Skip to main content

This Week in People’s History, July 18 – 24

Portside
Composer Jelly Roll Morton at the piano keyboard Jelly Roll Morton's hit single in 1923. Women's Rights Convention in 1848. Disability rights a winner in 1968. Prepaid comprehensive healthcare in 1945. Investigation smoke and mirrors in 2004. Prisoner abuse in 2006. Civil disobedience in 1846.

How the Newest Federal Prison Became One of the Deadliest

Christie Thompson and Joseph Shapiro NPR
Officials claimed that opening Thomson would make federal prisons safer by relieving dangerous overcrowding. But an investigation by The Marshall Project and NPR found that the newest U.S. penitentiary has quickly become one of the deadliest, with five suspected homicides and two alleged suicides since 2019.

Guantanamo's Refugees Released to Uruguay Still Seeking Relief

Aisha Maniar Truthout
Guantánamo Bay is a mess the United States created and which it expects the rest of the world to clean up. Many of the remaining 122 prisoners are in a situation similar to that of the 15 prisoners released to Uruguay in December 2014. Among them were six men - a Tunisian, a Palestinian and four Syrians - who were resettled in Uruguay as refugees. All had been held without charge or trial for over 12 years at Guantánamo, and had been cleared for release since 2010.
Subscribe to prisoner abuse