detention

A digital illustration, in pencil and watercolor, about the mental health effects on youth who experience gun violence. A repeating pattern made out of handguns close in on a young boy, who is at the center of the drawing. He covers his face with his hand s, an anguished expression visible on his face. A line of thin red circles are layered across the horizontal center, symbolizing cycles of trauma.

Pandemic stress, gangs, and utter fear fueled a rise in teen shootings
BY: - March 12, 2023

Diego never imagined he’d carry a gun. Not as a child, when shots were fired outside his Chicago-area home. Not at age 12, when one of his friends was gunned down. Diego’s mind changed at 14, when he and his friends were getting ready to walk to midnight Mass for the feast of Our Lady […]

A close-up photo of a chain-link fence topped by barbed wire.The ACLU wants the U.S. Treasury to stop the use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars to build or expand correctional facilities. (Photo by Alex Potemkin/Getty Images)

Civil rights group objects to using federal COVID aid for jails
BY: - January 21, 2023

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Treasury Department to take a harder line on states and local governments using federal American Rescue Plan Act money to build and expand correctional facilities. One of the projects it cited is in Scott County, where local officials had previously considered using the federal money for a […]

Supporters of Abbey Lynn Steele stand outside the Pennington County Jail on Dec. 6, 2022. (Courtesy photo)

‘An addict and treated like a criminal’: Native woman’s death sparks questions
BY: - December 19, 2022

In May of 2021, Abbey Lynn Steele gave birth to her first child, a baby boy. A urine test showed methamphetamine in his system. Steele, who turned 19 that month, also tested positive for meth. The drug’s detection in the baby’s urine assured that Steele would not keep full custody under South Dakota law. Its […]

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