Judge Upholds Gag Order: Malik Washington now faces sanctions – and maybe a return to prison – for telling the press and public about a COVID outbreak at a private halfway house

This March 13 article was first published by the SF Bay View National Black Newspaper. Read the full article here.

(PHOTO: San Francisco Bay View editor Keith “Malik” Washington speaks at a rally in December outside UC Hastings College of the Law protesting harassment and “sweeps” of homeless people in the Tenderloin, led by the reputedly progressive law school located there. – Photo by Poor News Network)

Malik Washington now faces sanctions – and maybe a return to prison – for telling the press and public about a COVID outbreak at a private halfway house.

by Jackie Blandón

A federal judge refused to block the federal Bureau of Prisons and the private GEO Group from imposing sanctions on San Francisco Bay View Editor Malik Washington for speaking out about a COVID outbreak in the halfway house where he lives.

Washington now faces discipline that could include a return to prison.

The ruling, on Thursday, March 11, by Judge Jon S. Tigar mostly cited procedural issues – whether, for example, Washington had exhausted all “administrative remedies” before going to court.

But Tigar also upheld a BOP gag order and stated that Washington had no right as a person in custody to speak with a reporter about a public health crisis.

And in oral arguments, a lawyer for the BOP said that part of his concern was that after press coverage and political organizing around this case, Washington was “gaining notoriety” that could be bad for the Taylor Center, the private halfway house in the Tenderloin.

--Read the full article here.