Police State & Prisons News

As Mumia Abu-Jamal has aged behind bars, inadequate medical care has led to several scares when his health deteriorated rapidly. In February, Mumia believed he was infected with COVID-19 and suffering skin lesions. After public pressure, authorities transferred Mumia to a hospital for emergency treatment. He was diagnosed with coronavirus. While Mumia's health remains a concern, he is stable now and has been returned to general population. Reopened legal appeals are currently being litigated.

There were at least 527 evictions in the Bay Area from the start of the statewide coronavirus lockdown on March 19 through the end of December. On January 27, over 100 tenants and advocates blocked eviction hearings at the Santa Clara County Superior Court, protesting the displacement of renters during the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters blocking the courthouse entrance shut down the court before being violently removed by Sheriff’s Deputies. Nine protesters were arrested on the charge of disrupting court operations.

On January 24, Voices of VV held a mutual aid event in Vacaville. Afterward, one person was pulled over by team of police officers. Nine people arrived soon after to record and cop watch. More police arrived in riot gear and heavily armed with wooden batons in hand and others with guns. The officers declared six observers standing and recording to be an “unlawful assembly.” The founder of Voices of VV, a Black woman, was specifically targeted for arrest. Vacaville Police confiscated phones and has yet to return them.

Following a protest march that attacked the Vacaville City Hall and police station on the night of January 17, anti-racists attacked the US Citizenship and Immigration Services headquarters in San Francisco the following night. An "anonymous autonomist" writes: On January 19, on Ramaytush Ohlone land occupied under the name "South San Francisco", the county courthouse was vandalized with anti-police, anti-State, anti-colonization slogans and the windows of the front entrance were smashed in.

An anonymous communiqué reads: On January 18, as strong winds raged, 30+ anti-racists attacked the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco. We thoroughly painted the walls, smashed the windows, and breached the building to wreak havoc inside.... We join all prisoners and ICE detainees who continue to fight by way of hunger strikes, escapes, and riots against repression and neglect from the State. We see you, we hear you, until every prison door and border wall is open. Solidarity means attack!

Breonna Taylor was fatally shot in her home by Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove on March 13. A Grand Jury returned an indictment for one officer with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into neighboring apartments — and no charges directly related to the murder. Announcement of the Grand Jury's decision on September 23 sparked protests across Northern California.

On September 3, several hundred students gathered in front of the entrance to Mission High School for a "Defund the San Francisco Police" action. They showed up to demand that resources currently allocated to police be distributed back to the community for better schools and better mental health care services. Speakers honored survivors of police violence by calling for a recitation of names and said that that the Board of Supervisors needs to make more drastic cuts to the police budget than the relatively small measures currently proposed.

On September 4, five young activists from the city of Antioch and a former resident of the Mission District of San Francisco began a hunger strike with demands for local authorities to end racial injustice and police brutality. Despite ongoing protests, a petition signed by thousands, hundreds of public comments at City Council meetings, protests and an occupation of City Hall by several dozen activists, the Mayor, the Chief of Antioch Police, and council members have neither acknowledged nor taken action on protesters’ demands.

Citing a pattern of consistent stonewalling, investigative journalists have taken the Oakland Police Department to court to force it to comply with state public records laws. Two petitions brought in Alameda County Superior Court claim the department routinely ignores public records requests, professing a commitment to transparency even as thousands of open Public Records Act requests languish in their system. One petition claims the department offers only an automatic response to thousands of requests — if it replies at all.