Newsletter
We’re Back With New Stories!
Fresh investigative reporting, media from other independent outlets, and stories from the archives.
Since The Appeal has joined forces with The Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism, here’s a bit of what you can expect in our new monthly newsletters and forthcoming journalism:
Our editions will feature fresh investigative reporting by The Appeal, work from incarcerated authors, articles on the criminal legal system from other independent outlets, and stories from our archives.
Long-time Appeal staffers will be carrying much of this work forward. Ethan Corey is continuing to work with The Appeal on editing pieces, and will be helming some groundbreaking data journalism projects. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg will continue her crucial investigative reporting work as a fellow for The Appeal — keep an eye out for the fellowship’s launch in our next newsletter! And we’ll continue collaborating with Christopher Blackwell and other journalists inside prisons, affirming our commitment to always stay closely engaged with incarcerated writers.
We hope you will keep reading The Appeal – and keep supporting our work, so we can publish for many years to come! You can contribute here to help us continue. Share our newsletter widely and encourage others to sign up for the next edition!
Disgraced “Anti-Sex Trafficking” Expert Locked Up Hundreds of People. Why Is No One Revisiting Their Cases?
by Kevin Light-Roth
Tim Ballard, the disgraced “anti-sex-trafficking” expert, was the subject of a hit 2023 biographical film. Serial sexual abuse allegations followed later that year. After Ballard’s fall, some of the people he helped arrest in Washington state are clinging to hope for a reckoning. Others have lost hope.
Read the Article at The Appeal
New Orleans Resists ICE Invasion Despite Surveillance and State Repression
by Mike Ludwig, co-published with Truthout
Protesters against the Trump administration’s unwelcome assault on immigrant communities are facing a new Louisiana state law that makes hindering federal immigration enforcement a crime punishable by up to one year of hard labor in a state prison.
Read the Article at The Appeal
Jail Support for Immigrants Held in Missouri Offers Resistance in a Red State
by Brian Dolinar, co-published with Truthout
Jails exist in part to hide people away from society. Behind jail walls, suffering is often out of sight, out of mind for the rest of the community. But in central Missouri, a growing number of community organizations are sprouting up to make sure immigrants in local jails aren’t forgotten.
Read the Article at The Appeal
In The News
The Prison Spectacle: How Reality TV Helps Strengthen the Very Systems of Violence It Claims to Expose [Inquest]
The Criminalization of HIV is a Form of State Punishment [Scalawag]
A Nashville Proposal Could Outsource Surveillance and Policing to a Nonprofit [Truthout]
How Prisons and Temp Agencies Exploit the Most Vulnerable Workers [The Real News Network]
For Incarcerated Students in California, Education Is a Collective Endeavor [Truthout]
A Jail Nurse Said He Had Heartburn. It Was Appendicitis. [The Carceral Report]
From The Appeal Archives
CoreCivic told investors that Trump’s second presidency will be a boon for the private prison industry. (From May 2025)
Police task forces targeting online sex crimes against children carry out thousands of stings each year, despite little evidence that they prevent abuse. (From December 2022)
Sex workers in a Florida county said so-called human trafficking operations were putting them at risk. (From January 2020)
In Case You Missed It!
The Appeal Joins Truthout: A New Chapter Begins [The Appeal]