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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 18/06/2026

An 18-year-old college student lost an eye after a federal agent shot him with a “less-lethal” projectile while he was filming a protest. Weapons like tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets can blind, maim, and kill. Officers continue to use them. theappeal.org/less-lethal-...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 13/05/2026

Prison prison executives and PACs affiliated with private prison companies donated an additional $1.1 million. The majority of people detained by ICE are held in facilities operated by private prison corporations.

Private prison PACs donated approximately $675,000 to members of Congress, and private prison executives donated close to $380,000.

Most of the approximately 60,000 people detained by ICE are locked up in for-profit immigration jails. People in these facilities, including children, have reported that they’re held in atrocious conditions.

Of the 48 people who died in ICE custody between January 21, 2025, and April 1, 2026, about 62% were detained in for-profit lock-ups, according to data collected by lawyer and journalist Andrew Free.

Three Democrats in the House and one democratic senator received donations from at least one private prison PAC.

Reps. Sanford Bishop (Georgia), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Bennie Thompson (Mississippi), and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) received donations from at least one private prison PAC.

Private prison executives donated to only one Democratic member of Congress—Cuellar.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 13/05/2026

Palantir Technologies, which provides ICE with many of the information technology tools used to identify and locate immigrants, was the largest donor, with Palantir execs giving more than $1.3 million to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Palantir executives donated more money to Democrats than Republicans.

They donated a total of about $880,000 to 67 Democratic members of Congress and about $420,000 to 48 Republicans.

The five executives at ICE contractors who donated the most amount of money to members of Congress were Palantir’s Alex Karp, Mehdi Alhassani, Shyam Sankar, and Akash Jain, as well as GEO Group CEO George Zoley.

palantir develops technology to stalk, abduct, and detain people who are not U.S. citizens or are suspected of not being U.S. citizens.

The company has also come under fire for its role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Purge Palantir, which describes itself as a coalition of organizers and researchers, launched a campaign to demand that candidates and elected officials reject Palantir donations. The group has also published the Palantir Payroll, which tracks campaign contributions made by the company’s executives.

“Palantir, in many ways, has a front seat in this administration, and is helping to drive an agenda that includes surveillance, deportation, and disappearances of immigrants.

We want to make sure that we are exposing the members of Congress who are in bed with one of ICE's top corporate colluders.”

Sara Cullinane, Deputy Director of Make the Road

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 13/05/2026

The story builds on our previous reporting on political contributions from ICE contractors. Using Federal Election Commission data, we identified an additional $1.7 million in donations to 168 current members of Congress since the 2022 election cycle.

How We Reported the Story
Using Federal Election Commission records, we compiled information on every member of Congress who received campaign contributions from the top contractors for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) either through the company’s Political Action Committee (PAC) or executives.

Our analysis only includes contributions made to committees directly controlled by the candidates for the 2022, 2024, and 2026 election cycles.

What We Found

Executives at ICE’s biggest contractors donated more than $1.7 million to 168 members of Congress for the 2022, 2024, and 2026 election cycles.

Palantir CEO Alexander Karp outspent the other executives, donating a total of about $465,000, including nearly $200,000 to Democrats.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 13/05/2026

Executives at ICE’s biggest contractors donated more than $1.7 million to 168 members of Congress over the 3 most recent election cycles. Find out if your representatives are among them with our new searchable database built in partnership with @inthesetimes.com theappeal.org/congress-ice...

Is your congressmember taking money from ice contractors?
The Appeal and In These Times have compiled information on every sitting member of Congress who has received donations from ICE’s top contractors and published the results of our investigation in a searchable database.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 08/05/2026

GEO Group CEO George Zoley suggested that selling private facilities directly to ICE could allow the federal government to dodge lawsuits filed by state and local governments seeking to block detention center operations, elizabethweill.bsky.social reports. theappeal.org/geo-group-ic...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 03/03/2026

As ICE seeks to turn commercial warehouses across the country into massive detention centers, communities are fighting back, @bdolinar.bsky.social reports: theappeal.org/ice-wants-to...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

Read Elizabeth's story to learn more about York County's use of restraint chairs and efforts to ban their use. theappeal.org/york-county-...

Read more at theappeal.org. https://theappeal.org/york-county-pennsylvania-restraint-chairs-everett-palmer/

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

Advocates have widely condemned the use of restraint chairs in U.S. prisons, jails, and other detention facilities. The UN has called their use a form of torture. Nonetheless, many carceral facilities continue the practice, sometimes using them on children as young as 14.

We have stories of people who have defecated on themselves, thrown up on themselves, been denied access to toilets, food, water.

Restraint chairs are sadistic.
Tanisha Long, Abolitionist Law Center

For decades, human rights organizations have condemned restraint chairs as a form of torture.

More than twenty-five years ago, the United Nations Committee Against Torture called for the abolition of restraint chairs, concluding that their use ''almost invariably leads to breaches'' of the international treaty against torture.

one company boasted on their website that its chairs “have been used with people as small as 45 lbs.”

Restraint chairs have been used on people with mental illness and children as young as 14.

Restraint chairs are disproportionately used on people in the midst of a mental health crisis.

“If someone is in acute mental health distress, they might be strapped in and confined in that chair for hours at a time, in plain view of everyone else in the unit. It's a painful and degrading experience.”
Noah Barth, Pennsylvania Prison Society

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

York County paid a $1.5 million settlement to Palmer's family. His case made national headlines. But York County didn't change its practices, and six years later, another man died after being put in a restraint chair during a mental health crisis.

Over the last ten years, at least two people died shortly after they were confined to restraint chairs in york county prison.

On April 7, 2018, Everett Palmer, Jr. was picked up on an old DUI charge and booked into York County Prison. Over the next two days, Palmer’s mental health deteriorated. In response, guards tased him, placed a spit hood over his head, and strapped him into a restraint chair. He died shortly thereafter. The County settled with Palmer’s family for $1.5 million.

Haywood dixon begged for medical help. the guards strapped him into a restraint chair.

Haywood Dixon was booked into the jail in July of 2023. He repeatedly told guards that he felt ill. When he was unable to comply with the guards’ demands to remove his shoes, they tased and shackled him, and placed a spit hood over his head. They forced him into a restraint chair and cut off his clothes. A short time later, he was dead. Dixon’s mother sued the County last year.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

In 2021, voters in Allegheny County passed a referendum banning the use of restraint chairs. Other large counties in PA, including Philadelphia and Delaware County, haven't used them in years, even without a formal ban. York County has become an outlier in the state.

about 30% of jails did not use restraint chairs at all from 2018-2024, including the state’s largest jails

Pennsylvania’s two most populous jails did not use restraint chairs at all from 2018 to 2024.

The Delaware County jail, which had a monthly population of about 1,200, and Philadelphia’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, which had a monthly population of about 2,200, reported zero uses of the restraint chair.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

In her latest story for The Appeal, @elizabethweill.bsky.social analyzed use-of-force data for Pennsylvania's county jails, finding that York County used restraint chairs far more often than any other jail in the state.

A map showing restraint chair usage by county in Pennsylvania. York County is a deep shade of red, while most other counties are gray or light pink. The map is titled "Unrestrained: York County uses restraint chairs more than any other county in the state."

How We Reported the Story

The Appeal analyzed data on the use of restraint chairs at Pennsylvania’s county jails from 2018 to 2024. Most people in county jails are awaiting trial and presumed innocent.

The data is published on the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website. As required by state law, counties report data on use-of-force incidents, including the use of restraints, each month to the Department of Corrections. The data is not validated by outside sources.

What We Found

In 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, York County used restraint chairs more times than any other county in the state.

In 2021, Allegheny County voters passed a referendum that ushered in several reforms, including bans on restraint chairs. Prior to the ban, from 2018 to 2020, Allegheny County used restraint chairs more times than any other county, topping out at about 340 times in 2019, according to The Appeal’s analysis. York County has had the top spot since 2021.

A bar chart with the title "The Outlier: York County uses restraint chairs far more frequently than other jails in the state." A caption adds, "Several of Pennsylvania's most populous jails don't use restraint chairs at all. The others use it much less often than York County."

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 21/01/2026

Everett Palmer, Jr., died after he was strapped to a restraint chair in York County's jail in 2018. A grand jury made recommendations to prevent similar deaths. Instead of implementing them, York County used the chair 1,295 times—more often any other jail in PA. theappeal.org/york-county-...

YORK COUNTY PRISON USED RESTRAINT CHAIRS 1,295 TIMES

According to The Appeal's analysis, from 2018 through 2024, Pennsylvania's York County Prison used restraint chairs a total of 1,295 times—more than any other county in the state.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 10/01/2025

You can view our interactive map of potentially at-risk facilities here: theappeal.org/los-angeles-...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 03/05/2024

Check out our map linked here to get all the latest details on the arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters nationwide. theappeal.org/prosecutors-...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 27/04/2024

You can toggle over any dot on our map to find the campus name, number of arrests, prosecuting agency, prosecutor's response, and prosecutor's election year. Prosecutors hold enormous power: they can brand these protesters with a criminal record for life—or let them go.

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 12/12/2023

The Arizona Supreme Court will soon decide whether to allow abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy—or ban the medical procedure almost entirely. The case could open the door for people to be prosecuted for their pregnancy outcomes. theappeal.org/arizona-abor...

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The Appeal @theappeal.org · 16/10/2023

The majority of Americans reported that they believe crime has increased nearly every year between 1990 and 2022, according to Gallup opinion polling. In reality, violent crime fell during all but seven of those years, and property crime fell during all but three.

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