BOSTON -- Advocates for families who've been impacted by police brutality in Boston joined a nationwide call to protest, the weekend before the start of the trial of the officer charged with killing George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer.

Brock Satter, co-founder of Mass Action Against Police Brutality, said protesters are calling for the convictions of all four officers involved in Floyd's death.

They're also calling for their own city to reopen past cases of police brutality, and prosecute, convict and jail officers who are found to have abused their power over civilians.

"99.99% of the cases never even go to trial," Satter asserted. "There's hundreds and thousands of cases, going back years, that have never been prosecuted. And many of these have, you know, there's families representing these people who've passed who are still out here fighting, demanding justice."

Mothers of children who died at the hands of police were among the speakers at Saturday's protest, and Satter noted Black, Latino and low-income people are disproportionately impacted by police brutality.

Satter added the fight for law-enforcement accountability has been a long one, and he hopes the current momentum for change will continue beyond the case of George Floyd.

"It's not just the police that are implicated," Satter remarked. "It's the partners of the police, it's everyone who has been a part of the cover-up of these crimes and not taking them to trial, the prosecutors, judges, elected politicians."

Last week, the U.S. House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds and alter what's called qualified immunity, supposedly making it easier to pursue claims of police misconduct.

GOP opponents to the reform bill say it would weaken police forces, but advocates say officers, like anyone else, need to be held accountable for their actions.


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ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - As activists mark more than 100 days of protest since the April 21 death of Andrew Brown Junior - killed outside his Elizabeth City home as police officers served a warrant on drug charges - faith leaders are now voicing support for drug law reform.

Brown, who was unarmed, was shot as he attempted to drive away after officers surrounded his vehicle. The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland - executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches - said harsh drug laws disproportionately affect the state's Black and Brown communities.

"What we're trying to do at the Council is help make the connection," said Copeland, "between the fact that the War on Drugs is a failed policy that fundamentally misunderstands what substance use is all about, and how it should be handled."

According to the Drug Policy Alliance, nearly 80% of people in federal prison and 60% of people in state prisons for drug offenses are Black or Latino. The group Human Rights Watch says every 25 seconds in the U.S, someone is arrested for possessing drugs.

Protesters and Brown's family continue to demand the release of body-camera and dash-cam footage from the shooting.

North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President - Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman - said he hopes the state can reform its criminal-justice system to hold law enforcement accountable.

"It's to find a better system, a more just system," said Spearman, "as it relates to especially these prosecutors, these district attorneys, who are making these unilateral decisions to more or less justify those who are killing African Americans."

Spearman said he also believes it's up to church congregations to help individuals like Andrew Brown Junior.

"The faith community could have risen up to assist him," said Spearman. "And I think that's the role that needs to be filled by many in the faith community."

A review of federal and state incarceration data by the Associated Press reveals between 1975 and 2019, the nation's prison population jumped from around 240,000 to more than 1.3 million, largely as a result of drug offenses.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of the "War on Drugs."

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A new report finds county jails made more than $9 million from payments made for phone calls by incarcerated people, the year before and during the pandemic.

The report by Mike Harmon, the state's auditor of public accounts, examined more than 70 county jails' communication services and equipment contracts that were active between July 2019 and November 2020.

Marcus Jackson, smart justice organizer and coordinator at ACLU Kentucky, said inmates' families foot the bill for marked-up prices on a number of services, including food purchased from commissary vendors. He added it is commonplace for jails to receive financial perks from vendors.

"No one that's incarcerated has the money to pay these high phone bills," Jackson asserted. "It's their family members that are already in bad situations and barely making it paycheck to paycheck that are also paying taxes, that's paying these high bills."

Jackson noted in addition to financial burdens, high costs for phone calls cause emotional distress and makes it harder for inmates and their families to maintain social ties, all of which research shows can boost successful re-entry into society.

Some municipalities, such as New York City, have introduced legislation to provide communication services in jails and prisons at no cost.

Jackson noted in Kentucky, inmates can be charged upwards of $10 for a 15-minute phone call.

"Let's say if a person calls home every day, once a day. Three hundred dollars per month added to a struggling family," Jackson explained.

The report also found some contracts with telecommunications companies were based on verbal agreements. Auditors say unwritten contracts raise serious policy issues and can obscure the flow of money from county governments, taxpayers and officials.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A bill signed into law in Springfield protects the participants in restorative-justice practices from having what they do or say used against them in court.

Restorative justice is a voluntary alternative to the criminal legal system. It brings together offenders and victims to find ways to repair the harm done, and the methods vary from group meetings or peacemaking circles, to mediation-style communications.

Madeleine Behr, policy manager for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, said legal privilege will make these practices more viable options for survivors.

"Now, without this privilege, that really deters people who have caused harm from being open and honest in the process about what actually happened," Behr explained. "And for a survivor, so many people are looking for an apology, a reckoning, an admission of guilt."

Behr added the criminal legal system can be traumatizing for survivors, who may have to convince prosecutors of what happened to them or testify in court. Public opinion polls show more than 60% of Americans support restorative-justice policies.

Behr pointed out there is a common misperception criminal-justice reform and victim advocacy are oppositional. But she argued restorative justice is an example of the crucial collaboration between reformers and advocates for victims' rights.

"It not only offers perpetrators to take accountability and recognize the harm that they've caused in a different way, but it also really expands options for survivors, who are looking for some form of accountability and probably don't want to get it from the criminal legal system, for a whole host of reasons," Behr stated.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker also signed laws to end deception in interrogations of juveniles, to allow state's attorneys to petition for re-sentencing of offenders, and create a task force to study ways to reduce the prison population.

Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, who sponsored the restorative-justice bill, said the laws are important steps, and even more can be done to ensure public safety.

"Where everyone has a roof over their head, a good school, a good job, a sense of neighborly love and community, that is real public safety for all," Peters stressed.