Imprisoned journalist Barrett Brown is Courage’s fifth beneficiary
- Courage is raising funds for Brown’s commissary, restitution and legal costs
- Brown continues to write from prison, for D Magazine and soon for The Intercept
- Currently in solitary confinement, Brown needs continued support and assistance
US journalist and satirist Barrett Brown, author of Flock of Dodos and Keep Rootin’ For Putin, is the Courage Foundation’s fifth beneficiary. Brown is currently serving a 63 month sentence after being persecuted for his work. In 2012, the FBI raided his house, and later that year Barrett was indicted on 12 federal charges relating to the 2011 Stratfor hack. The most controversial charge, linking to the hacked documents, was dropped, but in 2015 Brown was still sentenced to prison.
Courage will collect funds for Brown, who owes more than $890,000 in restitution and who needs money for commissary in prison and for lingering legal costs. Our first campaign is a $5,000 fund drive, which would cover two years of his restitution payments.
Additionally, Courage will update the public on Brown’s condition — he is currently in solitary confinement for an indeterminate length of time but continues to write his column and will soon report for The Intercept.
Brown is the founder of Project PM, a crowd-sourced investigation of the private intelligence industry. In 2011, Project PM released its research of Romas/COIN, “a secretive and immensely sophisticated campaign of mass surveillance and data mining against the Arab world, allowing the intelligence community to monitor the habits, conversations, and activity of millions of individuals at once.”
Courage’s Acting Director Sarah Harrison said,
Barrett Brown’s sentence is a scar on a country that likes to pride itself on a free press. Brown is an excellent journalist who has exposed corrupt and illegal practices. He should be rewarded, not punished. I am pleased to be able to support someone whose work for the public record I admire so much.
Courage Trustee Julian Assange said,
Barrett Brown’s 5 year prison sentence for exposing Bank of America’s corporate espionage campaign against WikiLeaks is the most odious domestic example of Obama’s war on journalism. But far from letting this imprisonment grind him down, every day is making Barrett’s pen sharper. Slowly but surely, and entirely against its will, the Obama administration’s profound injustice is producing America’s greatest living satirist. Anyone who cares about justice and sharp writing is obliged to support Barrett Brown.
Kevin Gallagher, who worked with Barrett on Project PM and who has run his support network for 2 & 1/2 years, said,
While Barrett serves the remainder of his sentence and continues to produce brilliant and hilarious dispatches from his prison cell, I am very grateful to be working with the Courage Foundation on finding new ways to support him. Courage has recognized that Brown’s work on crowd-sourcing the investigation of leaks and his related activism was pioneering and important, and represents the true reason for his imprisonment.
Courage has launched a new website for Barrett, which features his journalism, how to support him, and his ongoing columns from prison, for D Magazine and soon with The Intercept.
Donate to his fund here.
