It’s been three years since Yasmeen Covington spent the night of her 29th birthday wearing a pair of handcuffs. It was her first and last brush with the criminal justice system, but she’s still paying for it. Shortly after her criminal case ended in 2021, Covington’s parents campaigned for her to leave the Bronx in […]
Christina Carrega
Christina Carrega is the criminal justice reporter at Capital B. Follow her on Bluesky @chriscarrega.bsky.social.
Posted inMental Health, Policing
So Many Are Searching for This Missing Black Woman — But Not Chicago Police
Capital B is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to uncovering important stories — like this one — about how Black people experience America today. But we can’t publish pieces like this without your help. If you support our mission, please consider becoming a member by making a tax-deductible donation. Donate today. On the morning of April […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Mississippi Dad Who Survived Sadistic ‘Goon Squad’ Attack Calls for More Prison Time
Eddie Terrell Parker woke up in a Mississippi jail cell last January with an unfamiliar taste of alcohol on his tongue and the painful memory of seeing his friend, Michael Corey Jenkins, get shot in the mouth by a Rankin County sheriff’s deputy. Prior to that Tuesday night, Parker was not a drinker. The amount […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Reform Rollbacks May Lead to Another Rise in Mass Incarceration
LaNaisha Edwards was 15 when she started going to funerals in the mid-1990s. By her senior year, getting dressed for another memorial service “became the normal thing to do — sadly” in Los Angeles, she said. By September 2010, the plague of gun violence that destroyed other families hit too close to home. Her 24-year-old […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘Sick’ Acts Warrant Stiff Penalties for Former Mississippi Officers, Lawyer Says
Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker will bravely walk into a federal courtroom in Mississippi this week to face six former Rankin County law enforcement officers who tortured them for hours. A single bullet nearly silenced Jenkins’ voice forever. “This has been very hard for me, for us, this last year,” Jenkins said during […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
In This Ohio County, a Historic District Attorney Race Spotlights Police Killings
UPDATE: Shayla Favor received 41% of the votes in the March 19 Democratic contest for Franklin County prosecutor, compared to 35% for Anthony Pierson and 24% for Natalia Harris, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Favor will go against Republican John Rutan in the general election on Nov. 5. The stakes remain high in Columbus, Ohio. As […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
South Carolina Punished a Black Woman for Protesting. Her Supporters Demand Her Release.
The moment Eric Kennedy laid eyes on Brittany Martin a decade ago, he knew she was the woman he wanted to share the rest of his life with. From the rich tones of her melanated skin to her unwavering pride for being a Black woman and mother, Kennedy’s admiration of Martin has been unconditional, even […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mother of Mentally Ill Ohio Man Killed by Police Turns Grief Into Advocacy
Kimberly Roquemore spent the better part of February constantly checking the Ohio attorney general’s website for the results of her son’s death investigation. At least 17 times a day, she found herself hitting the refresh button and found no updates on the page. Roquemore had a feeling that the grand jury wouldn’t indict Desmond Ragland, […]
Posted inCulture, History
Biddy Mason Helped Build Downtown Los Angeles. Her Descendants Want You To Learn More.
This story originally published in 2024. Cheryl Cox was in the fourth grade when she spotted her “Grandma Biddy’s” name printed on a page of a textbook. The information was short, incomplete, and placed along the book’s spine as if the real estate mogul who helped build downtown Los Angeles was an afterthought. Prior to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Wrongful Convictions Reveal the Flaws of the Criminal Justice System
Derrick Hamilton turned 18 behind bars. A few months later in 1983, he was sentenced to 25 years to life for murder and robbery, and transferred to an upstate New York prison over 200 hundred miles away from his family. This sequence of events happened not once, but twice, to the young father. He was […]
