Nic Hallanger here. I am writing this on Thursday, January 8th, 2026. I was working yesterday afternoon when Mahdi Ali called me from Rush City Correctional Facility and broke the news to me that ICE agents had just murdered someone in Minneapolis. We learned hours later that the person that was murdered was a woman named Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old White woman who was executed in cold blood live on camera for the crime of trying to protect her neighbors from being kidnapped by radicalized white supremacist proud-boy incels sent by the federal government. Mahdi was already in the process of writing a new song to address the ongoing violence committed by federal agents to attack Minnesota's way of life, but the events that unfolded yesterday caused him to rework the song to make it directly discuss the event. Mahdi, the Coalition, and I all pray that there will be no further loss of life as a result of the stochastic terrorism created by our president. I personally fear that Renee Nicole Good is the first of many white people that will be killed by the US government for simply trying to stand up for what they believe is right - that all humans deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of which paperwork they have access to. Please pray that I am wrong.
I had the privilege of speaking with Mahdi on a video visit on 12/30/2025 where he once again wanted to discuss and address recent comments made by the President of the United States regarding the Somali Community. We also debut a short clip of one of Mahdi's new songs called "Somaliapolis". I managed to capture one of Mahdi's great contagious smiles during this visit too.
If you don't know this by now, Mahdi is always concerned about children growing up in the world today. Mahdi's life's work has become an effort to prevent more kids from ending up in the same situation he finds himself in today. I often find myself forgetting what it might feel like to be a kid in this country today, but Mahdi always remembers what it felt like to be a young, lost Somali kid in Minneapolis. He knows that the words of the President of the United States are making young Black and Brown kids in America feel unsafe and he is using his voice to push back as much as is possible from his position within MCF Rush City.
During this video we also debut a short sample of Mahdi's song, specifically the 3rd verse where Mahdi does spoken word instead of singing or rapping. Mahdi has a message for Donald J. Trump and that message is simple: our kids deserve better from the president of the United States. Mahdi has a message for the local media that enabled these attacks on the Somali community without pushing back: We know there are issues with fraud in communities of all types in Minnesota, not just within the Somali Community. We must push back on this narrative that the Somali community are large perpetrators of fraud - they are often used as pawns in larger schemes that target new immigrants, a tale as old as time. We must not allow these racist, xenophobic narratives to continue in the great state of Minnesota.
To Nick Shirley from Nic H: I hope you someday understand that you too are being used in a very destructive game and that the people that you cause to suffer are literally women and children, some of the weakest positioned people in our entire society. You're not required to punch down. Do better.
- Nic Hallanger
- Dec 17, 2025
- 2 min read
Hi there - Nic Hallanger here. It dawned on me that there may be people out there that want to communicate directly with Mahdi while he is incarcerated. If you want to send Mahdi a message of support, images, text, short videos, etc you can do so by creating a JPay account and either using the JPay website or the JPay App. Having grown up around technology and working in IT I realized that things that might be easy for me aren't always easy for others so I wanted to write up some basic instructions on how to communicate with someone incarcerated in a Minnesota Correctional Facility.
If you plan to use your smartphone to communicate with Mahdi, you need to install the JPAY app on your phone (or use the web browser, but the app is slightly easier to navigate on a phone). You can get this from either the Google Play store or the Apple App Store on your phone. Links:
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brisk.jpay&hl=en
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jpay/id584959322?mt=8
If using a computer or you want to try without the App go to: https://jpay.com
Open the app or website and add Mahdi as a contact. On the website this happens on the main landing page. Select Minnesota for the State then enter Mahdi's OID# which is 236437 and click next.
Click or tap to select Mahdi on the next screen:
Register for a new account by filling out the information required in these boxes:
You will likely be prompted to validate the account in some way (maybe clicking an email link) at this point. After you are situated with your account you can log in and start communicating with Mahdi. Below is a screenshot that shows the most common options used in JPay to send email messages, money, and how to add additional incarcerated people if needed.
Communicating with the outside world is key to preventing recidivism and makes a huge impact on an incarcerated person's mental health. I've found that communicating with incarcerated people has taught me a tremendous amount about the world and people that aren't exactly like me. Having a prison pen pal is a great way to feel less lonely and it also benefits the person inside prison too.