prison

April 3 (UPI) — The Trump Administration has requested $152 million in its fiscal year 2027 federal budget proposal to refurbish and reopen Alcatraz as a prison.

President Donald Trump first broached the idea of reopening the prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay in May 2025, but with the administration’s release of its budget proposal to Congress he is looking to put his plan in motion.

Alcatraz was closed in 1963 after 30 years as an active prison that has become famous for its former inmates and stories of attempted escapes, but has long been a popular tourist attraction that sees more than one million people per year visit the island, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In the budget proposal, the administration argued that restoring Alcatraz is an appropriate response to the federal Bureau of Prisons housing “violent criminals in crumbling detention centers.”

“The Budget affirms the President’s commitment to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility, providing $152 million to cover the first year of project costs,” the budget proposal said.

The request is part of the administration’s $5 billion request for the BOP, and its larger intent is to improve working conditions and pay to stem shortages of correctional officers.

While the $152 million is projected to over the first year of refurbishing the prison, there are no details of the project or longer-term details included in the proposal.

In 2025, however, when Trump said he’d directed his administration to start looking into reopening Alcatraz as a prison, his administration suggested that the multi-year project to make it usable could cost around $2 billion.

The prison originally was closed because it was so expensive to run — every supply needed for the facility has to be brought there by boat because it is in the middle of the San Francisco Bay — and had at least 36 inmates attempt a total of 14 separate escapes in its 30 years as a prison.

“Alcatraz is a historic museum that belongs to the public, and San Franciscans will not stand for Washington turning one of our most iconic landmarks into a political prop,” U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told The Los Angeles Times.

There have been emotional scenes in Cuba where 2,000 prisoners are being pardoned and released from jail. Authorities say it’s a “humanitarian gesture” for Holy Week, but it comes as the Trump administration intensifies pressure on Cuba over political prisoners.

WASHINGTON — President Trump is requesting $152 million from Congress to begin “rebuilding” the prison on Alcatraz Island for operational use, though his administration appears to have taken few steps toward advancing the project.

The request, in the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, resurrects Trump’s attention-grabbing concept of converting the crumbling site — which has stood as a piece of history for more than 60 years — into a working federal prison.

But the Bureau of Prisons on Friday said it had no new information to share about the potential project and no updates about whether assessments that the agency had said it launched last year had been completed.

A spokesperson said the bureau was “moving forward, evaluating, and formulating the actions necessary” and pointed to to a May 2025 statement from bureau director William K. Marshall pledging to “vigorously pursue all avenues to support and implement the President’s agenda.”

The funding request was included in Trump’s budget proposal, which provides Congress with a look at the administration’s priorities ahead of the next fiscal year. Congress makes the ultimate funding decisions for the government.

Creating a working prison on the San Francisco Bay island would be extremely costly, the administration’s critics say, and would raise questions about its fate as a historic site that draws more than a million tourists a year.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Friday she would attempt to block Trump’s proposal in Congress by any means possible, calling it “a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“Alcatraz is a historic museum that belongs to the public, and San Franciscans will not stand for Washington turning one of our most iconic landmarks into a political prop,” she said in a statement.

The $152-million request is for only the first year of the project’s costs. How long the project could take or what the total cost could be are not clear. The budget proposal described the project as a “state-of-the-art secure prison facility.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

“It represents something very strong, very powerful, in terms of law and order,” Trump told reporters last year. “It housed the most violent criminals in the world. … It sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful, strong, and miserable.”

He characterized the historic site as “rusting and rotting.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), vice chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said Trump would waste taxpayer money on Alcatraz “while ignoring billions of dollars in repair-backlog needs for existing” federal prisons.

The government opened the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz in 1934, hoping to use the remote island to house particularly difficult prisoners, according to the National Park Service. Its cells held infamous criminals such as Al Capone, and several unsuccessful escape attempts captured public imagination.

The prison was closed in 1963 after becoming too costly to run. A group of Native American activists occupied the land during a period between 1969 and 1971, and in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area under National Park Service management. It opened to the public as a national park attraction the following year and was later designated a National Historic Landmark.

Trump, who has pushed to round up criminals and pursued plans to open new detention centers in his second term, floated the Alcatraz idea last year, saying he wanted to send “America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders” there.

He directed the Bureau of Prisons to take up the task. In July, then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited the island.

“Alcatraz could hold the worst of the worst, it could hold middle-class violent prisoners, it could hold illegal aliens,” Bondi told Fox News during the visit. “This is a terrific facility; it needs a lot of work, but no one has been known to escape from Alcatraz and survive.”

The Bureau of Prisons said at the time that no final decision had been made as to whether to use the site, but that the agency would determine whether “it makes sense operationally, legally, and financially.”

The bureau said then that was working on a cost estimate and feasibility report to present to Congress following a site assessment with the National Park Service and work by engineers and planners on potential budgets and models.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Friday opening Alcatraz would be “prohibitively expensive” for the federal government to undertake. He has previously characterized the concept as part of an attack by the Trump administration on national parks.

“Trump’s continued push to reopen it as a federal prison is a wasteful exercise in futility,” Schiff said. “He should focus on lowering the cost of living for the American people, not raising the cost of our prisons.”

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a life term in prison without parole for a defendant who was 15 when he fatally stabbed his grandfather in Mississippi, ruling that a sentencing judge need not decide that the young person was “permanently incorrigible.”

The 6-3 decision retreats somewhat from a pair of earlier rulings, which said that such life sentences for minors convicted of murder should be extremely rare and limited to cases in which there was no reason to hope the young person could be rehabilitated.

California and 24 other states have abolished life terms with no hope for parole for offenders under 18. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor said such prison terms remain shockingly common in parts of the Deep South, particularly for young people of color.

As of last year, “Louisiana had imposed LWOP [Life Without Parole] on an astonishing 57% of eligible juvenile offenders” since 2012, when the court called for restricting such sentences, she said. In 2016, the court gave these inmates a chance to seek a new sentence with possible parole, but the Mississippi courts have rejected one-fourth of such appeals, she said.

“The harm of from these sentences will not fall equally,” Sotomayor added. “The racial disparities in juvenile LWOP sentencing are stark: 70% of all youth sentenced to LWOP are children of color,” she said, citing a study from the Juvenile Law Center.

Five years ago, the court gave new hope to the more than 2,000 inmates who had been sentenced to life terms for crimes they committed as minors. The justices said they had a right to seek a new sentencing hearing and possible parole in the future. But the court’s opinion did not say precisely what judges must consider in deciding such cases.

At issue Thursday was whether the defendant’s life term with no parole should be set aside unless the judges concluded he was “incorrigible” and could not be rehabilitated.

The justices divided along ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in dissent.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, speaking for the court in Jones vs. Mississippi, said judges are required to weigh the defendant’s age as a mitigating factor before imposing a punishment for a homicide. “The court’s decision today carefully follows” the earlier rulings, which did not prohibit such life terms, he said. Kavanaugh added that the sentencing decision remains in the hands of the judge who heard the case, and the judge need not go further and decide the defendant was beyond redemption.

“Today the court guts” its earlier rulings restricting such life terms, Sotomayor said in a sharp dissent for three liberals. She noted that one of the decisions held that “a lifetime in prison is a disproportionate sentence for all but the rarest children, those whose crimes reflect ‘irreparable corruption.’”

The outcome reflects the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Kennedy had repeatedly spoken out against harsh punishments for juvenile offenders, and he wrote the court’s ruling that ended capital punishment for them, as well as those that limited the circumstances for imposing life prison terms on those under 18.

Sotomayor said Thursday’s ruling means that even if a “juvenile’s crime reflects ‘unfortunate yet transient immaturity’, he can be sentenced to die in prison,” quoting a passage from Kennedy’s earlier opinion. Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan joined the dissent.

The case before the court began in 2004 when Brett Jones, age 15, was living with his grandparents Bertis and Madge in a small town in northern Mississippi. He and his grandfather exchanged angry words when it was learned that Jones’ girlfriend was in a bedroom upstairs. The two later fought in the kitchen, and the teenager stabbed his grandfather and fled.

He was convicted of the murder and at the time, state law mandated a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The Supreme Court overturned such mandatory sentences in 2012 and ruled in 2016 inmates may seek a new and lesser sentence. But a judge decided the life term was the proper sentence for Jones, and that decision was upheld by the state courts.

In upholding the sentence, Kavanaugh said such sentencing decisions should remain in the hands of judges who can weigh all the facts. Moreover, “our holding today does not preclude the states from imposing additional sentencing limits in cases involving defendants under 18 convicted of murder,” he said. “States may categorically prohibit life without parole for all offenders under 18. Or states may require sentencers to make extra factual findings before sentencing an offender under 18 to life without parole.”

This story contains spoilers for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

Everybody’s favorite fearless and super capable princess is back for another adventure — along with the denizens of her kingdom and a pair of New York plumber brothers — in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

Now in theaters, the follow-up to the 2023 blockbuster “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” sees Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi and Toad joined by some new yet also very familiar faces as they try to thwart yet another evil plan by a member of the Bowser clan. The result is some intergalactic travel and family-friendly action.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who also helmed the first film, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” formally introduces into Nintendo’s movie universe the cosmically powerful Rosalina and her flock of star-shaped Lumas, Bowser’s ambitious mini-me, Bowser Jr., the insatiable dinosaur-like Yoshi, ace pilot Fox McCloud and more video game fan favorites. (That includes Mr. Game & Watch, one of Nintendo’s earliest playable characters.)

These introductions, of course, don’t stop when the film’s main story ends.

Much like the first installment, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” features a couple of bonus scenes that are shown after the credits begin to roll. The first is a mid-credits scene that involves a breakout character from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and the second, shown after the credits end, introduces another Nintendo royal.

Many Lumas appear in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

(Nintendo and Illumination)

The mid-credits scene is justice for Lumalee

Lumalee quickly won audiences over in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with his cheerfully nihilistic one-liners while imprisoned by Bowser. The blue Luma doesn’t appear during the main story of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” but the star-shaped creature steals the mid-credits scene.

The bonus scene takes place sometime after the movie’s main story ends at the prison where Bowser and Bowser Jr. have been locked up. After Fox teases a possible sequel or “Star Fox” spin-off by mentioning he is finally “heading home” as he approaches his ship, audiences get a glimpse of what’s in store for the Bowser duo’s foreseeable future.

Peace may not be an option, because their prison guard is former Bowser captive Lumalee. And the role reversal — complete with uniform — doesn’t appear to have changed Lumalee’s outlook on life in any way.

The blue Luma said it best in the first “Mario” movie: “Life is sad, prison is sad, life in prison is very, very sad.” Just how sad things might get for the Bowsers will be up to Lumalee.

Peach fights off some Ninjis in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

(Nintendo and Illumination)

The second post-credits scene introduces a new princess

The final bonus scene in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is more of a teaser for what could come in a future “Mario” installment.

This stinger takes place back at the hub known as the Gateway Galaxy. The mischievous thieving monkey Ukiki is once again trying to make off with the belongings of a passerby when he is stopped by another traveler: Princess Daisy.

Daisy is a character that first appeared in the 1989 Game Boy game “Super Mario Land.” Much like Peach in the first “Super Mario Bros.” video game, Daisy was the princess players were trying to rescue. She has since become a Nintendo regular, being featured as a playable character in “Mario”-related titles including in the “Mario Kart,” “Mario Party” and “Super Smash Bros.” series of games as well as the latest main series installment, “Super Mario Wonder.”

Although Daisy does not have any lines in the film, the video game incarnation of her is known to be energetic and feisty.

This brief glimpse of Daisy is another indication that there is more to come in the Mario movie franchise. Audiences will have to wait to see if (or when) a third movie is officially announced.

London, United Kingdom – Civil rights groups and Palestine solidarity campaigners are accusing the United Kingdom of “intimidation tactics” after two young pro-Palestinian activists were recently arrested while on bail.

On Monday, 21-year-old Qesser Zuhrah was detained after sharing a social media post calling on people to take “direct action”.

Masked officers handcuffed Zuhrah at her home in Watford at dawn. Just a month ago, she was released on bail following 15 months in prison awaiting trial, during which she participated in a lengthy hunger strike.

Four days earlier, on Thursday, plainclothes police officers in south London also arrested Audrey Corno, 23, accusing her of tampering with her electronic tag in breach of bail conditions – a charge she denies.

“They just grabbed me,” Corno told Al Jazeera. “I broke down into tears. This was a complete shock and very re-traumatising.”

She was told that a month earlier, her tag had been offline for 20 minutes.

The police surprised her as they emerged from “an undercover car” that was parked “right outside my home address”, Corno said.

“I don’t know how long they had been waiting there for. I was just back from a walk with my friends,” she said. “I would have no idea how to tamper with my tag for it to stop working and then work again.”

Before their latest arrests, both Zuhrah and Corno were imprisoned over their alleged participation in separate raids on military hardware manufacturers in 2024 that were claimed by Palestine Action, the direct action group whose stated mission is to target companies associated with the Israeli war machine.

Although the High Court ruled in February that the UK’s ban on Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation was unlawful, it is still illegal to show support for the group as the government prepares for an appeal due to take place later this month.

‘Charges in connection with social media post’

Counterterrorism police on Monday said that Zuhrah’s latest charge was “encouraging or assisting” the commission of an offence, “namely criminal damage”.

“The charges are in connection with posts made on social media,” the force said.

Zuhrah was granted bail again on Tuesday. She is due to appear in court on April 17.

She is a member of the so-called “Filton 24” collective, accused of breaking into a weapons factory in Filton, Bristol belonging to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, in August 2024.

In Corno’s latest case, she was also released hours after being arrested for a second time.

Naila Ahmed, head of campaigns at CAGE International, said, Zuhrah’s “rearrest” is a continuation of the “active repression” targeting pro-Palestine activists across the UK.

“These laws were not misapplied or stretched beyond their intent – they were designed precisely to criminalise political speech and dissent, and that is exactly what they are doing here,” she said. “Terrorism legislation should be abolished in its entirety. It has never been a tool of public protection – it is and has always been a tool of political control, used to police those who challenge state power and silence those who speak out against injustice.”

Corno was previously accused of offences related to a June 2024 break-in at the Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire facility of GRiD Defence Systems, which Palestine Action said supplies the Israeli military – a charge denied by the company.

She believes officials are using “intimidation tactics” because several charges against Palestine Action-linked activists have been dropped and dozens of them have been released on bail. All Filton 24 activists, for example, have been acquitted of aggravated burglary, and 23 have been freed from prison.

“This is a reaction to the acquittals and zero convictions in the Filton 24 case so far,” Corno said. “Take direct action” is not a contentious thing to say, she argued.

“Direct actionists who either are released on bail as they should be, or found not guilty, are still being heavily surveilled and heavily repressed by the state as a reminder, that although the public may find us not guilty, the state does.”

Last week, Zuhrah and other Filton 24 defendants spoke about alleged prison mistreatment and said they were planning to take legal action over medical neglect.

Campaigners supporting the group said, “We believe this is a coordinated campaign by the state to retaliate [after failing] to secure a single conviction at the first trial of the Filton 24. There is no doubt that this arrest was politically motivated, as it is unprecedented to charge people under the Serious Crime Act”.

The detentions come at a time of increasing friction between the police and Britain’s significant Palestine solidarity movement – and ahead of a march that could bring new tensions.

On Saturday, crowds of protesters are expected to gather again in London to demonstrate their support for Palestine Action as the genocide in Gaza continues. To date, thousands of peaceful protesters have been arrested for signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.

While London’s Met Police refrained from detaining protesters following the High Court’s ruling, the force recently reversed that policy, meaning mass arrests are once again likely.

Meanwhile, a court is expected on Wednesday to rule in the case of Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition’s Chris Nineham, who are accused of breaching protest restrictions in January 2025.

Since Israel’s onslaught on Gaza began in October 2023, tens of thousands of Britons have rallied in support of Palestine.

According to YouGov polling, one in three Britons has “no sympathy at all for the Israeli side in the conflict” after Israel killed more than 72,000 people in two years and decimated the Gaza Strip.

The government, led by Labour leader Keir Starmer, has long been accused of cracking down on pro-Palestine solidarity because of a wave of arrests during demonstrations and due to its proscription of Palestine Action.

Human Rights Watch has said that its research found a “disproportionate targeting of certain groups, including climate change activists and Palestine protesters, undermining the right to protest freely and without fear of harassment”.

March 30 (UPI) — The founder of the orgasm-based wellness company OneTaste, Nicole Daedone, was sentenced on Monday to nine years in jail for forced labor conspiracy.

Daedone was sentenced after being found guilty last year for grooming vulnerable women into working under the guise of helping women heal from various traumas, the New York Daily News reported.

Along with her director of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, who was sentenced to six and 1/2 years in prison on Monday, Daedone recruited women to purchase sexual wellness therapy programs — which included “orgasmic meditation” — and then turned them into “handlers” who would recruit “marks” into the program, ex-employees testified during trial.

Over the course of the decade-long sex abuse scheme, Daedone forced ex-employees to engage in sex acts under the guise of meditation sessions, often forcing them to work for free, the New York Post reported.

Daedone, and her attorneys, have maintained that the company is “rooted 100% in consent.”

“If I talk to you about the practice … you can say yes or no, and no is a perfectly acceptable answer throughout the practice itself,” she told NBC News last year. “It’s all based in consent. We had an ethics committee. This is the antithesis of what this company was.”

Although Daedone was not sentenced to the 20 years in prison that prosecutors sought, she will have to forfeit the $12 million she sold OneTaste for and pay $900,000 to ex-employees who were not paid for their work.

“Ms. Daedone exploited certain women in a calculated way and made money off of that exploitation,” Federal Court Judge Diane Gujarati said at the sentencing.

“What she was doing was not about enlightenment or operating on a different dimension,” Gujarati said. “It wasn’t a game or a show. It wasn’t ‘Harry Potter‘ or ‘The Matrix.’ It was criminal.”

OneTaste operated centers in cities across the United States that offered it’s orgasmic meditation practice, which involved sessions where one person performed a sex act on another for 15 minutes “with no goal except to feel.”

Former employees who testified during the trial called the company a sex cult that was ruled through fear and intimidation, The New York Times reported.

The women said that they were tasked with offering sexual services to clients and investors, as well as care for the company’s communal homes.

One woman testified that she was forced to receive a meditation session and prosecutors alleged that Daedone used the practice as a “means of encouraging productivity,” The Times reported.

After Daedone and Cherwitz were convicted, the Department of Justice said the jury had revealed the duo as “grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit.”

People who continue to support the company, which has attempted to re-brand itself, have said the trial is prosecuting consenting adults who have chosen to participate in its programs.

While women who testified during the trial said they fell into Daedone’s trap as vulnerable targets — who were referred to internally as marks, according to trial testimony — the company’s current CEO, Anjuli Ayer, called the sentence “a terrifying day for freedom.”

“Once persuasion becomes a crime, anyone can be a defendant, and anyone can be a victim,” Ayer said. “We must correct the record or everyone will suffer.”

Attorney Alan Dershowitz told NBC News earlier this month that he considers the conviction to be “a miscarriage of Justice” based on his reading of the trial materials and plans to help both Daedone and Cherwitz request a presidential pardon.

“With a few changes of words, this indictment could have been directed against Mormon groups, against Hasidic groups, against various Protestant or Catholic sects,” he said. “There’s so many people who join ideological or religious groups, volunteer their time and later become disillusioned.”

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has launched an investigation into two California women’s prisons to determine if they unconstitutionally provided housing and preferential treatment to “biological male prisoners.”

In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon — who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — said investigators will look into “widely reported allegations of deprivation of female prisoners’ rights” at the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County and the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County.

The Justice Department said in a news release that there have been allegations “of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women’s prison.”

Newsom’s office referred The Times to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A spokesperson for the agency said it is “committed to providing a safe, humane, respectful and rehabilitative environment for all incarcerated people.”

The Department of Justice also notified Maine Gov. Janet Mills of an investigation into allegations that the state “has allowed a biological male inmate to remain housed with women despite complaints that the male inmate has assaulted or harassed several female inmates.”

Dhillon said in a video posted on X that the investigations are part of a new project called the “single-sex prisons initiative” to look for potential civil rights violations in which female inmates are forced “to be in the same rooms with men who are posing as women to get access to the female prisons.”

“In California there are reports of many dozen such men housed in women’s prisons which of course is exposing these women to sexual assault and other forms of violence and harassment that, if true, are extremely troubling and could violate the civil rights of these women,” Dhillon said.

In 2020, Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 132, which gives transgender, nonbinary and intersex inmates at state prisons the right to be housed at either men’s or women’s facilities. Opponents of the law sued the following year, alleging that it was unconstitutional and created an unsafe environment for women in female facilities, with some plaintiffs claiming they were assaulted.

At the time, LGBTQ+ advocates slammed the suit as baseless and damaging.

“The way they wrote [the complaint] is saying that trans women are men and they are putting men in women’s prisons, which is completely false,” Bamby Salcedo, president and chief executive of the TransLatin@ Coalition, which cosponsored SB 132, previously told The Times. “They’re making a claim that is not accurate and not respectful towards trans women specifically.”

In an interview with the Times Thursday, Salcedo said that while there may be instances in which people have abused the law, she stressed “it is the responsibility of the CDCR to protect people who are incarcerated.”

“They should be able to not just follow the law, but also to be able to screen people appropriately,” Salcedo said.

Salcedo said she was not surprised to hear about the new Justice Department investigation, calling it “an effort for this administration to continue to deny opportunities and access to trans people in our society.”

The Women’s Liberation Front, which brought the lawsuit, announced this week that a federal court had dismissed the case but that they planned to appeal. In an emailed statement, Elspeth Cypher, Women’s Liberation Front board president, called the Justice Department investigation “welcome and long overdue.”

“I hope that this investigation provides the women in prison with some hope that finally someone is listening,” Cypher said.

Under the bill enacted in 2021, 1,028 inmates housed at male prisons have requested to be moved to female facilities, according to data as of March 4. The department had granted 47 requests and denied 132. Another 140 applicants “changed their minds,” according to the department.

State officials said that 84 inmates sought to be transferred into men’s facilities from women’s prisons. Of those, seven were approved.

According to the corrections department, 2,405 inmates identify as nonbinary, intersex or transgender. Those populations are said to experience excessive violence in prison. A 2007 UC Irvine study that included interviews with 39 transgender inmates found that the rate of sexual assault is 13 times higher for transgender people, with 59% of those surveyed reporting experiencing such encounters.

The Justice Department said Thursday that its investigation was just getting underway and that it “has not reached any conclusions regarding allegations in these matters.”

“I’m very determined to ensure that no woman who’s incarcerated in the United States is subject to potential rape, sexual assault or other violations of her civil rights as a condition of incarceration to satisfy some woke ideology by the state,” Dhillon said. “If these states are violating these rights and they don’t stop, we will make them through litigation.”

The hit firefighter TV show, London’s Burning, kept us glued to the safety of our sofas for an incredible 14 years, but where are the beloved cast now? Read on to find out

The cast of beloved ITV drama London Burning have endured various fortunes since the popular show came to a demise in 2002. This month, actor John Alford made headlines after it was reported he had been found dead in his prison cell just weeks after being convicted of sex offence charges.

he actor who played Billy Ray in the series between 1993 and 1998 was jailed in January for eight years and six months for crimes against children.

The ITV show had viewers fixed on their sofas during its 14-year run on the network. With emotionally charged storylines and action-packed drama, many wished for more. But the show’s success was down to how much the audience warmed to the Blue Watch team.

London’s Burning began life as a two-hour film in 1986 before becoming the television series we all know and love in 1988. There were a total of 172 blazing episodes before the show was extinguished back in 2002. The firefighter drama was originally shot at Bermondsey’s Dockhead Fire Station, with filming in the first three series taking place in the actual watchroom, mess and bay area – where real-life firefighters leapt at the chance to work shifts as extras. Here, we take a look at the cast now.

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John Alford

Alford, who appeared on the show for five years, was best known as Billy Ray died this month, aged 54. Earlier this year, following a trial at St Albans Crown Court in September 2025, he was jailed.

The actor, who also appeared in Grange Hill, was convicted of six individual counts. There were two counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child, one count of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault.

A Prison Service spokesman told The Mirror: “John Shannon died in prison on 13 March 2026. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

After his arrest, he told police: “This stinks. This is a set-up.” He denied all charges and previously told a trial that he “never touched either of the girls.”

Glen Murphy – George Green

George Green was the show’s longest-serving character and the only one to have appeared in every single series of London’s Burning. This hot-tempered former boxer joined Blue Watch at the start of series one, and enjoyed a steady stream of romances throughout his tenure.

Actor Glen is most well-known as the London’s Burning character, but he has also appeared in British thriller flick Tank Malling and The Bill. Back in 2007, he was awarded an MBE for his charity work after raising more than £1m for good causes. Now 68, Glen got to star with his childhood buddy Ray Winstone in the 2014 thriller Lords of London.

Sean Blowers – John Hallam

Did the immensely likeable but rather uptight John ever get that promotion he was chasing? He never did, did he? The character was left severely traumatised after being buried alive when a wall collapsed on a job in series four.

Five years later, John was brutally killed after falling 80 feet when a gantry gave way amid a warehouse inferno. Actor Sean, now 65, also appeared in EastEnders, Crossroads, Heartbeat and Doctor Who. You may also recognise him for playing Wyman Manderly in the finale of season six of the hugely popular Game of Thrones.

Richard Walsh – Bert ‘Sicknote’ Quigley

Blackwall’s resident hypochondriac, the aptly named ‘Sicknote’ was forever complaining about some malady or another. A wannabe star of the stage, he often made theatre appearances alongside his wife Jean, which his colleagues would begrudgingly go to show their support.

Sicknote bowed out in series 12, when he sadly perished in an explosion at a fireworks factory. Since leaving the series, actor Richard has appeared in daytime TV’s Doctors, the movie Daddy’s Girl, Midsomer Murders and Heartbeat. The now 27-year-old also made a cameo appearance in Netflix series The Crown as Joe Gormley in 2019.

Jerome Flynn – Kenny ‘Rambo’ Baines

“But he wasn’t in London’s Burning!” we hear you cry. Well, he did only feature in the initial TV movie, but we felt actor Jerome was worth a mention as he was just so phenomenally successful post Blackwall.

Jerome of course starred as Paddy Garvey of the King’s Fusiliers alongside Robson Green in hit drama Soldier Soldier. The pals even enjoyed multiple Number Ones in the music charts with their versions of Unchained Melody, I Believe and What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?

Jerome, now 63, appeared in chilling 19th-century drama Ripper Street and an episode of Charlie Brooker’s disturbing Black Mirror in 2016. Game of Thrones fans will instantly recognise him as loveable rogue Bronn, who featured in countless episodes from 2011 to 2019.

In 2019, he also appeared as Berrada opposite Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. In 2022, he starred alongside Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren in Taylor Sheridan’s ‘1923’ – a spin-off from the hit series Yellowstone.

James Hazeldine – Mike ‘Bayleaf’ Wilson

A hugely popular member of the team, Bayleaf was mess manager until he departed the show in series 8. The character was involved in many gripping storylines, such as being knocked unconscious when a wall collapsed and also being buried alive.

Very much a star of stage and screen, actor James was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and starred in children’s TV series Chocky as well as Heartbeat. James took on the role of Sigmund Freud in the play The Talking Cure in December 2002, but was shortly taken ill and sadly died a week later. He was 55.

Trevor Nunn, director of the Royal National Theatre, described him as “a leading actor of minutely observed truthfulness, comic brio and emotional daring” who “was also a man of infectious enthusiasm, great warmth and humanity who was universally popular among his colleagues”.

Ben Onwukwe – Stuart ‘Recall’ MacKenzie

Dubbed ‘Recall’ thanks to his unbelievable photographic memory, Stuart joined the team midway through series 4. The firefighter was almost dismissed from the crew when he refused to shave off his beard – something the team rectified by tying him down and shaving it off for him!

Since the show ended, actor Ben, now 68, has been keeping himself busy appearing in Coronation Street, as Clyde Johnson in Holby City and as Dessie Dunn in EastEnders. Back in 2018 he starred as Eric Pratchett in drama Safe, and the following year took on the role of W.E.B Dubois in Hero, inspired by the life and times of the Caribbean war hero, judge and diplomat Ulric Cross.

Ross Boatman – Kevin Medhurst

Renowned as Blue Watch’s resident troublemaker, this wayward firefighter would often scrap with colleagues and question the authority of those above him. The character Kevin came from a broken home and had suffered much sadness in his life before he joined the boys at the station.

Actor Ross is a top poker player and member of the professional playing quartet The Hendon Mob. Now 62, the actor has also enjoyed success in the European Poker Tour and proudly has several poker titles under his belt. He joined the cast of EastEnders in 2021 as Harvey Monroe, for which he won the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer.

Michael Garner – Geoffrey ‘Poison’ Pearce

It wasn’t until series 6 that old Poison joined the watch. He received his unpleasant nickname as he had a penchant for gossip and would overly pander to his seniors. The character wasn’t all bad, however, and could at times be very sensitive.

Post-Blackwall, actor Michael joined many of his co-stars by appearing in Doctors, Holby City and Casualty. Rather unexpectedly, he appeared in pop starlet Ellie Goulding’s music video for How Long Will I Love You in 2013.

Michael, now 72, is perhaps best known for treading the boards, with far-reaching roles in countless Shakespeare plays, Educating Rita and the less high-brow An Evening With Gary Lineker.

Samantha Beckinsale – Kate Stevens

Kate joined the crew in 1990 and quickly became a much-loved member of the team during her two-year stint. Actress Samantha had previously starred as WPC Martin in an episode of Thames Television’s Never The Twain.

Later in 1994, she landed the role of Gillian in the sitcom Time After Time. Three years later she starred as Jilly Howell in the short-lived sitcom Get Well Soon and in 1998 became Gillian Monroe in the short-lived sitcom Duck Patrol with One Foot in The Grave’s Richard Wilson. Samantha, now 59, has also appeared in Doctors, Holby City and Heartbeat.

Connor Byrne – Rob ‘Hyper’ Sharpe

Emotional scenes ensued in series 12 and 13 when Hyper came out as gay to his colleagues. He was later promoted to Leading Firefighter but never got a proper exit as he left for unknown reasons by the start of the final series.

Actor Connor is perhaps best known for playing Mike Milligan in all three of the Tracy Beaker shows, becoming the programme’s longest-serving cast member. Now 61, he also played Geoff in three episodes of Emmerdale back in 2019 and is appearing on our screens this year as Dale Roberts in Doctors.

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TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas town known for its prisons is allowing a shuttered private prison to reopen and house immigrants detained for living in the U.S. illegally after a nearly yearlong legal fight amid a massive national push for new detention centers.

The City Commission in Leavenworth on Tuesday approved a permit to private prison operator CoreCivic. Members voted 4 to 1 to approve a three-year permit with conditions that set minimum staffing levels, ban the housing of minors and provide for a city oversight committee.

“If they don’t follow those guidelines, we can pull the permit,” Mayor Nancy Bauder said before the vote.

The 1,104-bed Midwest Regional Reception Center is 10 miles west of the Kansas City International Airport. CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison operators, said the center will generate $60 million annually once it’s fully open.

Leavenworth, Kan., sued CoreCivic after it tried to reopen the shuttered prison without city officials signing off on the deal.

The legal battle played out in state and federal courts, with the Department of Justice siding with CoreCivic in legal filings. The department argued that the city was engaged in an “aggressive and unlawful effort” to “interfere with federal immigration enforcement.”

It appears to be the only such legal battle nationally to delay a private prison from opening amid President Trump’s push for mass deportations. The city argued that requiring a permit would prevent future problems, while CoreCivic maintained that it didn’t need a permit and the process would take too long.

Leavenworth was an unlikely foe because the GOP-leaning city’s name alone evokes a shorthand for serving hard time. Prisons employ hundreds of workers locally at two military facilities, the nation’s first federal penitentiary, a Kansas correctional facility and a county jail, all within six miles of City Hall.

CoreCivic stopped housing pretrial detainees for the U.S. Marshals Service in its Leavenworth facility in 2021 after then-President Joe Biden called on the Justice Department to curb the use of private prisons. The American Civil Liberties Union and federal public defenders said inmates’ rights had been violated and there were stabbings, suicides and even one homicide.

The city’s lawsuit described detainees locked in showers as punishment and accused CoreCivic of impeding city police force investigations of sexual assaults and other violent crimes.

Almost four dozen people spoke in opposition to the permit before the commission’s vote. Bauder admonished the crowd several times for being too noisy, and police removed a protester who yelled vulgar comments.

“We, we the people of Leavenworth, are not fooled and we don’t care about their money,” David Benitez, a city resident, told the commission.

Some backers of the permit cited the potential boost to the local economy. Two CoreCivic employees argued for approval, and one of them, Charles Johnson, of Kansas City, Kan., said his job gave him purpose and allowed his family to get off of state assistance.

“The people I work alongside are caring, professional and committed to doing things the right way,” he said, his comments drawing boos from critics outside the commission’s meeting room.

City Commissioner Holly Pittman said because the city “stood firm,” it could negotiate conditions on the permit. She said denying it would risk a potentially expensive lawsuit.

“I will not gamble the financial stability of this city,” she said before voting yes. “Let me be clear: Approval does not mean endorsement.”

Hollingsworth and Hanna write for the Associated Press. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kan.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Darren Beattie was ‘prohibited from visiting’ Bolsonaro in prison.

The government of Brazil has revoked the visa of Darren Beattie, a far-right adviser to United States President Donald Trump who had planned to visit ex-President Jair Bolsonaro in his prison cell in Brasilia.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva confirmed on Friday that Beattie’s visa has been pulled. He equated it to the US pulling visas from Brazilian officials in Washington, DC.

Among them was Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha, whose US visa was revoked last year.

“That American guy who said he was coming here to visit Jair Bolsonaro was prohibited from visiting, and I forbade him from coming to Brazil until they release the visa for my health minister,” Lula said during an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Separately, Brazilian officials told news services, including the AFP, that Beattie had lied about the purpose of the visit on his visa request.

Bolsonaro is a far-right ally of President Trump, and he is currently serving a 27-year sentence for his role in a coup plot after Brazil’s 2022 election.

Friday’s decision shows the continued tension between the Brazilian and US governments, even as Trump and Lula have enjoyed warming relations.

Last August, Trump placed Brazil under heavy tariffs — some of the highest in the world — in protest against Bolsonaro’s prosecution. He demanded that the country’s legal system drop the case against Bolsonaro and accused Brazil of persecuting right-wing voices.

After Trump met Lula at the United Nations General Assembly in September and again at a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October, relations between the two leaders improved.

Lula also reached out by telephone in October in a bid to ease the cumulative 50-percent tariffs on certain Brazilian products. On November 20, Trump responded by issuing an executive order “modifying the scope of tariffs” on Brazilian exports like beef and coffee.

But speculation has remained high that Trump could again intervene in the country’s domestic politics to boost the prospects of the Brazilian right.

Brazil is set to hold a new presidential election in October, where Lula is facing off against Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio.

Lawyers for the imprisoned Bolsonaro had asked the Brazilian Supreme Court to approve a visitation request from Beattie this week, but the court rejected that request on Thursday.

Beattie, a strong critic of Lula’s government, was fired during Trump’s first term in office following reports that he had attended a white nationalist conference.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, was placed in intensive care on Friday, with hospital officials saying the 70-year-old had a “high fever, a drop in oxygen saturation, sweating and chills” linked to pneumonia.