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TPM spoke with executives at nonprofits advocating for immigration reform, action on climate change, democracy, civil rights, and other causes that are largely opposed by the administration. Each described the threats as thin cover to launch investigations that could bring their nonprofit status to an end or even prompt criminal prosecutions of their staff. They also saw the saber rattling, at least in part, as a use of the bully pulpit that will drain their resources without the government ever having to bring a case to court.

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The memo—drafted by the Office of Legal Counsel—notes that the government has designated some Latin American drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” which is itself unprecedented. The memo then takes a step further into La-La Land. It claims the White House’s characterization of cartels as waging war on the U.S.—which few legal experts accept as legitimate—itself provides the legal foundation for treating the drug cartels this way under Trump’s wartime powers as commander in chief.

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In the mayoral race, Wilson and Harrell diverged greatly on a number of issues, starting with homelessness policy. Wilson was sharply critical of Harrell’s track record, including his unprecedented scaling up of homeless encampment removals. As Bolts reported last month, Seattle conducted more sweeps under Harrell than under his four mayoral predecessors combined.

Wilson told Bolts she’d curb these sweeps and pledged to roll out 4,000 new units of shelter over her first term.

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Former inmates and guards said the violence at the Rankin County jail created a culture of fear and was widely accepted by officials as a way of keeping order, an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times has found.

More than a dozen former inmates recounted being beaten for nonviolent infractions, like talking back to guards or getting caught with contraband. Many said a special group of inmates, known as trusties, helped guards beat troublemakers, lending fists whenever needed. Sometimes, the jail’s highest-ranking officials instigated the punishments or handed them down themselves, according to former guards and inmates.

The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, has a documented history of brazen violence. Last year, the Justice Department began investigating the agency for potential civil rights violations after Mississippi Today and The Times revealed that a group of detectives and patrol deputies, some of whom called themselves the “Goon Squad,” had been torturing suspected drug users for nearly 20 years.

This portrait of life inside the Rankin County jail is drawn from interviews with more than 70 former inmates. Many of their descriptions of widespread violence are supported by medical records and photographs, as well as incident reports written by guards and a video that shows guards shocking a man with an electrified vest.

Four former guards, three of whom asked to remain anonymous, also said they had witnessed unjustified beatings by other guards and trusties. Most described the violence as a weekly occurrence.

In a statement, the department’s attorney, Jason Dare, called the reporting “baseless.” The Rankin County jail, he wrote, “is one of the cleanest and best-run jails in Mississippi, with jailers never having been found to use excessive force in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

After reviewing the findings, Sean Tindell, the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said on Wednesday that agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation had been assigned to investigate the allegations.

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At its lastest defense in an ongoing court battle, New York’s state prison agency is arguing that the core of a landmark solitary confinement reform law does not apply to the vast majority of the people it incarcerates. Advocates, attorneys, and the legislation’s lead sponsor say the agency is mischaracterizing the law and obscuring what incarcerated people describe as dire conditions in the prison system.

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At least 46 people have died in Mississippi’s county jails since 2020, according to lawsuits, news reports and law enforcement records reviewed by The Marshall Project - Jackson. But those lost lives do not appear in any official statistics or records.

Mississippi has long failed to count and report all deaths in local jails that serve the state’s 82 counties, despite a federal requirement to do so. These often dangerous facilities operate virtually free of any state oversight.

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