Southern Center for Human Rights

The 2021 legislative session is underway! You are invited to our upcoming virtual legislative preview. Join us to learn more about criminal legal reform efforts in GA and how you can engage during the session. Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 9:30 a.m.

This week, GDC reported 176 new positive tests: 100 among incarcerated people and 76 among staff. One more person has died. We hold their loved ones in our hearts today.

Were you or a loved one incarcerated in GA during the pandemic? Your story matters, and we want you to be heard. SCHR is undertaking a storytelling project to record the experiences of people incarcerated, or recently released, and their friends & family. Read more on our blog: schr.org/incarcerated-during-covid-19-we-want-your-story-t/

This week, GDC reported 218 new positive tests: 153 among incarcerated people and 65 among staff. One more person has died. We hold their loved ones in our hearts today.

Black communities across the United States are regularly targeted, traumatized, jailed, and killed by the police. When communities protest against anti-Black violence, they are met with police brutality. But when white insurrectionists hijack the United States Capitol and demand the overturning of a valid election, they are met with police patience. There can be no mistaking who and what it is that policing as an institution serves and protects: whiteness. Read our full statement here: https://www.schr.org/statement-from-the-southern-center-fo/

Have you or a loved one been incarcerated during the COVID-19 pandemic? Your story matters, and we want you to be heard. SCHR is undertaking an audio storytelling project to record the experiences of people incarcerated, or recently released, and their friends and family. If you would like to tell your story, please email us at [email protected], leave your phone number and a brief summary. We respect the wishes of any who choose to remain anonymous. We are recording these stories as a public record, and not as an avenue for legal help. Your stories are powerful, and by amplifying them we hope to raise awareness of the human rights crisis in GA prisons.

Formerly incarcerated voters in Atlanta, get a free ride to the polls!

Michael Julian Bond is attemptingAGAINto roll back the city’s hard-won bail reform. His proposed ordinance would label people arrested for certain traffic offenses as violent so that they will be denied bail and caged until their court appearance. This is not about addressing the issue of street racing, it is about turning back the clock on the progress the city has made on criminal justice reform and catering to the demands of Buckhead. More on our blog: https://www.schr.org/yet-again-bail-reform-in-atlanta-is.../

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Can you call the Public Safety Committee TODAY, from 4-7 PM, and demand that the committee kill the effort by Councilmember Michael Julian Bond to roll back bail reform in Atlanta? We've got a sample script and more information here: https://schr.org/yet-again-bail-reform-in-atlanta-is-under/

Since last week, GDC announced 74 new positive tests among incarcerated people and 29 among staff. 3 more people have died. We hold their loved ones in our hearts today.

With heavy heart, we share the news that our dear friend, sister, and hero, Murphy Davis, has died. She was the kind of advocate many of us aspire to be. Her example and her presence made everyone around her better. She and her husband, Ed Loring, founded the Open Door Community, which provided hospitality to people living on Atlanta streets & ministry to incarcerated people. She knew every person on GA’s death row and was beloved by all. Murphy was a rock to so many, both in and outside of death row. Murphy Davis, Rest in Power. http://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/murphy-davis

SCHR Executive Director Sara Totonchi and Senior Counsel Sarah Geraghty spoke to Rose Scott about the crisis in Georgia prisons: "We are imploring the Department of Justice to come down and investigate."

You're invited! Weds Nov 11, we hope you'll join us for our annual Frederick Douglass Awards. This year, we honor Curtis Flowers' legal team, with remarks from Mr. Flowers and Ibram X. Kendi, and musical performances from Prison Music Project. Read more on our blog: http://schr.org/curtis-flowers-legal-team-to-be-honored-by/

Since last week, GDC announced 32 new positive tests among incarcerated people and 16 among staff. 2 more have died. We hold their loved ones in our hearts today.

The United States has a troubling history of forcibly sterilizing populations that the state deems undesirable. We stand with Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and SisterSong in decrying I.C.E.’s latest actions and demanding that the Irwin County Detention Center be closed and the people detained there be freed. Read our full statement on our blog: schr.org/statement-on-abuses-occurring-at-irwin-county-det/

The State Bar of GA launched the Due Justice, Do 50 campaign to encourage lawyers to commit to doing at least 50 hours of pro bono work each year, to help bridge the access to justice gap. https://DueJusticeDo50.org

Since last week, GDC announced 30 new positive tests among incarcerated people and 18 among staff. I more person has died at Whitworth, the second reported death at a women's prison. We hold their loved ones in our hearts today, as the nation observes a Week of Mourning.

UPDATE: Paper filing deadline extended to Oct 30! The IRS is required to correct their site, notify prisons and provide the forms, and send notice to every incarcerated individual, encouraging them to file, just as they did for everyone else. More on our blog: schr.org/cares-act-relief-and-incarcerated-people-what-you/

Today at 1PM EDT!

We mourn the loss of our client and friend Mrs. "Mama Mozel" Anderson, beloved mother of two sons and godmother to many women at Pulaski, who passed away Sept 14 of COVID-19 in the ICU at Northside Hospital. "May her spirit continue to rejoice and inspire the ones she left behind." Read more tributes from her friends on our blog: https://www.schr.org/rest-in-power-mrs-mozel-anderson/