Chelsea Manning announced the United States Army has once again denied her ongoing request to grow her hair out. She indicated she will file a lawsuit against the prohibition.

A federal appeals court ruled in August the government needs a warrant to seek and inspect cell-site location information or else the government is violating the Fourth Amendment. Now, the government has requested the appeals court reconsider its decision. In a filing [PDF], the government chastises the Fourth Circuit Court

Omar Shakir, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights who has worked on Guantanamo Bay prisoners’ cases, made his first trip to the military prison this month. He shared what struck him most about going to Guantanamo to meet with two prisoners, Ghaleb al-Bihani and Zaher Hamdoun. Shakir described how the men’s faces lit up as they talked about things most humans take for granted, like fresh air, travel, family, and friends.

Ahmed Mohamed’s case is a perfect case to understand the bigotry and hysteria in the United States, which has persisted since the September 11th attacks and festered as isolated instances of violent extremism have occurred. The outpouring of support presents an opportunity to reflect on other cases where students have been targeted for their skin color and religion.

Formerly incarcerated youth in Cook County, Chicago, were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders at a rate higher than that of the general population, according to new research. The research also found Black former juvenile inmates had lower prevalence rates for psychiatric and substance abuse disorders over time than compared to whites and Hispanics, despite the fact that they constitute a disproportionately larger segment of the incarcerated population.

According to a federal class action lawsuit filed in Alabama this month, the city of Alexander is incarcerating people who are unable to pay court fees and fines in a modern-day debtors prison. The suit argues the practice not only constitutes false imprisonment, but also violates inmates’ Fourth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the Constitution.

When Jesse Jacobs reported to the Galveston County Jail to serve a 30-day sentence for a DUI, he did so knowing that if everything went well, he would be out in 12 to 15 days. Six days later, he was dead. Jacobs was one of the nearly 1000 people who die each year in America’s jails, according to statistics released by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. Like Jacobs, four in every ten of these people die in their first seven days in jail.

Young black men detained in Cook County, Chicago, face a higher mortality rate than the general population of the county, according to a bulletin published by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) as part of their “Northeastern Juvenile Project.”

Last week, the Justice Department announced they were changing their policy on letting corporate executives walk away scot-free without criminal charges. This week, the Department of Justice announced it will let every executive of General Motors (GM) walk away scot-free with no criminal charges for defrauding consumers and misleading regulators on a faulty ignition switch that killed over 120 people.

The hedge fund industry continues to expand its influence throughout the US economy and financial system despite having a lackluster performance record. The latest catch is a true whale, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a pension fund worth approximately $119 billion that serves roughly 880,000 active and retired school employees.

The CDC also claims that 45% of people addicted to heroin were also addicted to prescription opioid painkillers. The Sackler family, 100% owners of Purdue Pharma, producers of OxyContin, became billionaires through knowingly promoting opioid addiction in America.

The following letter was mailed today to the Treasury Department’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) division. It is a response to a two year old FOIA request that asked for records concerning former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s communications during a period that included the AIG bailout. The Treasury Department claimed, amazingly, that no official records could be found and gave me 35 days to appeal the no records response.