Kharon Benson is a filmmaker and advocate working to end mass incarceration. He is a member of Echoes of Incarceration, which trains young people to tell their stories and advocate for change. He is also a counselor with Liberation Summer Advocacy Training Camp, a project of AFSC and Echoes of Incarceration that helps youth in New York City learn the art of filmmaking for change. Read more.

Photos: Vanessa Cecena, Adriana Jasso, Pedro Rios/AFSC

AFSC took part in the Detention Watch Network’s #FreeThemAll national week of action to demand the liberation of all people in immigration detention.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported coronavirus cases are rising sharply in U.S. prisons, even as numbers have plateaued in communities across the U.S. There are now more 65,000 cases in prisons—at least 600 people have died.

As need rises in this pandemic, AFSC has worked steadfastly with partners and community members to support low-income and working families in West Virginia—a poor and rural state where many were already hurting long before the pandemic. 

Last week the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in Gaza, and the number of cases continues to grow. The appearance of the virus in Gaza came several weeks after the first cases were identified in the West Bank, where the total number of cases has now risen to over 100 and one woman has died.