United States
Salvador Rodriguez is a Southern California-based journalist. He currently works as the opinion editor for the 11 newspapers of the Southern California News Group, which includes the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Riverside Press-Enterprise and San Bernardino Sun. A graduate of Reed College, Rodriguez started his journalism career as a reporter for Solitary Watch. He has written for a diverse set of outlets including Mother Jones and the libertarian Reason Foundation.
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan's recent announcement that immigration reform won't be on the agenda until after the presidential election wasn't all that surprising. Keeping immigration a political football has become a bipartisan pastime, with Democrats and Republicans abdicating leadership on one of the most important issues facing the nation.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California has teamed up with Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to take on the challenge of bail reform. Introducing the Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act of 2017, Harris and Paul are bringing much needed attention to the inequitable and unjust practice of keeping people incarcerated as they await trial simply because they lack the financial resources to buy their freedom.
In 2014, voters approved Proposition 47, which reduced a handful of drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Those crimes include possession of certain drugs as well as petty theft, receiving stolen property and forging/writing bad checks when the amount involved is $950 or less.
Last month, Whittier police officer Keith Lane Boyer was gunned down by career criminal Michael Christopher Mejia. Within hours of the shooting, the tragedy of Boyer's death took a back seat to the political desires of local politicians. California's law enforcement lobby has become desperate.
Sal Rodriguez is a former reporter for Solitary Watch and now writes for the Press Enterprise in Southern California.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is clearly under a lot of pressure. After years of overspending - mainly in the form of giveaways to public safety unions - despite lagging revenue growth, the county is in a position where it must deplete its revenues and hold off on additional spending for many years to come.
Introduction Over two million Californians must apply for permission to work in over 200 occupations from one of 42 government bureaus and boards. In the process, job seekers may have to spend thousands of dollars and spend years in government-mandated classes. And that's just to become a tree trimmer.
Alexis "Alex" Machado was a prisoner at Pelican Bay State Prison's isolation units for nearly two years when he took his own life on October 24, 2011. According to the autopsy report, Machado was last seen alive at approximately 12:15 AM "as he was examined and then cleared by medical staff for a complaint of heart palpitations."
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. The cell placed at the back of the hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building was a pretty accurate replica of a real isolation cell-the kind that exists in supermax prisons and solitary confinement units all over the country.
Three African-American inmates in Pelican Bay and Corcoran SHUs criticize their continued isolation for being members of the Black Guerilla Family, the only Black prison gang in California that will lead to placement in the SHU. Drawings of dragons are used to justify their continued isolation.