Victoria Elena Valenzuela

I'm a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles covering social justice.

Just trying to help good people expose shitty systems!

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

"From live sentences to saving lives": Allen Burnett, Jarrett Harper, and Dara Yin were sentenced to life without parole in their youth. They want California to pass a bill to open parole eligibility for people convicted before age 25

@AntiRecidivism

https://t.co/ApBUxYTiza

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Check out this about what Easter means to and looks like for people in prison.

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Easter is hard for people in prison who are away from their families. This group helps incarcerated people find liberation, freedom and connection in the holiday.

https://t.co/AWs1boMges

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Easter is hard for people in prison who are away from their families. This group helps incarcerated people find liberation, freedom and connection in the holiday.

https://t.co/AWs1boMges

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

From tap dance to partner lifts, people in prison are working with advocates to find freedom, expression and storytelling.

Read my article about Dancing Through Prison Walls here:

https://t.co/8muL0ESDJ4

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Amid more attention to Dilley Detention Center, advocates are sending lawmakers paper dolls with messages as the latest tactic in protesting against family detention.

https://t.co/VcGx61WbUb

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

My latest Substack post: People in prison are still human beings — they like to watch sports, root for a team, listen to Bad Bunny and share a meal just like everybody else.

https://t.co/COeru0H5OD

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Tommy Lee Walker, who was 19 years old at the time he was wrongfully convicted, was posthumously pardoned 70 years after his execution.

https://t.co/vbvUIIuz3R

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Jails and prisons around the country are starting to ban mail for incarcerated people, and families are saying it takes away from the sentimentality and privacy from sending letters, artwork and greeting cards.

https://t.co/an7FylhknV

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Jails and prisons around the country are starting to ban mail for incarcerated people, and families are saying it takes away from the sentimentality and privacy from sending letters, artwork and greeting cards.

https://t.co/an7FylhknV

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

In California, families impacted by incarceration passed a law for free prison phone calls, and they are urging other states to do the same.

https://t.co/Cc4Lj8fIrr

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Today Trump carried out the 75th annual presidential turkey pardon while about 2,100 people will spend another holiday on death row.

https://t.co/lErrIAj1XA

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

The Silver Platter may be the oldest existing Latinx bar for LGBTQ+ people in Los Angeles. It’s a living piece of local history.

Yet now, after many years of supporting this diverse community, the bar faces demolition.

For @latimes

https://t.co/eoWXeZ7xQ9

[Truthout @truthout]

“In this moment, there is a beautiful hope that exists in this solidarity and that people are standing up for what is right,” said an organizer.
https://t.co/1sAFUvXM6U

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Since the Trump administration took office — but especially in recent months — ICE has been snatching primarily Latino people off the streets and detaining them without identifying themselves or giving due process.

Communities are fighting back.

https://t.co/wtmvibGBca

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Tremane Wood, Bryan Jennings and Stephen Bryant are scheduled to be murdered by the government this week. Advocates are petitioning to stop the executions.

https://t.co/Ru0pSfHEmd

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

While most of the country will be celebrating the holiday with a freebie from work, nearly 145,000 veterans are locked up and ousted from society, despite their years of service protecting what is (ironically) called “the land of the free”

https://t.co/hjStGBcUgu

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

Lately in my Substack — California passes six new prison reform laws this fall, false narratives about incarceration, and FCC hikes prison communication rates cap by 83%

Check it out:

https://t.co/bOkNa1KwNg

[Victoria Elena Valenzuela @Victoriaevalenz]

New Substack post: After organizing by prison abolitionist organizations, new laws aimed at reforming the system passed in California this fall and will become law, going into effect next year.

https://t.co/95TXki9KD8