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The “brutally demoralizing” work as a custodian of cells in a solitary confinement unit in Washington. First, they are forced to strip search. Then it’s time to clean human waste while smelling the remnants of pepper spray. “After months of complaints by the custodians, prison officials finally provided boots, eye protection, and water-resistant suits for solitary confinement unit workers. ‘It’s one thing to protect your body from toxic substances,’ says custodian Dennis Repp, ‘but, it’s another thing to protect your mind from toxic experiences, especially the ones that consists of cleaning a cell from someone who’s tried to commit suicide.’” Solitary Watch TMP Context: How I survived a year in the “hole” without losing my mind. The Marshall Project

“Everybody’s afraid that in the next administration, if we don’t win, we’re going to all be investigated and indicted.” Trump administration officials took unprecedented steps to turn the Justice Department into a political weapon to be used against the president’s perceived political enemies. They went far beyond any previous administrations in undermining the DOJ’s independence. And it still wasn’t enough to satisfy President Donald Trump. New York Magazine Todd Blanche, who is acting attorney general, said on Tuesday that only the president knows why Pam Bondi was fired last week. He also criticized reporters and defended the DOJ’s recent purge of hundreds of experienced lawyers and prosecutors. Politico

“These individuals were given a promise that they would be protected as long as they were vulnerable and shared their story with the cops.” More on the Trump administration’s mistreatment of domestic violence survivors seeking special visas when they cooperate with police and prosecutors in testifying against their alleged assailants. Mother Jones Want to bail out a loved one from immigration detention? Release bonds cost $25,000 in some jurisdictions. Some desperate immigrants have been forced to sell furniture or cars to make the payment. Talking Points Memo More questions about excessive spending and little oversight at the Department of Homeland Security under former Secretary Kristi Noem. The Washington Post

Immigration nation. ICE officials insist they arrested the “worst of the worst” during an immigration enforcement sweep in Columbus, Ohio, but less than 7% of those arrested in December had a criminal record. The Columbus Dispatch Nearly 40% of the 4,750 people arrested and detained by federal immigration agents in Colorado last year had no criminal record. The Denver Post Some Republican lawmakers have loudly complained about Trump administration plans to build new immigration detention facilities in their jurisdictions. Kansas Reflector Federal officials just paid $145 million for a $97 million warehouse near Salt Lake City. They’re planning to turn it into an immigration detention facility. The Atlantic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Monday a measure that gives him the authority to label groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organizations. The new law also empowers top Florida officials to expel state college students deemed supportive of those groups. DeSantis had already designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization, a move that was blocked last month by a federal judge. NBC News

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota has intensified problems for postpartum people who are afraid to venture far from their homes for fear of ICE raids. “I was all alone with the baby, and no one could come see me because of immigration,” says one new mother. Minnesota Reformer/The 19th More: Students in two school districts in Minnesota returned to classes this week, nearly three months after they went to online learning during the heaviest wave of ICE raids there. MPR News

As state psychiatric facilities have closed in Michigan, officials have sent youths with severe mental illness to hospitals in other states, some as far away as Hawaii or Wyoming. Parents aren’t happy about a problem that got worse during the pandemic. The Associated Press TMP Context: In Ohio, state mental health facilities are more like prisons. The Marshall Project

The Special Commitment Center in Washington is a place where people with a history of sexual abuse are kept apart from society. It is not a prison, but acts like one for people who are both victims and perpetrators. Among its residents is a man with developmental disabilities so severe that he does not understand the nature of the crimes he has committed. The Seattle Times

A cold case murder investigation in Texas takes a series of turns. University of Texas students help identify a suspect whom a grand jury eventually declines to indict. Police and prosecutors say they will continue to investigate the 1991 death of Cynthia Gonzalez. Slate

An inversion of justice. Pam Bondi, “lately the attorney general of these United States, is an exemplary specimen of the sort of people who thrive in Donald Trump’s orbit: She is in a profound moral sense a criminal, but we lack an appropriate law under which to prosecute her.” The Dispatch Meet Robert Keenan, a federal prosecutor who has embraced the White House’s weaponization of the Justice Department for his own benefit. The Wall Street Journal More: Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, is a primary instrument of the Trump administration’s effort to undermine civil rights. Democracy Docket

Qualified immunity extends to district attorneys who punish women seeking abortions. “Prosecutors who target women for abortion often won’t face any consequences, even when they ignore the law.” Slate

Welcome to the Resistance, Brody King. “Wrestling fans know how to make themselves heard, but even the loudest voices can be ignored. Could, and should, a wrestling company offer a moment of televised resistance — and would it even want to?” The Atlantic

A new gilded age of corporate corruption goes unpunished. We are in the midst of a white-collar crime wave while the Justice Department quickens the pace of its retreat from prosecuting financial crimes. The Boston Globe TMP Context: How one false statement took down a company. The Marshall Project

Remember when we talked ceaselessly about prison reform? “The way prisons currently operate in this country is often inhumane, unproductive, and out of step with public opinion. But there is a way forward. Even with limited data, we can see that treating people with dignity can make prisons less violent, and investing in rehabilitation can help people stay out of prison once they’re home.” Brennan Center for Justice

A “tip-off point for a fascist cultural revolution.” Members of neo-Nazi groups from Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania have traveled to Lynchburg, Virginia, in recent weeks to train together at a secret compound. The Guardian More: How the right-wing fringe used the internet to shape Republican politics. The New Yorker

Punishment beyond prisons, the latest edition. “By our calculations, 1 in 61 people nationwide are under some form of ‘correctional control.’ To get a sense of how massive community supervision systems are, consider: If the number of people under probation and parole alone were its own state, it would be roughly the size of Connecticut, and more populous than 21 other states and D.C.” Prison Policy Initiative

How to expose child sex trafficking on Facebook and Instagram. “I was able to pull transcripts of sale negotiations for teen girls that traffickers were engaging in on Facebook Messenger, the private messaging function. In exhibit documents, there were pictures of trafficking victims being advertised for sale in Instagram’s Stories function.” The Guardian

Coming soon to a school corridor near your: fleets of drones. Companies and school officials want to use the devices to stop or limit school shootings. The money spent on drones won’t be spent on mental health services for students, experts say. The Wall Street Journal

Eight people died as a result of police car chases in the past week. Three people were killed in California alone in separate police car chases. The Associated Press TMP Context: Police chase raises questions about tactics in Ohio. The Marshall Project