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brian nam-sonenstein

@bson.bsky.social
3.6K followers 4.3K following 727 posts

senior editor & researcher @prisonpolicy.org.

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Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 3m
this scans for sure. but it also gives the lie to the (fairly consistent) whining in pr circles about being ignored by reporters they're trying to bUiLd rElAtIoNsHiPs with. you're pumping out slop and not trying to improve the outcome. ignoring it is a rational response.
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 10m
it sucks for everyone involved. i have never been more miserable than doing that job
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 10m
typically you have to have a call with your client regularly to show your work. in reality, productive PR work for most clients would be very boring and uninspiring. the client would wonder what they are paying for, for good reason. so, they do this to keep up appearances
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 11m
Most clients are simply not doing anything newsworthy, but they've been convinced by investors or ego that they need to spend thousands of dollars a month on PR. for the publicist, that means having to pitch a LOT to net just a few low level hits and keep the client for another month/quarter
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 11m
I worked in PR for a decade. The incentives are such that they are not doing this because they are incompetent, but because they need to pad their stats to show their clients and there are only so many relevant writers to target with pitches.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 1h
Kids are spending longer than ever in ORR custody, and attorneys have turned to habeas petitions to get them out. Jill Williams of Acacia and Becky Wolozin of the National Center for Youth Law explained the strategy to me. austinkocher.substack.com/p/no-chil…
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1h
Also this is the same fiction the NYPD has pushed for decades. You can’t just quote what cops say. Make the state give you numbers. Sit in a courtroom. Talk to sex workers.
detainees were either transferred to
cleared by medical facilities before their deaths. And while the department is still arresting sex workers, the NYPD pointed out that arrest numbers are down, the department is focused on trafficking and that it never charges trafficking survivors.
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1h
“‘You can’t divorce the affordability agenda from what we’re seeing take place with the NYPD,’ said Phil Desgranges, the attorney-in-charge at Legal Aid’s Criminal Law Reform Team.”
politico.com
Mamdani’s approach to the NYPD is not what reform advocates expected
Public safety advocates are growing frustrated with the mayor’s hands-off approach to policing.
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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 19h
🚨NEW: The Trump admin has demanded local & state collusion on immigration enforcement, promising to pull back on community arrests in return. But new data reveal that it never delivered on that promise, and ICE's assault on communities only worsened 🧵
prisonpolicy.org
Cooperation with ICE doesn’t stop community arrests: New data on the results of state strategies
The Trump administration has demanded local and state collusion on immigration enforcement, and promised to pull back on community arrests in return. But our analysis ...
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talia jane @taliajane.bsky.social · 11h
Martín Soto, a primary organizer of people detained at Delaney Hall who went on hunger strike to demand their release and to improve conditions, has been released. Soto was detained for more than 9 months, 4 of which were spent in solitary confinement. Via: www.instagram.com/reel/DeLIuSe...
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 4h
I was alive when young Black people faced down brutal cops and TANKS in Ferguson night after night after night. Be quiet.
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NPR @npr.org · 4h
Researchers uncovered the graves of more than 1,000 children next to juvenile detention facilities in 29 states. At one Maryland gravesite, 230 Black boys are buried. n.pr/4zauALa
n.pr
Over 1,000 children are buried at juvenile detention centers nationwide
Researchers uncovered the graves of more than 1,000 children next to juvenile detention facilities in 29 states. At one Maryland gravesite, 230 Black boys are buried.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 4h
Everything we've been warning about for years re: policing is playing out globally.
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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 14h
While incarcerated people retain the right to vote in Maine, they struggle to participate in the political process on basic levels. Officials don’t allow election forums or in-person voting behind bars, and candidates rarely visit them.
boltsmag.org
Maine Prisoners Organize to Protect Their Rare Right to Vote - Bolts
Maine is one of the only places in the country where prisoners keep their right to vote. But logistical barriers to voting still contribute to their larger exclusion from the political process.
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Truthout @truthout.org · 17h
ICE operates a major surveillance center in rural Vermont that processes 1.55 million biometric and biographic queries annually. The agency communicates with more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies throughout the country, many of them through an expanding network of 287(g) agreements.
truthout.org
Activists Target What They Call a Major “Spy Center” for ICE in Rural Vermont
As ICE widens its surveillance dragnet, activists plan a week of action to disrupt a major data network.
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The Washington Sun @washingtonsun.com · 20h
The DOJ is recruiting criminal prosecutors to monitor polls ahead of the midterms. www.washingtonsun.com/policy/doj-re…
washingtonsun.com
DOJ Is Recruiting Prosecutors to Monitor Polls
The departure from long-standing practice “carries the real risk that election interference and voter intimidation will follow,” a former department official said.
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 18h
Also this: "...this was a false bargain: ICE has spent 2026 arresting people en masse at their homes, in their neighborhoods, at their jobs, and elsewhere in their communities — regardless of whether their states collaborated with or resisted Trump’s mass deportation agenda."
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 16h
Working with DHS data should come with hazard pay.
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 20h
Particularly appreciate the granular assessment of how this is playing out in different states.
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 21h
"Almost 19 million adults in the U.S. are stopped by police each year, with over 5.6 million arrested and booked into jail." I think this context is helpful for understanding how local law enforcement, sheriffs' deputies, and state highway patrols are now positioned as ICE's first mile contractors.
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 21h
"The reason why is simple: the administration cannot hope to get close to their arrest and deportation goals without the help of local law enforcement."
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It's Going Down @igd.bsky.social · 19h
Protests taking place in #Vermont against ICE surveillance hub. www.wcax.com/2026/10/06/p...
wcax.com
Protesters hold week of action against ICE
Protests are being held throughout Chittenden County this week as part of a so-called nationwide effort to shut down ICE.
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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 19h
And remember: Arrests for low-level offenses often make it easy for ICE to snatch people up who otherwise would be beyond their reach. Lawmakers must decriminalize many of these offenses (thus reducing overall police contact) — and block local cooperation with federal agencies.
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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 19h
Local jails play an essential role in boosting ICE arrest numbers through their voluntary compliance with these detainer requests. ➡️ The average number of daily detainer-related arrests has more than doubled since the last presidential administration, growing by 144%
Bar graphs comparing ICE arrests from jail detainers in 2024 (178 per day) and 2026 (435 per day).
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 20h
NEW: The complications behind Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike aren’t uncommon — and show how easily another botched execution could occur, even as others are planned soon in Texas and Florida. by @keribla.bsky.social
propublica.org
Why Tennessee’s Botched Death Row Execution Could Happen Anywhere
The complications behind Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike aren’t uncommon — and show how easily another botched execution could occur, even as others are planned soon in Texas and Florida.
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 21h
New report from @jkangbrown.bsky.social + @bson.bsky.social at @prisonpolicy.org does a great job of capturing this ⤵️ through analysis of ICE detainer and arrest data. Worth reading to understand the broad set of tools available to ICE via local and state law enforcement collaboration.
prisonpolicy.org
Cooperation with ICE doesn’t stop community arrests: New data on the results of state strategies
The Trump administration has demanded local and state collusion on immigration enforcement, and promised to pull back on community arrests in return. But our analysis ...
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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 21h
Worth noting that this analysis suggests that if state sanctuary policies were to be weakened (via court or congress), there would be more arrests of immigrants in every category.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
And thank you to all my wonderful colleagues at @prisonpolicy.org who make this work possible, the people at the Deportation Data Project that were able to secure the ICE detainer and arrest data that we analyzed, and others that helped or answered questions.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
For details, methodology, or state-specific tables, check out the piece. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/10...
prisonpolicy.org
Cooperation with ICE doesn’t stop community arrests: New data on the results of state strategies
The Trump administration has demanded local and state collusion on immigration enforcement, and promised to pull back on community arrests in return. But our analysis ...
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
Many states could to make stronger policy like Oregon to block ICE detainers and close the federal criminalization loophole that allows ICE to use a federal criminal charge put people in local jails with US Marshals contracts.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
Finally, US Attorneys are filing more cases and more people are being detained facing immgiration-related criminal charges, the new FOIA docs that we received show the number of people in US Marshals detention facing those charges are up 25% since FY2024.
line chart showing people detained in federal system on immigration charges up 25% since 2024, vs all other reasons decreased by 11%.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
States with the strongest protections have fewer ICE arrests, and those with wishy-washy policy like New Jersey have arrest rates similar to collaborator states like Florida or Georgia.
bar chart showing ICE arrest rates in different states
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
The ICE detainer system appears to be fragile -- primarily operating out of a couple of ICE-leased office buildings, and requiring routine actions from local law enforcement to work.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
While the scope of law enforcement collaboration on ICE arrests has expanded via 287(g) and other methods detainers still play a central role.
trend chart showing spikes in ICE arrests by different methods, with large increases after Trump inauguration, arrest quotas being announced in May 2025, and a surge in summer 2026.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
The briefing digs into the increased use of detainer-related arrests during the Trump administration, and what states can do about it.
bar graph showing increase from 178 detainer-related ICE arrests a day in 2024 to 435 people arrested per day in this way on average in 2026.
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Adam Sawyer @adamjst.bsky.social · 22h
A must-read analysis.
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Jacob Kang-Brown @jkangbrown.bsky.social · 22h
New analysis of ICE detainers and arrests in 2026 with @bson.bsky.social for @prisonpolicy.org shows that law enforcement collusion tends to expand ICE arrests, and that the mass deportation project falters in places that resist. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/10...
prisonpolicy.org
Cooperation with ICE doesn’t stop community arrests: New data on the results of state strategies
The Trump administration has demanded local and state collusion on immigration enforcement, and promised to pull back on community arrests in return. But our analysis ...
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kat excellence ✨ @katexcellence.io · 31/08/2026
this was difficult to read, but it's important to know people are currently in prison for 50+ years for attending a protest + one wasn't even at the protest, but got sentenced for 30 years for "concealing" anarchist zines
motherjones.com
How anti-ICE protesters became prisoners in Trump's war on antifa
“We are not terrorists.”
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 06/10/2026
“How is somebody supposed to survive?” Heating bills in Maine have soared about 80%, giving Democrats an opening to unseat Susan Collins in a race crucial to control of the Senate.
bloom.bg
Record $1,500 Heating Bills in Maine Upend a Key Race for Senate Control
Nazi symbols, sexual assault allegations and months of internal Democratic conflict have churned through the US Senate race in Maine. But with the election four weeks away, it’s the explosion in housing costs and record-breaking heating bills that Mainers can’t stop talking about.
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You actually don’t need to deport “the criminals” either
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Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This piece highlights something that doesn't get talked enough: Progressives should put forward a proposed set of rules for a new congress to facilitate defeating the far right and actually legislate.
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Adam Sawyer @adamjst.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is to avoid California state oversight. www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
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Atrios @eschatonblog.com · 05/10/2026
The usual suspects aren't panicking about the bond market gods the way they do when someone proposes spending a million bucks to feed children
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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Sorry this is just wrong and is the logic of Jim Crow. Do we disenfranchise people in abusive relationships? What about old people in a nursing home? People getting mental health treatment? People serving in the military?
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Daniel Suitor @danielsuitor.com · 02/10/2026
Will is 100% right. Has happened to multiple clients of mine. One judge (not my case) has said that this isn't really release and ordered the person *actually* released. But it's forcing us habeas attorneys to win our cases twice (or more)
On September 9, 2026, Respondents permitted Pablo F. to exit the building where 
he was detained, but he was immediately swarmed by four ICE officers and handcuffed as 
soon as he stepped outside. (Doc. No. 25-3 at 4:48:45–4:49:26.)3
 The officers drove him
to the back of the Whipple building and returned him to a holding cell. (Doc. No. 21 ¶¶ 8–
9; Doc. No. 25 ¶ 5.) During this encounter, officers dislocated Pablo F.’s shoulder. (Doc. 
No. 21 ¶ 7.)4
 Pablo F. now bringsthis Motion seeking to enforce the Court’s Order granting 
the Petition.Again, Respondents make no attempt whatsoever to support their assertion that 
Pablo F. was released. Absent any such argument, the Court cannot agree that a reasonable 
person would have felt free to leave when exiting the detention facility and immediately 
being stopped by ICE officers. Likewise, absent some argument, the Court necessarily 
concludes that Pablo F. was subject to restraints not shared by the public generally when 
he took one step outside of the detention facility and was immediately stopped by ICE 
officers who forcibly returned him to a detention cell. Because Respondents do not make 
any legal argument that Pablo F. was ever meaningfully released from custody, the Court 
grants the motion and orders Pablo F.’s release.6
6 To be clear, Pablo F. is not arguing, and the Court is not concluding, that an order of 
release in a habeas matter renders unlawful any future arrests. Rather, the Court reaches 
the narrow conclusion that because Respondents advance no legal argument in this case to 
support their assertion that Pablo F. was released from custody, and because the 
uncontested facts show that ICE officers immediately swarmed Pablo F. as soon as he 
stepped out of the building, Pablo F. was not released from custody.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is happening all over rural America. We need to wake up, people. There's no Greg Bovino in his Nazi coat to blow whistles it. It's daily Gestapo-type terror, aided by the banality of evil local cops www.sltrib.com/news/2026/10...
sltrib.com
ICE enforcement in a small Utah town sent a community into fear. Local police played a key role.
ICE enforcement in a small central Utah town has residents afraid to leave home, avoiding main roads and keeping their children home from school, one resident said.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Stabs this whole interview with a copy of The Caliban and The Witch.
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melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
his DOJ investigated college students instead
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Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
oh! okay, that sounds good then
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