Tag: prison

DHS to Push Ahead With Plans to Convert Warehouses Into ICE Detention Centers

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving forward with plans to convert warehouses into large-scale immigration detention centers.

The decision comes despite legal challenges from activist groups and opposition from left-wing local officials seeking to slow the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.

According to The Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to award contracts for major detention facilities in San Antonio and near El Paso.

The two sites are expected to be operational by early 2027.

The administration sees the warehouse initiative as a central part of its immigration enforcement strategy, allowing ICE to detain and process illegal immigrants more efficiently through large regional hubs rather than smaller, dispersed facilities.

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Netanyahu: We Will Sue NYT for Exposé Alleging Sexual Torture in Israeli Prisons

Israel is planning to sue The New York Times over a shocking report that Israeli prison officials are sexually torturing Palestinian prisoners.

Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof’s 3,500-word exposé graphically details mind-boggling cruelty, including genital mutilation and using dogs to rape prisoners.

Such a lawsuit won’t likely succeed in U.S. courts because the Constitution forbids it. Federal law generally forbids recognizing defamation judgments in foreign courts.

The exposé appeared one day before the Times reprised an official Israeli report that detailed Hamas’ rape and sexual torture of Israeli prisoners and hostages during and after the October 7, 2023 terror raid.

The Story

Palestinians told Kristof about sexual violence against men, women, and children by myriad Israeli assailants: “soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”

Evidence does not show that leaders ordered the rapes, Kristof explained. But a UN report explained that sexual torture is “one of Israel’s ‘standard operating procedures’ and ‘a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians.’” And the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has reported that “systematic sexual violence” is “widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.”

Kristof spoke to 14 victims. 

A freelance journalist, Sami al-Sai, 46, told Kristof that Israeli guards raped him with a rubber baton and then a carrot. A sadistic woman guard, he told Kristof, “grabbed him by the penis and testicles and joked, ‘These are mine,’ and then squeezed until he screamed from pain.”

Noting that American tax money has made the U.S. government complicit in the sex crimes, Kristof also detailed a case from the Euro-Med report. It described the repeated rape of a 42-year-old woman, which Israeli soldiers photographed and said would be released if “she did not cooperate with Israeli intelligence.”

Yet abuse, Kristof reported, went beyond — way beyond — rape.

“Many reported that they often had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles. Hand-held metal detectors were used to probe between men’s naked legs and then smashed into their private parts; some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors after beatings, according to the Euro-Med monitor,” Kristof reported.

A farmer told Kristof that Israeli guards raped him three times with a metal baton. He invited the third assault by asking for a pen and paper to write a complaint. 

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For-Profit Immigrant Detention Centers Exploiting Prison Labor With $1 Per Day Wages

As President Donald Trump continues his mass detention and deportation agenda and expands the use of privately owned immigrant prisons, with more than 60,000 people detained across the country, the profits of private contractors like the GEO Group and CoreCivic are skyrocketing—and a new report by a government watchdog reveals one method the multibillion-dollar firms have of extracting profits from detainees.

Public Citizen researcher Douglas Pasternak wrote in a report released Wednesday that approximately 50% of immigrants who are detained for more than a few days end up in the government’s so-called Voluntary Work Program (VWP), earning just $1 per day—12.5 cents per hour—while they keep the detention centers running.

At facilities like Adelanto Detention Center in Adelanto, California, run by the GEO Group, and CoreCivic’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, detainees work as many as 14 hours in a day for just $1—cooking, cleaning, performing maintenance work, and completing other labor essential to the facilities’ operations—and in many cases are forced to use their meager wages only at commissaries also run by the corporations.

“This entire $1-a-day pay scheme is economically unjustifiable, fundamentally unfair, and morally reprehensible,” said Pasternak in a statement.

The companies are notorious for price gouging, forcing the so-called “voluntary worker” to work full-time for 11 days to afford a tube of Sensodyne toothpaste—priced at $11.02 at Stewart Detention Center, compared to just $5.20 on Amazon.

“At these rates, it may take a detainee more than three days of work to purchase a can of tuna fish or more than two days of work to purchase a bar of soap,” said Public Citizen.

The business model has saved the contractors millions of dollars and allowed them to reap massive profits.

Former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger made $7.2 million in compensation last year before retiring, and the company’s profits grew from $68.9 million in 2024 to $116.5 million last year. Both CoreCivic and the GEO Group reported well over $2 billion in revenue in 2025.

When it was sued over its use of the VWP in Washington State, the GEO Group testified that it would have had to pay 85 full-time employees at the state’s minimum wage—$17.13 per hour—if it hadn’t used the labor of detainees. Hiring workers would have cost the company over $3 million per year, but instead the GEO Group spent just over $22,000 paying imprisoned immigrants $1 per hour.

“The private contractors running immigrant detention centers are pocketing millions of dollars in profits as tens of thousands of detainees struggle to afford to purchase a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste,” said Pasternak. “The dichotomy between the contractors’ profits and the detainees’ pay is outrageous.”

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Watching Porn on California’s Death Row

Under Governor Gavin Newsom, California has sought to transform its massive prison system into a Nordic-style rehabilitation program. Newsom has placed a moratorium on all executions, transferred condemned prisoners to facilities across the state, dismantled San Quentin State Prison’s death row, and turned the notorious prison into a therapeutic center, with art, classrooms, a café, and podcast studios.

As part of this transformation, the Newsom administration approved a $189 million contract to provide new digital tablets—generic, flat-screen devices in a plastic shell—to every inmate in the state prison system, at “no cost” to offenders. The administration heralded the effort to replace inmates’ old tablets—which were piloted in 2018 and given to nearly all prisoners by 2023—as a step toward “digital equity” for “justice impacted” individuals, who could, in theory, use the devices to contact their families, consume “educational” content, and “learn new technology.”

In reality, taxpayer-funded tablets have also been used for more lurid endeavors. In this exclusive City Journal investigation, we contacted dozens of death-row inmates, who told us that prisoners in the state system use such devices to watch pornography and have explicit sexual conversations. Some prisoners, according to a former high-ranking California corrections official, use their tablets to groom minors. Though the state has claimed to regulate explicit content, the inmates told us that users can easily evade detection.

When reached for comment, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the tablets were “tightly controlled education tools” that provided inmates with “access to the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime.”

But inmates told us a different story. For some, the devices have become personal sex machines. In the words of one inmate, California’s death row is populated with desperately “horny” criminals who see the tablets as a way to satisfy their basest fantasies and desires—all thanks to the California taxpayer.

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Parents Sent To Prison After Isolating Kids For FOUR YEARS Over Covid Fears

A court in northern Spain has sentenced a couple to prison after they kept their three children confined indoors for nearly four years due to intense fears of Covid.

The isolation, which began in December 2021 and continued until the children were rescued in April 2025, left the youngsters with significant mental and physical conditions, including difficulties walking, bowel and bladder control issues, and delayed development.

The case, underscores the profound and lasting effects that pandemic-related anxiety had, and continues to have, on some individuals.

Christian Steffen, 53, a German freelance tech recruiter, and his wife Melissa Ann Steffen, 48, an American-born naturalised German, lived in a rented home in Oviedo, Spain. 

Prosecutors stated that the parents “locked the minors up inside their home and isolated them completely from the rest of the world, denying them contact with other people both physically and through other forms of communication.”

They added that “The children didn’t even know their relatives or any other people that weren’t their parents. They never went outside, not even to the garden of their home, for almost four years because of the unfounded fear the accused had, and they had instilled in their children, that they might be infected with something.”

The children — a boy aged ten and eight-year-old twins — were not enrolled in school. They received homeschooling from their parents, had not seen a doctor since 2019, and lived in conditions described as squalid, with soiled nappies, rubbish, and inadequate sleeping arrangements including broken cots for the twins. 

Physical examinations revealed bowed legs, hunched posture, irritated skin, and other issues stemming from prolonged confinement and lack of medical care. After rescue, one child was reported to have knelt on the grass outside and touched it with amazement.

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Pedophile in NJ Women’s Prison, Who Horrifically Abused His 7-Year-Old Daughter, Demands Nude Witchcraft Rituals and Marriage to Male Accomplice in Insane Settlement Negotiations

A biological male convicted of human trafficking his own 7-year-old daughter across the country, repeatedly sexually assaulting her, and filming the abuse to produce and distribute child sexual abuse material, is now housed in New Jersey’s only women’s prison.

To make the situation even sicker, he is demanding a taxpayer-funded settlement that would allow him to perform nude outdoor Wiccan rituals and marry his male co-defendant while behind bars.

Matthew Volz, who uses the name “Marina Volz,” is serving a 25-year sentence with 25 years of parole ineligibility after pleading guilty in November 2021 to multiple first-degree charges, including human trafficking, aggravated sexual assault, conspiracy to commit human trafficking and aggravated sexual assault, and endangering the welfare of a child through the creation of child pornography.

The crimes committed against this child by Volz and his accomplices are horrific, and reader discretion is advised.

In December 2018, Volz traveled to Oregon with co-defendant Adam Romero, who uses the name “Ashley Romero,” to take custody of his biological daughter from her mother, who was a drug addict.

The pair brought the child back to their home in Franklin Township, New Jersey, where they operated what prosecutors described as a “family-owned transgender pornography production studio specializing in amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish content.”

Volz and Romero sexually assaulted the girl, both individually and together, and filmed the abuse to sell to other sickos.

The child was subjected to torture-like conditions, including neck collars, a cage in the basement, and sex toys, according to a report from Reduxx.

Reduxx reports, “Some of the media found by police featured Romero sexually abusing the girl with another man. Romero lived in the residence with Volz and with two other individuals; Sean Allen, who had also sexually abused the child on film, and Dulcinea Gnecco, who acted as a domestic assistant.”

“The two other men in the home were also convicted for their roles in the sexual abuse of the child. Sean Allen, 54, was handed a 12-year sentence for his role in the crimes, and Dulcinea Gnecco, was also charged on four counts of child endangerment and received a 5-year sentence.”

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Federal and State Officials in Talks to Close Down Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz

Federal and state officials are in talks to close down Alligator Alcatraz in Florida.

Alligator Alcatraz is a detention center for illegal aliens, many of whom are rapists, murderers, and designated foreign terrorists.

The facility, which opened over the summer at the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis, is surrounded by Florida’s natural defenses, including alligators, pythons, and dense swampland in the Florida Everglades.

On Thursday it was reported that federal officials are working with Florida officials to close down Alligator Alcatraz.

The New York Times reported:

Florida is in talks with the Trump administration to shut down a high-profile immigration detention center that opened last summer in the Everglades and has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to operate, according to a federal official, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, and a person close to the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The shutdown talks are preliminary, the people said. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security have concluded that it is too expensive to keep operating the center, known as Alligator Alcatraz. Homeland security officials have also come to consider the center ineffective, the federal official said. All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.

The DeSantis administration has been spending more than $1 million a day to run the center, which is in a swampy, isolated area between Miami and Naples. Some private vendors hired by the state to operate it have been struggling to front costs, according to the person close to the DeSantis administration.

Fox News confirmed reporting from The New York Times:

“Since its inception, Alligator Alcatraz has processed over 21,000 illegal aliens for deportation. The facility’s purpose was to provide Florida and the Trump administration with a rapid, temporary solution to four years of Biden’s open border invasion. Needless to say, Alligator Alcatraz was a massive success.

President Trump secured record funding from Congress to set up permanent sites for detaining and deporting illegal aliens. As those sites come online, the need for Alligator Alcatraz as a holding area will wane, while its 2.5-mile runway will remain available and used for large flights from neighboring ICE facilities.

We are glad to see DHS rebuilt under President Trump. We continue to fully support the mission, and when it’s no longer required, Alligator Alcatraz will return to the Everglades with Florida’s commitment that it will never be developed. We also appreciate the federal government’s commitment to reimbursing Florida for its immediate efforts to step in and help with this mission.”

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Taxpayers Foot STAGGERING £629 MILLION Bill For Foreign Nationals In UK Prisons

UK taxpayers are forking out £629 million a year to house 10,487 foreign national offenders in British prisons — a bill that could pay for 16,500 police officers or 15,000 NHS nurses.

While Labour claims it’s deporting record numbers, an ex-prison governor has torn into the “staggering” cost and the “incredibly slow process” that leaves dangerous foreign criminals draining public resources instead of being sent home. 

This is the direct result of years of open-borders policies that prioritise criminals’ “rights” over British safety.

Reform UK’s Prisons Adviser and former prison governor Vanessa Frake laid it out clearly on GB News. “The cost to this country for foreign national prisoners is staggering,” she said. “It’s a very long, drawn-out process, which kind of goes from three main areas.”

Frake detailed the excuses that keep foreign offenders here: “The problem is a lack of identity documents for these people. Quite often they get rid of their passports, so the Home Office then has to write to the country that they originate from, and that process is very slow.”

“Sometimes the country refuses. And there are of course the ECHR claims. Those under Article 8, right to life, right to family for those who have family in this country and of course, there is administration errors as well,” Frake further explained.

She added that even recent deals fall short. “They’ve just done a deal with Albania to send 200 prisoners back, but that comes with certain conditions, like improving their prison service, giving them electric Volkswagens, etcetera.” 

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More Than 40 Mexican Mafia Members And Associates Indicted In California: DOJ

A total of 43 alleged members and associates of the Mexican Mafia prison gang were arrested this week on multiple charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the central district of California said on April 23.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the total includes individuals already in custody, with 25 of them being arrested in Orange County, California, on April 23. They face charges including kidnapping, extortion, fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking, running illegal gambling businesses, and murder.

First assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli said the arrests reflected joint efforts between federal and local law enforcement and their commitment to cracking down on violent felons and organized crime.

“Gang members who murder, extort, kidnap, and traffic drugs and firearms are a menace to our communities and our way of life,” Essayli said in a statement.

The investigation also led to the seizure of 4 kilograms (8.8 lbs) of fentanyl, 54.4 kilograms (120 lbs) of methamphetamine, 0.9 kilograms (2 lbs) of heroin, 3 kilograms (6.6 lbs) of cocaine, 25 firearms, and more than $30,000 in cash, according to the office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the gang sold illegal drugs in Orange County and ran illicit gambling businesses within commercial strip malls and private residences. It also collected “extortionate taxes” and used violence to safeguard those gambling businesses, the office added.

One of the defendants, identified as Luis Cardenas, was accused of overseeing the gang’s criminal activities from his prison cell using “an encrypted messaging application on contraband cell phones” between June 2024 and April 2026. Cardenas allegedly instructed gang members to kidnap and assault those “in bad standing” with him.

Two other defendants—Matthew Kundrat and Manuel Ramos—were charged with murder that occurred at the Akua Inn, a gang-run motel in Anaheim, California, on Feb. 3, 2025. Prosecutors said the two allegedly committed the murder to be part of the Mexican Mafia and increase their standing within the gang.

“These defendants allegedly ran a ruthless criminal enterprise that murdered, kidnapped, extorted, and flooded our communities with deadly drugs,” FBI director Kash Patel said in a statement.

“The FBI will never stop working alongside our law enforcement partners to hold these individuals accountable and protect the people of Southern California.”

Some of the defendants made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and Los Angeles on April 23, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Mexican Mafia, also known as “La Eme,” is a U.S.-based prison gang that started in the 1950s. Federal authorities said the gang exerts “immense control” over Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, directing illegal activities from within prisons and taking a portion of the proceeds from drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and other crimes.

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Judge Orders Colorado to Stop Throwing Prisoners in Solitary for Refusing to Work

In 2019, while incarcerated at the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado and assigned to shifts in the kitchen, Nadia Reed refused to work for two days in one month. All incarcerated people in Colorado are required to labor, and are typically paid mere cents an hour. Her punishment for that decision was being confined to her cell alone for 23 hours a day for 30 days, unable to interact with any other incarcerated people, not even during the hour she was allowed out for exercise and to shower. She was also denied the ability to talk to her loved ones. In court testimony, she described the isolation as “very depressing,” leading her to self-harm. 

The following year, after Reed completed her assigned shift in the kitchen, she was ordered to stay longer to do additional work. She refused, for which she was handcuffed, shackled, strip searched, put in solitary confinement and once again confined to her cell for 23 hours a day, according to her testimony. As a result of the incident, Reed was reclassified from medium security to a higher level, and she says she was sexually assaulted when she was moved into that part of the prison.

Experiences like Reed’s are common in Colorado, with Bolts reporting in 2023 that incarcerated people there are routinely subjected to solitary confinement and other punishments for refusing to work. But that could soon be a thing of the past. In a groundbreaking ruling last month in a lawsuit filed against the state by Harold Mortis and Richard Lilgerose, men who were punished for refusing to work in crowded prison kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic, a state district court judge found that Colorado is violating incarcerated people’s rights by the way it punishes them for refusing to work. 

The judge ruled that Colorado has failed to abide by a change voters made to their state constitution in 2018 that erased language allowing “slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.”

While the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery at the end of the Civil War, it included a carveout that sanctions it as punishment for people convicted of crimes. Many state constitutions include the same loophole, which has allowed prisons to force incarcerated people to work under threat of discipline, often for little pay; seven states don’t pay anything for most prison jobs. 

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