SAN FRANCISCO - March 7, 2021 - Posted Courtesy of Wright Enterprises San Francisco~Dallas Community Spotlight~~~
PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Contact: Nube Brown (707) 601-2901, nube@sfbayview.com
https://www.facebook.com/malikdefensecommittee
BLACK NEWSPAPER EDITOR SUPPRESSED BY FOR-PROFIT PRISON CORPORATION GEO GROUP, THREATENED WITH RE-IMPRISONMENT
On Sunday, March 7, from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m., a socially distanced rally will take place in front of the Taylor Street Center, a federal halfway house located at 111 Taylor St. in San Francisco. The rally calls for the freedom of San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper Editor Malik Washington, an end to for-profit prison corporation GEO Group's operations in California, and an end to the attack on Black journalism by the GEO Group and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Malik Washington, who is incarcerated at the Taylor Street Center (a facility housing 240 individuals), was retaliated against when he released a public memo to shine light on a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility in January 2021. Facility staff confiscated his cell phone and brought disciplinary charges against him, including the possibility of re-imprisonment and restrictions on his ability to speak to members of the press, even though he is a working journalist.
Mr. Washington and the SF Bay View have filed a federal lawsuit alleging First Amendment retaliation against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the GEO Group, Inc. A hearing in that lawsuit takes place on March 10, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju has spoken out against the retaliation Malik has faced within GEO Group's custody. He says, "We continue to witness GEO Group's pattern of deceit and neglect in its response to the COVID pandemic. We must protect the health and dignity of the people living at 111 Taylor and invest in future reentry care that is community-based and focused on the needs of individuals, not the profits of GEO Group. I stand in solidarity with Malik Washington and for his rights as a member of the Black press to speak out and protect his community."
For entire news release Click Here & See Link to Short Documentary on 111 Taylor Street by San Francisco Public Defender's Office:
http://www.wrightnow.biz/articles_view.asp?articleid=8376...
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