for over two decades, but they haven’t entirely controlled state lawmaking, in large part because Missouri empowers citizens to petition for ballot re...
boltsmag.org
This is a really important story for NC -- the state has been slowly and steadily becoming more more and carceral, rolling back whatever modest reforms there were. Thanks to @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social
Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · 2w agoNEW: North Carolina’s harsh three strikes law was adopted right before Ramulus Mason was sentenced in the 1990s, so was sentenced to life in prison. Now the man he shot decades ago has become his loud advocate, demanding that the state free him. A fascinating and complex story:
we've been lucky enough to work w/ @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social for a couple years, and I think he's truly doing some of the best reporting and writing behind bars right now. follow and read his other work boltsmag.org/north-caroli... boltsmag.org/north-caroli... boltsmag.org/north-caroli...
In North Carolina, Juvenile Lifers See a Pathway to Freedom - Bolts
After North Carolina's previous governor granted clemency to people sentenced to life in prison as minors, others with juvenile life sentences are hoping for a new administration that also believes in...
boltsmag.org
Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · 2w agoNEW: North Carolina’s harsh three strikes law was adopted right before Ramulus Mason was sentenced in the 1990s, so was sentenced to life in prison. Now the man he shot decades ago has become his loud advocate, demanding that the state free him. A fascinating and complex story:
“We never went far enough to repair the original sin of the separations at the border. And now we’re perpetrating that same harm all over again.” I wrote about how the Trump administration is violating a landmark settlement agreement for families who were separated at the border years ago.
Separated at the Border, Torn Apart Again
Years after being split up and reunited, a family gets caught in Trump’s immigration dragnet.
motherjones.com
Ken Paxton ruined this woman's life over what an appeals court just said was insufficient evidence to shut down her midwifery clinics
Garnet Henderson@garnethenderson.com · 2w agoThis is good, but as Rojas’ attorneys said, it will be next to impossible for her shuttered clinics to reopen. Her midwifery license is still suspended. All because she was doing things midwives do, like treating miscarriages and carrying misoprostol, an essential obstetric medication
The latest from @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social, a phenomenal journalist incarcerated in North Carolina, is this striking piece about three-strikes laws, how they condemned someone to prison for life, and the man he shot who's trying to get him out "If I can forgive him, why can’t everybody else?"
In North Carolina, a Shooting Victim Pleads for His Shooter’s Release After 30 Years - Bolts
Ramulus Mason was sentenced to life without parole due to North Carolina’s three-strikes law. The man he shot insists that he shouldn’t still be in prison.
boltsmag.org
last week, after Houston’s mayor had already downplayed ICE's killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and acted like the city had little power to investigate, he then decided to chastise angry people who showed up to testify at city council bc they cursed and “took the lord’s name in vain” this week:
ICE protesters disrupt Houston City Council, forcing HPD to detain 2
Mayor John Whitmire last week chided Houstonians who had shown up to speak out against this month's fatal ICE shooting for "bad behavior."
houstonchronicle.com
You know the ICE officer who killed someone in Maine and was then accused by two ex-wives of abuse? Turns out he was likely eligible to skip a significant portion of training after ICE hired him, due to a policy change under this administration. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
What ICE should have known when it hired David Brouillette
The officer who killed a young father in Maine had been accused of abuse by two ex-wives. He was also eligible to skip weeks of training in Georgia.
motherjones.com
An estimated 40,000 Missourians on parole or probation will regain the right to vote, in the latest state-level rollback of felony disenfranchisement. I wrote about it in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/gop-run-miss...
GOP-Run Missouri Becomes Latest State to Roll Back Felony Disenfranchisement - Bolts
A new law will restore voting rights for tens of thousands of people on probation and parole. It’s a departure from other GOP bills this session to restrict democracy.
boltsmag.org
Content warning: suicide After May Pollard died on a late-January morning, a detective asked her parents a question: Had anyone wanted to hurt her? “A lot of America,” her mother answered. 1/ www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.
The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.
nbcnews.com
San Antonio activists have long tried to end the kind of lax discipline policies that absolved this cop who gave a shit sandwich to a homeless person. Yet local coverage of this year’s police contract basically ignores it. This might as well be a press release sanantonioreport.org/san-antonio-...
Grits for Breakfast@gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · last mo.A few years ago a San Antonio cop gave a a homeless man a sandwich filled w/ feces and the police union spent years successfully fighting his termination. He was later fired for other misconduct, but in TX, bad cops just move to the next town, and the jerk just became a police chief in South Texas.
”As Superintendent Larry Snelling steps down this week after three years at the helm of the department that were widely seen as mostly controversy-free, a new analysis by the newsrooms finds the problem of unreported stops has gotten worse on his watch.”
Chicago Police promised to ‘fix’ secret traffic stops. A year later, the problem has only gotten worse.
As Chicago’s top cop steps down, police are making fewer traffic stops. But our new investigation finds half of stops are still not being reported to oversight agencies, despite a state law mandating ...
injusticewatch.org
Chicago Police officials said they would address the 200,000+ secretive traffic stops I had uncovered two years ago that were hidden from oversight. But now as CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling retires, the issue is worse— *half* of all stops in the last year were not properly documented
Chicago Police Promised to 'Fix' Secret Traffic Stops. A Year Later, the Problem Has Only Gotten Worse. - Bolts
This story was produced as a collaboration between Bolts and Injustice Watch, a nonprofit news organization in Chicago focused on issues of equity and justice in the court system. In... Read More
boltsmag.org
TX says the Rangers, the detective arm of state police, are investigating the ICE killing in Houston. They often get called to probe police killings and deaths in custody here. Those investigations are also often full of flaws. www.texasobserver.org/locked-up-an... www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/u...
In Texas, Dying In Jail Is 'Par For The Course'
As part of a months-long investigation, the Texas Observer reviewed more than 400 Rangers investigations into jail deaths over the past decade.
texasobserver.org
TODAY: A judge sentenced ex-Milwaukee Police Officer Josue Ayala to a $500 fine & probation for misusing Flock surveillance tech at > 150 times to stalk an ex. City council members have been trying to get rid of Flock since the abuse surfaced— but the council doesn't have authority over police
Foes of AI Surveillance Get Wins in Wisconsin. But They Fear They're Playing Whack-A-Mole. - Bolts
The sheriff in Wisconsin’s capital county will stop using dozens of AI surveillance cameras posted up across Madison and surrounding towns, after the Dane County Board of Supervisors pulled funding......
boltsmag.org
Update: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed this legislation into law. Read our work below with @boltsmag.org to see how Illinois is raising the compensation for wrongfully convicted people, who often leave prison with few means to rebuild their lives.
Injustice Watch@injusticewatch.org · 2mo agoIllinois has lagged behind other states when it comes to state compensation for people who are wrongfully convicted. A new bill aims to change that. (Co-published with @boltsmag.org) buff.ly/DbhCj4f
After years of hunger strikes and litigation, survivors of solitary in California passed the Mandela Act to restrict isolation. But the governor vetoed it and told prison officials to make their own reforms. @psfrench.bsky.social reports how they’re now backtracking on even those minor reforms:
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Solitary Reforms in California - Bolts
California officials dial back the minor reforms they've made to isolation in prison, three years after Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to rein in solitary confinement.
boltsmag.org
Harris County DA Sean Teare tells CBS he's "more than prepared" to file criminal charges against ICE agents if it comes to that in his office's investigation into the killing of Lorenzo Salgado: www.cbsnews.com/video/housto...
Houston prosecutor says he's prepared to charge ICE agents if criminal wrongdoing found in shooting
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare tells CBS News his office is "more than prepared" to file criminal charges against federal ICE agents if criminal wrongdoing is found in the fatal shooting o...
cbsnews.com
ice contractor geo group has officially inked a $529 million deal to reopen a shuttered prison outside denver as an immigration jail. as part of the deal, geo will pay the owner of the private prison, chicago-based highlands reit, $958,000+ per month—a figure that will increase annual by 3%.
ICE signs $529 million contract to open new immigration detention center northeast of Denver
The private prison giant Geo Group has signed a multiyear contract with the Trump administration to reopen a shuttered prison in Hudson, Colorado, and turn it into an immigration detention center.
denverpost.com
shawn@mulchy.bsky.social · 5mo agonew: highlands reit, a small chicago-based real estate firm, is renting an empty prison it owns in colorado to ice and private prison giant geo group. highlands is part of a network of private contractors hoping to get a cut of the $45 billion allocated to warehouse immigrants through 2029.