Christopher Blackwell

3 weeks ago | rangemedia.co | Christopher Blackwell |Sarah Sax

This story was originally published by The Appeal. In March 2018, J’Allen Jones, a 31-year-old Black man incarcerated at Garner Correctional Institution in Connecticut, died after refusing to comply with a strip search. When officers told Jones he needed to submit to the procedure, he resisted. That is when the violence started. Officers forced him onto a bed, pepper-sprayed him, and kneed him in the thighs.

3 weeks ago | theappeal.org | Christopher Blackwell |Sarah Sax

Newsletter Strip searches serve as weapons of humiliation rather than security measures. In March 2018, J’Allen Jones, a 31-year-old Black man incarcerated at Garner Correctional Institution in Connecticut, died after refusing to comply with a strip search. When officers told Jones he needed to submit to the procedure, he resisted. That is when the violence started.

2 months ago | jewishcurrents.org | Christopher Blackwell |Sarah Sax

On February 17th, as hundreds of prison guards across New York State abandoned their posts in a wildcat strike, Robert Williams, a 41-year-old incarcerated man in Eastern New York Correctional Facility in Ulster County, was stuck in his cell, trying to make sense of what was happening. Usually, guards would come by for count at 6:00 am, letting prisoners out for breakfast around 7.30. But now it was 12:00 pm, and they were still locked up.

Feb 11, 2025 | goodenoughjob.substack.com | Christopher Blackwell |Solomon Brager |Sophie Johnson

SUBSCRIBE: by Erin Mc.I read a lot of Substack newsletters, and a lot of them are good; but this is the rare one that I never skip. It’s relatively new, and Erin is a personal friend of mine, and still I think this newsletter has real legs. The topics are exactly the kinds of topics I care about most. I think this week’s newsletter is about bread and butter? Like… literally. And then there’s one about calming things, and one about hibernating… you get it. It’s up our alley. We want it.

Dec 22, 2024 | solitarywatch.org | Christopher Blackwell

The latest piece supported by Solitary Watch’s Ridgeway Reporting Project is written by Christopher Blackwell, an award-winning journalist and grassroots organizer incarcerated in Washington State. Below is an excerpt from his piece exposing the state‘s manipulation of a victim protection policy to censor his freedom of expression and that of other incarcerated individuals. Read an excerpt below and find the full story at The Appeal.